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FDA Advisory Committee Green Lights Pfizer-BioNTech; Why 4 Experts On Independent Vaccine Panel Said No; 9/11 And Pearl Harbor American Deaths Dwarfed By COVID; 100 Republicans Now Back Trump's Texas Lawsuit; E.U. Trade Deal Hopes With Britain Fades; COVID-19 Misinformation Leads to Vaccine Hesitancy; U.S. Health Care Workers on the Brink Amid New Virus Surge; Saudi Arabia Approves Use of Pfizer's COVID Vaccine. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 11, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from studio seven at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour. Split decision; an independent panel recommends emergency use of Pfizer's vaccine in the U.S. But why did four of the 22 experts say no?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION: We're going to have more deaths per day than we had at 9/11 or we had at Pearl Harbor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Dire days ahead with the head of the Centers for Disease Control warning the U.S. will see a loss of life on a massive scale.
And there's only one president at a time. And the one who is still there is totally detached from the misery of the pandemic. Instead he's lying about voter fraud and his election loss and more than 100 Republicans in congress are supporting his latest frivolous legal challenge.
Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine is little more than a formality away from being distributed across the U.S.
An independent panel of experts review the drug majors research on Thursday, recommended the Food & Drug Administration grant emergency use authorization, the FDA expected to make it official on Friday.
Then on Sunday, a panel convened by the CDC decides who gets the vaccine and when.
Thursday was an historic day for scientific achievement but just a day earlier the U.S. reported more than 3,000 dead from COVID-19, its highest ever daily death toll. While hospitals nationwide are filling to capacity treating a record number of COVID patients.
And there will even darker days to come. The CDC expects 70,000 Americans will die between now and the New Year.
And the nation's leading infectious disease expert had this warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Sometime in this coming week, we will likely see the full brunt of what happens when you travel and congregate in seemingly innocent settings, like dinners and gatherings with family and friends.
So then we're going to be entering into the Christmas holiday with the same sort of travel and the same sort of congregating, again innocent things like with family and friends.
So we expect that we likely will see, yet again, another surge upon a surge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The moment the FDA makes it official, millions of doses of Pfizer's vaccine will be deployed within hours.
CNN's Nick Watt has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mr. Talman [ph] voted yes.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: History was just made in little boxes.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And that concludes the vote. So we do have a favorable vote.
WATT: The FDA Advisory Committee just voted to recommend a green light for Pfizer's vaccine.
DR. CODY MEISSNER, VACCINE & RELATED BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE, FDA: I think the safety is pretty well demonstrated and balance that against over 2,000 deaths a day or 2,500 deaths a day, I'm comfortable.
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, COMMISSIONER, U.S. FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION: Our plan is to take their recommendations into account for our decision- making, and make a decision shortly thereafter.
Again, it really depends on the complexity of the issues discussed but we intend to act quickly.
WATT: Needles and syringes already on the move. Nearly 3 million vaccine doses ready to be deployed within hours to states. But --
DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I'm really, really just fearing what's going to happen over the next several weeks. Hospitals are overwhelmed, people are tired and quite frankly, people are dying.
WATT: Yesterday in America, 3,124 people were reported killed by COVID-19, the highest daily toll of the pandemic. More lives lost than 9/11.
Get used to it. The CDC forecasts another 70,000 or so Americans could die from now through New Year's Day. That's an average of over 3,000 people, every day.
ICUs at one in three hospitals were over 90 percent full last week.
Reno, Nevada. This wasn't a hospital, it was the parking garage, now filled with beds. And patients.
ROSALINA MARTINEZ, COVID-19 PATIENT: He coughs at nighttime, I can hear him. And if I yell, he can hear me. He knows that I'm still alive.
WATT: The worst, days, months, could still be to come. So Bill Nye, the Science Guy is on TikTok explaining why masks really do work.
BILL NYE, THE SCIENCE GUY: Viruses don't travel by themselves, they travel in droplets of spit and snot. And the fibers are a tangle.
[01:05:00]
WATT: And those who know best are grinching Christmas.
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH & POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: No Christmas parties; there is not a safe Christmas party in this country right now. I don't think really we're going to see really a sizeable amount of vaccine for the American public well into March and April.
WATT (Voice Over): Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When it begins, distribution of the vaccine will be a massive logistical challenge and need a high level of coordination among the drug makers, transportation companies, states and federal governments as well as hospitals.
CNN's Pete Muntean reports now from Pfizer's biggest warehouse in Kalamazoo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The FDA says trucks carrying the vaccine could begin leaving here within 24 hours of that final FDA emergency use authorization.
What's so interesting here is that we know this spot, Pfizer's Kalamazoo, Michigan plant, is critical to the vaccine distribution network. It is Pfizer's largest facility, a sprawling facility; 1,300 acres.
We know that vaccine arrived here late last month but Operation Warp Speed, the federal government, says vaccine will be leaving here going directly to 600 individual locations.
Those are places like hospitals, pharmacies, CVS, Walgreens. We know that UPS and FedEx will be carrying the packages encased in dry ice, UPS responsible for delivery on the eastern half of the country.
We also know temperature is so critical of a transportation here that the Pfizer vaccine needs to be negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit during transportation.
And UPS tells us each of its packages will come equipped with a thermal monitor able to broadcast the temperature of the package back to UPS headquarters.
We're also hearing from the FAA that its air traffic controllers will now give flights carrying the vaccine top priority.
MUNTEAN (On Camera): Pete Muntean, CNN. Kalamazoo, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, joining us now, CNN's chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, good to see you.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John.
BIDEN: The timeline here for this vaccine approval or authorization, it's moving very quickly.
Now we have this recommendation in favor of the Pfizer vaccine, FDA authorization expected sometime maybe on Friday. The CDC then decides on Sunday if it will be made available to the public.
And now here's the head of Operation Warp Speed on what happens next. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN PAUL OSTROWSKI, SUPPLY, PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR, OPERATION WARP SPEED: Within 24 hours of that approval, we will begin moving the vaccine. So from Pfizer, Kalamazoo, the trucks will roll right out of there to the nearest airports.
They will begin distributing the vaccines across the entire country to locations that the jurisdictions have requested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Boy, it just sounds so simple but it really isn't. When it comes to the distribution, what do you see will potentially be the biggest challenge here?
GUPTA: Well, you know there are some just practical issues with the cold chain storage, people have talked about this quite a bit. But this particular vaccine, the type of technology that it is, just needs to be really cold.
I talked to a lot of people in some of these regional centers and it does seem like they have sorted a lot of that. They've put a lot of plans to place to sort of be handle some of that cold storage. It may not be as effective in some of the smaller towns and we're going to see how that rolls out some of the places.
But overall I think that that's an issue that has been addressed.
I think that the larger issue is that there's simply far more demand than supply. We know that. There's going to be about 3 million doses that go right away and every state sort of has their own triage program.
Some are going to have stockpiles, some are going to send the vaccine straight to hospitals, others to pharmacies. And it depends -- if you live in one state you may qualify for the vaccine in one place, cross the border you don't.
So you know, John, it may seem a little bit disjointed, at least in the beginning. And we've never done something at this scale before so we'll have to see how this sort of rolls out.
VAUSE: The recommendation to move ahead with the Pfizer vaccine was an independent panel of experts; seventeen voted in favor, four against, there was one who abstained.
Do we know why those four were against giving this some kind of authorization for emergency use?
GUPTA: Well, at least in the case of a couple of them it really seemed to have to do with the age of the people that were going to be authorized here.
It's 16 and older. And some thought it should be 18 and older for a couple of reasons.
One is they thought there wasn't enough data for people who are 16 and 17 and also they're not legally adults so would someone else be making the decision for them?
Ultimately it still passed past with majority.
But there were other issues John. The idea of pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers -- pregnant women weren't included in the trial. Some women became pregnant while in the trial so there was some data collected there but not enough. So the way they came down on it and said there's not data to show that there's risk, not enough data overall to show benefit, we're going to leave that up to women and their doctors.
[01:10:00]
Meaning if you're a woman, pregnant and very high risk because of your job or whatever you may go ahead and opt to get the vaccine. Others may not.
There's was a group that was basically said you're not going to get the vaccine -- and this probably won't surprise you -- but it was people who had had serious reactions in the past. We saw what happened in the U.K.
Obviously this advisory committee really paid attention to that because they say if you've had serious allergic reactions, you have to carry an EpiPen or something than that, then this vaccine's not going to be recommended for you.
BIDEN: Just to be clear on that last point. It's reactions to vaccines or just any sort of allergic reactions be it to food or anything else, right? Or just vaccine.
GUPTA: Yes -- no, very good question. No, it seems like it was any kind of significant allergic reaction; foods, medicines, previous vaccines. The idea really is that for some reason, people who are very prone to developing this sort of anaphylaxis, very serious allergic response, they are who they are most concerned about.
We don't know what it is in this vaccine that would cause an allergic response. But the flu vaccine, for example, if you're allergic to eggs you're going to have a problem with the flu vaccine. Here it doesn't -- there's no eggs, there's very few other components.
So it's part of the investigation now. What is causing the allergy? If they identify that, they may be able to get these people vaccinated with this vaccine.
VAUSE: We also had a very grim reminder of the dark days and weeks ahead for the United States. The CDC now forecasting as many as 362,000 people will die by January second from COVID-19.
The current director of the CDC, Robert Redfield put it this way. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REDFIELD: We are in the timeframe now that probably for the next 60 to 90 days we're going to have more deaths per day than we had in 9/11 or we had at Pearl Harbor.
This is really -- as I said this is a real -- going to be a real unfortunate loss of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: I'm sure you remember in the early stage of the pandemic there was shock and disbelief when the death toll was projected to reach 66,000.
And now with these staggering numbers -- and it's all met with a shrug and almost sort of acceptance and refusal to do -- at least by many -- to do what is needed to save lives. GUPTA: Yes, it's hard to believe. At this point -- I've been
reporting on this for so long, you and I have talked about these numbers in the past.
There's this concept known as empathy fade, something you may have heard of as a journalist, but basically you tell the story of one person, people have a lot of empathy and they understand that. Tell the story of 10 people like that, the empathy goes down, a hundred people, the empathy goes down more.
And I think that's what's happening to some extent. These numbers people are starting to become so inured to them that it's not really registering anymore.
And so on a day like today, we end up with the best of times and the worst of times.
A vaccine looks like it's going to be authorized. That that is a remarkable scientific achievement and at the same time, we are having some of the highest death tolls of all. So many of these deaths, preventable.
Family members watching right now -- and I talked to a lot of these family members who've lost somebody -- they don't like to hear that, no one likes to think of their loved ones death as having been preventable.
But it is true. Without a vaccine, without any magic therapeutic, we could've prevented so many of these deaths in the past. And still could prevent so many of these deaths going forward even before the vaccine is widely rolled out.
VAUSE: Yes. That's the tragedy, really. That this did not have to be like this.
Sanjay, thank you. Good to see you.
GUPTA: You too. Good to see you, my friend.
VAUSE: Preparations are underway across Europe to distribute the vaccine but in the meantime pandemic restrictions are being ramped up.
Berlin about to implement significant restrictions in the run up to Christmas to try and curb the spread of the virus. Schools were shut down along with some stores until January 10th.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been calling for a full lockdown after Christmas ranging anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
Pandemic restrictions were scheduled to ease in France next week but that's now on hold because infection rates remain too high.
But from next Tuesday, residents will be allowed to leave their homes without first receiving a certificate of approval. A curfew though, will be in place from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am.
Here's the French prime minister explaining why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN CASTEX, PRIME MINISTER OF FRANCE (Through Translator): Despite previous other plans, this curfew will also be applied for New Year's Eve on December 31st.
The New Year is traditionally a moment for parties, that's why we like it. But it has all the ingredients for an epidemic surge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And Sweden, the country that famously chose not to have a lockdown during Europe's first wave of the coronavirus is now seeing a big jump in cases.
In the capital of Stockholm, 99 percent of intensive care beds are full.
[01:15:00]
The government now floating the idea of a temporary pandemic law giving it the authority to potentially shut down certain public spaces. Officials, say if parliament were to pass a law, it could take effect -- jeez (ph), on March 15th.
A pandemic of misinformation leading to many who say they will not be vaccinated. We'll head to one town in rural America where some there even deny the existence of the pandemic.
Also ahead, Donald Trump says it's the big one. A legal challenge with zero chance of success of overturning the 2020 election results. More on that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Call it a sign of the times in the port of Dover in South England. Multiple lanes filled with trucks as far as the eye can see.
The delays caused by Brexit stockpiling, traditional pre-Christmas sales and the transport of medical supplies for COVID care.
The British prime minister says there is a strong possibility there will not be a trade deal with the E.U. by the deadline which is December 31st.
Boris Johnson says the country could end up like Australia which doesn't have a trade deal with Europe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We need to be very clear. There's now a strong possibility, strong possibility, that we will have a solution that's much more like the Australian relationship with the E.U. than a Canadian relationship with the E.U. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing. There are plenty of ways, as I've
said, that we can turn that to the advantage of both sides in the conversation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Boris Johnson's sense of a stalemate is being echoed by the E.U. We should note, though, there are emergency plans to keep the planes flying and transportation moving.
Well, with hospitals in the United States filling to capacity and the coronavirus numbers soaring, the U.S. president is still focused on overturning the election results.
And now he's pinning his hopes on a very dubious lawsuit which is coming out of Texas.
And while some Republicans are signing on to support him, others are now finally breaking ranks. Here's White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: In another attempt to discredit Joe Biden's win, President Trump is now asking how the country can be run by an illegitimate president while he clings to another far-fetched lawsuit as his efforts to override the election grow more desperate by the minute.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All I ask for is people with wisdom and with courage, that's all. Because if people --
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We're here, Mr. President.
TRUMP: -- certain very important people, if they have wisdom and if they have courage, we're going to win this election.
COLLINS: That was Trump's message for a Hanukkah party as he's now eagerly backing a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attempting to stop the certification of votes in four swing states that Trump lost.
Legal experts said they doubt the high court will take it up but Trump tweeted -- "The supreme court has a chance to save our country from the greatest election abuse in the history of the United States."
[01:20:00]
Trump held a conveniently timed but, according to the White House, previously scheduled lunch with Republican attorneys generals including Ken Paxton who is currently being investigated by the FBI over allegations he abused his office to benefit a political donor.
GOP Senator Ben Sasse implied Paxton's efforts to do Trump's bidding had more to do with his legal troubles. Telling the "Washington Examiner" quote -- "It looks like a fella begging for a pardon filed a P.R. stunt rather
than a lawsuit."
CNN has learned Trump personally called Senator Ted Cruz and asked him to argue the case if it goes before the supreme court.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TEXAS): I told him I'd be happy to. And I believe the supreme court should choose to take the case, I think they should hear the appeal.
COLLINS: But not all Texas Republicans are on board.
Senator John Cornyn said -- "I frankly struggle to understand the legal theory of it."
Veteran congresswoman Kay Granger called it "a distraction."
And Congressman Chip Roy said -- "I cannot support an effort that will almost certainly fail."
Other Republicans appear ready to move on as well. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said he will consider Biden's win official after electors meet and certify the results on Monday.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-N.C.): Yes, I think he's the presumptive president present elect. But we just can't -- I won't at the same time dismiss that there are filings that deserve to go through the justice system. Like anybody else in America.
COLLINS: And recently we told you about an effort that was directed by President Trump to get House Republicans to join him in this effort to support this Texas lawsuit even though legal expert says it has very little standing to go before the supreme court.
But now we have learned that over 100 House Republicans have signed their names on the record seeking to try to overturn the results of the election joining this Texas lawsuit that people have said doesn't have a lot of muster. But it can be viewed as a loyalty test for President Trump.
Caitlin Collins, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Doug Heye is a CNN political commentator and a Republican strategist. He joins us this hour from Washington D.C. Doug, welcome back.
DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great to be with you. Thank you.
VAUSE: You're welcome. Now Donald Trump in a very Trumpian style, he's letting it be known that he's up for another run for the White House in four years.
Here he is on Tuesday. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's been an amazing four years. We're trying to do another four years, otherwise I'll see you in four years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: OK. Is this serious, is it a trial balloon, is it the last great scam to raise more money from his supporters -- about 200 million so far and counting? Or just an attempt to stay relevant once he's dragged out of the Oval Office?
HEYE: All of those options that you listed are not mutually exclusive. And I think the ultimate answer for Trump right now is definitely maybe.
And part of that is because, as you mentioned, he's raising so much money. And the money that he's raising right now basically is being split 75 percent going to Trump-specific organizations, 25 percent going to the Republican National Committee.
These are small dollar donations so you can keep raising and raising those. On January 21st when he's not president, he's under no obligation to raise money or split that money with the Republican National Convention or any other Republican.
So it benefits him politically, it benefits him media and message wise, to keep this going whether it's a charade or not.
VAUSE: The one thing that seems to keep this alive and give it a little bit of credibility in some ways is that while Biden had a clear and decisive win, at the same time there wasn't this total repudiation of Trumpism.
So that sort of gives it some legs, at least. There's 74 million people who voted for Trump.
HEYE: Yes. Look, Donald Trump was a great motivator for voters whether that was to turn out for him this time or last time or to vote against him.
I liken him quite often to a professional wrestler. A lot of people show up and cheer, a lot of people show up and boo but the people show up.
I think what know makes this situation really unique right now is that Republicans picked up 12 or 13 seats now in the house of representatives and I think there's one more still outstanding.
If Republicans had lost the eight to fourteen seats that were kind of predicted in the house, we'd be having a very different conversation right now. And certainly if we had those senate seats won already -- or lost already for that matter -- Republicans on Capitol Hill would be ready to turn the corner and able to turn the corner.
They're just not able to do so right now. VAUSE: It seems Melania Trump is among those opposed to Trump running
in four years.
CNN reports the First Lady is determining what to put in storage, what goes to Trump's New York City digs and what should be tagged for shipment to Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
Quote -- "She just wants to go home," said another source familiar with Melania Trump's state of mind.
Asked how the First Lady feels about rumors her husband might announce a 2024 bid, the source added -- "That might not go over well."
We also had this opinion poll which cam out earlier in the week, 60 percent of the country opposed to a Trump 2024 campaign.
[01:25:00]
So I think memories fade, people try to remember the good, forget the bad. With that opposition to a Trump run, how would you see it sort of panning out in the years to come, would it increase, would it decrease?
HEYE: Nobody knows what's in Melania Trump's head better than Kate Bennett at CNN. I read that story as well. Melania and a lot of people don't want to see this again.
But I don't focus on that 60 percent -- and I'm one of that 60 percent -- I focus on that 40 percent. Those are Republican primary voters, those are people who are going to show up one or another.
And if they want Donald Trump to win it says that Donald Trump starts as the presumptive favorite of the race, regardless of who else may run.
And as long as Trump remains that presumptive favorite and is raising all of the money that he is, it means that a lot of Republicans are going to have to wait for Trump to make a decision one way or another. Because none of them wants to be the first person to step up and take on Donald Trump.
VAUSE: Running for public office is difficult if, for example -- I don't know, you're in jail. And given the number of possible indictments coming from state prosecutors especially in New York, this could all end up being I guess a moot point?
HEYE: It is. One of the things that you often see with congressional ethics investigations is that charges may not be filed if you just agree to resign. It's part of how you make things go away quietly.
Donald Trump's never going to do anything quietly. But that may be a bargaining position for him to say, look, you'll be done with me forever if you don't do anything to me.
That may not apply to the family, though. And that's where we're seeing a lot more machinations happen on the state level because Donald Trump has no ability to pardon anyone on a state level.
VAUSE: Interesting days ahead. Doug, good to see you.
HEYE: We're never bored.
VAUSE: Never bored.
HEYE: Thank you.
VAUSE: Cheers.
U.S. President Elect Joe Biden continues to announce his nominees for senior White House positions. And many are hold overs from the Obama Administration.
He's also focusing on the pandemic. And CNN's Arlette Saenz reports on Biden's reaction to the recommendation for emergency use of Pfizer's vaccine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Elect Joe Biden welcomes the FDA's recommendation regarding a coronavirus vaccine calling it a bright light in a needlessly dark time.
But Biden also talked about how the focus now needs to be on manufacturing and distributing that vaccine. Biden said in a statement --
"Vaccines don't equal vaccinations. Our challenge now is to scale up manufacturing and distribution to distribute 100 million shots in the first 100 days of my administration. We are putting together an experienced team to just do that."
And the present elect called on the Trump Administration to purchase the doses of this vaccine that they negotiated with Pfizer and Moderna and to ensure that manufacturing can start in order for Americans to have access to this vaccine.
Now the Biden transition team has been meeting with Operation Warp Speed -- it will have a another meeting later today -- as they are trying to learn more about the current administration's plans for this vaccine distribution which Biden will inherit once he takes office.
Now later today, the president elect will also unveil new members of his team including his choice to lead the department of veterans affairs.
He has chosen Denis McDonough, a former White House chief of staff to President Obama to lead that department.
And Biden has also tapped Susan Rice to lead the White House domestic policy council. She is someone who had been under consideration for secretary of state, also to be Biden's running mate as well. And he has tapped her for this role. The president elect turning to many Obama era officials to fill out his cabinet but also people that he trusts and has long-standing relationships with.
Arlette Saenz, CNN. Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BIDEN: Hardly a surprise, but in the United States those who are willing and those who are not willing to get the vaccine is divided along political party lines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Are you going to tell the members of your congregation not to get the vaccine?
PASTOR GREG LOCKE, GLOBAL VISION BIBLE CHURCH: Members of my congregation can do what they want to but they'll watch my videos and know that I'm not getting it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Come along with us for a journey into the very heart of Trump Country and find out why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:43]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. Thanks for staying with us.
I'm John Vause. And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Millions of Americans are on the verge of getting their first doses of the coronavirus vaccine. An advisory panel has formally recommended the Food and Drug Administration grant an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The FDA is likely to do so in the coming hours.
However, this (INAUDIBLE) comes as the U.S. faces an enormous loss of life. Hospitalizations are at a record high and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning the nation could average 3,000 deaths every day for the next few months.
Now, despite all of the evidence, all of the scientific data, the reassurances from all of the leading experts, many Americans, mostly Republicans, say they will not get it. The reason is misinformation, and just not accepting fact.
CNN's Elle Reeve went to the heart of Trump country where some even deny the existence of the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): News of imminent vaccines comes just as COVID-19 surges through rural parts of the country. And the political debate is as heated as ever.
GREG LOCKE, PASTOR, GLOBAL VISION BIBLE CHURCH: I don't wear mask when I go and eat.
REEVE (voice-over): We wanted to know if the same resistance to masks would happen to the vaccine. So we reached out to Greg Locke, a pastor in conservative Wilson County, Tennessee who says he has grown his congregation by protesting COVID control measures.
LOCKE: We're not going to close our church ladies and gentleman because of COVID.
There was a lot of sincere people that are doing their best to put out a vaccine but that doesn't mean I'm going to take it. I don't believe the government can tell me, you know, when or how I can stick a needle in my arm or my kids arms, super government overreach.
REEVE (voice-over): Locke says he's moved his services outdoors, not to limit the spread of COVID, but to handle all the new people who've come.
LOCKE: Thank God for fear. (INAUDIBLE)
I'm saying the sickness is real. I'm saying the pandemic is not.
REEVE (on-camera): I don't understand what you mean when you say pandemic's not real.
LOCKE: Pandemic is not real.
REEVE (on-camera): But what do you think a pandemic is?
LOCKE: Not? Not COVID-19.
REEVE (on-camera): But what do you think a pandemic is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we've stuck on the pandemic question too many times.
LOCKE: It's ridiculous.
REEVE (on-camera): Well, then why can't you answer it?
LOCKE: There's no pandemic. COVID-19 is not a pandemic.
REEVE (on-camera): Well what was is a pandemic then?
LOCKE: Not what we're experiencing. I'm 44 years old. We've not had one of my lifetime. So I don't know. And this is not it.
REEVE (voice-over): To be clear, a pandemic is a disease that spreads across many countries and affects many people. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March. And experts say about 70 percent of people need to get the vaccine to control COVID spread.
LISA BORCHERS, CHURCH SERVICE ATTENDEE: It's not been tested enough. We don't know what's going to happen with it. Later on, it may help you now but in the future it could cause more harm to your body if you get it easy.
GRACE PENIX, CHURCH SERVICE ATTENDEE: It's not, you know, this anti vaccination. You know, (INAUDIBLE) the devil it's like, personally, it's a choice.
REEVE (voice-over): Some people at this service told us they'd seen Locke on Facebook and liked his message.
LOCKE: Donald Trump won the election by a landslide. He will be reelected as the President of the United States.
REEVE (voice-over): We wanted to know how widespread his views are. So we drove deeper into Wilson County, where there's a COVID testing site at the fairgrounds.
[01:34:55]
REEVE: We met Quintin Smith, a cattle farmer who runs the agricultural center there and takes extra care to keep things sanitized during COVID.
QUINTIN SMITH, DIRECTOR, JAMES E. WARD AGRICULTURAL CENTER: You all never go to a fairgrounds or anybody is probably (INAUDIBLE). Come on, come on in.
I'm cautious about running out new light, you know, I think everybody's excited about there being a vaccine, but I find it's going to be kind of everybody waiting around and watching the first responders and nursing home folks and, you know, if there's any reaction to it.
Let me tell you what my daddy always told me. Son, don't never believe anything you hear, and only half what you see.
WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR OF PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: I think it's entirely human to be a little skeptical and a little hesitant. After all, this is a new virus in the human population.
This vaccine uses new technology. It's been developed very rapidly, and that makes people cautious.
REEVE (voice-over): Based on our interviews and recent polling, Pastor Locke represents an outspoken minority. Surveys by the Pew Research Center found that Republicans are less likely than Democrats to see COVID as a major threat to public health.
But also that there's a growing acceptance of the vaccine nationwide, including among Republicans. Sixty percent of Americans say they take it and nearly half of those who are reluctant say it's possible they'd get it after others do so. Dr. William Schaffner who's been working on infectious disease at Vanderbilt University since the 60s says that in order to overcome vaccine hesitancy, public health officials have to build trust.
SCHAFFNER: You have to respect people. You have to respect where they're coming from, hear what they say, and then try to respond to their concerns.
SMITH: You know, we give shots to cows all the time, and you do get reactions to shots. So, you know, we have give a shot to an animal and walk out there, 20 feet out of the shooting drop dead. Everybody's going to respond differently.
REEVE (on-camera): After the first responders take it when it's your turn, will you take the vaccine?
SMITH: I probably will go and take the vaccine.
REEVE (on-camera): How do you feel about the vaccine?
GWEN SCOTT, FIDDLERS GROVE COORDINATOR: Anything new, that has not been proven, we're not sure I won't be the guinea pig, you know, and I really wish there was time for more testing, but there's not.
And we're losing too many people too fast. So, we have got to do what we can. I know it's become a political issue at times, but it shouldn't be. This is a health issue.
SCHAFFNER: The approach to COVID has had substantial political overtones. People have attitudes about this, and it will not be easy to change those attitudes.
REEVE (on-camera): Are you going to tell the members of your congregation not to get the vaccine?
LOCKE: Members of our congregation can do what they want to, but they'll watch my videos and know that I'm not getting it.
REEVE (on-camera): So, you expect them to model your behavior.
LOCKE: I expect them to use their Bible and use their brain.
REEVE (voice-over): Elle Reeve, CNN -- Wilson County, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Amid a surge of cases of COVID-19, there is now concerns about a shortage once again of PPE and hospitals being overwhelmed. A little earlier, I spoke with Mary Turner. She's a frontline nurse, an ICU nurse. She is also president of the Minnesota nurses association.
We spoke to her a few weeks ago. She now has an update for us on the situation she is facing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: You know, I'm grateful you came back for this chance to talk. Because I was hoping you could tell us what is happening in your part of the world right now in terms of just patient numbers, the availability of PPE, how much capacity is left with ICUs in hospitals across the state.
MARY TURNER, ICU NURSE: I think I will start with my own unit that I had some recent surgeries. I had a little bit of a break, and I just worked this past weekend.
And I asked that very question of some of the nurses is that what difference had they -- were they seen recently. And you know, in the world of the ICU, you occasionally have a death. It's just the -- that's the nature of the beast kind of thing.
But the difference is that now we are having two or three deaths a day, you know, like, one per shift. And as soon as a bed is cleared and cleaned there is another person that's rolling in. So there is no break.
And this is indicative of our whole country that the ICU beds are like 90 percent -- 90 percent filled. There are some towns that have none. And so this -- so this means -- what this means is that you've got frontline workers that are working nonstop. There's no empty rooms, no empty beds.
And on top of that you had some of -- we have at any given time, across the state, thousands of frontline health care workers that are out on leave with COVID-related issues. And so, it is causing huge staffing -- a huge staffing crises.
[01:40:01]
VAUSE: I want to read you a headline from "The Wall Street Journal" from Thursday. It reads, U.S. supplies of COVID-19 PPE fall short of targets." Shortage of gear persists as cases surge, we just have the regular masks you can buy at Walmart." Is the quote.
You know, right now, the national stockpile has 150 million respirator masks. The goal was to have 300 million by this point. So, while there may not be actual acute shortages like there is at the beginning of the year, there does seem to be problems with supply lines and getting the right stuff to where it should be.
TURNER: Right. Well, It is going to be a problem again. So, at the beginning, when the supply lines were almost nonexistent, it is almost good. I know, in our five state area, and in Minnesota, it was mainly in our metro. It would have been a disaster if it would have been all over the whole state.
Well, now we have the COVID throughout the whole state. And the whole five-state area. And so, we have a lot more people that are needing this PPE. And this is a terrible time to realize that the national stockpile is only half of what it should be.
And that is because they should have this past winter, or when it first started, enacted the Defense Production Act. Our National Nurses United has been saying that over and over again. And I've been saying the same thing here in Minnesota.
And it never got enacted, and we would not have a problem right now. We wouldn't have a lot of the problems if we had got a lot of things started a lot earlier.
VAUSE: That's the thing that's really difficult to understand because ramping up production of masks, gloves, gowns -- that should have been the easy part. The vaccination was meant to be hard.
TURNER: Right.
VAUSE: But there is no coordinated national plan, right? and that basically means health care workers like you and your colleagues are simply put at greater risk. You have to work longer hours, with less equipment that you need.
That must be incredibly frustrating and doesn't do a whole lot for morale.
TURNER: No, it doesn't. And especially when they try to convince you that wearing your N95 for two to three up to I hear some hospitals are still wearing five shifts, eight shifts, that that mask is designed for a one time use. And I just recently checked with a (INAUDIBLE) nurse that verified that it is, indeed, meant for one time use.
And be try to be, to be convinced, that you are staying safe after you've use this mask for 12 hours, and you used it for five days and to try to convince us that well, don't worry you're being safe.
I mean, you feel like you're being played for a fool.
VAUSE: Well Mary --
TURNER: And we get into areas where we are reusing our isolation gowns because we are starting to run short of those again. And all of this is totally contrary to what we all learned in nursing school, which is optimal isolation protection.
These are the kinds of practices that we learned, and this is inherently, the kind of practices that we want to be able to use.
And it is very frustrating not to have what we need to stay safe.
VAUSE: I can only try and imagine what it must be like.
But you are in for some hellish weeks, I imagine, so I wish you the very best of luck. And thank you for taking the time to speak with us.
TURNER: Thank you.
VAUSE: While pandemic shutdowns and restrictions, have taken a huge economic toll on restaurants, and their employees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just devastating. You know, a lot of city restaurants, and bars, I have been hanging on by a thread.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Now, with renewed orders to close down in some states, many others fear they could be closing for good.
[01:43:55]
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VAUSE: Right now, the U.S. Congress remains deadlocked over a second financial aid package for businesses and families struggling during this pandemic. At the same time, the number of unemployed Americans continues to rise many who were employed in the restaurant industry.
CNN's Brian Todd has the reports now on the economic pain being felt by so many.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A chef and manager of several restaurants in Minnesota puts it bluntly. He is out of work for the second time this year. And he and his colleagues, he says, are running on fumes.
J.D. Fratzke chokes up when he talks about people who were his paying customers, now coming to his restaurants to pick up any groceries they can.
J.D. FRATZKE, MINNESOTA RESTAURANT MANAGER: That will hopefully provide the same kind of safety and comfort we had hope our restaurants would be able to offer this year.
TODD (voice over): Baltimore's mayor, trying to fend off a devastating COVID spike in the city has just ordered restaurants and bars to close all indoor and outdoor dining. Only carry out and delivery are available. A co-owner of Jimmy's Famous Seafood, doesn't know how long he can hang on.
JOHN MINADAKIS, CO-OWNER, JIMMY'S FAMOUS SEAFOOD BALTIMORE: It's just devastating. You know, a lot of city restaurants and bars have been hanging on by a thread, and this effectively, pulls the plug on all of them. We have to find new and creative ways for them to subsidize our income somehow. Because I told them, you know, the government won't take care of you but we will.
TODD: The government isn't taking care of them. Democrats and Republicans in Congress still unable to agree to a second coronavirus stimulus bill to help Americans who have lost so much. This, as the Labor Department reports that another 853,000 Americans filed for first time unemployment benefits last week.
JOSEPH LLOBRERA, CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES: We are stunned and infuriated that congress really hasn't acted to renew relief. Now is the time for Congress to act boldly, not maybe nickel and dime the American public.
TODD: One restaurant analyst believes there could be 50,000 to 60,000 permanent restaurant closures in America due to the pandemic. And without a stimulus bill --
PETER SALEH, RESTAURANT ANALYST, BTIG: I think the longer it goes on, the more carnage we're going to have in the space. You're seeing the sales already start to backtrack. There's really no reason to believe that sales trends will improve in December or even in January given the cold weather.
TODD (voice over): And the food insecurity crisis in America remains dire. More than 50 million Americans may not have enough to eat by the end of this year in part because of the pandemic. That is according to Feeding America, the largest hunger relief group in the U.S.
In an area of the Bronx, New York that has one of the highest rates of food insecurity among children in the country, Regina Status received a delivery from a food pantry just in time to feed her and her two children for Thanksgiving. Then, she spoke to CNN.
REGINA STATUS, NEW YORK CITY RESIDENT: Just surviving. That's all I can say. You just have to survive it.
TODD (on camera): And the projections keep getting more dire. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities tells us, they estimate that between 7 and 11 million children in America are in households where they don't have enough to eat.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And despite all of that, it seems hopes are fading that U.S. lawmakers will be able to reach an agreement before the next spending deadline.
Eleni Giokos is live this hour from Johannesburg. So Eleni, you know, how should we see these latest job numbers? How is that being seen in terms of the overall strength or lack thereof with the U.S. economy?
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I mean look, these initial jobless claims numbers are really vital on a weekly basis because it points to a wider trend. Now, this is the highest number we've seen in three months, and it's the biggest increase in initial claims since March. And it is pointing towards a deteriorating labor market in the United States and directly correlated to the increase of coronavirus cases.
[01:49:51]
GIOKOS: We know what lockdowns and partial lockdowns mean for labor markets. We know what it means for vulnerable communities and jobs. And that report you see the restaurant business is coming under pressure. Retailers are taking a big knock. Now embedded in those initial claims numbers, you've got to look at the continuous claims figure as well. It was increased up to 5.8 million in the week ended by December, and that is up from 5.5 million, John.
So we're started to see people exhausting avenues in terms of benefits. Some people have exhausted the avenue in terms of applying for emergency benefits as well. And now, of course, a big question, when is a stimulus package finally going to come into play?
We don't have many legislative days left for federal spending. The deadline is looming. You and I have been talking about it since, of course, a stimulus plan, of course, came to an end in July. And people have been waiting for some kind of news since then.
There are two main sticking points now between the White House and, of course, Congress. Liability protections for businesses and aid for states and cities. That is what we are hearing is happening behind closed doors.
Now Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is saying that he does not actually see a path to an agreement anytime soon. These are two main sticking points, the size of the vote has been watered down to just over $900 billion. And of course, now we are waiting for the vaccine program to come into effect.
In the meantime we are sitting in the limbo of (INAUDIBLE) of extreme pain for vulnerable households. And this is going to continue. And economists are warning, that the scars of the pandemic are going to be deep, and are going to be painful, going forward. If a stimulus plan is not put into place.
VAUSE: Yes. And they've only had what, six months to get this done? Anyway.
GIOKOS: Yes.
VAUSE: Eleni, thank you. Good to see you.
Still to come here, Saudi Arabia has approved the use of a coronavirus vaccine, but when will that actually get there and who will actually get it? A report from Riyadh, when we come back.
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VAUSE: Egypt has received its first shipment of the coronavirus vaccine made by Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical giant, Sinopharm. The Egyptian government says it will make the drug available free of charge. A government health official claims the vaccine is 86 percent effective. And medical staff, the elderly, and those with chronic diseases will receive priority.
Saudi Arabia has approved use of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. We get the very latest now from Nic Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): At the Saudi government's new state-of-the-art COVID-19 command center, all eyes watching for a possible second wave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That one -- show how many days until we're going to reach that number --
ROBERTSON: Artificial intelligence, analyzing real-time data from COVID-19 tests to hospital beds to medicines to PPE to personnel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have our beds and this regions (INAUDIBLE) --
ROBERTSON: It is a virtual finger on the pulse of the nation.
DR. NAWFAL ALJERIAN (ph), MEDICAL DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HEALTH COMMAND CENTER: We are focusing on where the outbreaks are, where the super spreaders are, where the events are.
TAWFIG ALRABIAH, SAUDI MINISTER OF HEALTH: And we are watching here. I'm saying we are part of this world. A second wave can happen in Saudi Arabia like what had happened in other countries.
ROBERTSON: The cost to the kingdom has already been high. Although, the number of deaths, based on population, is lower than the global average.
The country shut its borders temporarily, barring millions of Muslims from pilgrimage to Islam's two holiest sites -- Mecca and Medina. And stopped Saudis from leaving.
[01:54:57]
ALRABIAH: We had to stop it for the safety of all.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Was that a hard decision for you.
ALRABIAH: Absolutely.
ROBERTSON: Saudi's big COVID spike came over the summer when temperatures rocketed and people stayed indoors.
Since then, according to Johns Hopkins University, infections have gone down significantly. Government messaging and actions around testing and controls so far seemingly effective.
(voice over): Demand, Riyadh's drive-in COVID-19 test centers has dropped off. Staff here are grateful. Dentist turned frontline COVID- 19 professional Mohammed Shamri (ph) got the virus in May. His wife, a hospital surgeon, got it five days later. Their hopes, now, focusing on vaccines.
"We are especially happy about this vaccine," he says, "because we maintain social distancing with family, with brothers, with uncles out of fear for their safety."
How fast Saudis can get them determined, in part, here at the government's new high tech COVID-19 research lab. Scientists here already have several years experience studying other strains of coronavirus, partnering with England's Oxford University.
And are responsible for picking which of the globally available vaccines Saudis will get. European and American offerings top of the list. Russian and Chinese products, so far, not making the scientific cut.
AHMED ALASKAR, DIRECTOR, KING ABDULLAH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL RESEARCH CENTER: Well, the three vaccine so far that have been announced recently -- the Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca -- all are attractive, and all show the good results.
ROBERTSON (voice over): And now the Pfizer vaccine is approved, rollout, the health minister says, will be free, and should be fast.
ALRABIAH: We have a great supply chain. We have health services across the kingdom. Once we have the vaccine, we have the capacity to deliver the vaccines in a short time.
ROBERTSON: Until then, data at the COVID-19 command center is king. Across the world, in rooms like this, tense days still not done.
Nick Robertson, CNN -- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks for being with us. I'm John Vause.
Stay with us though. I will be right back after the break with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
[01:57:37]
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