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Operation Warp Speed to Miss Self-Imposed Vaccine Goal; New U.K. COVID Variant Spreads to 2 Dozen Countries and Hong Kong; Emily Oster, Brown University Economics Professor, Discusses Why Children Are Safer in Class & Why Schools Should Rethink Quarantine Policies; 2020 Brought Unprecedented Challenges to Sports World; Police Release New Documents in Shooting Death of Andre Hill. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired December 29, 2020 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
VIVIAN SALAMA, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: So this is all coming within weeks of the expiration of a very critical U.S./Russian treaty. In fact, it expires just 16 days after Biden takes office.
So that's the new the START Treaty that Biden is going to have to rush to figure out how to do that while also trying to figure out how he's going to revamp the nuclear modernization program.
A lot to decide upon in the first couple of days in office -- Brooke?
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Sounds like the first two weeks in office.
Vivian Salama, thank you very much for the update on all of that.
Meantime, should schools stay open during the pandemic? Dr. Anthony Fauci says yes, and my next guest agrees. Hear why she says schools should rethink quarantine policies.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
The vaccine rollout in the U.S. continues to lag behind projections. So far, a little over two million doses have been administered. That's not even close to Operation Warp Speed's goal of 20 million by the end of the year.
[14:35:00]
Adding to all of this, we're now learning that hundreds of doses of the Moderna vaccine had to be tossed at a medical center in Wisconsin because of a storage issue error.
For more on that, let's go to senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.
Elizabeth, 500 doses tossed. Why?
DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, because they were left out when they shouldn't have been. Vaccines need to be kept refrigerated, sometimes frozen.
In this case, in the fridge, the place they were supposed to be. Apparently, they were taken out to access something behind them and they weren't put back in.
Most of those 500 doses, we're told, had to be wasted. So attribute it to human error. And I will tell you, Brooke, the only way to summarize this is, stuff happens.
It's not the first time in the history of vaccines they've had to waste vaccines because they weren't properly refrigerated. And it won't be the last.
Hopefully, they'll develop a protocol so it won't happen again.
BALDWIN: Wasn't like it was the Pfizer vaccine that has to be cold as the South Pole, but Moderna. Hopefully, this is the one and only we have to report on.
I want to ask about the coronavirus variant, which appears to be spreading. We've talked about it in the U.K. You see the map. It's been detected in two dozen countries and Hong Kong.
What do you know about the vaccine's effect on this variant?
COHEN: So vaccines are being tested as we speak, Brooke, to see if they will work or how well they work against this variant.
The hope is they will work just as well as they have against the other variants, which is about 95 percent.
Moderna and Pfizer are testing them right now. And Novavax, which is in its phase three trial, is also testing their vaccine to see if it works against it.
What they do is really quite simple. They take blood from someone vaccinated, put it in the lab, and challenge it with this new variant and they see how it does.
Basically, they're quite optimistic it will work well. I've talked to genomic experts who say, based on the genetics in this variant, the vaccine might work slightly less well.
Maybe instead of 95 percent effective, it would be 85 percent effective. That would still be an amazing vaccine.
BALDWIN: Elizabeth, thank you.
Dr. Anthony Fauci echoed the CDC this morning saying children should be in school as much as possible and that it's safe for students and teachers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES FOR ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We know looking at the data as it's evolved over the last months that the transmission within the context of the school is considerably lower than what we had thought.
So it may be that the children are more safe in school than we would have thought they were.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Dr. Fauci says the data has evolved, and my next guest can tell us how.
Emily Oster is an economics professor at Brown University. She started a dashboard that tracks the coronavirus spread rates in schools.
Emily, awesome having you on. Welcome.
EMILY OSTER, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, BROWN UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having me.
BALDWIN: As we head now into the next half of the school year, what does the data from the first semester tell us what worked, didn't work when it comes to the COVID outbreaks and the closures and quarantines?
OSTER: Yes. I think that, by and large, the data suggests schools are low-risk environments, that we see some infections among people associated with schools but we don't see a lot of evidence of spread within schools, particularly for younger kids.
At the same time, we're obviously seeing a lot of negative effects of learning loss, a lot of negative effects on learning (ph).
That's part of what is pushing people to thinking we really should try as much as possible, if we can do it safely, get kids back into in- person school.
BALDWIN: We haven't even begun to see the numbers from Christmas. Fauci saying January will most definitely be worse than December.
Just given what we don't know, what kind of effect do you think it will have on schools as many, hopefully, will reopen at the top of the year?
OSTER: Yes. I think, for one thing, I think many schools are planning a short sort of break before they reopen, probably to try to sort of suss out the cases that might unfortunately crop up over Christmas.
I think as we move into the next semester, we need to continue to think about how we can make schools as safe as possible. We did some of that in the fall and it was successful. There's more we can do.
And I know the administration is thinking about more testing in schools, more asymptomatic testing. I personally think that's extremely important.
And that's a way to enhance staff trust in the school and also to keep infections at a low rate we were able to achieve in many places in the fall.
BALDWIN: We know -- you know this, Emily -- that the CDC relied on your data to issue guidance to keep schools open.
Your reaction to that? And are they giving your team any assistance or resources?
OSTER: We have not gotten any assistance or resources from the CDC.
[14:40:00]
I think the reason the CDC was pulling on our data was that it is the most complete data. And it -- we have all the data but more data than anyone else. And we put it together in a way I think people can understand.
I do hope, again, that with the new administration, there will be a possibility for some of this kind of data effort to be more centralized.
Because I think the more centralized we make it the better we do and the more we can learn about if there's a transmission in schools, what happened? How can we use that to try to make sure it doesn't happen again?
That's really the key rather than to just say, oh, schools are safe. Say, here's what we're going to do to them as safe as possible so kids can be there.
BALDWIN: Thank you for getting all of this information for all the parents watching, for dealing in all of this data to just safeguard our kids ultimately.
Emily Oster, thank you very much.
OSTER: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Still ahead here on CNN, new details in the case of an Ohio police officer who shot a black man in his own home. What the officer's partner had to say about the night Andre Hill was killed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:45:35]
BALDWIN: So, 2020, 2020. It will be remembered as a year in which the coronavirus pandemic impacted and upended nearly every aspect of our lives.
It also brought unprecedented challenges to the sports world.
CNN Andy Scholes looks back at this unforgettable year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: A big part of sports is the emotional ups and downs. And in 2020, the highs were high, but the lows were as low as we've seen in a long time.
From Kobe's death to big-time event cancellations to the coronavirus leaving stadiums empty, sports had a tough go of it this year.
SCHOLES (voice-over): The 2020 started off like any other year in sports.
SPORTS ANNOUNCER: And the Tigers of LSU, a team of destiny and a team for ages, capturing the national title.
SCHOLES: LSU won their first College Football National Championship since 2007, but then the sports world was dealt a devastating blow.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We're following very tragic, very sad breaking news. The NBA legend, Kobe Bryant, has died in a helicopter crash. He was only 41 years old.
SCHOLES: The sports world mourning the loss of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others for weeks.
VANESSA BRYANT, WIFE OF KOBE BRYANT: God knew they couldn't be on this earth without each other. He had to bring them home to have them together.
MICHAEL JORDAN, NBA LEGEND: When Kobe Bryant died, a piece of me died. Now he's got me, I'll have to look at another crying meme for the Knicks.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHOLES: When the Lakers eventually took the court, they held an emotional tribute.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
SCHOLES: In February, Patrick Mahomes would lead the Kansas City Chiefs on a comeback to win Super Bowl LIV over the 49ers. Andy Reid finally had his super bowl title and the Chiefs their first in 50 years.
PATRICK MAHOMES, STARTING QUARTERBACK, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: I followed my dreams and now I'm here winning the Super Bowl with all my teammates.
ANDY REID, HEAD COACH OF THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: I can coach another 20 years with this group.
SCHOLES: Soon after that, on March 11th, the entire sports world came to a stop.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: The NBA has just announced that the season is going to be suspended.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: The NCAA is indeed now canceling its men and women's basketball tournaments over coronavirus fears. SCHOLES: The NBA, the first league to shut down. The NCAA tournament
was canceled for the first time ever. Major League Baseball sent their players home from strain training.
Sports everywhere was put on hold due to COVID-19 with no return in sight.
ADAM SILVER, NBA COMMISSIONER: Even if we're out for a month, even if we're out for six weeks, we can still restart the season.
SCHOLES: For more than three months, we had no sports to watch.
Over the summer, events did start to slowly come back, with NASCAR being the first to allow fans.
The sport's only black driver successfully campaigned NASCAR to ban the Confederate Flag from its races. Then Bubba Wallace became the suspected victim of a hate crime at Talladega Super Speedway.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: NASCAR is investigating a noose found in the garage of driver, Bubba Wallace. The entire sports world and Wallace's peers rallying around him.
BUBBA WALLACE, NASCAR DRIVER: Drivers wanted to do that, they wanted to show support of me.
SCHOLES: In the end, the FBI determined the noose was a garage door pull that had been in the garage before Wallace was assigned to it.
BERMAN: It looks increasingly like I'm going to be watching an unprecedented amount of sports on TV pretty soon.
SCHOLES: In July, the NBA returned, moving all operations to a bubble at Disney World. It was a great success with the league having zero positive COVID-19 tests for the nearly three months the teams were in the bubble.
The NHL and WNBA following the NBA'S model, also completing their seasons without positive tests.
But at one point, the NBA players nearly walked away from the successful restart in order to stand up for social justice.
BLITZER: NBA playoff games, all three of them tonight, have been postponed in protest of the shooting of Jacob Blake.
SCHOLES: In a show of solidarity with the NBA, teams across the WNBA, NHL and Major League Baseball also halting play. Athletes in 2020 more than ever using their voice to encourage change.
CROWD: We, the National Football League --
MAHOMES: Believe Black Lives Matter.
NNEKA OGWUMIKE, WNBA PLAYER, LOS ANGELES SPARKS: We've always been about this fight. We're a league of 70 percent black women. And we want to represent our communities as best as we can.
[14:50:03]
GEORGE HILL, POINT GUARD, OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: It really woke the world up and let them know that we're serious. We need change. We need more love in the world.
SCHOLES: The NBA playoffs did eventually resume with Lebron James capturing his fourth NBA title and first for the Lakers since 2010.
LEBRON JAMES, NBA PLAYER, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: To be able to get to the finish line and then be able to cross it, this is just unbelievable film.
SCHOLES: The city of Los Angeles wasn't done celebrating in October. After a rocky regular season dealing with outbreaks, the Dodgers winning their first World Series in 32 years, beating the Rays at a neutral site in Arlington, Texas.
About 11,000 fans were in attendance for the game. And while fans did return to sporting events in 2020, it looked much different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels sad but we're going to make the best of it.
SCHOLES: College football saw conferences tackle the coronavirus in different ways. The Big-12, SEC and ACC were determined to play and never wavered, while the Big-10 and PAC-12 postponed their seasons.
KEVIN WARREN, BIG-10 CONFERENCE COMMISSIONER: We just believe collectively there's too much uncertainty at this point in time in our country to encourage our student athletes to participate in fall sports.
SCHOLES: Nearly all conferences eventually decided to play in the fall but faced significant postponements and cancellations.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This week's slate of college football games is the hardest hit yet by the pandemic.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Eighteen games in all have been called off this week because of COVID.
SCHOLES: The NFL also struggling to the finish line of their season, dealing with cases on teams from week to week.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The fifth Tennessee Titans football player just testing positive for COVID-19, prompting the NFL to tweet, "The Steelers/Titans game will be moved to later in this season."
BALDWIN: The NFL is postponing tonight's game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers after the ravens confirmed multiple cases of COVID.
SCHOLES: No March Madness, a Masters in November, and big games played in empty stadiums, 2020 was a very different, challenging year.
But with vaccines on the way, there's hope the sports world will return to normal in 2021.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:56:48]
BALDWIN: According to documents just made public, the Columbus, Ohio, police officer, who was fired for killing Andre Hill, the unarmed black man, shouted that Hill had a gun before opening fire.
Officer Adam Coy shot Hill within seconds of their encounter. Hill was holding a cell phone in his hand and did not have a weapon.
The officer did not turn on his bodycam when he answered the call about a non-emergency disturbance. He also failed to help Hill after he was shot.
The new documents about the moments leading up to the incident were made public today after CNN requested their release.
With me now is CNN national correspondent, Brynn Gingras.
Brynn, I am so glad we're telling the story today. You've looked at these documents. What do they reveal?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, you just nicely said to your viewers that he didn't turn on his body camera footage until after the shots were fired and Andre Hill was killed.
However, treks recording 60 seconds before that document aired except there was no audio.
These internal documents, the internal investigations and transcripts of these interviews are so important for that matter. And CNN obtained those transcripts.
And I want to give you an idea of what Adam Coy's partner, other police officers who responded to that scene said about this incident since all we have is body camera video after the fact.
Adam Coy, the officer here, basically said -- that his partner said that he yelled that Andre Hill had a gun, he had a gun.
A lieutenant who was also on the scene gave this statement, in part, in that internal investigation saying, quote:
"Based on my direct observations of this encounter, I informed the director's office of what I was witnessing. I explained that I observed events with my own eyes and ears that, in my experience, raised many alarms as to the officer's actions in using deadly force."
So quite damning responses -- you know, statements being made by people who arrived on that scene who were also part of that Columbus, Ohio, Police Department.
This was all considered when there was that internal investigation at the Columbus Police Department.
And also when they were having a disciplinary hearing yesterday about Adam Coy, about his future with the police department. And they determined that he was going to be fired.
I want you to hear from the family of Andre Hill after they learned that this officer did lose his job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALVIN WILLIAMS, ANDRE HILL'S BROTHER: Still an unbelievable tragedy, a tragedy in the way that Andre was shot multiple times, four times.
And how he was actually just left for dead. And there could have been many possibilities for him to maybe survive his injuries. He was just killed like an animal.
BENJAMIN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: We want to have transparency because the officer turned on the body camera after he shot her father. So we can only speculate about, why did this officer do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRAS: So, Brooke, obviously, this family wants more answers.
The state is investigating. These transcripts will be part of that larger investigation. It is very possible this officer could face criminal charges -- Brooke?
[15:00:02]
BALDWIN: Stay on it for us.
Brynn Gingras, thank you.
And thank you all for being with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin here in New York.
Let's go to Washington. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
