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Parts Of Europe Enforce Strict Holiday Measures; Moderna Vaccine Set For U.S. Distribution; COVID-19 Surge In California; U.S. Lawmakers Closing COVID-19 Relief Deal; Trump Downplays Severity Of Massive Cyberattack; Record Numbers Of Georgians Vote In Runoffs; Israel Starts Vaccination Drive; Europe Fights Skepticism Ahead Of Vaccine Rollout; Mexican Medical Supply Workers Worry About COVID-19 Risk; Airlines Introduce COVID-Free Corridor. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired December 20, 2020 - 03:00   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): Parts of the U.K. are now facing a Christmas lockdown as scientists warn of a new, possibly more contagious strain of the coronavirus. We're live in London with details.

Here in the U.S., a second coronavirus vaccine gets emergency use authorization as one state buckles under a surge in cases.

And we have details of a heated Oval Office exchange, where Trump allies floated the idea of enacting martial law to try to overturn the election.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to you, our viewers here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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BRUNHUBER: We're waiting for the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to give the final OK to Moderna's COVID vaccine. That decision by Dr. Robert Redfield could come at any time.

Earlier Saturday, a CDC panel recommended the Moderna vaccine for Americans 18 and older. The head of the government's vaccine initiative, Operation Warp Speed, says about 6 million doses of the new vaccine will ship out today. That means the first shots could be administered as early as Monday.

This will be the second COVID vaccine the U.S. has authorized in a week. The CDC says at least 272,000 Americans received their first shot of the Pfizer BioNTech drug since it was distributed last week.

But unlike the Moderna vaccine, this one is authorized for people as young as 16. But health experts warn, getting the entire country inoculated will be an uphill struggle as the pandemic rages out of control. New cases have approached 250,000 people in a single day, almost 200,000 on Saturday and the death toll keeps soaring.

In the six days since the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine debuted last Monday, about 16,000 Americans have died of the disease.

There's been a disturbing development emerging in the battle against COVID-19. British scientists say they've detected a new variant of the virus. It seems to spread easier and may be harder to detect.

But England's chief medical officer notes there is no evidence so far that indicates this strain is deadlier or that it affects vaccines and treatments. This is raising the alarm in other European countries.

Just hours after the announcement, the Netherlands moved to ban all flights from the U.K. starting today. This new development also prompted prime minister Boris Johnson to cancel the easing of Christmas restrictions. He instead announced strict tier 4 guidelines for large parts of Southern and Eastern England.

And this includes London, where cases are surging. For more, let's turn to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz in London.

I saw pictures of packed train stations as people try to flee London to get ahead of the new restrictions.

Between those restrictions, the scary-sounding new variant, a new flight ban, it seems thing is are unraveling quickly there.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: I can tell you it was a rather dramatic night here in London. This 11th hour restriction being imposed on Londoners in affected areas. Prime minister Boris Johnson announcing it yesterday afternoon.

Of course this is the weekend of Christmas. Everybody was heading to airports, train stations, making travel plans. You can only guess how many hearts were breaking, phones blowing up, people texting to try to understand, what's the plan here.

Jokes being made about traveling out of tier 4 regions, into tier 4 regions, to be able to fly out. Heathrow, the main airport, is in London, a tier 4 region. But it's not just the U.K. scrambling with last-minute decisions. Across Europe, authorities are struggling to contain a rise in cases, as people also want to celebrate the holidays. Take a look.

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ABDELAZIZ (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.

[03:05:00]

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): In England, an 11th hour U-turn on coronavirus restrictions amid fears of a new strain of coronavirus. Prime minister Boris Johnson says it could be up to 70 percent more transmissible.

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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. 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.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Tier 4 rules go into effect Sunday and Monday in other affected parts of England, forcing residents to stay at home, all nonessential shops to close and crucially travel in and out is banned.

The British government also finally heeding advice from health experts to call off a planned 5-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.

Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte will put into force a nationwide lockdown around the holidays.

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.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): And in Austria, a third lockdown is set to start on December 26th. The government says residents can celebrate Christmas but must stay at home for New Year's Eve.

Sweden, a country that so far has resisted pandemic measures, will enforce its toughest measures yet, recommending face masks on crowded transport and, from December 24th, alcohol sales must end at 8 pm. Prime minister of Sweden 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.

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?

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ABDELAZIZ: The concern now is, will people in London and other affected areas heed these orders?

Enforcement here in the U.K. has been very minimal. It's been up to individuals to follow the rules.

Seeing people scrambling towards the train, scrambling towards the airport, especially when so many are frustrated that this came in last-minute, that's the concern, is will people follow the rules?

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Salma Abdelaziz in London.

In the U.S., boxes of the Moderna vaccine are already being packed and loaded. Officials say trucks should start rolling out today and that means Americans could start receiving the vaccine on Monday. CNN's Pete Muntean spent the day watching preparations at a facility in Mississippi.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Moderna vaccine shipments start on Sunday and it all begins right here. This is a McKesson facility, that is the company distributing the vaccine for Moderna.

It's a bit of a strategic spot. We're not too far from Memphis;; that's the headquarters for FedEx. It 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 as they originally hoped.

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GEN. GUSTAVE PEMA, COO, OPERATION WARP SPEED: It was my fault. I gave guidance. I am the one that approved the forecast sheets. I am the one who approved the allocations.

There is no problem with the process. There is no problem with the Pfizer vaccine. There is no problem with the Moderna vaccine. 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.

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BRUNHUBER: Two more health care workers in Alaska have suffered adverse reactions to the Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. A source for Providence Alaska tells CNN it happened late last week, the reactions mild and non-life threatening. That brings the total number of reactions in the state to at least five.

We previously reported three other health care workers had allergic reactions after receiving their doses.

With more than 1.8 million coronavirus cases and rising, California has a crisis on its hands. The state's Health Department recorded more than 43,000 new cases and more than 270 new deaths Saturday.

Things are particularly bad in Los Angeles County, which one doctor says is quickly becoming the pandemic's epicenter. Hospitals are at a breaking point, with thousands of patients who are sicker than ever.

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BRUNHUBER: Another doctor tells us what he's seeing.

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DR. THOMAS YADEGAR, PROVIDENCE CEDARS-SINAI TARZANA MEDICAL CENTER: This is by far the worst that it's 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 L.A. 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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BRUNHUBER: Dr. Nicolas Sawyer is an emergency medicine physician at UC Davis Medical Center. He joins me from Sacramento, California.

Thanks for being on with me, Doctor. As we saw, the worst situation in the state is south of where you are.

But how serious is the spike in cases and the lack of beds in your community?

What are you seeing?

DR. NICOLAS SAWYER, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN, U.C. DAVIS MEDICAL CENTER: So, yes, we are certainly seeing a large spike in cases. Every day I go to work, we're seeing more and more cases than we've seen before. It's rapidly accelerating at a pace that's pretty surprising.

But fortunately we're not yet at the point where they are down in Los Angeles and also in the San Joaquin region.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, there we've seen, they're running out of beds, they've had to set up stations outside for people and so on. So you're not there yet but having to deal with so many sick people.

And some of the COVID patients you're dealing with, the serious ones, they have to be intubated. We read about that, we hear about it. But it's sort of, for us, it's abstract. Most of us luckily don't know what that's like. I saw you posted a video on Twitter showing exactly how it's done. I want to play a clip from it.

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SAWYER: So let's go ahead and intubate. The first thing I do is insert the blade into the patient's mouth and then use the bag valve to breathe for them. This patient is currently paralyzed and will be put on a ventilator for who knows how long. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: That was just frightening to see that. That first tool looked almost like a velociraptor claw.

Why did you decide to post this?

SAWYER: You know, what we do in the emergency department and in our ICUs is very specific and highly technical maneuvers. And a lot of it is going unseen. And I think that's one of the biggest problems with this pandemic, is that people don't see the suffering.

I volunteered to go to Elmhurst Hospital in April. And one of the issues I saw there was that, because patients' families weren't allowed on the coronavirus wards, they had to say goodbye to their families over FaceTime.

What I'm trying to do is get across to the public what it's like when you get sick with coronavirus or critically ill and the things that you or a loved one may have to go through.

BRUNHUBER: A lot of people think, well, you know, it's just kind of like a cold and so on, so forth. Clearly having to go through that would be horrific. On a much more hopeful note, you were among the thousands of frontline workers who got the vaccine this week.

First off, how are you doing?

And how's the rollout going?

When might we actually see this make a dent in the pandemic?

SAWYER: Yes, so I'm very fortunate to have received the vaccine on Tuesday. My arm was sore for one day and, aside from that, I had no other side effects.

At UC Davis Health, we vaccinated about 3,000 people already. And we're hoping to get up to another 1,000 next week. And where this is, is we have to recognize that, although we're rolling out the vaccines, it's sort of bittersweet.

Right now we have 200,000 to 300,000 people in the United States being diagnosed with coronavirus each day. The last -- a couple of days ago, we saw 3,565 deaths in one day.

So the vaccine is ultimately going to be the thing that fixes this problem. But at the same time, we can't forget the public health measures that will help us get through this winter.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's obviously going to take a long time to get this under control. Listen, thank you so much for being on with us. And good luck and stay safe out there as you help the community, Dr. Nicolas Sawyer, University of California Davis Medical Center, we appreciate it.

SAWYER: Thank you. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Financial help could soon be on the way for millions of Americans devastated by the pandemic. U.S. lawmakers say they're close to a deal for a new COVID relief package and could vote on the measure Sunday.

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BRUNHUBER: It comes after Congress reached a last-minute compromise on the Federal Reserve's emergency lending authority. CNN's Manu Raju looks at what's at stake.

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MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Congress is running up against a Sunday deadline to fund the government. By 11:59 pm Sunday night, if no deal is reached, then the government will down heading into Monday, because now government funding is tied to this $900 billion COVID relief package because the leadership wants to tie the two issues together.

But if they don't get a deal on either, both collapse, we'll be headed into government shutdown come Monday. All major questions remain. So much is riding on this $900 billion package for COVID relief, including unemployment benefits. People are seeing those dry up in a matter of days.

There's $600 for individuals under a certain income threshold, money for schools, over $80 billion for schools and education, providers, as well as money for vaccine distribution. So much, so critical at this moment.

Can they get there, can they get it passed?

Big questions remain as we head into a pivotal moment on Capitol Hill -- Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

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BRUNHUBER: There's much more to come on CNN, including details on what's being called a White House screaming match. Shocking details about how Trump allies may be looking to overturn the election -- ahead.

Plus early voting in Georgia's crucial Senate runoff election at a fever pitch. Just ahead, the latest on the Senate shutdown.

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(MUSIC PLAYING) BRUNHUBER: "Heated and ugly," that's how sources describe a White

House meeting Friday attended by president Donald Trump that erupted into a screaming match. The reason for the fight, according to sources, discussion of ways to overturn the election, including martial law.

But a short time ago, Mr. Trump pushed back these reports, calling them "fake news."

In another tweet sent Saturday, Mr. Trump downplayed the massive cyber attack against the U.S. government. His comments appear to undercut secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who's linked the hack to Russia.

Jeremy Diamond has more on the disconnect between the president and his secretary of state and that contentious Oval Office meeting.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: 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 tell CNN 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 allies of the president pushed some really deranged ideas about overturning the results of the election.

Those two people are Sydney Powell, the attorney who is 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 Sydney Powell's 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.

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. He also discussed this idea, brought forward by Michael Flynn, just a few days ago.

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MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: He could order the -- within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities and place them in those states and basically rerun an election in those states.

I mean, it's not unprecedented. These people out there talking about martial law like it's something we've never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 -- 64 times.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DIAMOND: To be clear, there is no indication that the president will be imposing martial law in the United States in order to re-run the 2020 election, as Flynn suggested.

But, honestly, 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's 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 advisers inside of the White House, including, we are told, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows as well as the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone.

Both of them really pushing back on some of these more outlandish ideas about overturning the results of the election. In fact, our sources tell us, at times 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 U.S. government.

This cyberattack that U.S. government officials believed was conducted by Russian intelligence services, the president, tweeting, on Saturday, that the cyber hack is far greater in the fake news media than in actuality. He goes on to say, while Russia is the priority whenever something happens, he says he is also discussing the possibility that it could be China that was behind the attack.

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 it was very likely that Russia was, indeed, behind this attack.

We are told that White House officials were drafting a statement on Friday to ascribe blame for the cyber hack to Russia. Now it seems, we know why that statement, ultimately, was not released -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Early voting is well underway in Georgia for those crucial Senate runoffs. Already record numbers of voters are turning out. President Trump tweeted a few hours ago he plans to hold a rally for the two Republican senators on January 4th, the night before the election.

But candidates appear to be distancing themselves from the president's online rhetoric. CNN's Kyung Lah has more from Atlanta.

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KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the first week of early votes here in Georgia for the Senate runoffs, the numbers are certainly showing that people are interested. [03:25:00]

LAH (voice-over): 1.1 million early votes cast so far, 642,000 of them voted in person. And the ad spending is not slowing down. Nearly $500 million of ad money has flown into this state. The Democrats are continuing to crisscross the state. All candidates, in fact.

But the Democrats held a joint rally in Savannah, Georgia. John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are the two Democratic challengers and are stressing Democrats need to flip both of the Senate seats held currently by Republicans in order to move forward Joe Biden's legislative agenda.

In order for Democrats to do that, they have to flip both those seats to create a tie in the Senate. Vice President Kamala Harris then would be the tiebreaker.

On the Republican side, senator David Perdue, the incumbent, he has been campaigning with Donald Trump Jr. They have been holding rallies across the state. And what they are saying is they are encouraging Republicans to turn out.

You are not hearing them, though, focusing on President Trump's tweets, many of them that have been spreading lies about widespread election fraud in Georgia that is completely unfounded.

The GOP senators need their supporters to turn out, even though many of them believe the president, in order to use that system, to keep those two Senate seats red -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Atlanta, Georgia.

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BRUNHUBER: Coming up, Israel's prime minister is rolling up his sleeve. We'll talk about the country's efforts to roll out the coronavirus vaccine.

Plus hear from factory workers in Mexico, who say they're risking their lives to supply the U.S. with medical supplies.

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

Israel is kicking off its coronavirus vaccine efforts. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first in the country to get the shot. He said he chose to do it on live TV to set a personal example and is urging Israelis to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The country has reported over 372,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths. Elliott Gotkine joins us live from Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu has been criticized for his handling of the crisis, so I imagine bringing millions of doses of the vaccine to Israel this early will be celebrated even by his opponents. I can see plenty of action behind you.

How has the rollout been received?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, this official kickoff of the vaccination campaign in Israel was -- initially began with a deejay, pumping music and the sight of health workers dancing behind me, it felt like a mitzvah party in a way.

They got on to the serious business of the vaccinations. Health workers lining up behind me, getting their vaccinations. We also saw the finance minister, the head of the hospital and a former chief rabbi being vaccinated as well.

And as you say, last night, we saw prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu being vaccinated live on national television. And he said after he'd received it, he reacted to it in quite a grandiose way.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOTKINE: And the vaccination of Netanyahu live on television was important for two reasons. The first, as you say, is to set an example, to try to encourage as many Israelis as possible to get vaccinated.

I was speaking with a former coronavirus czar who heads up this hospital before. He said they need 60 percent to 70 percent of the Israeli population to get vaccinated in order to get on top of things.

I think the other reason is political. As you say, Netanyahu came in for criticism after the number of cases surged in the country to among the highest in the world per capita. He was criticized for that.

Now he hopes, by being the face of a successful rollout of the vaccine and getting Israelis vaccinated, perhaps ahead of other countries, that he will get the credit and also perhaps boost his political fortunes.

Not a moment too soon, because, as if Israel has not enough to worry about right now, this week in parliament, the budget is due to come before politicians. If they don't pass it, Israel will automatically go to elections in the new year, their fourth elections in a space of two years -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right, thank you so much, Elliot Gotkine, appreciate it.

Certain groups of Americans are hesitant about getting a COVID-19 vaccine but their reasons are vastly different. The Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed vaccine skeptics, finding some Republicans say the whole pandemic has been blown out of proportion, so why vaccinate?

While some Black Americans worry about side effects and have a general mistrust of the vaccine. Some leaders say that fear is justified and rooted in American history.

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RONALD PETERS, ALPHA PHI ALPHA'S COVID-19 INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE: Using our ancestors for 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, it's so sad that now they say, hey, we should trust, when the country has an unbroken history of eugenics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Of course, vaccine skepticism isn't just a problem in the U.S. Europe is dealing with the same issue. To talk about that, Dr. Jonathan Kennedy, senior lecturer of global health at Queen Mary University of London.

Thank you for joining us. As we saw, vaccine hesitancy a huge problem in the U.S., clearly, a problem there too. Some 52 percent of Italians say they will get the vaccine, only 41 percent of Spaniards and so on. You argue there's a correlation between doubting vaccines and voting for populist parties. Explain this for us.

DR. JONATHAN KENNEDY, SENIOR LECTURER OF GLOBAL HEALTH, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Yes, so even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we had a big problem in Europe with vaccine hesitancy. And this was mainly around the MMR vaccine, measles, mumps, rubella. And a couple of years ago, I looked at this phenomenon.

[03:35:00]

KENNEDY: And I found there was a really strong correlation between countries in which there are a high level of votes for so-called populist parties and countries in which there's a high level of distrust in vaccines.

You find countries like Italy, France and Greece that have very high levels of distrust in vaccines, also have lots of support for populist parties. You also see the opposite. Places like Portugal, where there's virtually no support for populist parties, there's very high trust in vaccines.

BRUNHUBER: Normally there's a clear link, despite what you said there. The more severe the disease, the more people want to get vaccinated. It seems counter intuitive that the anti-vax sentiment is growing during a pandemic. Is there something different about COVID?

KENNEDY: Yes, this is a really interesting phenomenon. I think there are two contradictory forces. One works, as you said. So there are plenty of people who are much more determined to get a vaccine now because of the risks of not getting vaccinated.

But there's also a large group of people who seem to have become more vaccine hesitant over the past year. And this can be explained, actually, when we think about what's driving vaccine hesitancy.

It seems to be, to a large extent, as you said in your previous piece, a distrust in the state and the pharmaceutical companies that are promoting these programs and the fact that, first of all, the vaccine has been created remarkably quickly.

It's a fantastic achievement. But this has raised suspicions about possible dangerous side effects that haven't been picked up. And these concerns are not really justified. But this just feeds into the distrust of anti-vaxers and vaccine-hesitant people.

BRUNHUBER: Turning then to a solution, I'm just wondering if there's a way to do some sort of political jiu jitsu here to turn populism to help with the vaccine.

Is there a way to kind of do that, to benefit the health system in some way, using those same techniques?

KENNEDY: That's a really good question. So I think certainly the internet has changed the way we access information, changed the way we communicate. And we see that a lot of rumors about vaccine safety are spread on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.

Certainly, there's something that public health workers, public health actors, can learn from this. And they can copy the modes of communication.

BRUNHUBER: I'm wondering, we just saw a piece there with Netanyahu getting the shot. We've seen a number of political leaders getting the shot on camera to convince voters it's safe.

Here in the U.S., it's a little confusing because President Trump has historically been a vaccine skeptic but he's been trying to rush this vaccine. But he also hasn't taken it, unlike his vice president. So many have been calling on him to set an example.

Do you think leaders getting the shot like this has any effect on skeptics?

Or would they just assume, in their conspiracy mind, they're just getting saline solution or something?

KENNEDY: No, I think it's crucial for winning over the big group of persuadables in the middle. Something that's driving vaccine hesitancy is distrust in politicians that are promoting this. So if we have these kind of show vaccinations, where you have Netanyahu or Pence being vaccinated, it can only help build trust.

BRUNHUBER: Fascinating stuff. Thank you so much for speaking to us, Jonathan Kennedy, we appreciate it.

KENNEDY: Thank you, Kim.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Throughout the pandemic, we've been sharing stories about the world's frontline workers. In Mexico, there's factory workers who make essential products and supplies that doctors need to save lives. Now it seems some Mexicans feel they're putting themselves at risk to save others. CNN's Matt Rivers has their story.

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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Medical supplies, now more than ever, essential products, though some are not made in the U.S. but here, south of the border wall in Tijuana, Mexico.

There, a sprawling landscape of factories called maquiladoras employ hundreds of thousands of Mexicans in low-wage jobs. They make billions of dollars' worth of U.S.-bound exports each year, including medical supplies.

RIVERS: Mucho gusto. (Speaking Spanish).

RIVERS (voice-over): 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.

[03:40:00]

RIVERS (voice-over): Tearing up as 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's adamant that the factory follows COVID safety protocols. Some of her colleagues were not so lucky.

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

Multiple co-workers confirmed that number to CNN, though 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 worker's identity because what she has to say about her employer, another factory making U.S.-bound medical supplies, could get her fired.

RIVERS: De que los jefes --

RIVERS (voice-over): 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 were 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 do not get paid and might even get fired.

At Ollin Calli, a local advocacy group, Margo Avalos Salas interviews workers all the time with similar stories. She says Americans should know some of their essential products come at a cost.

MARGO AVALOS SALAS, OLLIN CALLI: (Speaking Spanish).

RIVERS: She's saying 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.

RIVERS (voice-over): 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 maquiladora workers from COVID-19. But activists tell us they've counted at least 500.

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

RIVERS: Desde Halloween. (Speaking Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).

RIVERS: He's saying, 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, in large part due to COVID-19. 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.

RIVERS (voice-over): Yet despite the severity of Mexico's pandemic, 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 U.S.

Who knows how many of them are sick? -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Tijuana, Mexico.

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BRUNHUBER: Still to come, what's next for the U.K. and the E.U. if they don't strike a post-Brexit trade deal by the end of this weekend?

The latest on the struggling talks live from London.

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BRUNHUBER: With two weeks to go before the U.K.'s post-Brexit transition period expires, the pressure is on to reach a trade deal. Discussions have been stuck over fishing rights and fair competition rules and the U.K. says it would prefer to leave with no trade deal rather than compromise its independence.

With talks supposed to end Sunday, it's not clear if there will be a breakthrough. CNN's Nic Robertson joins me live from London.

Nic, we've been here before. I was talking to you last Sunday, hours before the deadline was meant to expire. Here we are again.

Are we any closer?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: If you believe Ursula van der Leyen, the European Commission president -- and there's no reason to disbelieve her -- she said Wednesday this week that progress had been made on most issues.

She talked about how this level playing field issue, the idea that the U.K. regulations could track E.U. regulations and the U.K. wouldn't increase state aid to businesses that would undercut European businesses, she said that there were some agreements there.

And I think this gave, in the middle of the week, everyone some optimism. But toward the end of the week, both sides have been making the position very clearly that they want to try to negotiate this out, that there is a narrow path to getting a deal here.

Michel Barnier has told European parliamentarians, who are putting in place this Sunday deadline, saying, if there isn't a deal done by Sunday they won't have time to pass it through the European Parliament to make it enforceable by the time the deadline expires on the 31st of December.

Michel Barnier has been saying that there is progress and that both sides are ready and willing to continue to talk as long as there's a reason to continue to talk.

Precisely the nature of what they're discussing, we don't know. But both sides continue to say there's a big gap. And where they agree is that this big gap is on fishing. And it does feel as if, this week, more of a dispute there has come into the light.

We had a senior British minister on Friday, Michael Gove, who's involved in Brexit negotiations, saying that U.K. fishermen want to have and the government wants them to have exclusive fishing rights in that key 6-12 miles off the U.K. shoreline going forward in a Brexit trade deal.

Michel Barnier got -- I wouldn't say emotional -- but put himself personally in the picture on this. He said, telling the European Parliament personally, he said, I don't think it's right that the end of a transition period, we don't know what that would look like, that U.K. fishermen should exclude European fishermen from their waters, characterizing this, saying that, you know, all we want to do is have some predictability for the future of European fishermen in British waters.

So this is a deeply contentious issue.

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ROBERTSON: How they bridge this gap, people have thought that perhaps this could happen through a transition mechanism, we just don't know where that stands.

What we do know is today's Sunday; they're supposed to finish talking so that E.U. Parliament can get what it wants out of this, enough time to ratify the agreement. And the reality is, we've seen every other deadline pushed through and gone beyond, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: In other words, I'll see you again next Sunday. All right, Nic Robertson in London, appreciate it.

A major airline is opening a way for travelers to get from the U.S. to Europe without quarantine. But if you go, get ready to take several swabs. We'll show you how the COVID-free corridor works.

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BRUNHUBER: Airlines are trying a new technique to ease international travel during the coronavirus pandemic. They're called COVID-free corridors. Delta is among those trying out this new normal means of travel, enabling passengers willing to take multiple COVID tests to span the globe. CNN's Richard Quest takes us aboard.

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RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE (voice-over): Passengers headed to Amsterdam on Delta Flight 76 actually began their journey up to five days earlier.

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QUEST (voice-over): When they took the first of several COVID tests that enables them to avoid quarantining when they arrived in Amsterdam.

This is Delta and KLM's COVID-free corridor between Atlanta and the Dutch capital.

That first PCR test is followed by a rapid test at the Atlanta airport before boarding. Of course, if both are negative, you can fly. There is a third PCR test upon arrival in Amsterdam. Only if that is negative can you avoid quarantine.

DR. STEFEN AMMON, DISPATCH HEALTH: It's really the idea of stacking tests or sequential testing to try and capture any of those individuals that either falsely tested negative initially and/or may be have converted in that three-day period since they have their initial tests performed. So just another layer of protection.

QUEST (voice-over): Building COVID corridors is part of the airline industry's effort to restore confidence and revive air travel, eliminating the need for time-consuming quarantines.

PERRY CANTARUTTI, DELTA AIRLINES: We are hoping that, in the first quarter of next year, we will also be able to add more cities.

QUEST (voice-over): There are similar corridors, from Rome to New York and soon Atlanta to Rome. Currently, the number of passengers on these flights is limited because of both E.U. and U.S. travel restrictions that ban each other's citizens from nonessential travel.

Delta Airlines is not alone. All the major transatlantic carriers are experimenting with corridors of one sort or another. But their success depends on governments giving permission.

All in all, these individual flights are a glimmer of hope that a new normal for safer air travel in the COVID era is well on the way -- Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more news. Please stay with us.