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U.S. FDA Authorizes Pfizer BioNTech Vaccine; BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin Says Celebrations On Hold Until More Work Is Completed on Vaccine; Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Bid To Overturn Election; London May Face Tougher COVID-19 Restrictions; Maskless Partiers Pack Mexican Beach; Historic Georgia Senate Runoff Ad Spending Tops $450 Million; CNN Correspondent Stephanie Elam Joins J&J Vaccine Trial To Encourage Minority Vaccinations. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired December 12, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is not something I thought, frankly, was going to happen this year. This is a remarkable pace of medical innovation.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice-over): A major milestone in a deadly fight. The FDA gives emergency authorization to the Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus. We'll tell you what happens next.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Plus, the Supreme Court rejects a lawsuit backed by the president aimed at overturning the election results.
Is this the end of the road for Mr. Trump?
And all hands on deck for Georgia. Both parties send in some familiar faces to rally support ahead of the vote.
Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: The first vaccinations are on the verge of becoming reality in the U.S. A snapshot of what the past 24 hours has brought shows why it's so desperately needed.
The Food and Drug Administration late Friday gave emergency use authorization to the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The head of the FDA called it a significant milestone in battling the pandemic.
Injections can begin as soon as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives its OK and that could happen later today. It follows the U.S. breaking three records Friday. Hospitalizations
hit more than 108,000 COVID patients. The number of new confirmed infections, almost 232,000 people and most tragically in terms of deaths, more than 3,300 Americans.
Now the arrival of a vaccine is great news but the fact remains the U.S. is in dire straits right now. To keep local hospitals from being overrun, many communities are reimposing restrictions. CNN's Erica Hill has those details.
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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND U.S. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A historic moment as the first coronavirus vaccine gets the green light from the FDA, the first shots now just days away.
ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We could be seeing people getting vaccinated Monday, Tuesday of next week.
HILL (voice-over): And we need it because the virus is out of control.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES, CA: With 12,819 new infections, that's 2,000 more than the worst day we've ever had. It's happening so quickly sometimes we can't even take in these numbers.
HILL (voice-over): Nationwide nearly a quarter million new cases on Thursday. More than 2,700 newly reported deaths. Hospitalizations also swelling to new highs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very frustrating for us because we're trying to save people and take care of you and people aren't listening to us.
HILL (voice-over): The strain on hospitals prompting new restrictions.
DR. ERIN BROMAGE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: We've tried the nuanced approach. We've tried layers of defense. We've tried to educate people and it's obviously not working.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We're going to close indoor dining in New York City on Monday.
HILL (voice-over): Pennsylvania also shutting down indoor dining and gyms. North Carolina's stay at home order goes in effect tonight.
GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): The virus is upon us with a rapid viciousness like we haven't seen before.
HILL (voice-over): The city of Miami will start enforcing a curfew this weekend. Virginia's kicks in on Monday, gatherings limited to just 10 people. The religious services are exempt.
GOV. RALPH NORTHAM (D-VA): I strongly call on our faith leaders to lead the way and set an example for their members. Worship with a mask on is still worship. Worship outside or worship online is still worship.
HILL (voice-over): The holidays looming and experts could not be more clear: this year has to be different.
MIKE OSTERHOLM, CENTER FOR DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY INSTITUTE: I don't care if I'm accused of being the Grinch that stole Christmas, there is not a safe Christmas party in this country right now.
HILL: Here in New York the goal is to keep hospital capacity under 85 percent and they'll do that by adding beds or, in some cases, reducing elective surgeries. At Mt. Sinai Hospital System, they're preparing for those initial vaccine shipments.
Those first in line will be staff, who have the most interaction with COVID-19 patients -- in New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: And CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been reading through the FDA's written authorization and explains what's in it and why it's important.
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GUPTA: What is a nine-page document from the FDA, basically, saying we have an emergency use authorized vaccine. This is the first authorized vaccine for COVID-19 in the United States.
A letter, sent to Pfizer tonight, late tonight, from the chief scientist at the FDA, basically, saying that the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine has met the requirements, has demonstrated that the benefits outweigh the risks and it is an effective and safe vaccine to treat COVID-19, to prevent COVID-19.
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GUPTA: There are a few things I want to point out, this is an authorization, not an approval, meaning data will continue to be collected. There is a vaccine adverse event reporting system, where any kind of adverse events that occur over the next few years will continue to be reported.
They have to continue to submit safety data and, also, submit data about the manufacturing of the vaccine. It is one thing to produce a vaccine for tens of thousands of people in a clinical trial. But something else to produce it for hundreds of millions of people.
This is a long deliberation that's going on between the advisory committee and the FDA resulting in this authorization.
There's a few points for consumers that, I think, will be important. One is, for people who have had significant allergic reactions in the past, so significant you carry an EpiPen or something like that, there will be a discussion with your health care provider. But it's likely that this vaccine will not be recommended for you.
For pregnant women, you may remember, pregnant women were not part of the vaccine trial. And there are around 23 women who became pregnant during the trial. So there is some data there but not very much. They are basically saying the vaccine could be administered to someone
who is pregnant, but after consultation with their health care provider and in acknowledgment that there is not much data there. Really, it's a question there.
If someone is in a high-risk category and a pregnant woman, should they go ahead and get the vaccine?
There was another point about age and, if you remember, this was supposed to be authorized for people 16 and older. There were a few members of the advisory committee who said that should be 18. And the FDA, seems like they're sticking with 16.
What this is -- and it's a huge moment, in this pandemic, it's a huge moment in science, just to have had a vaccine go from a genetic code that is identified to an authorized vaccine, within the year like that. A pretty remarkable achievement.
Now we wait on the CDC to tell us the specific recommendations, the who, what, where, of this whole thing.
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BRUNHUBER: BioNTech's CEO spoke exclusively to CNN about the FDA's approval of the vaccine he worked on. Fred Pleitgen has that interview for us and is standing by in Germany.
Great exclusive there. He must have been thrilled that this hurdle has been overcome.
What did he tell you?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly a major hurdle that they've overcome. One of the things that the CEO of BioNTech said this was a herculean effort. They started working on this in January 24/7 to get the vaccine going.
One of the things that was really important was the partnership from Pfizer, which really brought that muscle of a giant pharma company into all of this, setting up the trials in the U.S. with tens of thousands of people out there very, very quickly.
Now, of course, they're very happy that they've achieved this emergency use authorization. They say it was a key milestone for them. Here's what the CEO of BioNTech told me.
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UGUR SAHIN, CEO, BIONTECH: This is a most important milestone. The authorization of our vaccine in the United States was one of the most important milestones from the very beginning.
PLEITGEN: When do you think it will start having an impact on the trajectory, also, of the virus in the United States?
SAHIN: It could happen beginning March, end of March, to see the first effects, I would hope it with the spring season and we would have, by nature, a lower rate of infections and the combination of that may help us to have a better summer than the situation is now.
PLEITGEN: What steps are being taken to really upgrade and speed up production as fast as possible?
SAHIN: We anticipate that the need for each of our vaccine (ph) is much higher than we initially estimated. Now of course, understanding that more doses may be required, we started a few weeks ago to evaluate if we can produce more doses.
And this, of course, means we need to understand the constraints, for example, the availability of raw materials, the availability of machines, of production rooms and of finished capacity. This is exactly happening.
And I anticipate, at the end of January, we will be able to clearly state if we can produce more of those and if, yes, how many more doses.
PLEITGEN: What do you think our future will be with this virus?
SAHIN: I expect the virus will stay with us and I expect we will require (INAUDIBLE) immunizations.
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SAHIN: This will become some sort of, I would not say seasonal but maybe every 2 years vaccination, will be required to ensure that people do not get reinfections or infections.
I could even anticipate that this could become a vaccine that is already applied in childhood.
PLEITGEN: You provide Americans with hope that we are turning a page and that we are getting to pushing the pandemic back.
SAHIN: I'm optimistic. Of course, we are now in an extremely difficult situation, not only in the United States but also in Europe. The infection numbers are high and, every day, many people are dying.
What we now know, we have a solution for the problem. And we have to work hard, to make our vaccine and to make other vaccines, available, as soon as possible.
PLEITGEN: It's a real service to humanity, isn't it?
SAHIN: It's indeed a service to humanity and it is in the center of our hearts, that we are able to help people. It is our goal and our vision, to make our vaccine available worldwide, to any region on the planet.
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PLEITGEN: And making that vaccine worldwide, of course, is a big challenge, not just because the doses are just now being produced but, of course, also because of the way that this vaccine needs to be stored and transported, Kim, at around minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
The folks at BioNTech are telling us they are studying the vaccine they have and already working on an upgraded formulation of the vaccine to hopefully be able to transport it at refrigerated temperatures or maybe room temperatures possibly by the second half of 2021.
They're working on optimizing the vaccine while they're also working on producing more doses faster as well.
BRUNHUBER: Great reporting there. Frederick Pleitgen, outside of the BioNTech headquarters in Germany. Thank you so much.
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BRUNHUBER: Dr. Stephen Parodi is the associate executive director of the Permanente Medical Group and he joins me now.
Thank you for joining us. I want to start with the FDA's emergency use authorization. Across the country, hospitals like yours are preparing for the first rollout.
Tell us, how are you getting ready?
How quickly can people get the shots and who gets them?
DR. STEPHEN PARODI, ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PERMANENTE MEDICAL GROUP: It's really good to be with you.
And it is actually very welcome news with this emergency use authorization that the FDA has issued tonight. Of course, there are a couple of other steps with our CDC colleagues to finalize that.
But we have been mobilizing and working with our partners, both at the federal and state level, to receive the vaccine. It's been a massive mobilization effort. We have garnered all of our specialists to, of course, review the data ourselves.
We, in fact, participated in the vaccine trial so have confidence in both the safety and efficacy of this vaccine; have been developing the workflows to be able to get that on the ground to the health care workers and the residents of health care facilities that are at risk for complications from COVID.
BRUNHUBER: If the CDC gives its go ahead, when would you start?
Some say it could be as soon as Monday.
PARODI: I think that could be the case. As soon as they pull the trigger, what I understand is that we will be receiving the vaccine within 24 hours of the go-ahead. That could be as early as next week.
We have been mobilizing our teams so that they have both the prioritization, that the CDC has provided to us, as well as having the people trained up and ready to go. In fact, a lot of the protocols that they have in place for the flu vaccine we're going to be able to use with COVID.
BRUNHUBER: The biggest challenges must be staffing up. Many big health care systems like yours across the country are all trying to attract freelance nurses, for example.
How stiff is that competition and how does that affect your ability to staff up when you're already stretched?
PARODI: You're absolutely right. Right now, in California where I'm sitting today, we are taking care of more than 2,000 patients in our hospitals. We also have almost 40 percent of our ICUs with COVID-19 patients.
So we have had to staff up.
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PARODI: We've had to actually mobilize a lot of our guidance around surge that we put together earlier in the year but now are fully implementing. And then on top of that, what we've done is we've repurposed a lot of the staff that works on the outpatient side to be ready to do the COVID-19 vaccine effort.
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BRUNHUBER: That was Dr. Stephen Parodi of the Permanente Medical Group, speaking to me earlier from Oakland, California.
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a crushing defeat to the U.S. president. Just ahead, how its ruling in an election case is unleashing the wrath of Donald Trump.
Plus, the first doses of the vaccine could be ready but keeping it super cold is a challenge. We'll take a look when we come back. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: President Donald Trump is lashing out at the U.S. Supreme Court. He's angry over its refusal to even hear a lawsuit filed by Texas that sought to block millions of votes in four battleground states.
The court basically said Texas has no standing to tell other states how to run their elections.
In a short but direct statement on Twitter, Mr. Trump said, quote, "The Supreme Court really let us down.
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BRUNHUBER: "No wisdom, no courage." He sent out several tweets pushing his baseless claims of a rigged
election and vowing to fight on. CNN Justice Correspondent, Jessica Schneider has more on the high court's decision.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Supreme Court has spoken and it is game over for what was a long shot lawsuit that gained support from more than 100 Republicans in Congress, nearly 2 dozen Republican attorneys general.
The justices on the Supreme Court have spoken for the second time this week, shutting down Republican efforts to stop Joe Biden from becoming president. The Supreme Court putting it this way.
"Texas has no right to even file this lawsuit at the high court because Texas has no right to legally challenge how another state conducts its elections."
In this case, Texas was challenging the election procedures of four battleground states. In this order from the Supreme Court, two of the most conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, said they believe the Supreme Court should have at least let Texas file the case.
But then these two justices said, if that had happened, they, too, would have rejected it. So this is a complete rejection of the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, his efforts to stop the electors in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia from voting for Joe Biden when they meet on Monday.
Now this was a short order, just one page, and just a few sentences in it. But this is a major defeat for Republicans and it's a victory for all the states and officials who blasted this effort by Texas.
In fact, officials in Pennsylvania calling it, quote, "a cacophony of bogus claims that called for a seditious abuse of the judicial process."
The Supreme Court seem to agree, in a Friday order, that capped off a week of two Supreme Court rejections of Republican efforts. Of course, there have been repeated shutdowns of cases across the country by other state and federal judges. This one, just the latest -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: For more on this, let's bring in Leslie Vinjamuri, the director of the U.S. and Americas Programme at Chatham House in London.
Thank you so much for joining us. Now that the smoke is finally clearing, I vacillate between two extremes, shock and how fragile the electoral system is, how close to the edge we came, and reassured at how robust the system is that, in the end, it passed this extreme stress test.
And it really wasn't all that close after all. They did lose some 50- odd legal challenges.
Where do you stand?
LESLIE VINJAMURI, DIRECTOR OF THE U.S. AND AMERICAS PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: Well, I think it wasn't all that close. They lost all those legal challenges, they lost the popular vote by 7 million voters approximately and the Electoral College. The margin has not been small in all 50 states.
Nonetheless, the fact that so many Republicans in the House of Representatives really said that they supported the president's effort and the effort behind the Texas lawsuit is all very concerning.
But I think at the end of the story, it's leaning towards, you know, your first claim, which is -- or your second claim, which is, in fact, the system worked. It's been stress tests. What we've seen is that the Supreme Court is truly independent, despite several people's concerns over the past months with the rush to confirm justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Many people thought that signaled the independence of the Supreme Court. But in fact, this is a very clear sign that it has not affected the independence of the Supreme Court.
And regardless of the president's power to appoint and to give those lifetime appointments, it's the lifetime appointment that remains tremendously important in ensuring the independence of that court.
So you know, I think going forward, once President Biden has been installed in office, when that question of the Supreme Court reform comes up, people are going to have to think very, very hard about some proposals, which are going to have term elements on justices. That independence is just tremendously important.
BRUNHUBER: So the system held but what about society?
Their reaction to all this kind of baffles me. They've been presented with two possibilities, one, there was a massive fraud from both parties across several states with dozens of judges, Democrats and Republicans, supporting this, including the ones the president appointed, that's one.
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BRUNHUBER: Or two, Donald Trump lost.
Given that, how governable will this country be?
The Texas Republican Party floated the idea of secession. The president is still exhorting his followers to fight on. So look into the future here.
VINJAMURI: The broader question of America's democracy, of division among Americans, of polarization, of what information Americans are using to form their views and whether it's fact-based or subject of rhetorical abuse, this is a worrying part of America's history, of our democracy.
And the next president, President Biden, is going to have a challenging country to govern at a time when the effects of the pandemic are so destructive, when the need to get ordinary Americans back to work, means he's going to have to govern in a very divided Congress as well, depending on what happens in those two runoff races in Georgia.
But nonetheless, even if the Democrats were to have control of the Senate, they still face that very divided electorate.
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BRUNHUBER: Thanks to Leslie Vinjamuri, who joined us there from London.
Getting the COVID vaccine where it needs to be won't be easy. When we return, we'll explain what's actually involved and why huge amounts of dry ice pose special risks.
Plus, Europe is still evaluating the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine but already has agreed when all E.U. countries will get it.
And with COVID resurging in many places, it can't arrive too soon. We'll go live to Paris and London with the latest developments. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to you, our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world.
The first vaccinations are becoming reality in the U.S. The past 24 hours underscore why it's desperately needed. The U.S. shattered records on Friday with deaths, new cases and hospitalizations.
The Food and Drug Administration late Friday gave emergency use authorization to the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Injections can begin as soon as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives its OK. CNN's Pete Muntean explains how shipping the super cold vaccine poses unique challenges.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know that the Pfizer vaccine leaving here will need to be packaged in tens of thousands of pounds of dry ice that is critical for this vaccine, especially temperature sensitive.
Needs to be at negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit during transport. What's so interesting here is that the FAA is telling air cargo operators handling those packages to take extra care because of the dry ice.
As it melts, the FAA says, and it does so faster on an airplane, that dry ice turns into carbon dioxide and, in extreme cases, could be enough to suffocate a pilot or somebody handling one of those packages.
The FAA is recommending that people involved in this massive movement wear CO2 detectors or that they be installed in airplanes. We know that UPS and FedEx will be transporting and handling those packages. UPS in the east, FedEx in the west. UPS said we're about to see a massive coordinated set of movements.
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WES WHEELER, UPS HEALTHCARE: People embedded in the Pfizer location in Michigan, they will be helping Pfizer to dispatch packages. They will be loaded onto a trailer, a dedicated trailer, with an escort. They will drive five hours to Louisville, Kentucky, then they'll be dispatched around to the states that we're assigned.
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MUNTEAN: There is also help coming from the federal government. Truckers will see relaxed restrictions to work extra hours. Air traffic controllers will give priority clearance to flights carrying the vaccines. And U.S. Marshals will monitor the security of these shipments. It is a massive movement and it all starts right here -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Portage, Michigan.
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BRUNHUBER: Many European countries are grappling with a resurgence of cases even as its agencies evaluate the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. The E.U. has agreed that, once it's approved there, its member states will get the vaccines at the same time.
In England, there's concern that London might have to enter a strict tier 3 level lockdown next week. The British capital is seeing a rise in infections, especially among school children. The government says it plans to start mass testing 11- to 18-yearcolds. Joining me from London, CNN reporter Anna Stewart and, from Paris, CNN's Jim Bittermann.
First you, Anna, testing older school students in London. Good for those in the capital where you are.
I understand people in other areas are asking, what about our kids?
Take us through how this is going to work.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The mobile testing units are going to be sent out to secondary schools in the worst affected areas of London, Essex and Kent. They'll be inside the school with someone nearby.
Students are being encouraged to take a test. They're being encouraged to take a test whether or not they have symptoms. This is due to the fact that the government has said the majority of cases are in this age group of 11 to 18.
While they're not the most vulnerable age group in terms of contracting a serious case of COVID-19, the worry is that, once it's in one age group, it quickly spreads through another and through the community.
You are right to say there is some anger outside of London in the areas getting mass testing at secondary schools, particularly in the north of England, seeing high COVID cases. They have had very strict lockdowns for a long time. And they have not been offered this level of mass testing for schools.
Some teachers have been coming out, saying, you know what, some of our students have spent more time at home self-isolating because they've been in contact with someone who had COVID-19 than they've been in school, learning in a classroom.
So there's certainly a bit of anger there. One MP in Lancaster said the government is treating the north as second-class citizens. Meanwhile, overall, the picture is not looking great, particularly in England, where the rate of infection is on the increase.
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STEWART: Kim, that's despite our national lockdown ending less than two weeks ago. The trajectory in London, as you mentioned, is particularly bad. And next week we do wonder where the government in its review will put London into a much stricter tier of restrictions before Christmas, forcing businesses and hospitality venues to close. But all eyes on Christmas and whether we can still all meet. That was the plan from the government.
BRUNHUBER: We'll be following that. Thank you so much.
So, Jim, turning back to the vaccine, on a day of excitement here in the U.S., there was disappointment elsewhere. Walk us through what happened.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Kim, this is news that came out of GlaxoSmithKline Sanofi. They paired up and developed their own approach to vaccines. They had to announce that, in fact, they're not going to be able to present the vaccine until the third quarter of 2021.
Basically they've discovered that it's not so effective for senior citizens. And as a consequence, they're going back to the drawing board in terms of the development of this vaccine.
Europe will go ahead and push ahead with the rollout of the vaccines by Pfizer and by Moderna. But another little bit of disappointing news came earlier in the week, when the European Medicines Agency, which is the group that authorizes medicine for use all across Europe, basically came out and said they're not going to be talking about their evaluations on Pfizer until the 29th of December.
So it's quite late, compared to Great Britain and the United States. And Moderna not until January 12th. So a delay in the rollout, at least in comparison to what we're seeing in the United States and Great Britain, in Europe.
And then it will be complications coming after that. One thing that's really interesting here, Kim, is that the French, in particular, are going to put up a website, where they're going to evaluate these vaccines on a weekly basis.
They're going to make public exactly what they're hearing in terms of the kind of effects that may be -- not positive effects that are coming up with the different vaccines and people can see for themselves. That, perhaps, could counteract the anti-vaxers, which are numerous in the country.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting approach to transparency there.
Thank you so much, appreciate it, guys. Anna Stewart in London and Jim Bittermann near Paris. Appreciate it.
Health officials in Mexico have authorized use of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine and are calling it a cause for hope. A quarter million doses are expected to arrive in Mexico before the end of the month and 15 million more by April.
Health care workers will be first in line to receive the vaccine. But in the meantime, Mexico remains a top vacation destination. And it won't surprise you to hear some tourists aren't taking the pandemic seriously. CNN's Matt Rivers reports.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is tourist hot spot Tulum, Mexico, this year, in mid November.
The dance party with the pre-pandemic vibe, was part of a five-day festival called Art with Me.
This attendee says, "At that moment, when you're in the party, you are not thinking about getting sick."
As "The Daily Beast" first reported, hundreds attended from multiple countries, including the U.S., despite the organizer's website describing COVID protocols that would be followed, masks, hand washing, social distance, CNN found lots of videos online, showing, well, not that.
Organizers said the event was designed to celebrate culture of all forms but, for many, just not the mask-wearing kind. She says, "There's those who don't want to leave home and not live and
then there are others that go out, live life and put COVID aside. We are that kind of people."
RIVERS: Some people who attended this party could have put others at risk. Some came down here to Mexico and could have put Mexican lives in danger, because they did not follow safety protocols. And some, because what happens here doesn't stay here, could have spread the virus when they went back home.
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DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I see each of these events as potential superspreader events because if even one person at that event has coronavirus, they could spread it to dozens of other people.
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RIVERS (voice-over): The government of Tulum says they are looking into whether local regulations were broken but says these events were not illegal. Organizers had said they would require attendees to wear masks and social distance. Many people just did not comply.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It puts human lives at risk but it also puts our image as a tourism destination at risk.
RIVERS (voice-over): The organizers are apologizing; in a statement to CNN, Art with Me said they worked to implement strict health measures, quote, "We stand behind our protocols.
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RIVERS (voice-over): However, in the end, we regret not canceling the event entirely. We apologize for any strain this may have caused our already overtaxed health system and front line workers and we hope others might learn from our experience."
Another event, the dance music celebrating Zamna festival will kick off on New Year's Eve. Their website says COVID-19 protocols will be strictly followed. But the mayor says, the event will not be held unless current COVID restrictions are relaxed.
The festival's opening party, already sold out.
RIVERS: An argument you hear a lot, including from some who went to this festival, is that if tourists don't show, up locals don't eat and it's true, tourism is Tulum's lifeblood. But in reality, it's a weak justification. There is traveling to support local economies, while being as safe as possible and actually considering the risk you might pose to others. And then, there is this -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
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BRUNHUBER: Control of the U.S. Senate depends on two runoff races here in Georgia. And big names are hitting the campaign trail.
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SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: Georgia, we need you to not just show up January 5th, not just win but to crush it.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Why some Republicans say they won't vote and the eye-popping amount of money being spent. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: A staggering $450 million has been spent in Georgia's Senate runoffs. Two races which could determine whether Democrats or Republicans will control the U.S. Senate.
Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff spent more on his ads than any other candidate did for the entire election. But overall Republicans have outspent Democrats in the Southern state. That is sure to increase as early voting begins Monday.
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BRUNHUBER: Ryan Nobles has more from here in Georgia.
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RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is crunch time in Georgia, even though the Senate runoffs are more than three weeks away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got your back, Georgia. We got your back.
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: Thank you.
NOBLES: And high-profile Republicans like former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin are crisscrossing the state, selling the message of protecting a GOP majority by electing David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
PALIN: I want to speak on behalf of America, Georgia, we need you to not just show up January 5th, not just win, but to crush it.
NOBLES: Voters have already started returning absentee ballots. Early voting beginning statewide Monday, as Republicans try to balance two causes that don't totally align.
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want you to be confident about your vote.
NOBLES: Urging supporters to vote in the runoffs, while at the same time lending support to President Trump's baseless claim of election fraud in the state.
PALIN: The rigged election and I know that is for another bus stop, but for a rigged election.
NOBLES: Republicans are also encouraging early and mail-in voting, a practice the president and allies have attacked. But with the control of the Senate on the line, Republican volunteers like Brad Carver are making the pitch.
BRAD CARVER, REPUBLICAN VOLUNTEER: I think a lot of our voters still will vote early, in person and I think we will see all other voters take advantage of the absentee ballots.
NOBLES: Democrats are doing the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get some signs to vote.
NOBLES: Pushing their supporters to vote early.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good afternoon, everyone.
NOBLES: President-elect Joe Biden traveled to Atlanta next Tuesday to drive home the early vote message. And this weekend, candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff will make dozens of stops across the state.
JON OSSOFF (D-GA), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: That's where everybody needs to make a plan to vote, because these attacks on voting rights are real and they cannot be -- they cannot be permitted.
NOBLES: For Republicans, one critical question down the stretch is whether the president's baseless attacks of voting in the state will undercut the campaigns of the GOP candidates, especially while GOP officials in the state like newly elected Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory, continue to spread false claims about the November results.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA), CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT: We all know for a fact Joe Biden did not win Georgia.
We know that Georgia are reelected President Donald J. Trump.
Now, we got two fights on our hands.
NOBLES: All with the goal of keeping the Trump's loyal supporters engaged until January 5th -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Pfizer BioNTech aren't the only pharmaceutical firms with the COVID vaccine. When we come back, our own correspondent Stephanie Elam joins Johnson & Johnson's trial. She'll tell us why she took the shot. Stay with us.
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[05:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson is conducting its own vaccine trials. And it has some advantages over the others. There is no need to store it at super cold temperatures. But some members of minority communities distrust vaccines. CNN's Stephanie Elam is hoping her own example will encourage others to get the shot.
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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Everyone in this office is here in the pursuit of science.
STANTON ROWE, VACCINE TRIAL PARTICIPANT: Hopefully, I'll develop immunity over the next few weeks.
ELAM: ARC Clinical Research will administer shots to about 200 people, part of a randomized COVID-19 vaccine trial for Johnson & Johnson.
ROWE: I think that enough is known that I'm very comfortable with getting the injection.
ELAM: But not everyone is, especially since trials have been sped up to battle a coronavirus crisis that's out of control. Nationwide, some 40,000 people are taking part in this trial, including me. I'm not just reporting on this Phase Three COVID vaccine trial, I'm part of it.
(on camera): I wanted to do this because I wanted to see how the science worked and I wanted other black people, other people of color to see someone like them going through this process.
DR. KENNETH KIM, CEO ARC CLINICAL RESEARCH: Generally, it's important that you study people from many different diverse backgrounds because you can have a different side effect profile or you can have different dose levels if it's a drug.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What the United States government did was shameful and I am sorry.
ELAM (voice-over): Yet America's history of unethical medical studies on people of color has led to generations of fear, most notably, the abhorrent decades long Tuskegee experiment that began in the 1930s. It was designed to study untreated syphilis in hundreds of black men without their consent.
(on camera): What do you hear from people, from those demographics that are more hesitant?
KIM: Rather thinking of this as an opportunity to get access to a new therapy earlier there's more suspicion that this could be an unsafe program so there is definitely fear.
ELAM (voice-over): But not all are fearful. 22-year-old Conrado Perez is waiting for his shot.
CONRADO PEREZ, VACCINE PARTICIPANT: I know a lot of people like within my ethnicity would be, I guess, skeptical of it? But me, not really.
ELAM (on camera): I signed the paperwork and they've asked me all of the things they need to know about my personal health.
And I've had my blood drawn and I've been shown what I'm taking home with me and how that technology is going to work and how I'm going to update them about any symptoms, any feelings that I have after I get the vaccine. All that's left, is to get the needle in my arm.
I don't know whether or not I'm going to get the placebo or the real vaccine. In fact, no one here knows what I'm going get, it's all decided by a computer someplace else.
(voice-over): And even though some vaccines are further along in the approval process, America still needs more doses to cover the population and there's great interest in candidates like this one from Johnson & Johnson.
[05:55:00]
ELAM (voice-over): For one thing, it's just one shot unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
UNIDENTIFIED NURSE: It gets shipped to us frozen in just a regular freezer setting and then we're allowed to store in the refrigerator for about 28 days.
ELAM: Storage lesson aside, nurse Princess is here to give me my shot.
UNIDENTIFIED NURSE: All right. Deep breath. Small poke.
ELAM (on camera): It felt like getting a flu shot but now I've got to sit here sit here and wait for 30 minutes to make sure that there's no adverse effects right away. But I am still feeling really solid about my decision to do this.
UNIDENTIFIED NURSE: All right, no injection site reaction, you're OK.
ELAM: And hopefully, hopefully this will get people out there to trust science and to believe in science and medicine and how hard these people work.
After getting the shot I woke up the next morning and felt my arm and didn't feel any effects from the shot. I didn't get the sniffles. But I checked in with Dr. Kim. He told me some people get the placebo and do get sniffles, headaches, and other people get the actual vaccine and have no effects.
So I really don't know what I got. This trial, however, is going to wrap up within the next week and then they're going to need to examine the data from at least half of the people involved in this trial so that they can move forward and try to get that emergency use authorization.
And that would not happen before January. But overall, I hope other people who see me taking part in this, they will trust the science, they will trust the medicine and get themselves vaccinated because too many people of color are losing their battle to the coronavirus -- Stephanie Elam, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Great work there.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For our viewers in the U.S. and Canada, "NEW DAY" is up next. For global viewers, "Tomorrow Transformed" is next. Please stay with us on CNN.
