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Moderna Vaccine Set For Distribution In U.S.; California Hospitals Struggle To Keep Up As Cases Rise; Millions In England Under Tier 4 Restrictions; White House Discusses Ideas To Overturn Election; Trump Downplays Severity Of Massive Cyber Attack; Israel Begins Mass Vaccination Program; Black American Hesitant About Getting COVID-19 Vaccine; Mexican Factory Workers At Risk. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired December 20, 2020 - 00:00   ET

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

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ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Live from Hong Kong, I'm Anna Coren.

Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. Days before Christmas, the discovery of a new more contagious variants of the coronavirus has placed the UK on lockdown. We'll have the latest for you. We could be just hours away from the rollout of a second vaccine in the United States, what's next and how will the drug be distributed? And we're learning more about a heated exchange in the Oval Office. One of President Trump's allies actually says the President could use martial law to overturn the US election.

We're covering major developments in the coronavirus pandemic for you. Unfolding on each side of the Atlantic, are viewed together they show how complex and fluid the situation remains and how hope often goes hand in hand with hardship these days. In the US, a second vaccine is set for delivery. The CDC director just needs to give the Moderna vaccine the final green light. That comes during some of the darkest days of the pandemic in the country.

In the UK, the Prime Minister has put parts of England, including London, on a strict two-week lockdown. Well, it's because of a new variant of the virus that he says is up to 70 percent more infectious.

Boxes of the Moderna vaccine are already being packed and loaded, and officials say trucks should start rolling out on Sunday. Well, that means Americans could start receiving the vaccine come Monday.

CNN's Pete Muntean spent the day watching preparations at a facility in Mississippi.

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PETE MUNTEAN, AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The Moderna vaccine shipment start on Sunday and it all begins right here. This is a McKesson facility. That is the company distributing the vaccine for Moderna, and it's a bit of a strategic spot. We're not too far from Memphis, that's the headquarters of FedEx and UPS will be shipping the vaccine to 3,000 locations across the country.

This rollout, about four times larger than the Pfizer rollout of last week, and Operation Warp Speed is actually apologizing to states that did not get as much vaccine than they initially hoped. Here's what they said.

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GEN. GUSTAVE PERNA, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: It was my fault. I gave guidance. I am the one that approved the forecast sheets. I am the one that approved the allocations, right? There is no problem with the process. There is no problem with the Pfizer vaccine. There is no problem with the Moderna vaccine, right? It was a planning error and I am responsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Now, the Moderna vaccine has a bit of an advantage over the Pfizer vaccine. It does not need to be as cold. In fact, a regular freezer works just fine for storing this version of the vaccine. Six million doses will go out on Sunday and it all begins right here. Pete Muntean, CNN, Olive Branch, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: With more than 1.8 million coronavirus cases and rising, California has a crisis on a tense. The state's health department recorded more than 43,000 new cases and more than 270 new deaths Saturday. Well, things are particularly bad in Los Angeles County, which one doctor says is quickly becoming the pandemic's epicenter. Hospitals are at breaking points with thousands of patients who are sicker than ever. Another doctor tells us what he's seeing.

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DR. THOMAS YADEGAR, ICU DIRECTOR, PROVIDENCE CEDARS-SINAI TARZANA MEDICAL CENTER: This is by far the worst that has been in the past nine months, no matter how hard we try to get patients better to stabilize them. And hopefully, we get patients home. It seems like there's another four patients who are sicker waiting for that same bed.

Right now, we need LA to turn into a ghost town again. That's what we need so that we can try to save as many people and heal as many souls.

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COREN: Well, Dr. Mark Morocco is an Emergency Room Physician at the Reagan UCLA Emergency Medical Center and joins us now live from Los Angeles. Doctor, great to have you with us. Tell us about what you are witnessing.

DR. MARK MOROCCO, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN, REAGAN UCLA EMERGENCY MEDICAL CENTER: Well, the first thing I want to say is this way is not the kind of way that Californians are used to surfing, right? So, the first thing that all of your viewers and all of the viewers across CNN's universe should know is that, this is not a time to panic.

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The things that you do in the next three to four weeks really matter, and can really help us begin to knock the top off of this wave. So, all the things you've heard about, avoiding travel, avoiding groups, masking, hand washing, social distancing, that's really important. We are void during this time that's so difficult for us by this new vaccine and the other vaccines that are in the pipeline, and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

But we cannot give up now. We never expected to win this war in one battle. And now we're in a real battle, and we need your help.

COREN: Doctor, we heard from the previous physician who said he wants to LA to turn into a ghost town. I mean, obviously, you want people to stay at home, not to interact.

MOROCCO: That's correct. We want you to minimize -- I tell people to think of it this way. You want to protect your family and yourself first, and to do that you want to minimize your interaction with the virus. We know that the virus, pneumococcal virus that's hard to understand is everywhere, in ways that we couldn't even imagine back in March and April.

The numbers that we projected are so much higher that the safest thing for you to do is to stay at home, so that we can be ready and available and have beds open to treat you if you have a car accident, a stroke or a heart attack or if your COVID gets so bad that you need a ventilator and ICU bed or an aggressive treatment.

COREN: We know there is a critical shortage of ICU beds. Hospitals are at breaking points. There's talk of field hospitals being set up in certain areas. Will the health system be able to cope as cases rise?

MOROCCO: Well, Los Angeles County is a very large and very diverse community of hospitals. From great University Hospitals to small community hospitals, and every single one of them that I know of, every emergency physician, every nurse, every respiratory therapist, we've been preparing for this since before Thanksgiving. Remember, we could see this coming. We tried to warn people to be good. But as one person said, we kind of blew through a stop sign in our car through Thanksgiving. And now we're seeing the numbers that we expected.

So lots of preparation has happened. We're really hoping that we don't have to use those extra beds, those extra facilities, that we'll be able to see just as soon as maybe Monday or Tuesday, the first indications that this surge is leveling off.

COREN: In the UK, the discovery of a variant of the virus believed to be up to 70 percent more transmissible than earlier versions, is extremely alarming. I mean, your thoughts on this mutation and whether you expect to see something similar in the United States.

MOROCCO: Well, mutations of this kind of virus are very common. There have been over 2,000 of them already since the beginning of the pandemic. And I would say again, don't panic. We don't think and the folks who are studying this virus in the UK and worldwide don't think that this mutation is going to have any effect on two important things, on whether or not the virus is affected by the vaccine, or whether it causes more severe disease.

You might get it more easily. There's an association but they haven't proved that it's causal yet. So stay tuned. It's like predicting the end score in a baseball game in the third inning. We're just not there yet.

COREN: Yes. Do we know if the current vaccines will work on this variant or future variants for that matter?

MOROCCO: Well, of course, we don't know that yet. But there's no reason based on the design of the vaccines and our knowledge of the genome of the spike protein that the vaccines target to think that this single mutation. Remember, the vaccines are looking for pattern of, think of them as fingerprints on the spike protein. The mutation is one tiny part of one bit of a fingerprint.

And so, this vaccine, the second vaccine and the third vaccines you have coming aboard, should all be as effective as we thought they were before the mutation was known.

COREN: Dr. Mark Morocco joining us from Los Angeles. Thank you so much for your insights and your time.

MOROCCO: You're welcome. Thanks. Don't panic. Hang in there.

COREN: We will. Thank you. Well, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has essentially canceled a Christmas for millions of people in England. They are being put under severe Tier 4 restrictions for two weeks, which effectively amount to a lockdown. Non-essential shops and businesses will have to stay shut. People can meet only one other person from another household outdoors. And residents are being told not to travel out of their region.

England isn't the only place clamping down ahead of the holidays. Salma Abdelaziz has more on the situation across Europe.

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, REPORTER (voice-over): Europe's nightmare before Christmas, last minute coronavirus restrictions forcing travelers to unpack their bags and families to cancel plans. Authorities in some European countries are scrambling to contain a rise in infections with warnings of a third wave next year. In England, an 11th hour U-turn on coronavirus restrictions amid fears of a new strain of coronavirus. Prime Minister Johnson says it could be up to 70 percent more transmissible

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BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus, the potential risk it poses. It is with a very heavy heart. I must tell you, we cannot continue with Christmas as planned.

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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Tier 4 rules go into effect on Sunday in London and other affected parts of England, forcing residents to stay at home unless necessary. All non-essential shops to close and crucially travel in and out is banned.

The British government also finally feeding advice from health experts to call off a planned five-day easing of restrictions over the Christmas period. A day earlier, Italy, Sweden and Austria all announcing tough new restrictions to curb social gatherings during the festive season.

The Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will put into force a nationwide lockdown around the holidays.

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GIUSEPPE CONTE, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): It is not an easy decision. It is a painful decision to strengthen the regime of measures necessary for the upcoming holidays and to better protect ourselves.

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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): And then Austria, a third lockdown is set to begin on December 26th. The government there says, residents can celebrate Christmas but must stay at home for New Year's Eve. Sweden, a country that has so far resisted pandemic measures will enforce its toughest rules yet, recommending face masks on crowded transport and from December 24th alcohol sales must end at 8:00 pm. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven pleading with the public to exercise caution.

STEFAN LOFVEN, SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Do not let there be an outbreak during Christmas. Do not meet relatives over Christmas dinner. Celebrate only with those closest to you.

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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The question now is one of compliance, will people scrap holiday gatherings or are these moves too little too late to contain the virus? Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

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COREN: The Netherlands says it is banning all flights from the UK effective today. It's because of that new virus variants that experts say is more contagious. The Dutch government says the ban will remain in place until the New Year. Officials say the same variant was found in the Netherlands in early December. Investigators are looking into whether there are any other related cases.

A White House meeting on the US election takes a heated turn out of desperate and dangerous ideas have floated to overturn the results. Plus, the US president speaks for the first time about the suspected Russian cyber attack. But instead of blaming the Kremlin, he claims another country may have been involved.

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COREN: Welcome back. US lawmakers are now one step closer to a deal on a new COVID relief package. After a deadlock over how much power the Federal Reserve should have over the economy., Congress has reached a compromise and is now drafting the language of the bill. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says, it looks like both Houses of Congress could vote on the measure on Sunday.

And we're learning that President Donald Trump is still looking for ways to hold on to power. Sources tell CNN, there was a contentious meeting at the White House Friday, where staff argued over highly controversial ideas to overturn the election. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the details.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CORRESPONDENT: While President Trump isn't just publicly refusing to accept the results of the 2020 election, he is also privately still grasping for ideas and ways to possibly overturn the results of the 2020 election. Sources telling CNN that those ideas were floated during an Oval Office meeting that the President held on Friday that grew heated and ugly at times, according to our sources, as two people, two allies of the President pushed some really deranged ideas about overturning the results of the election.

Those two people are Sidney Powell, the attorney who was part of the President's legal team, and who has been pushing these deranged conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, including suggesting that the deceased Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez was behind rigging the 2020 election. As well as Michael Flynn, who is a client of Sidney Powell, and the former national security adviser who pleaded guilty to counts of lying to federal investigators before he was ultimately pardoned by the President of the United States.

Now, according to our sources, the President discussed the possibility of naming Powell as a special counsel to investigate voter fraud allegations in the 2020 election. And he also discussed this idea brought forward by Michael Flynn just a few days ago.

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MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER US NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: He could alter the, within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities and he could place them in those states, and basically rerun an election in each of those states. So it's not unprecedented. I mean, these people out there talking about martial law, it's like it's something that we've never done. We've done -- martial law has been instituted 64 times.

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DIAMOND: Now, to be clear, there is no indication that the President is going to be imposing martial law on the United States in order to rerun the 2020 election as Flynn suggested. But obviously, just the fact that this was an idea that was being discussed in the Oval Office with the President of the United States, a president who is refusing to accept the results of a Democratic election certainly is alarming.

And it generated quite a bit of pushback from several of the President's advisors inside the White House, including, we're told, the White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, as well as the White House Counsel, Pat Cipollone. Both of them are really pushing back on some of these more outlandish ideas about overturning the results of the election. In fact, our sources telling us that at time, this meeting devolved into quite a shouting match.

Now, as the President is still hyping up these claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, trying to overturn the results of a Democratic election, he is also downplaying an attack on the US government. This cyber attack that US government officials believe was conducted by Russian intelligence services.

The President tweeting on Saturday that the cyber hack is far greater in the fake news media than an actuality, and he goes on to say that while Russia is the priority whenever something happens, he said he's also discussing the possibility that it could be China that was behind this attack.

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But that notion has been really pushed back on by members of the President's own administration. In fact, it was the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who on Friday said that it was very likely that Russia was indeed behind this attack. We're told that White House officials were in fact drafting a statement on Friday to ascribe blame for the cyber hack to Russia. And now, it seems that we know why that statement ultimately was not released.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

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COREN: Well, CNN's National Security Analyst Samantha Vinograd joins us now from New York. Samantha, let's begin with the apparent Russian hack, the largest hack in American history, which we should point out, is still ongoing. Tell us about the scale of this attack and what's the threat?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, we don't yet know the full scale of this attack. There's no ability to do damage control until the US government understands the full scope of the damage. At this point, despite what President Trump says these attacks are still ongoing. That means that the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence are working to identify the full scale and scope of compromised entities. In terms of what Russia got from this operation, we know at a minimum that Putin scored major PR points once this attack became public. The world now knows that US cyber defenses were not able to accurately detect and avert this attack. The world now knows that our intelligence community did not detect this attack and its planning and execution stages. And that's a huge victory for Putin because he's been peddling the narrative that the US is weak.

In terms of what else Russia got, Anna, it certainly appears that they were able to monitor, at a minimum, US government email communications on an unclassified server. That's a big intelligence advantage. And if they had access to unclassified email addresses, they could use those in future this phishing operations, for example.

We don't know if they were able to go in and disrupt any operations and fully assessing the scale of the damage is going to take months, if not years.

COREN: Yes. This is believed to have begun back in March, but was only detected a few weeks ago. You've described this as a failure of epic proportions. I mean, what does this say about America's national security apparatus?

VINOGRAD: Well, it certainly says that the perpetrators of this attack believed to be the Russia Cozy Bear group or Advanced Persistent Threat 29, which has deep ties to Russians, External Intelligence Service, the SVR, has highly advanced and sophisticated capabilities that were able to trick US cyber defenses and were able to avoid detection by the US intelligence community.

Russia is a sophisticated adversary and this time around, whether it's because we were distracted, focusing on other priorities like securing our elections and COVID-19, or whether because they're just better than us at this juncture. It is clear that Russia is a serious adversary and needs to be confronted with a really well-informed strategy.

That's something that President Trump has never been capable of, which I think President-elect Biden is working on as we speak.

COREN: What to say that there are other hacks undetected taking place as we speak?

VINOGRAD: Well, that certainly can be the case. We do know that this Russian attack is ongoing, so we don't know who else is being compromised as we speak. But this whole episode really bolsters the case for passing a key piece of legislation in the United States, the National Defense Authorization Act. Trump is threatening to veto it is currently sitting on his desk.

That legislation, the NDAA, would give you as authorities the ability to go in and hunt for hacks. They don't currently have that authorization. That could be critically important in identifying other hacks at an earlier point, rather than learning about them from a private security firm like we did in the case of this Russian hack. I think that would be a very helpful step in trying to weed out other intrusions into our most private places.

COREN: Some would say that the Russian government has been empowered after four years of Trump. I mean, how does the Biden administration respond to this? And I guess could this lead to cyber war?

VINOGRAD: Well, Trump's simulated moon lighting is Putin's publicist these last four years. He's given Putin a lifelong get out of jail free card. But at this point, I think Putin is probably tuning Trump out. Instead, he's likely paying more attention to the president-elect strategy.

Biden has reportedly already working on a cost imposition strategy, he's floated potential financial repercussions, probably sanctions. I think there's a strong case for getting other countries on board with those sanctions because the Russians compromised entities in at least seven other countries. There's also the possibility of closing consulates in the United States and kicking out diplomats, that would hamstring Russia's ability to advance its interest here in the homeland.

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And Biden may also consider covert action striking via offensive cyber ops Russian government entities, for example, to avoid an escalatory cyber war. Biden would be well-advised to couple any cyber attack with a credible diplomatic message about an off ramp and trying to get to -- and trying to get to a cyber ceasefire.

Unlike Trump, I think that Putin believes that what Biden said is actually true. Biden has more credibility than Trump. And overall Biden, in my experience, working with him for four years, he develops well-informed strategies. He doesn't shoot from the hip, so I think we have a better chance of mitigating Russian threats once Biden has sworn into office.

COREN: Samantha, let's pivot to the inner workings of the White House and those reports of a screening match breaking out in the Oval Office among Trump aides and lawyer, Sidney Powell, and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. What more are you learning?

VINOGRAD: Well, just from reading the headlines, which frankly, this all sounds like something out of page six. It certainly appears that the wheels are coming off. Trump is surrounding himself with sycophants who are frankly spouting nonsense. We're learning that aides are increasingly alarmed about Trump's behavior, yet those same aides aren't quitting. They're just speaking with reporters.

It is likely that President Trump will continue to rant and rave until he's kicked out of the Oval Office on January 20th. But at this point, everything does appear to be on track for the next president of the United States to be sworn in on January 20th. And we have to keep an eye out for what damage Trump tries to do between now and then.

But writ large, I think we have to put these ranting and raving in context and focus instead on the peaceful transfer of power, which appears to be mostly going forward. COREN: But the fact that President Trump is entertaining the idea of enforcing martial law and launching a special counsel to investigate baseless voter fraud allegations, which have all been thrown out by the courts. I mean, is there something more sinister at play here?

VINOGRAD: Well, certainly I think that Trump would like to do anything to stay in power. But in terms of entertaining nonsense and dangerous ideas and conspiracy theories, I mean, Anna, what else is new? He's been doing this his entire presidency.

Fortunately, I think that there are existing checks on what would amount to be highly unlawful and autocratic behavior by the outgoing president. Senate Majority Leader McConnell has already congratulated President-elect Biden. I think that Congress would not go along with Trump trying to do something illegal at this point with respect to martial law.

And we also have to remember that calling up the military would involve getting the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to follow seemingly a legal order. So there are checks on the President's final throes, but it's still worrisome that any US president would entertain ideas like this.

COREN: Yes, it's time he let this one go. Samantha Vinograd, great to see you. Appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

VINOGRAD: Thanks. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, Israel's Prime Minister is rolling up his sleeves. We'll talk about the country's efforts to roll out the coronavirus vaccine. That's next.

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COREN: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Anna Coren.

Well, Israel is kicking off its coronavirus vaccination efforts. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first in the country to get the shot. He says he chose to do it on live television to set a personal example. He's urging Israelis to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The country has reported more than 372,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths.

Well, Elliott Gotkine joins us now from a hospital in Tel Aviv. Elliott, how did the majority of Israelis feel about this vaccine?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Well, actually, there was an opinion poll in one of the leading newspapers this week, which so that just under two-thirds of Israelis were planning to get vaccinated. So obviously, they're trying to encourage more people to do so. And here at this hospital, as you can see, health workers receiving their vaccines. We saw before the head of the hospital, the finance minister, and Israel's former chief rabbi also being vaccinated.

In fact, they came out to pumping music and a DJ. It felt a bit like a bar mitzvah party. But, of course, a very serious message here, which is the vaccinations have arrived and they hope this will be firing the starting gun, if you like, on what they hope will be the end of the pandemic.

Now, last night, of course, we saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receiving his first COVID jab live on national television. And he spoke about it afterwards in somewhat grandiose terms.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): That was a small jab for a man a huge step for the health of a soul. May this be successful, go out and get vaccinated.

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GOTKINE: And, of course, there are two reasons why Netanyahu did this live on television. I think the first message is very clear, just like Vice President Mike Pence, to try and lead by example, and encourage as many Israelis as possible to follow his lead and to get vaccinated.

The other reason is political. Netanyahu made himself the face of Israel's fight against the coronavirus pandemic. And when that was going well, after the first lockdown in cases were pushed very low, he received the plaudits. But when the economy reopened and cases surged to among the highest in the world on a per capita basis, he came in for quite a bit of criticism. Netanyahu will be hoping that by being the face of a successful rollout of the vaccine, that he will undo some of that damage and boost his popularity.

And not a moment too soon for him because if Israel didn't have enough to worry about right now, this week, if Parliament doesn't vote through the budget, Israelis could find themselves hurtling towards their fourth elections in the space of two years early next year. Anna?

COREN: Elliott Gotkine joining us from Tel Aviv, thank you for the update.

The first vaccinations are getting underway in parts of Europe, but countries across the continent are fighting skepticism from those you aren't sure they want the shots. CNN's Melissa Bell reports from Paris.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With infection rates in France and other European countries out of control, hope is just around the corner with the EU to start its vaccination campaign on December 27th. But it may not be that easy.

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ARANCHA GONZALEZ LAYA, SPANISH FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, I think vaccination is a question of trust and this is why in Spain, we are spending a lot of time and energy in building trust with the citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL (voice-over): Hence, this TV campaign to convince the reluctant with polls showing only 41 percent of Spaniards currently intending to get the vaccine.

In Italy, the figure is just 52 percent. Authorities, they're going with a Primrose-based commercial, matched by Primrose-shaped pavilions to attract people to where the vaccines will be dispensed.

Experts say that 70 percent of the population need either to have recovered from infection or to have been vaccinated for herd immunity to kick in. Now, as of earlier this month, only one in two people here in France said they were willing to get the vaccine. And that's something that's really repeated across the European Union.

In fact, Europeans were amongst the most vaccine skeptical on earth before the pandemic, and the pandemic doesn't appear to have changed that.

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DR. DAVID SCHAPIRO, VICE PRESIDENT, UFML: It has crystallized. It has made worse all the tensions between people. People are afraid, and when you're afraid most of the time you get quite extremist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL (voice-over): Across Europe, skepticism not only of vaccines but of governments encouraged these last few months by populist and far right parties, also by mistakes made by several governments early on in the pandemic,

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DOMENICO ARCURI, ITALIAN CORONAVIRUS COMMISSIONER: In the beginning of this year, all of us didn't know nothing about the virus. We, in that moment, any power, any know-how, any capability to fight with it. After some months, we are fully in power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL (voice-over): But even though the vaccines that will soon be available in Europe have been tested, found to be effective and found to be safe, skepticism goes deeper than you might think.

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JEREMY WARD, SOCIOLOGIST, CNRS: That's something that we tend to forget. It's not -- doctors are actually not so different from the general public. A lot of them are hesitant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL (voice-over): It's Europe's moment tweeted the president of the European Commission on Thursday to announce the start of the EU's vaccination campaign. From December 27th, the first Europeans will be able to get vaccinated. The question is, how many will choose to do so? Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: One-third of African Americans are hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine. That's according to a recent study. It just so happens the nation's Surgeon General is African American. Dr. Jerome Adams is using his position and his personal influence to get more black Americans to get the shot. He got his on Friday. At the same time, Adam says he understands the fear and reluctance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JEROME ADAMS, US SURGEON GENERAL: To truly promote confidence in these vaccines, we must start by acknowledging this history of mistreatment and exploitation of minorities by the medical community and the government. But then, we need to explain and demonstrate all that has been done to correct and address these wrongs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Ronald Peters is the Chairman of the Alpha Phi Alpha's COVID-19 International Task Force. He joins us now from Pearland, Texas. Ronald, great to have you with us.

RONALD PETERS, CHAIRMAN, ALPHA PHI ALPHA'S COVID-19 INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE: Pleasure.

COREN: There is deep mistrust in vaccines among the African American community. Roughly, one in three are apprehensive about taking the COVID-19 vaccine. Why is this and give us a bit of the back story, please?

PETERS: Well, there's a cause and effect relationship to everything. And so they've given us -- trying to get us to get a vaccine. But the reality is, is that this didn't start a couple years ago. This started, you know, since the antebellum period. Since we came, you know, off the boats. And when you look at what was done to us during Galtonism, you know, they call it Darwinism, where you have one race, they're superior, intellectually, as well as some of the things that they did to us during that time as slaves, using our ancestors as medical projects, looking at the different organs and teaching medical students off of our ancestors.

Native Americans and most importantly poor people of all races is so sad that now they say, hey, we should trust when the country has a unbroken history of eugenics.

COREN: I want to ask you about the Tuskegee experiment , that study which began back in the 1930s. That is obviously been ingrained into the black community throughout the generations. Remind us about that study and how damaging it was.

Well, like I said, there's so many different studies but that's the one that really sticks out because it went till 1972. And, you know, I was born then.

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This is not like this went on back in slavery. You know, this is when you had the whole old Jays and the Ohio players, the music that we listen to now.

And so, when you look at, you know, unfortunately, people getting, you know, a pill, a placebo pill for syphilis study, and they want to see the degenerative effects of syphilis on a brain, you know. And you have three different stages of the syphilis, where a person can lose their mind during the third stage, and they just want to examine us, knowingly not giving us the treatment.

These are the kinds of things that we're dealing with now with this vaccine. Because, you know, here, we have six vaccines, and it's telling us take the vaccine, take the vaccine. That's like telling someone to eat a steak, but you want -- you don't want cube steak, no more you want a filet mignon. You want the best treatment that you can get.

So again, it's not just the vaccine. We don't want the one that doesn't have the most efficacious use for us as a race, for the poor people, and for all people, most importantly.

COREN: Ronald, how do the authorities, the big pharmaceuticals, how do they gain people's trust?

PETERS: Well, number one, you know, we've had a very segregated, stratified experience, most of us, sadly enough in the world, would race, you know, and culture. And the way to gain our trust is number one, to give us the information on all the vaccines, you know, is not this take a vaccine. But we have to assess them with people that are from our cultures, people who are from all communities to make sure that they're efficacious.

You know, we have been stratified by race. We have the National Medical Association, which is just a group of African American, you know, from all different disciplines of medicine, but virologists that can look at this information.

COREN: The US Surgeon General, Dr. Adams, obviously an African American, he had the vaccine on live TV. Do more people like him high profile, black Americans need to be out there advocating the safety of this vaccine?

PETERS: Well, yes. Wait, let me be very clear. We want the vaccine. But again, America has six different contracts. We have Moderna, we have the Pfizer, which efficacious, but what about the other studies? You know, are we going to get the ones that haven't been proven yet are less efficacious? What a core people going to get that? Those are the things that I want to assess.

And so, before we go ahead and say we want the vaccine, we have to have people from the community, to the data virologists from our community, from the National Medical Association and so forth to assess the efficacy of all of the vaccines, instead of just saying, hey, take the vaccine because, of course, that's the one that's 95 percent efficacious. But what about the others that are going to come in weeks?

COREN: Ronald Peters, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much for sharing your insights.

PETERS: No, we appreciate you. And on behalf of my general president, Alpha Phi Alpha, it would be Dr. Everett Ward, we appreciate your time.

COREN: Well, some of the medical supplies used to fight the pandemic in the US are made in Mexico. Now, some Mexican workers say they're risking their lives to help keep Americans safe. Hear their stories just ahead.

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[00:46:51]

COREN: Throughout the pandemic, we've been sharing stories about the world's frontline workers. In Mexico, there are factory workers who make some of the essential products and supplies that doctors need to save lives. But now, some Mexicans say they feel like they are putting themselves at risk to keep others safe. CNN's Matt Rivers has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Medical supplies now more than ever essential products, though, some are not made in the US hut here just south of the border wall in Tijuana, Mexico. They're a sprawling landscape of factories called maquiladoras employ hundreds of thousand in low wage jobs. They make billions of dollars worth of us bound exports each year, including medical supplies.

Maria Elena has a job making oxygen level readers in a factory she doesn't want to name publicly. She got sick in early November.

My son was crying outside the clinic waiting for news, she says, tearing up but she remembers the post-diagnosis moment. It was horrible.

Maria Elena recovered from COVID-19. She thinks she got it at the factory though she is adamant that the factory follows COVID safety protocols. Some of her colleagues were not so lucky.

She says, they just gave us some stats and told us 12 people have died of COVID.

Multiple coworkers confirm that number to CNN but the company didn't respond to our questions. For decades workers have said poor labor conditions in the maquiladoras are rampant and some workers say a pandemic has only made things worse. The next day, we hide this workers identity because what she has to say about her employer, another factory making US bound medical supplies could get her fired. We asked, do you think the bosses care more about health or production? Definitely the production, no doubt, she says. We're nothing but pawns. She says her work environment is cramped, no social distancing, limited mask wearing, bosses indifferent to employee health.

She says we were all in close contact with some colleagues who just got COVID and we're still working. Now, the janitor is sick coughing and the bosses know it but she's still working too.

To start, base annual salaries are often less than $4,000 a year here and sick or not. If workers don't go to work, many don't get paid and might even get fired. At only in Cali, a local advocacy group, Margot Avalos Salas (ph) interviews workers all the time with similar stories. She says Americans should know some of their essential products come at a cost.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

RIVERS: So what she's saying is that, there were conditions bad conditions before here in Mexico, but the COVID pandemic has only made them worse, made them more intense than they were before.

Tijuana is in Baja, California, the Mexican state where 17 of every 100 patients diagnosed with COVID have died. The government says it doesn't specifically track the deaths of maquiladoras workers from COVID-19. The activist tell us they've counted at least 500.

[00:50:00]

Some of them are now buried in this nearby cemetery. This COVID victim's coffin is wrapped in protected plastic laid to rest in a swiftly dug grave. His family joins a growing list recently of those saying final goodbyes.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

RIVERS: What he's saying is, since Halloween, he's seen the number of bodies with COVID here in the cemetery go up. Nearly all of these graves have been dug in just the last month and large part due to COVID-19. And as another funeral goes on to our left, the truly depressing thing is that all of this land behind me has been newly designated and plowed to receive more graves because officials think that many more bodies are still to come.

And yet, despite the severity of Mexico's pandemics, so many have to keep working making critical products for other countries.

It bothers me a lot, says, Maria Elena, some Americans don't think about anything but themselves but we're the ones running the risk. And that bothers me.

Every night, thousands of workers like these stream out of local factories, some having spent their shifts making products for the US who knows how many of them are sick. Matt Rivers, CNN, Tijuana Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Stay with CNN, we'll be back after the break.

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[00:55:16]

COREN: Well, some seasonal cheer from the staff of an elderly care home near Paris. Thanks to COVID-19 measures, residents are expecting far fewer visitors over the Christmas period. So the staff here decided to have a little dancing and singing party for those who won't be able to see their loved ones this Christmas.

With Christmas less than a week away, how can Santa deliver presence to boys and girls with coronavirus spreading? Well, earlier Saturday many children asked Dr. Anthony Fauci that very question on CNN's COVID town hall for families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAXTON, 6 YEARS OLD: Will Santa still be able to visit me in coronavirus season? What if he can go to anyone's house or near his reindeer?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well, I have to say I took care of that for you because I was worried that you'd all be upset. So what I hit a little while ago, I took a trip up there to the North Pole. I went there and I vaccinated Santa Claus myself. I measured his level of immunity and he is good to go. He can come down the chimney. He can leave the presence. He can leave and you have nothing to worry about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Dr. Anthony Fauci still has been a busy man this year. Well that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Anna Coren. Thanks so much for your company. If you're an international viewers, stay tuned for "Living Golf." If you're joining us from the United States, I'll be right back with more news.

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