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Eleven GOP Senators Plan To Back Hawley's Objection To Certification Of Biden Win; Some Elderly FL Residents Wait Hours To Get Vaccinated; Pelosi & McConnell Homes Vandalized With Angry Stimulus Messages; Trump, Biden, Pence, Harris All Campaigning In Georgia On Monday; One-Millionth Vaccine Dose Administered In Israel; British Prime Minister Predicts Return To Normal By April; Secret Service Adding Former Biden Agents To New Presidential Detail. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired January 02, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:39]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All right. This breaking news. A group of 11 Republican Senators and Senators-elect say they will vote to back Missouri Senator Josh Hawley's planned objection, objection to President-elect joe Biden's certification on Wednesday. Joining me right now, Mark Preston in Washington. So, Mark, help us understand this.

So, Senator Holly was the first to say he is going to object to this certification of Joe Biden. And now we've since learned that 11 other Republicans may be on board. What could potentially happen on Wednesday?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he's welcomed those 11 on board, Fred. So, it looks like he has the support now. You have now 11, 12 Republican Senators who are going to object or at least vote to object to the certification. Now, we don't necessarily know how this is going to play out, you know, our Lauren Fox, Capitol Hill is digging deep on this. But what we've learned so far, though, is that we do have 11 Senators.

Ted Cruz is going to be one of them. And that's interesting. We can come back to him momentarily.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

PRESTON: And we believe that Hawley is going to vote, not to certify the electors from Missouri. Now the question is, do these other 11 do the same and follow Hawley or do they do it for their own states? We don't know yet. The bottom line is that when we just heard this from Chuck Schumer who just tweeted out that the bottom line is 18 days from now, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris will be in the White House. And that's true. That is absolutely true. This is just gaming chip politics at its worst.

And really partisanship at a point right now where we've seen so many people die in the month of December. It's the deadliest month of COVID. And they're playing games right now over whether or not to certify Joe Biden as president.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And how is this beneficial and to whom is this beneficial, especially since the understanding is if time is taken in an objection, even if it's at least one objection, that perhaps Senator Hawley will bring, there'll be two hours spent, you know, on trying to digest, you know, what this objection is and proof needs to be brought. But we already know there have been some 60 defeated lawsuits to overturn this election, states have already certified the vote.

So, you know how much credence will be put into whatever objections that are brought now, after so many defeats?

PRESTON: You know, the circus is certainly in town. It's in town now. And we're going to see it on sixth. Listen, what's going to happen is when this objection is made by somebody in the House of Representatives, perhaps Mo Brooks from Alabama, and Josh Hawley from Missouri in the Senate, you're going to see the House in the Senate who are together to certify these results, then have to break apart, go to their separate chambers, debated each, vote on it separately each thing come back together and address it.

All this is going to do is to help folks who are trying to rile up their base for their own political gain once Trump leaves office, that's what this is all about. It's about their own political game.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And it sounds like I mean, you know, Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell has already sort of made the inference that nothing will come of it. But I'm going to give you this moment. Well, we can have this, you know, vote of conscience, if you will and we can talk about it amongst ourselves, but it really will not move the needle. What kind of position does this put him in? However, when you have gaining support at least from Senator Hawley's objections?

Now you've got this near dozen who say, you know, we're on board with objecting to Joe Biden being sworn in in 18 days.

PRESTON: You know, I think Mitch McConnell might be one of the most misunderstood people in Washington. And I say that because of this, because people think that he takes things personally and that whenever he does something politically, that is -- it doesn't help the Democrats. That is really a personal attack. Mitch McConnell is all about business. He understands that he's very much like a parent with 18 and 19-year-old children.

He can't tell them what to do. He can try to persuade them not to do something, but at the end of the day, they're going to do what they want to do. So, he has taken the tact which is probably the path of least resistance for himself to try to get through this and just stay just enough away from it to let them have their peace and look, they can have their peace. They're allowed to do it, we should acknowledge that.

[13:05:0912]

PRESTON: But the fact is, why do it when you know, it's not going to result in the outcome that you want? Unless the outcome that you want, Fred, is your own political future.

WHITFIELD: Right. Well, you say it may not be personal for Mitch McConnell, I wonder if it is at the very least embarrassing, you know, because he does want to, like you said, you know, a parent with his children, he wants to be able to demonstrate some control of this caucus.

PRESTON: Yes, and look, I think, in some ways, that he probably is frustrated by this, because this is just another hurdle that he has to -- that he has to deal with -- within his own Republican conference. But the bottom line is, is that Mitch McConnell knows that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are going to be in the White House. And -- but he also knows that he has to oversee these Republican Senators for at least another two years.

So, he's got to walk that fine line right now. Let them do what they want to do, knowing that it's going to fail. But the fact of the matter is, morally, it's a ridiculous thing to do, given that there's so much to do right now in this country.

WHITFIELD: And, Mark, let me ask you quickly about these reports of vandalism of McConnell's Kentucky home and of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco home. Yet -- I mean, all of this happening overnight. We have not heard that they are connected. But wow, what a coincidence. And in both cases, what is scribbled in the graffiti? Makes references to the stimulus checks.

PRESTON: Right. Outrageous. Listen, it's outrageous. People can be -- can be angry, they can be mad, they can pick it out inside of a front of these lawmakers' houses. But you know what -- you know what they can really do they can vote them out of office. If you don't think that your a lawmaker, that your Congressman or that your Senator is doing the right thing, then vote against them, vote him out of office but don't try to intimidate them. Don't talk about violence, don't try to secure their families.

They are just humans too. You may not agree with everything that they do, whether it's Nancy Pelosi or Mitch McConnell but they're also fellow Americans. And I do think that we're at this at this turning point right now in our country where we kind of need to come together as all Americans and unfortunately for the last four years, we seem to have really split apart.

WHITFIELD: Yes, at the same time, it seemed -- seemingly like a punctuation, you know, on the climate at hand. Mark Preston --

PRESTON: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: Mark Preston, thank you so much. Good to see you. Appreciate it. All right. All of this ahead of Tuesday being a pretty big day in American politics, particularly zeroing in on the State of Georgia to U.S. Senate seats up for grabs. Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff hope to empower the incoming Biden administration to pursue a more ambitious agenda. While Republican incumbents, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue say they are the last line of defense to stop exactly that. Kyung Lah is on the trail in Peachtree City, Georgia. So, Kyung, you know, the early voting numbers look to be roughly in line with, you know, the pace in November? So, what does this mean in terms of, you know, the incumbents versus the Democrats?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Democrats are actually feeling very pleased about that number. They are looking at data that shows the GOP is also looking at the same data. And they say that so far it does look like Democrats are outpacing how they did in November. Even though the overall number of people who voted is slightly lower here than it was in November 2020. So, for Democrats, you're taking all of this in stride, saying this is very good news.

But as far as everything you've just been talking to Mark about, it's been difficult for the two Republican incumbent Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue to keep everything together, to keep that focus on Tuesday. And remember, the balance of power in the Senate is what is going to be determined on Tuesday. So, there has been a tremendous amount of candidates here go crisscrossing the state in addition to the candidates who are on the trail.

Three of them are on the trail. One of them, Senator David Perdue, he is at home quarantine he because he came in contact with someone on the trail who was COVID positive. But Senator Loeffler was out this morning, she has been at a number of stops. This is one stop that she is going to make as well, where she is going to rally Republicans and try to hit home that message to get out and vote on Tuesday. Amid this backdrop, Fred, that you're talking about with higher democratic energy than the early vote.

So, the, you know, what they are hoping is going to happen is the arrival of President Trump on Monday will certainly help boost that energy and lead to a strong turnout for the GOP on Tuesday, Fred.

[13:10:02]

WHITFIELD: But then that's really interesting what could or couldn't happen on Monday, Kyung, because the President has been talking about the runoff races being invalid illegal, yet we understand that, you know, Senator Loeffler is going to be there alongside the President and she boasts of voting with him 100 percent of the time but if he's saying, you know, these runoff elections are invalid and illegal, there goes the incentive for people to come out and vote, particularly if you're Republican.

LAH: Yes. You know, there are going to be a lot of Republican people operatives, you know, members in this state, clapping their hands, wondering if the President is going to stick to the teleprompter because their hope is that he is going to be focused on Tuesday. But if you look at what he's been tweeting, he hasn't been focused so much on Tuesday, he's focused on what's happening on Wednesday. This news that you're talking about with the Senators coming in line with Josh Hawley.

I mean, all of this appears to be much more important to the President, then what is going to be happening on Tuesday. So, that is really giving a lot of anxiety to Republican leadership in the state who really wants the focus to be Republican turnout, instead of the voting machines, instead of invalidating the vote that we've already seen which, despite the number of counts that have happened, the hand counts, the audit here in the State of Georgia, it always shows the Joe Biden won this state.

WHITFIELD: Kyung Lah crisscrossing the State of Georgia force in the runoff race. Thanks so much. All right. Still to come. A horrific milestone. 10,000 American deaths in the final three days of 2020. And we'll take you live to Southern California where hospitals are on the brink of catastrophe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:24]

WHITFIELD: The new year starting off with a pandemic surging to troubling new levels. 2020 ended with the deadliest month yet only to continue into 2021 with a sobering warning from health experts who fear that the worst is yet to come. The U.S. is now on the cusp of 348,000 deaths due to COVID and has surpassed 20 million cases. More than 125,000 people are beginning this year in the hospital. Adding to the concern that new variant of COVID-19 which experts say is transmitted much easier.

Foreseen in the U.K., the strain has now been detected in California, Colorado and Florida. Meanwhile, the vaccine rollout continues to lag, more than 12 million doses have been delivered to states but fewer than three million vaccinations have actually been administered, far fewer than the initial goal of 20 million by the end of December. We have team coverage of all of these developments. Paul Vercammen is in California. Let's begin with Dianne Gallagher in Florida where that state's vaccination plan for seniors has led to long lines confusion and frustration. So, Diane, what's the situation at the vaccination center where you are?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, part of the situation is that they're out. There done with the vaccines for the day. And I can tell you, see empty parking lot here. All we're seeing are cars coming in with people thinking they might be able to get the vaccine looking confused and turning around. Now, Florida is doing things differently than the CDC recommendations for this next phase of people who can be vaccinated.

The CDC had recommended that it be all Americans over the age of 75, as well as those frontline essential workers. But in Florida, the governor determined that their next phase would be all people over the age of 65. That's about 20 percent of the people who live in this state. And well, there hasn't been a whole lot of consistency and how the counties are rolling out this program. In some counties, it's happening on a first come first served basis, which led to these extremely long lines.

In some cases, there were literally elderly people camping out overnight, for a shot to -- well, get the shot. Other counties tried to implement these appointments using phone lines and hotlines ended up shutting down because they were just so bogged down with interest, or internet Web sites that were completely crashing because just too many people were logging on. In some cases, he had to switch on a dime, like here in Lake County where they were initially going to try to do first come first served but they didn't have enough vaccines.

So, they had to just honor those initial appointments. Well, unless you were watching Twitter or paying attention to Facebook, you didn't get the message, like this woman I spoke to this morning who had waited for hours before finding out, well, she couldn't get the vaccine today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA HEDDEN, FLORIDA RESIDENT: The first thing is to make it darn clear, you know, don't have the right hand doing something, the left hand doesn't know what they're doing. Because that's causing a lot of confusion. We're all here in the same boat. We're all anxious about this COVID. And it just needs to be -- if the officials have to get together, whatever, everybody get on the same page.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now look, the good news is that well, there's no shortage of people who want to get this vaccine. The bad news, of course, is sort of the chaos that is involved in this rollout process. Again, 20 percent of the population in Florida is over the age of 65. But you don't have to be a Florida resident to get the vaccine. That's something else that of course in a state that has so many visitors and so many people who live here part time that factors into the demand for the vaccine in the state.

WHITFIELD: I see. All right, Diane, thank you so much. Let's go now to California, Paul Vercammen is there were the crisis is pushing hospitals on the brink of catastrophe. So, Paul, what's the situation?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now for the Army Corps of Engineers is sending an elite team of about a dozen members to six Los Angeles area hospitals and what they are doing is they are assessing the capacity for the distribution of oxygen. And the reason that that is so critical of course is so many of these COVID-19 patients are gasping for breath and requiring oxygen. So, this Army Corps of Engineers team combining with the California of Department of Emergency Services are going to make fixes to this supply chain of oxygen.

[13:20:05]

VERCAMMEN: So far, they've looked at three hospitals. They work into tomorrow evening, New Year's Day to get some of this assessment done. They'll finish up with more this weekend, including here at White hospital. And when they are finally finished, then later on, they can begin to make changes to this critical oxygen supply. It is a desperate situation in California, we had 21,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19. You may be asking who is winding up in these Los Angeles area hospitals? Well, a lot of times it's the working poor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BRAD SPELLBERG, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, L.A. COUNTY USC MEDICAL CENTER: They don't have, you know, a luxury condo, they can go vacation in, they have to go to work to make a living to pay rent, they don't have an option to stay home. So, they're going out and exposing themselves to make a living and then they bring the virus home with them. And then the second is we are seeing people who have gathered for Thanksgiving or who have gathered for other reasons that didn't truly understand even to this point, what was at stake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And I know this refrain is repetitive. But when you talk to the doctors and the nurses, they are really heartsick over, they say people not paying attention to social distancing. So as this weekend, this holiday weekend continues on, they are begging, urging, pleading with people not to mix up with other households or go to any events that could make these people wind up in these hospitals like the one behind me. Back to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right. The message, I mean, it cannot be conveyed more clearly. All right, Paul, Diane, thanks to both of you really appreciate it. All right. Joining me right now to discuss Jessica Malaty Rivera, infectious diseases expert in the science communication lead for COVID tracking project. So good to see you, Jessica. So, you know, federal officials, you know, had pledged to administer 20 million doses before the year's end.

But the latest CDC data, you know, showing that less than three million Americans have been vaccinated so far, how concerned are you?

JESSICA MALATY RIVERA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT: I'm very concerned about this. Honestly, we are short by a lot. I just checked the tracker this morning. And those numbers haven't changed this whole weekend. And I understand it is a holiday weekend. So, there might be a lag in some of that data being reported. But, you know, the very unglamorous part of vaccine campaigns is stuff like scheduling and staffing, and we've just had a holiday, and these are a lot of logistics to be given to overstretched hospitals and health care facilities to manage right now.

Moving at this pace could mean that we would take years to get the kind of vaccination covers that we need to really get herd immunity.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So, when we hear U.S. officials who say you know, the United States will not follow the U.K.'s decision to, you know, delay that second dose of the coronavirus vaccine in order to dispense, you know, first doses to as many as possible. Are you encouraged by that or do you think the U.K. is onto something?

RIVERA: No, I am encouraged by what Dr. Fauci said, because I think we need to be consistent about the data. What we know from the data from Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials is that to achieve those 90 percent plus efficacy rates, you need both doses. You need to prime and boost the immune system to get to that response. And we can't risk deviating from what we know from the data because we

don't actually have data to show what the long-term immune response will be from just one single dose. I think we need to be consistent based on the data and move forward as such.

WHITFIELD: And then, I mean, this is a real step -- setback when you hear about, you know, this accusation of sabotage. A former pharmacist arrested in Wisconsin on Thursday after removing 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine from a hospital refrigerator that resulted in more than 500 vaccine doses being discarded. I mean, destroyed. He's now facing three felony charges after officials say the man removed the vaccines intentionally.

I mean, the hope is this is an anomaly. No one else is going to do something like this. But to hear that this would happen is an amazing setback and very discouraging. How do you digest this?

RIVERA: Yes, I mean, it's deeply, deeply disturbing to see that. I do hope that it is an anomaly. But unfortunately, we are seeing reports from a number of states where health care facility workers are refusing to take the vaccine and that is an indication that vaccine hesitancy is a pervasive problem in many communities. It is not --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Is that influential -- is that really influential in your view when you've got medical people who say I'm not going to take it, what message does that convey to the masses?

RIVERA: Oh, it's very, very influential because we're talking about, you know, teaching people to follow the science and follow science leaders and people who have positions of power and in this position, you know, if pharmacists should know about the clinical data. But, you know, again we have seen vaccine hesitancy and vaccine misinformation come out of many sources including people in the healthcare community.

[13:25:09]

RIVERA: Now, I want to emphasize that this is a loud minority when it comes to scientists who believe this misinformation. But it also should tell us that we have a lot of work to do beyond just the logistics of vaccine campaigns, we need to be working on the logistics of Vaccine Education and vaccine communication because we are seeing really troubling trends of refusal from all kinds of populations.

WHITFIELD: And then this on top of what we talked about, at the top, you know, the rollout of the vaccine, it hasn't met the mark, you know, the goal of 20 million by December 31st and still at something like, you know, three million vaccines that have actually been administer -- administered. So, you know, do you call this rollout being, you know, disastrous, just ineffective? And, you know, is there any way to make up for lost time?

RIVERA: You know, it is a setback. And it is disappointing, I really think that, you know, states were kind of left to fend for themselves in some ways. I mean, as we mentioned earlier, with the way Florida is handling their distribution, it's kind of patchwork, each state's kind of doing their own thing, creating their own prioritization groups. And not every state is the same when it comes to infrastructure and the ability to manage all this logistics.

They could have been set up for success earlier. And I think it might take, you know, several weeks for some of the vaccine sites and respective campaigns to be fully set up and operational. I think the fact that it happened again, during the holidays, is what's causing a lot more delay.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jessica Malaty Rivera, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it. And thanks for your work that you are pouring into trying to convey, you know, some strong messaging out there to help everybody understand.

RIVERA: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much. All right. More on the breaking news straight ahead of the homes of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vandalized. We have the tail straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:28]

WHITFIELD: The homes of the top leaders of Congress vandalized. First, we learned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home was vandalized with angry messages about the stimulus payments.

CNN affiliate, KGO, obtained video of her garage after the graffiti was covered up, scrawled in black paint, spray paint were phrases like "$2,000," "Cancel rent" and, "We want everything."

San Francisco police tell KGO the vandals also left a pig's head on the sidewalk. It's unclear if Pelosi was home at the time of the vandalism.

And then just within the last hour or so, we've learned that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's Louisville, Kentucky, home, was also vandalized overnight.

Photos taken by CNN affiliate, WDRB, show the words "Where's my money" painted on the Kentucky Senator's front door.

The graffiti is presumably a reference to McConnell's decision to kill a measure to issue $2,000 direct stimulus checks.

And McConnell has released a statement defending peaceful protests, but then adding: "This is different. Vandalism and the politics of fear have no place in our society," end quote.

This week, Tuesday is a big day in American politics with two U.S. Senate seats and the control of the U.S. Senate up for grabs. It's all happening in Georgia. Both President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be in Georgia

on Monday. And the two Democrats replacing them, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, will also be coming to Georgia in the next few days.

Let's bring in now Arlette Saenz with the president-elect right now in Delaware.

So, Arlette, what's the strategy here? Why is the president-elect and vice president-elect wanting to campaign for the two Democrats in this Senate runoff race?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, Georgia is certainly on the minds and schedule of the President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris as they are both preparing to campaign in the state in the final days leading up to those Georgia Senate runoffs.

Vice President-Elect Harris will be traveling down to Savannah tomorrow. And then the President-Elect Biden, he will be in the Atlanta area campaigning on behalf of Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock on Monday.

The two top Democrats are really trying to do all they can to ensure that these Democratic candidates win and that Democrats are able to take control of the Senate.

You saw President-Elect Biden down in Georgia earlier in the month of December where he talked about the need to send these two men to the Senate.

He has also been pouring in his own campaign resources into this race. He sent about 50 paid staffers there, as well as investing about $5 million down in Georgia.

And what Biden is hoping to do here is turn out those voters who came and helped flip the state from red to blue back in November.

The president-elect was the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992 when President Bill Clinton won the state.

And he is hoping he can mobilize suburban voters in that Atlanta area as well as minority voters, trying to turn out some of those same black voters that turned out for him in November.

As this race is truly critical to how Biden's agenda will move forward in this New Year.

WHITFIELD: That is, indeed, the case. The incoming administration feels like, if these two Democrats win in the runoff race, you have Democrats in the White House, the Senate as well as House leadership, and that will go a long way in advancing their agenda.

Arlette Saenz, thank you for that. Appreciate it.

[13:34:28]

All right. Still ahead, why Israel is getting it right on how not to waste any COVID-19 vaccines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Trump has said 20 million Americans would be vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 1st. So far, more than 12 million doses have been delivered to states but fewer than three million people in the U.S. have actually received a vaccine.

As the U.S. struggles to get people vaccinated, Israel has reached a remarkable milestone. One -- the one-millionth person in Israel received a COVID vaccine yesterday in a country with a population of about nine million.

Joining me from Tel Aviv is journalist, Elliott Gotkine.

Elliott, Israel has already vaccinated 10 percent of its population. How did they accomplish this?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Fredricka, I think there are three main reasons. First is health care. Second is politics. And third is geography.

In terms of health case, it's universal. It's pretty cheap. The HMOs know how to reach out to their members and vice versa.

They also have a lot of data on their members so they can, for example, pluck out at-risk groups and ensure that they get to the front of the line when it comes to receiving their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

They've also been preparing for many years for widescale events, such as biological attack, for example. So they're quite adept at running a nationwide campaign of this sort.

In terms of politics, obviously, it's in any country's interest to try to reduce the number of infections and also to try to avoid as many deaths as possible.

But there's another element here because we've got elections coming up in March, the fourth elections for the country in the space of two years.

And clearly, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can be the face of a successful vaccination campaign, that could do his political fortunes a world of good.

And finally, in terms of geography, this is a pretty small country with a relatively centralized population.

Logistically, it's much easier to get to people here and to get them to receive their vaccination than in a country the size of the United States, for example, spread out across thousands of miles and with a relatively decentralized population.

Actually, in terms of rate of vaccinations here, on a per capita basis, it's running at about 14 times the rate of the United States. WHITFIELD: And then, Elliott, while in the United States, there are

millions of vaccines that are sitting on the shelves, the opposite seems to be the case there. Tell us why and how.

[13:40:03]

GOTKINE: That's right. So they are prioritizing over 60s, at-risk groups, health care workers and the like, first of all.

Rather than let any vaccine dose goes to waste at the end of the day, if there are leftovers, they allow those not in those groups to be vaccinated.

And when we came online, there was a line of relatively young people here who weren't in at-risk groups, milling around, waiting to see if, when this center -- which is usually a basketball stadium but it's being used as a vaccination center -- to wait and see if, at the end of the day of vaccinating, those priority groups there were any left over.

And for four of those young people, they were in luck. There were leftover vaccines and they went inside and received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Now there were reports on Twitter that a pizza delivery guy was milling around the other day. Nurses came out and said, hey, pizza guy, come get your vaccine.

We spoke with the people at Pizza Hut, just around the corner, and they said they don't think that that's true.

But I think the point it serves to illustrate is simply, that if there are leftover vaccines, rather than let them go to waste, rather than throw them away, the priority groups -- people who are not in those priority groups, will be allowed inside to receive those vaccines.

Better a nonpriority group person receive a dose of the vaccine than that vaccine goes to waste -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Elliott Gotkine, thank you so much, from Tel Aviv. Appreciate that.

A surge in COVID-19 cases in the U.K. has led the British government to extend restrictions to areas of the country.

The pressure is mounting on Britain's National Health Service to stem the spread as the number of people infected with a new concerning variant of coronavirus grows.

Here is CNN's Phil Black.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The British prime minister has a reputation for prematurely predicting an imminent return to normal life. His latest forecast:

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: April the 5th, Easter, we really are confident that things will be very, very much better.

(SIREN)

BLACK: During one of the darkest moments of the pandemic, Johnson and his government are telling the British people, it will be behind us by spring.

Could he be right this time?

CLARE WENHAM, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF GLOBAL HEALTH POLICY, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Maybe. It's about logistics more than anything.

BLACK: The government's optimism is fueled by this vaccine.

WENHAM: OK. So, I will need a scratch.

BLACK: Developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, it's the most low-maintenance vaccine option so far because it doesn't need ultracold storage.

And the British government got in early, speeding up the regulators' scrutiny and securing supply.

One hundred million doses are coming, plus another 30 million doses of the vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech. Together, it's more than enough to protect every British adult.

WENHAM: The U.K. government has made a lot of mistakes in this outbreak. But the thing it's done really well has been the vaccine development.

BLACK: Public health experts say the U.K. has another big advantage for pulling off the next phase of the plan, which involves getting the vaccine to around a third of the population, including everyone over 50, and everyone at greater risk due to an underlying condition.

LINDA BAULD, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH: We have a National Health Service that is funded through general taxation and is highly integrated in a way that is not the case in so many other countries.

BLACK (on camera): That's a structural institutional advantage that other countries don't have.

BAULD: That's correct. Many other countries, particularly larger, more complex countries, where health systems, for example, when you have multiple partners, insurance companies or many more private providers, when you have a system like that, it's much more complex to deliver at scale and nationally vaccine rollouts.

BLACK (voice-over): But nationalized health care hasn't prevented the U.K. from recording one of the highest numbers of deaths in the world. (on camera): Britain's track record through the pandemic also shows

that it does not guarantee success in handling a complex operation.

WENHAM: Well, quite, quite. I'm slightly more confident in their ability to do this than their ability to do this than other big parts of this pandemic simply because it's been their baby. It's what they have been pushing.

BLACK: So, there are good reasons why the U.K. finds itself in a hopeful place and will see needles plunging into arms relatively quickly.

But to meet that Easter deadline and effectively end the threat of the pandemic in this country, that will take a medical logistics operation unlike anything seen here before.

Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[13:44:28]

WHITFIELD: And ahead of the incoming Biden administration, possibly big changes for the U.S. Secret Service. Why a former Secret Service agent says this transition is anything but typical.

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WHITFIELD: The U.S. Secret Service is making changes to its staff as -- to transition from President Trump to President-Elect Joe Biden.

The staff changes come amid intense political tension as President Trump continues to falsely claim that his second term is being stolen while Biden prepares to take office.

To better understand these changes and the impacts they have for the incoming president, let's bring in Jonathan Wackrow, former Secret Service agent and CNN law enforcement analyst.

Good to see you, Jonathan. Happy New Year.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Happy New Year, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So, first start off by sharing what is a typical transition like for the Secret Service? Is it unprecedented for an incoming president to ask for personnel changes or not?

WACKROW: Well, listen, I think what we're seeing here is specific to the Presidential Protection Division. Some of the changes are reflective of what we refer to as a regular order of change in manpower.

That means a change in the -- in an administration is really the natural time to initiate a change in some supervisors and detail personnel. However, the key to success for the Secret Service is always

continuity and stability. And this is where we're seeing some unique changes that are currently under way.

In terms of continuity, we're seeing that, really, a majority of the president's security detail is going to remain unchanged, transitioning from Trump into Biden.

Actually, some will actually take on elevated roles. Most notably, and as reported, the current number two of the detail is being elevated to the number-one position, commonly referred to as the special agent in charge.

For stability, and more to the point in this case, for familiarity, agents that were formerly assigned to Vice President Biden when he was in office are currently being transferred back to Washington, D.C., to serve on the president's detail.

[13:50:09]

Some are referring to this change as unprecedented because it doesn't follow a typical manpower allocation model.

But to me, it signals that the service is becoming more agile in their protective model and really addressing the expectations that are being faced by the incoming administration.

WHITFIELD: Are any of these adjustments to be looked at through the lens of if this is political or is it strictly about personal preference or a reflection of legitimate safety concerns?

WACKROW: Listen, there are some changes that have been reported by the Secret Service that are being viewed, really, from a political optic. And that's really the 800-pound gorilla in the room for the Secret Service that they need to address.

There's one Secret Service employee who had transferred to the administration as the deputy director -- or sorry -- as a deputy chief of staff within the administration.

But the reality of that is that that manager was part of the Senior Executive Service Program that was overseen by the Office of Personal Management.

So there's a little bit of separation between the duties that he was undertaking under the Trump administration and those that are required for the Secret Service.

However, there's an undeniable negative perception that the Secret Service has become politicized due to that fact.

So rather than relitigate the past, the service actually must build reassurances moving forward to both its employees, protectees, and the public that they actually remain apolitical.

And that the model of the Secret Service, that they're worthy of trust and confidence remains untarnished.

WHITFIELD: In response to the story reported by "The Washington Post," a U.S. Secret Service spokesperson telling "The Washington Post" the agency is, I'm quoting now, "wholly apolitically and unaffiliated with the political parties of protectees."

Is this going to be potentially problematic for the U.S. Secret Service to feel like it's got to explain its own transition to a new administration?

WACKROW: Really, what the Secret Service has to do is they really have to address this specific issue that is causing the negative perception, both internally and externally.

In my opinion, this was really a self-inflicted wound by the service that they really don't need at the time.

They actually should have come out and addressed this topic head on instead of hiding behind some boilerplate language. Just describe what had happened to this person.

Again, if there's a perception that the agency is becoming politicized, this is a seminal moment for the Secret Service that they need to over index and reassure the incoming administration, politicians, and the public that they remain apolitical.

And they have to show it through their actions.

WHITFIELD: Jonathan Wackrow, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

WACKROW: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

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[13:56:29]

WHITFIELD: The pandemic has been especially hard on single parents. Many have been tasked with the difficulties of balancing a job, school, and childcare.

Some have been forced to choose between work and staying at home with their kids, while others have lost their jobs and struggled to find ways to pay the bills.

Joining me right now to share her story is Julia Mahlstadt. She is a hair stylist and a single mom of three young kids, ages 2 through 8.

Julia, so good to see you.

JULIA MAHLSTADT, HAIR STYLIST & SINGLE MOM WITH THREE YOUNG KIDS: Hi. Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: I want to say happy New Year but I know this is really a very tough time but perhaps you're looking at 2021 as one that will bring some real hope.

You know, what has it been like for you in the midst of this pandemic? What are some of the tough decisions you had to make?

MAHLSTADT: One of the hardest decisions was not being sure if I'd be able to keep up the tuition payments for my kids' schooling.

And working in my industry, we were faced with all new guidelines and the uncertainty. Even if my industry was going to be there, could I afford the increase of tuition payments.

And so I had chosen to just get my own curriculum and teach my children at home and I would work opposite that.

And we did it all on our own, on our own schedule. And it's been interesting to say the very, very least.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh. It sounds like you're being kind with that word "interesting" because coming up with your own curriculum for your kids in school.

You have your own salon. It means you've had to pick and choose, right, about when you are able to give your services to your clients, which also then means --

MAHLSTADT: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: Right. So that also means that you're not able to bring home as much money.

MAHLSTADT: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: So tell me about how difficult that has made your life.

MAHLSTADT: For the new salon guidelines, we definitely have to just keep from other people coming in and doing a quick men's haircut while your long-haired highlight was processing was very common practice and that's no longer a reality.

So you automatically lost your regular hourly that you're looking at with having the people in your chair becoming just creative in how we're going to schedule everybody.

Also with my other coworkers and keeping any high-risk people, having them come in alone or having to adjust a lot. It's been a lot of communication between me and my coworkers and the owners.

And thankfully, we do have incredible clients that have been understanding. Our neighborhood is very strong and progressive. They've abided by all the rules.

It's been -- I couldn't have been luckier, actually.

WHITFIELD: So is it true now that you've also decided to take on another job? And if so, how are you going to do that? How do you -- when do you sleep? How are you getting all this in? (LAUGHTER)

MAHLSTADT: Good question. I definitely sleep when my children sleep. So there's that.

But, yes -- after doing this, and I purchased a curriculum through home schooling and started doing that, I was very exhausted.

I had one day off a week to just be mom. And it was hard. My kids were saying to me, you're just a teacher, you're always being school.

[14:00:06]

So I wanted to get back to our community at St. Theresa. Our school is phenomenal, best in the state, and wanted us to get back in there.