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Millions Of Pfizer BioNTech Vaccine Ready To Ship; U.S. Set To Kick Off Massive Vaccination Campaign; Parts Of Europe Seeing Uptick In Infections; Trump Not Moving Beyond Election Loss; U.K. ICU Nurse Describes Life On The Front Lines; Gunmen Attack School In Northern Nigeria; COVID-19 Can't Stop The Joy Of Seeing Santa. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired December 13, 2020 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice-over): In the coming hours, the first vaccine authorized for use in the U.S. could start being shipped across the country. We'll have the very latest for you.

Plus clashes and arrests in the streets of the American capital, Stop the Steal protesters, angry about the election presidential results, take their message to the Supreme Court.

And a source tells CNN President Trump raised the prospect of firing attorney general Bill Barr. We'll explain why.

Live from CNN World Headquarters, welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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BRUNHUBER: Millions of doses of COVID vaccine are ready to ship across the United States at this hour, awaiting only a final thumbs-up from the head of the CDC. It's up to Dr. Robert Redfield to issue the government's final blessing on the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

An advisory panel made that recommendation earlier Saturday. Testing data shows the drug achieves 95 percent immunity after two shots and it's showing up just as the pandemic in the U.S. is turning from bad to worse.

One million Americans tested positive in just the past four days, bringing the total so far to a staggering 16 million infected people. It took almost 100 days to reach the first million back in April.

Now once the CDC gives the green light, a massive nationwide vaccination campaign will begin in earnest. But simply transporting millions of doses while keeping them super cold is an epic challenge. CNN's Pete Muntean looks at the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're getting new insight into why the vaccine is not on the move right this moment. Pfizer says vaccine shipments will begin leaving here starting Sunday morning.

What's so interesting is that we know this spot is so central to the vaccine distribution network. This is Pfizer's largest facility here in Michigan. And Operation Warp Speed says vaccines will start leaving here bound for 600 individual locations across the country. Those are places like hospitals, pharmacies, CVS and Walgreens.

But Operation Warp Speed says many of those places will not actually see the vaccine until Monday. The bulk of the shipments arriving on Tuesday. It is FedEx and UPS who are carrying those packages. And FedEx tells us there is a reason why the vaccine is not on the move right this moment.

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RICHARD SMITH, REGIONAL PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAS AND EXECUTIVE VP, FEDEX: We could deliver it within 24 hours, but the decision was made by the team that because there are hundreds of administration sites that are going to be receiving these, they thought it best that we wait until Monday to deliver them to ensure they're all open and ready to receive.

So, a weekday, a normal business day seemed like the optimal time to send out those first shipments, rather than try to get them delivered on a Sunday, when some of these administrative sites might be short staffed or not open.

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MUNTEAN: This is not just a ground game; also a major air operation. And the FAA is directing airports to get ready for vaccine flights whether or not they're planning on them already. The FAA says there's always a chance that a plane could divert for weather or potentially have an emergency.

The FAA is telling airports that delivery trucks need to have priority access and that security should be double-checked. You know, this could be the beginning of the end for this pandemic but this major movement is about to kick off right here -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Portage, Michigan.

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BRUNHUBER: So if all goes according to plan, the first vaccine shots could be administered early as Monday. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains who is likely to benefit now and who shouldn't get it yet.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Just remarkable developments scientifically with this vaccine. It is now authorized and has now been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control as well, which means that lots of moving parts are starting to unfold. We know that the shipments are scheduled to begin this weekend. Likely

going to be arriving in many places by Monday morning. And we could see people starting to get vaccinated for the first time outside of a clinical trial early this week, perhaps Monday or Tuesday.

The process has been so far, once the FDA authorized it, the CDC recommended it.

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GUPTA: And we get some better clarity on not only who the vaccine is recommended for but also who may not be recommended.

For example, we know that this is going to be recommended for people 16 and over. There was some back and forth on that among the advisory committee. Some felt that the age should be 18 and over but the FDA and now CDC think 16 and over.

We know that pregnant women, for example, were not part of the original clinical trial; 23 women in the trial became pregnant while in the trial. But there's not a lot of data to worry that it's dangerous or that it's not safe. There's not a lot of data to show its efficacy in pregnant women specifically.

That's likely to end up being conversations between pregnant women and their doctors. For example, if a pregnant woman is in a high-risk profession and exposed to COVID over and over again, for example, they may go ahead and ask for the vaccine.

We know that people who have had a significant allergic reaction in the past, so significant that they carry an EpiPen, they may not be recommended to get the vaccine. And people who have conditions that have compromised their immune system.

But I think a lot of this is going to be conversations between individuals and their health care providers to try and figure out what's going to be the best course of action for them.

Three million doses, roughly, are going to distributed around the country. And it's up to each state to sort of triage these doses. We know that specifically health care workers who take care of COVID patients and people in long-term care facilities are going to be at the top of the list.

But each state may give all their doses to health care workers or all their doses to long-term care facility residents. Or they may split it up. So it may be different in one state compared to the state next door. So that may feel a little disjointed in the beginning.

But the hope is, as more and more vaccine is created, it's going to help smooth out some of the demand surges that are likely to occur obviously in these various states.

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BRUNHUBER: New coronavirus case numbers are also headed in the wrong direction across parts of Europe. According to Johns Hopkins University, Denmark, France and Germany are among the countries suffering an uptick in new infections in the last week.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to meet Sunday with Germany's 16 state premiers about a possible nationwide lockdown. It's expected to go into effect before or shortly after Christmas in hopes of stemming the country's surging cases.

Let's go to Anna Stewart in London.

Many European countries facing opposing pressures with Christmas on one hand, rising cases on the other, pressure to ease restrictions to allow people to enjoy the holidays with loved ones.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, much of Europe is already under some form of restrictions or lockdown with plans to ease up over Christmas. And yet the infection rate is high in particular countries, particularly Denmark, France and Germany.

Over 20,000 new COVID-19 cases in Germany recorded in the last 24 hours. That's despite Germany being in a so-called soft lockdown since the beginning of November. Today Angela Merkel will meet with the 16 heads of the states to discuss whether or not they need to agree to go into a nationwide lockdown.

Some of the states have already decided to implement just that. Later today, we could find out that Germany will perhaps shut down shops, schools, tell people to work from home. It's unclear what this would mean in terms of what they plan for Christmas. They had planned to allow families to meet.

And in the last week Angela Merkel made an unusually impassioned speech about Christmas, saying, if we have too many contacts now before Christmas and that ends up making it the last Christmas with the grandparents, then we will have failed.

Germany is not alone. In France, they registered 14,000 new cases in the last 24 hours. They were planning to ease their current lockdown on Tuesday. They will be doing so but much less than expected and a curfew will be extended across the nation.

Much more of Denmark, many more regions added to their lockdown. Around 80 percent of the population is under lockdown.

And in England, where we had a national lockdown that ended less than two weeks ago, the infection rate is high, particularly in certain areas like London. At the end of this week we could see further restrictions added before Christmas.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll watch. Thank you so much, Anna Stewart in London.

For more on this, let's bring in Dr. Muhammad Munir, a virologist at Lancaster University from England.

Thank you for joining us. I want to start with the vaccine. [04:10:00]

BRUNHUBER: Already being rolled out in the U.K. where you are. In the U.S. we're a day away. You've warned we can expect bumps in the road.

What are those?

DR. MUHAMMAD MUNIR, VIROLOGIST, LANCASTER UNIVERSITY: Thank you for having me on the show.

This is incredible news we're having effective vaccines going into the arms soon. And in some countries they've started. This positive note, there are challenges that we have to tackle down the line, because until we don't really have sort of level those bumps, we can't claim the victory.

I think one of the problems is, of course, the one that we've been very commonly talking about, is the storage and transportation at minus 70 Celsius. It's one of the biggest challenges.

Then there are other issues. For instance, we have to make sure that a certain level of population is immunized relatively quickly; until we don't have 70 percent to 75 percent of people immunized, we don't achieve herd immunity.

And also make sure a second dose is given at the right time; until we don't have the vaccine, the second dose is given within 21 days, the immune system might not elicit and that is really the challenge.

Another is really to reach to the minorities within the population to really make sure that people who are hesitant, they would take the vaccine and will have the courage enough.

BRUNHUBER: I want to talk about that last point there. I have some numbers here in the U.S. African Americans are about 20 percent less likely to want the shot than white people or Latinos.

And a study in London found minorities are about 30 percent less likely to get it compared to white people.

So what effect could this have on those communities, particularly since they seem especially vulnerable to the disease?

MUNIR: Yes, absolutely. I think this is one of the major concerns to reach to the minority communities first, because they're disproportionately affected.

Secondly, because of either rumors, question about the speed of the vaccine development or the trust, either recently or historically, are contributing toward the hesitancy toward the vaccine, particularly in the minority communities.

For example, as you were saying, in London, according to a survey, it's only 39 percent people in the ethnic minorities would be taking up the vaccine compared to 70 percent in the white population. That's something that we have to engage those communities effectively

at the media, at the local level, and really to make sure that there is not any structural racism that is discriminating them. So bringing them on board is critical to really ensure that we have a vaccine coverage enough to curtail this pandemic.

BRUNHUBER: Now the good news for people who are scared of needles, they're working on a vaccine that would be delivered via a nasal spray.

What advantages would that have and do you have any idea how far away that might be?

MUNIR: Yes, absolutely, Kim, this is really important question, because my vaccine, which we are developing at the Lancaster University, is using the same approach, intranasal vaccine. The virus that enters through the nasal and oral cavity. If we block the entry of the virus we have an advantage.

Pfizer and Moderna at the moment are not very good in preventing the spread of the infection. So having intranasal immunization is certainly something that we have to count on.

Similarly with the flu as well and other respiratory viruses. So the promise is being made but there are challenges with the technologies. Those are at the front-runner, for example; mRNA vaccine doesn't really have a great level of entry into the upper respiratory tract. Adenoviruses can be mutated in the way that it can infect our upper respiratory tract and can induce immune responses.

But we have to look carefully at that in coming days.

BRUNHUBER: Any guess, is it months away or years away?

MUNIR: Well, certainly among the front-runners, we have 11 vaccines in phase III trial. None of them is intranasal. That's behind the curve. But we're working closely. My group is work on intranasal vaccine and that's what we're aiming to bring it at the mid of next year into the final stages of the phase III because we think the intranasal administration is critical, particularly for the children, for people having other underlying conditions that cannot allow the intramuscular administration or people having history with needles and so on.

BRUNHUBER: Excellent. We'll definitely stay tuned for that.

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BRUNHUBER: Very important development there. Thank you so much, Dr. Muhammad Munir of Lancaster University, we appreciate it.

MUNIR: Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: Supporters of the U.S. president Trump flocked to Washington, D.C., this weekend. And their anger at the election result boiled over when the sun fell, as clashes broke out with counterprotesters. Next, the unrest in the nation's capital. Plus, Mr. Trump isn't letting go of his defeat at the polls.

Who is the president turning his fury toward?

We'll bring you that answer coming up.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): At least four people were stabbed and almost 2 dozen others arrested during post-election unrest late Saturday in Washington, D.C. The mayor's office says the stabbing victims are in critical condition. Videos posted online show fights like this one breaking out between Trump supporters and counter protesters.

Large groups of Trump supporters descended on the nation's capital early in the day to protest the presidential election results. Those daytime demonstrations were largely peaceful. But most protesters weren't wearing masks, even as the pandemic rages.

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BRUNHUBER: President Trump is still furious about the election results more than a month later.

And the latest target of his anger?

Well, his own hand-picked attorney general, William Barr. CNN's Boris Sanchez has details from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump spent Saturday mostly focused on the 2020 election and mythmaking, repeating false claims that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from him.

And now the president is focusing his ire on those in his administration and elsewhere that are refusing to go along with this fantasy.

On Saturday, President Trump tweeting that the Supreme Court acted disgracefully in dismissing that lawsuit from the state of Texas and other states, trying to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania and a number of other states.

The president also focused on his attorney general, William Barr. CNN reported earlier this month that President Trump was furious with Barr after the attorney general revealed in the Associated Press that he did not believe that there was any widespread election fraud, there was no evidence of widespread election fraud.

CNN has learned that President Trump, at that point, contemplated firing the attorney general but was talked out of it by aides, ultimately suggesting that he was so close to January 20th and a new administration that it wouldn't be worth it.

Now the president is again revisiting the idea after news that attorney general William Barr worked to keep news that the Department of Justice was investigating President-Elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter, under wraps.

Barr, following precedent and policy at DOJ to not reveal any sort of information about a candidate or their family members being under investigation around election time, the president tweeting this, quote, "Why didn't Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public before the election about Hunter Biden?

"Joe was lying on the debate stage that nothing was wrong or going on. Press confirmed. Big disadvantage for Republicans at the polls."

That "truth" there that the president is alluding to, a bit nebulous at best. Nevertheless, this is history repeating itself. Remember, President Trump frequently berated his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, on Twitter because Sessions did not do his bidding and ultimately recused himself from the Russia investigation.

That went on for the better part of a year before President Trump ultimately fired Sessions, replacing him with Barr.

Now we're in a similar situation with the current attorney general. Sources close to the two men say that the communication between them is virtually nonexistent, that there has been a breakdown between the two of them.

They likened it to a cold war between the two men. At this point, we understand the president has mused about firing Barr. It's unclear whether he will, so close to a new administration on January 20th -- Boris Sanchez, CNN, at the White House.

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BRUNHUBER: All right. Let's bring in Natasha Lindstaedt, a professor of government at the University of Essex.

Thank you so much for joining us. I want to talk about what we saw before the story, the clashes that we saw in Washington and elsewhere, between the president's Stop the Steal allies, including those from the far right, and the counterprotesters.

The question is, I mean, how do you govern a country when so many of your citizens clearly believe your presidency is illegitimate?

I guess, ask Barack Obama, I suppose. But...

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Yes. I mean, that's a great question. This is going to be a huge challenge for Joe Biden. And we knew he was going to face this challenge. It was inevitable with the way that Trump was talking to his supporters.

And some think that he was talking to his supporters in a way that would encourage violence. Others think at least he has not seriously condemned any violence. But he's tried to encourage his supporters to come to the streets, to stop the steal.

And he's created this false narrative that we've talked about many times, that this election wasn't free and fair and it was stolen from them. This has fired up his supporters.

Now they don't think Joe Biden is a legitimate leader. A recent Quinnipiac University poll revealed that only 23 percent of registered Republican voters think that the election was free and fair. And on that same poll, less than half of white male voters think the election was fair.

So we have a very divided public along very partisan lines that is growing increasingly polarizing. That's going to make it difficult to govern. And we're seeing people like Rush Limbaugh talking about secession. This is an incredibly dangerous period in American history.

BRUNHUBER: On the flip side, we saw one Republican lawmaker who had signed on to the Texas lawsuit, Congressman Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, wrote this following the Supreme Court decision.

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BRUNHUBER: "The casting of electoral votes will end the hotly contested election and we should come together as Americans to work together for the future of our country."

All right. So even if those are just words at this point, that's still very different from the tone coming from most of his colleagues.

Does the temperature sort of come down on Monday, when the Electoral College meets?

Or are Republicans too tied to President Trump and they'll have to keep on with this resistance as long as Trump does?

LINDSTAEDT: Right. I mean, I think that's a great question because I think that the Republicans thus far fear Trump. They know that he'll attack them on Twitter as he has the governors, the Republican governors of Arizona and Georgia.

He's merciless in his attacks of them. And they're completely afraid about what he's going to say about them. As such, they have toed the party line and basically agreed to do whatever he wanted to do.

I mean, you had 126 GOP House members that agreed to this completely frivolous lawsuit that the Texas state attorney general decided to put into play.

So the question really is, will Republican leaders decide to lower the temperature, as you said, and say, listen, we have to accept the election results and we have to move forward as a nation because we're facing a pandemic and one of the worst crises we've seen in the U.S. with so many people dying per day.

Up to 300,000 people have died now. We really need to put things aside and focus on all the challenges facing us. But we're not seeing enough Republicans willing to do that yet.

It's because they falsely believe that they have to adhere to Trump in order to win. But we see that even though, yes, Trump did very well in the election, winning 74 million votes, the Republicans themselves did better in the election. They don't need him as much as they think they do. I think they'll be better off if they distance themselves from him.

BRUNHUBER: All right. I want to turn now to the Biden transition. We've seen him unveil more members of his cabinet this past week. There's been a lot of pressure from minority groups and progressives to be represented.

Of course, all the different groups have some cause to be disappointed with what they saw, as those things tend to go. But it seems as if progressives have been largely left out.

What's your take on how Biden has navigated this mine field, trying to please so many interest groups, that each of them claiming they were the ones to put him in the White House?

LINDSTAEDT: Right. Well, Biden is a moderate. I don't think there's any surprise about that. He wants to govern as a moderate but he also wants to have a cabinet that's very diverse.

And we've seen that with many of his picks, with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Hispanic, Alejandro Mayorkas. We've seen with his pick for Secretary of Defense, African American general. So there's been a diverse group of people he's picked -- men, women.

But he's a moderate and at this point, given how polarized the country is, that may be the only way forward to govern.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it. Natasha Lindstaedt, professor of government at the University of Essex.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: COVID vaccines will soon be on the way to medical facilities across the U.S. How hospitals are preparing to receive the first doses. We'll take a look.

Plus a day in the life of an intensive care nurse. We'll speak to a U.K. woman sharing her experiences working on the front lines. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Millions of pandemic-weary Americans are waiting for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to give the final OK to a COVID vaccine. That clearance could come at any time and then millions of vials will be on the move across the U.S.

The expectation is that deliveries will begin Monday to about 600 locations. The vaccine was developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and was given emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday.

Now getting the COVID inoculation into your arm is a lot like getting the flu shot but besides the need for super cold storage of the vaccine, there are other differences. Adrienne Broaddus takes us inside one Chicago hospital to see how they're preparing.

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ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, staff will be ready to roll when the vaccine arrives. Saturday morning, the staff learned the vaccine is sensitive to light. So engineers developed a plan to transform what they call the vaccination preparation area.

You see this crew is working right now. They're going to darken the area to help maintain the integrity of the vaccine. Over to my left, you'll notice there are 10 vaccine stations. This is where those health care employees who are most at risk for contracting the virus will receive that shot in the arm.

I spoke with the clinical physician who is going to administer the first shot. On Friday, he participated in a dry run here at the hospital. They wanted to test out their system and see how things would flow.

I asked if there were any surprises. This is what he had to say.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's turning into a very nice, full-sized clinic, so it'll bee -- it's one of those things I'm excited to be able to have the opportunity to vaccinate so many people. It's also is a little mind-boggling how this whole process is going to work.

But we have so many different plans in place and different people working on different aspects of that, that really I think this clinic will run smoothly. It's just a matter of getting it going.

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BROADDUS: A new process for everyone. A staff also tells me, once people get to this stage in the game, it'll look no different than receiving the flu shot. The hospital is expected to receive about 2,000 doses. There are roughly 10,000 employees at Rush. Back to you.

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BRUNHUBER: The U.K. has already begun its vaccination program as it battles a second wave of coronavirus. Now an intensive care nurse is giving us a window into her daily life in an open letter published by the "Nursing Times." Vicky Neville writes about her 12.5-hour shifts.

Quote, "11:00 am: I help turn another patient. Check drugs out for another, order some medication that we've run out of. I need a drink. My mask is hurting my face and I can feel my face stinging from where it dug in."

She later describes interacting with family members, writing, "I listen to them cry and hold back the tears.

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BRUNHUBER: "I tell them that I'm with their husband and I won't leave him. I don't leave him. I stay by his side for three hours. He arrested."

Then she describes part of her evening this way, quote, "I have a quick walk around to check everyone is OK. They aren't. Various patients are getting worse and the staff are tired but know they are back in again tomorrow. They know they're fighting a battle they can't always win."

That nurse, Vicky Neville, joins me now from Warrington, England.

Thank you so much for joining us. I want to start with, after you gave birth to your son, you decided to go back to work five months early in the middle of a pandemic.

Why?

VICKY NEVILLE, ICU NURSE, WARRINGTON & HALTON TEACHING HOSPITALS: I just felt that you know, as a nurse, it's your kind of -- it just comes naturally that you want to help. And I felt that there was kind of an outcry for nurses. We already knew that nurses were (INAUDIBLE) deficit and the influx of patients was kind of taking us over, what we would normally have as our threshold. So it just kind of felt I needed to do what I did.

BRUNHUBER: Reading your account of your day-to-day schedule, I'm struck by the physical toll of the work but even more striking was the emotional toll. I mean, you talk about what it's like to have to call your patient's loved ones and often you're the last person they see holding their hand.

One patient in particular seemed to hit you especially hard. Describe those last moments.

NEVILLE: Obviously, you've just got to put yourselves in the patient's shoes. He was the same age as my mom. That man, which I wrote about. It really struck quite strongly for me, that I couldn't leave him. His wife couldn't come in. She was isolating with COVID-19.

And I don't want to ever think of someone dying on their own. That was his last moments and I stayed with him. I didn't leave his side. And I would hope that that would be the same for a nurse if they were caring for my loved one.

BRUNHUBER: I mean, I can sense the emotion in your voice when you talk about this. I mean, as a nurse, you have to deal with death as a daily part of your job.

But what is it about this COVID pandemic that makes it so especially hard?

NEVILLE: I think -- we -- I've been a nurse for 10 years and obviously, in the last 10 years I've looked after people who have passed away. And but it's different. It's a different type of circumstance normally in those instance. We have the relatives with us. We're able to discuss things with them.

They're kind of packed in the picture of the patient's deterioration. But the patients with COVID are deteriorating so quickly. Sometimes we're not able to get families in due to obviously the virus and obviously the restrictions.

So things are slightly different. The roll of the carer kind of just fall on to the nursing and the auxiliary team. I'm not the only nurse who has held the hand of someone who has passed away. Some of our support workers sit there and hold their hands when we're obviously busy with other emergencies.

We've just taken on the role of the family as well (INAUDIBLE) the difference. We have a moment (ph) with these patients where we're the family as well as the care provider.

BRUNHUBER: You go through these traumatic emotional moments and then you -- it must be especially frustrating then, when you see people protesting against the measures that are meant to keep them out of your very ward.

NEVILLE: Oh, you see, it's hard to kind of explain. I think these people that have obviously not been on the unit, have not dealt first- hand with what we've seeing. I think they don't understand the sheer volume of it.

Obviously, the average person will have this mild and will recover from it. But that's amazing. Isn't it?

But there is a massive percentage of people who have got long-term medical conditions, who are unfortunate and who do contract it and do obviously, unfortunately, pass away from the illness.

So if you're not kind of protecting yourself, then at least protect the other ones around you. I've protected my loved ones and I've protected my elderly relatives and my relatives with health concerns and protected my family and my own son from this.

These people, if they're not -- they don't care about their own lives, they need to care about the lives of those elderly people and those with conditions around them.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Well, you're planning to get married next year. I hope, with the vaccine, that, when you do tie the knot, you'll be entering a different world than this one here right now.

Thank you so much for speaking with us, Vicky Neville. We really appreciate it. And thank you for helping everyone understand what you and your colleagues are going through.

[04:40:00]

BRUNHUBER: We really appreciate it.

NEVILLE: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: Still ahead, the uncertain fate of school boys in Nigeria following an armed attack on their school. We'll have a live report from Johannesburg. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: We're following a tense situation in Nigeria, where, late Friday, gunmen on motor bikes attacked a secondary school for boys in an apparent kidnapping attempt. Many students fled the scene. Police report that one of the attackers was killed in a gun battle and hundreds of the students are now back but the fate of many others still isn't known.

Let's bring in CNN's David McKenzie, tracking developments for us and joins us from Johannesburg.

We're all too familiar with attacks on schools by Islamic militants in the north of the countries. This seems very different. You've looked into this horrific attack.

What have you found out?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is in a slightly different region of Nigeria in the northwest and the eyewitnesses describe a horrifying series of events on Friday evening.

Gunmen coming into the school; one 18-year-old kid, Musa (ph), told us the -- as the gunshots grew louder, as they were in their rooms preparing for an exam, this is a boarding school, they jumped out of the windows, him and his friends, to escape to a nearby forest, as he described it.

Some 20 of them had to spend the night there and then come back, didn't even have time to get their shoes. Another younger child said that a gunman came into their boarding house and tried to rob them, which leads to queries whether this was a kidnapping attempt per se or an attack in terms of the ongoing attacks in that region.

He said that it was a Fulani gunman. That's an ethnic group in that area.

[04:45:00]

MCKENZIE: It has been part of an increasing set of tensions, ethnic tensions that are distinctly different from the northeast of the country. But it does paint this picture as we wait to find out the fate of all of those children and whether there were those who were kidnapped, potentially for ransom, according to officials, to the levels of insecurity in Nigeria.

The president, Buhari, was in that region at the time. So it's deeply embarrassing. But late last month, as you remember, Kim, there was an even more horrific attack on farmers in northeast Nigeria by Islamic group Boko Haram that killed more than 100.

So this insecurity in Africa's biggest economy and its most populous nation, a critical one for the continent, really does seem, appear to be really at times getting out of control.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thank you so much for that reporting. Appreciate it. David McKenzie in Johannesburg.

Time is running out for the U.K. and the European Union to reach a deal on their future relationship. Negotiators arrived a short time ago at the E.U. headquarters in Brussels. Today has been the deadline both sides set for reaching a post Brexit trade agreement.

But now the U.K.'s foreign minister says the talks could continue past today. Still a U.K. government source says the latest E.U. offer is unacceptable. Nic Robertson joins me now from London.

Lots of pressure on the prime minister to get a deal done.

Where do we stand?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There is a sense that the clock really is ticking and that 99 percent of the deal has been done, according to Dominic Raab, the British foreign secretary, speaking to U.K. media a little while ago.

He's also the one now saying that today isn't necessarily the end of the talks. We've also heard from the Irish prime minister today, speaking, again on British media, expressing his view, as a member of the E.U. 27 nations, that there is still a possibility to do something on the fisheries issue, the big sticking issue, the level playing field issue.

While Boris Johnson and Ursula van der Leyen, the European Commission president, are expected to speak around midday today and the subject of their conversation -- rather, the phone call rather than actual meeting -- the subject of that phone call today was going to be taking stock of the talks over the past few days.

It does now seem to be the case, the mood music around this, at least, that their phone conversation may indicate the willingness to continue to talk. Certainly, as you say, a lot of pressure on Boris Johnson to do that from members within his party, for what seem former senior Conservative Party members, formally in the government, who said that some of the rhetoric that Boris Johnson is talking about at the moment really doesn't align with national interests. So a lot of pressure on the prime minister.

BRUNHUBER: All right.

So then what's at stake for a deal or if they don't get one?

And what deal could they likely get?

ROBERTSON: It's expected to be, if there is a deal, at this very, very, very late stage, to be quite what people describe as a "thin" deal but enough potentially to stop huge logjams at the ports and at borders. The calculations were that just leaving the European Union alone would cost the U.K. about 4 percent of its GDP.

If U.K. was to leave without a trade deal, that was estimated to go up by another 2 percent. The sort of economic impact that would have estimated to cost the country about 300,000 jobs, cost the country about more than $50 billion.

Tariffs could be expected to be on cars in the region of 10 percent. Tariff on food in the region of 20 percent. On lambs, for example -- and the U.K. exports a huge number of lambs to the European Union -- expect tariffs of 40 percent.

That has the sheep farming industry in the U.K. exceptionally worried about how they can continue. So the economic hit would be significant. It would be painful. And it would have wide-reaching consequences.

BRUNHUBER: Hence the pressure on Boris Johnson. All right, thank you so much, Nic Robertson in London.

Well, the pandemic can't put a damper on children's joy when they visit Santa Claus.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very important. It's a big part of our psyche, really. We look forward to this as much as the children.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): But the coronavirus means hugs are out. Socially distanced waves are in. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Nothing says Christmas quite like the beaming faces of children when they get a hug from Santa. But COVID has forced the jolly old elf to take coronavirus tests and socially distance; not quite what those naughty and nice kids expected maybe. But still as our Brynn Gingras reports, seeing Santa is still pure magic.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look right here, guys. One, two, three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would you like Santa to bring you?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One thing about Santa, he always keeps his promises.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matter how bad COVID gets, Santa is going to be there. OK?

GINGRAS (voice-over): Especially in a pandemic. At malls and stores across America, visits to Santa do look a little different this year. Appointments for pictures instead of long lines. Disinfecting elves between every customer and Santa, in some cases, weekly COVID tests.

And he's socially distant, whether six feet apart by a stack of presents, virtual or behind Plexiglas.

GINGRAS: How important was that for you to make it happen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very important. It was a big part of our psyche, really. We look forward to this as much as the children.

GINGRAS (voice-over): The changes do take some getting used to.

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GINGRAS (voice-over): For Santa, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: High five in the air.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give high fives in the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're used to the hugs and the high fives. We're used to "come on over" and "let's get the shot together."

At least we're able to be here.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Even COVID can't take away the joy of getting ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awesome, guys.

GINGRAS (voice-over): -- that perfect picture.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't want the tradition to just die down so we were like let's keep it going masks and all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to have that memory because I have every single year at Christmas time. And it meant that much.

GINGRAS (voice-over): In Queens, New York, there's a special kind of magic happening.

GINGRAS: Where are we?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Santa's socially distant workshop.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Santa typically delivers donated toys to boys and girls in hospitals and orphanages. Since that's not possible...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Ayma (ph). Merry Christmas to you.

GINGRAS (voice-over): -- he's allowing kids an up-close and safe peek while he makes their toys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is actually going to be for you.

I miss the ability to see the look in their eyes and, believe me, that brightness, that joy is just overwhelming, especially to me.

In this particular case, we're trying to just keep hope alive. It's important that the kids know that Christmas is not cancelled.

GINGRAS (voice-over): So this Christmas, whether you want --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A makeup set.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A Barbie Dreamhouse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Immunization or just for it to go away.

GINGRAS (voice-over): -- Santa promises nothing, not even coronavirus, will keep him from bringing Christmas to the believers -- Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.

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BRUNHUBER: That wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber and I'll be back in a moment with more news. Please stay with us.