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FDA Panel Reviews Emergency Authorization for Moderna Vaccine; U.S. Reports Deadliest Day of Pandemic, Record Cases and Hospitalizations; Prospects Dim for Relief Deal by Friday as Shutdown Deadline Looms; People Looking for Pardons Flood White House With Calls and E-mails; French President Emmanuel Macron Tests Positive for Coronavirus. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 17, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:27]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. From a very snowy New York and Washington. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

The U.S. is on the brink of some more good news, that is, the authorization of a second vaccine for coronavirus as the pandemic's darkest days, sadly, at the same time, shatter new records.

First, that second dose of hope, right now an FDA panel right now is meeting on Moderna's vaccine, this one developed in conjunction with the NIH. An Emergency Use Authorization could happen within hours. Millions of doses of this vaccine are already ready to go.

This as we learn that a second health care worker has now reacted to Pfizer's vaccine. We should be clear. Many thousands of people have taken this safely, many tens of thousands took it safely during the trials without effect. But we are going to of course bring you all the information we have.

This as America sees its deadliest single day from coronavirus, 3,656 people died yesterday. That is two deaths at every minute. Hospitalizations and new infections also hit their highest single-day totals ever in this pandemic and the sad fact is that holiday gatherings are expected to make those numbers worse.

HARLOW: That's right. Also this morning we have news that the vice president -- that President-elect Biden will not get the vaccine until next week. We've also learned this morning that French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for the virus. Vice President Mike Pence says he will get the vaccine on camera and he will do that tomorrow.

And relief, is it in sight? Can they get it over the finish line? Congress drawing closer to a stimulus deal with the lives of millions of Americans on the line. Direct checks may end up actually being part of this deal if they can get it done. We'll have a live report very soon from Capitol Hill.

Let's begin, though, with the critical FDA meeting. Let's begin with some who knows exactly how these things go, Dr. Mark McClellan is with us, former FDA commissioner under President George W. Bush.

It's very good to have you. Take us in the room. Similar thing to what they did with Pfizer last week. Does it go more quickly because the Moderna vaccine is very close to what the Pfizer vaccine is?

DR. MARK MCCLELLAN, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER UNDER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Poppy, I think it does go quickly. As you said, the analysis that the FDA did of the Moderna vaccine looks very similar to the Pfizer vaccine, highly effective, no serious safety issues, although side effects are common. You know you've gotten this vaccine when you get it.

And I'd expect the FDA to focus on some issues like use in kids, pregnant women, questions about rare safety issues and how we can follow up on those after the vaccine is approved, but I don't expect any of that to slow down the approval process, the authorization process. That should happen, as you said, very quickly.

SCIUTTO: OK. The Moderna vaccine, as you know, has an advantage over the Pfizer vaccine and that is that it does not have to be stored at such low temperatures. So a bit fewer resources have to be allocated to get this out to the millions of people who need it.

Does Moderna's option become a preferred option perhaps over the coming weeks and months or should we see this on the same track as Pfizer's and others?

MCCLELLAN: Jim, I think in the near term you'll see it on a very similar track, maybe it can go out directly to some smaller facilities. The Pfizer vaccine is actually used for a number of days in refrigeration, it's only five days, so it has to stay really cold until that time. So right now we're really focusing on vaccinating health care workers, people in nursing homes who have been really hard hit, our death rates in nursing homes are going up again this month with this big surge and that's where both of the vaccines will be going in the next month.

After the next few weeks this gives us more capacity to vaccinate more high-risk individuals, more frontline workers as we get on through January and February.

HARLOW: So here is some good news overnight, the FDA has given their blessing to squeezing some extra doses out of the Pfizer vaccine vials. Apparently there's, you know, in some of them not just five doses, six or seven. That's pretty great. I mean, what does that mean in terms of the number of people who could get vaccinated in addition in this first round?

MCCLELLAN: Yes. That means 20 percent to 40 percent additional vaccinations in this very first round. That is really good news. FDA and the company are double checking to go make sure there are no issues, but it looks like additional vaccine supply that really can help us in this very critical first phase.

[09:05:09]

SCIUTTO: Dr. McClellan, I don't want to over or underemphasize the news in the last 24 hours that two health care workers in Alaska suffered an allergic reaction to the Pfizer vaccine. We did see one case in the U.K. as well, although we should note in that case I believe, you know, recovery was very quick. Still, people are watching this closely. There are people out there in America who themselves or family members have allergic reactions to other things.

How significant is this both statistically and just more broadly for our understanding of this vaccine?

MCCLELLAN: Yes. We should be watching these allergic reactions. Any other serious reaction closely. So far, fortunately, they are extremely rare, as you say. For people who have allergies to food or snake venom or things like that, there shouldn't be a problem. If you've had a reaction to a previous vaccine that's definitely worth talking to your doctor about before you get the vaccine, but as you said in these cases we do have ways of managing even severe allergic reactions and when these vaccines are administered there's definitely an EpiPen, steps, medical support close by to make sure those cases can be managed.

HARLOW: You are part of this Rockefeller report and what was really striking to me from it was basically your plea to test more in schools. A lot more. I think the price tag you guys put on it for a year of testing all the school kids and staff is something around $42.5 billion.

What happens if that money isn't allocated and that testing doesn't happen? And I'm talking about for the majority of students, not kids in, you know, private schools that can afford to add testing. I'm talking about the majority of American kids?

MCCLELLAN: Yes. Well, what doesn't happen if we can't get the schools back open is really serious consequences for the well-being of our youth and also for our economy. This helps parents go back to work as well. And we've seen that schools that do implement testing along with a whole set of other steps can reopen safely. Our hope is that there will be funding starting in the legislation that Congress is passing this week to give a jump start to testing.

Our testing capacity is going to go up a lot in January and February and that should make it easier to reopen schools. We know a lot more about schools now than we did before with other steps like masks and distancing. It's not exactly the same, but it's so much better to get kids back in class together and learn and we do think it can be done safely.

HARLOW: For sure. Across the board. Well, thank you so much, Dr. McClellan, for all that insight. It's a big day again today for the country and for the FDA.

MCCLELLAN: Thank you. HARLOW: The surge, as we jut outlined, is getting worse, though, in

parts of the country. Take a look at this map and what you'll see here is that the green part you've got, you know, a large swath of the Midwest, a little bit of the Pacific northwest seeing progress, but a lot of struggle along the coast.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Dan Simon is in California where more mandatory stay- at-home orders are now being enforced.

And Dan, California, I mean, seeing more cases than some countries, right, on a statewide basis. So how are state authorities responding?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Jim. California recorded an astounding 53,711 cases yesterday. That shatters all previous records. Keep in mind that does factor in several days of backlog but that just tells you about the shear level of testing that has taken place. We are also seeing a record amount of hospitalizations and ICU beds in use. And the ICU bed availability is going to a dangerous level.

In Southern California it's now at .5 percent, that's why you're seeing more portable hospitals being set up and in the Bay Area it is now at 12.9 percent. And because it's less than 15 percent we're now seeing the entire San Francisco bay region under a stay-at-home order. And we've talked about this before, what does that mean? Well, that means that movie theaters, indoor or outdoor dining they're closed, museums, hair salons. And this is really coming at a terrible time, of course, during the middle of the holiday season.

And Jim, let me just explain where I am. I'm in front of the UCSF Medical Center. This is one of the few hospitals in the state to get an early distribution of the Pfizer vaccine. They got about 1,000 doses yesterday and they've now begun to administer those vaccines to frontline health care workers, doctors, nurses, custodial workers -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Dan Simon, it's a gargantuan task there in California. Thanks very much.

Well, the COVID vaccines, they're ready, some getting ready just perhaps today, but there is skepticism, particularly in minority communities. So what will it take to build trust in the science?

Dr. Anthony Fauci and Surgeon-General Jerome Adams will join Don Lemon and Sanjay Gupta for a new town hall, "THE COLOR OF COVID, THE VACCINES" airs tomorrow night 10:00 Eastern Time.

[09:10:12]

Well, disappointment again, lawmakers are shattering hopes that a stimulus deal will be signed by Friday night when a government shutdown looms. Congress is now discussing extending the shutdown deadline again allowing more time for a deal to be reached and passed through the House and the Senate.

I mean, Poppy, it's just every day, you know, for weeks and months the same story here. Just remarkable. HARLOW: They're not doing their job. It's their job. They're paid to

come together and make deals. Especially in a pandemic and a crisis like this.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: This comes as we get grim unemployment news this morning. 885,000 Americans filed for first-time jobless benefits last week. That is higher than the 800,000 claims economists have expected. Things are just getting worse across the board.

Our Sunlen Serfaty joins us with the latest from the hill. Christine Romans, our chief business correspondent has all of the economic fallout and the impact.

So, Sunlen, get us up to speed first. Are things falling apart or being delayed again?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the feeling, Poppy, up here on Capitol Hill is that even though there is no final bill yet the feeling is and the hope among leaders is that within the next few hours that this will come together. They still believe that they are very close, they are still projecting optimism, and right now the phases they are in is they are talking and exchanging text and really going over the fine print details of what it takes to turn some ideas and proposal into actual legislative text.

So things are moving in the right direction but they are going so slowly. The fact that we're at this phase now just one day before that midnight deadline tomorrow on Friday night that they have to reach in order to avoid a government shutdown. There are some things that they have agreed to, it looks like the contours of this deal coming together. $900 billion package that includes another round of stimulus checks for people $600 less than it was less time, unemployment benefits about $300 a week and money for vaccine distribution, and it does seem that they are reaching a place of compromise as both sides it appears have had to give and make concessions.

Democrats made concessions over their demand for state and local aid, Republicans over liability protections, but certainly a lot still needs to come together. Time is very, very short. The expectation among leaders is that they are going to huddle at some point either on the phone or in person this morning and then work towards final text, but of course all this happening in the very extremely last minutes when you're talking about avoiding that shutdown tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: I mean, to be fair, the easiest thing to do for Congress is to spend a heck of a lot of money, right, for things that both parties want. I mean, it's not like they're, you know, coming to some grand compromise here on legislation.

Christine, weekly jobless claims, they are up again. What does this tell us about the trend of this economic crisis and how would stimulus checks help? I mean, because $300, $600, I mean, that's a fraction of the monthly minimum wage. Does that have economic impact significance? CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, first on the

trend, I mean, it's getting worse. It's getting worse. Any one of these numbers before this pandemic would be a record. We've got 39 weeks of historic joblessness, 885,000 new first-time filings in the last week. You add on those pandemic programs, it's about 1.4 million people for the very first time last week filed for unemployment benefits. 20 million people, a standing army of people in this country who are unemployed and getting benefits.

So, yes, it's a morality test. Nothing short of a morality test for Congress to get help to these people. We have never seen something like this in this country and I understand the arguing and the gamesmanship and the battle lines that have been drawn there, but this is an actual fundamental crisis happening right now for American families and it's getting worse. You've got a lot of people looking into next year for the job market getting better after months of mask wearing and vaccines with, you know, wide use.

Then you start to see a job market getting better, but that right now is really ugly. This is a dark winter for the job situation in the U.S. I mean, their hair should be on fire on Capitol Hill over this right now.

HARLOW: You're so right. Christine, thank you for that and the perspective. Sunlen, thank you for the update. We hope things happen today.

Still to come, President Trump has told some advisers he will refuse to leave the White House on Inauguration Day only to be walked back from that ledge. We're live in Washington with an update on that.

Also, the President-elect Biden is expected to receive his dose of the vaccine next week and he'll do it on camera.

SCIUTTO: And one of the largest hacks of U.S. government agencies in history, perhaps the largest, we don't know yet, is still under way. Details ahead from a member of Congress who has been briefed on the intelligence. Please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:00]

HARLOW: Well, this morning, as President Trump's time in office is coming to a close, CNN is reporting that the president is getting a deluge of requests for pardons and commutations.

SCIUTTO: CNN's John Harwood joins us now. John, our reporting says Trump's staff is getting so many calls and e-mails about pardons, they're using a spreadsheet to keep track. Do we have a sense of who is on that list, and I wonder, you know, was Barr's departure at all connected to a lack of desire to be involved with the sort of free- for-all with pardons?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know for sure, Jim, but it certainly makes sense that this may be an ugly period, the last 35 days, and Bill Barr might want to dissociate himself from it. You know what?

[09:20:00]

We hear from White House aides is that this president who has lost interest in the surging coronavirus pandemic is enjoying the potential exercise of the pardon powers, one of the few aspects of the presidency he is still interested in. And it's not hard to understand why that is. It's an awesome power that a president has, that without any intercession or assent from Congress, he has the power by signing a piece of paper to absolve people of criminal convictions.

And when you are a president who has been surrounded by so many people, either convicted of criminal activity or investigated and accused of criminal activity, including himself, that is a very valuable power.

So you've got a whole range of people, Mike Flynn, he's already pardoned, but Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Elliott Broidy, one of the fundraisers for the Republican National Committee, there are a lot of people that he could help, and potentially, some of those people may have information about him, and helping them will help the president not have them disclose that information about him. The flip side --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

HARWOOD: Of that, of course, is the president is also exploring the idea of trying to force through special counsels for his political enemies, so protect friends, go after enemies. And encourage the special counsel, for example, for Hunter Biden is one of the things that's on the table.

HARLOW: John, before we go, what do we know about the president apparently telling some of his advisors at least at one point that he was considering not leaving the White House on inauguration day?

HARWOOD: You know, Poppy, the president says and thinks a lot of things that are pretty wacky. He got asked this question directly by a reporter a couple of weeks ago, and he said I'm going to leave the White House. You know -- you know that. You know I'm going to leave. I think that is the reality of the situation, and in private, as he's nursing his psychological wounds from losing this election, lying about it, denying it, claiming that it was stolen from him, he understands that on January 20th, he's going to have to leave, and I think that's what's going to happen.

HARLOW: John Harwood, thanks for the reporting on both fronts. We have a lot ahead still. New details on when the Vice President Mike Pence and the President-elect Joe Biden will roll up their sleeves literally, to get vaccinated. Also happening overnight, French President Emmanuel Macron tests positive for COVID after developing symptoms. The latest on his condition.

SCIUTTO: And we are moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Futures are up again this morning. Investors remain optimistic on lawmakers reaching a deal on a stimulus relief package. We'll see if they're right, stocks closed mixed on Wednesday even after the Fed promised to keep emergency measures in place. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. President-elect Joe Biden still yet to pick an attorney general. Sources say a potential investigation into President Trump as well as a federal probe into Hunter Biden's business dealings in China are factoring into the process. People familiar with the search tell CNN that Judge Merrick Garland, you may remember, Obama nominated for the Supreme Court was not taken up by the Senate, and Alabama's outgoing Senator Doug Jones are the two most likely choices, but a final decision not until next week.

HARLOW: Also next week, the president-elect expected to get his first dose of the COVID vaccine. Let's go to our Jessica Dean who is following the latest. Good morning to you, Jess, in a very snowy picturesque Delaware. Biden committed to getting this vaccine shot for everyone to see, right? Do we know when exactly?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Poppy. We don't know the exact day yet, only that it will be early next week. And we know that the president-elect is keen to do this publicly to inspire confidence that this vaccine is safe and reliable, and that all Americans should be getting it. So, we do know that he will be doing that publicly and we're told that any delay in setting this up has really just been purely logistical in terms of getting this done publicly and not borne out of any hesitation about taking this vaccine at all.

Biden has said he feels very confident about the vaccine. And during a kind of back and forth with reporters yesterday as he was leaving the stage with Pete Buttigieg, his transportation secretary nominee, he did say that he just didn't want to get ahead in the line, he wanted to make sure that the frontline workers had it, but that again, he will be getting this publicly and we do know that will be coming early next week.

Now, we also know that Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence as well as the Surgeon General will be getting the vaccine publicly tomorrow. Again, to inspire confidence to all Americans that this is a safe and effective vaccine, and that it is the best bet right now to beat COVID, in addition of course to all those social distancing, masks and washing your hands, guys.

SCIUTTO: Jessica, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris also in line to get her first shot as well.

DEAN: That's right. And she said in an interview that she's not yet scheduled for when she will be getting her vaccine. So, we know that Biden will be early next week, Harris saying that she is not yet scheduled yet, but that she absolutely will be getting this vaccine. And also in that interview, Jim and Poppy, she reiterated how important it is for outreach to communities of color to ensure them that this vaccine is safe and effective, and that they should be getting it.