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U.S. Capitol Becomes Fortress ahead of Inauguration; Trump's Push to Overturn Election Fueled by Lies; Trump Administration's Vaccine "Reserve" Doesn't Exist; CDC Warns New COVID-19 Variant Will Delay U.S. Peak; Capitol Mob Seconds Away from V.P. Pence; California Builds Mass Vaccination Sites; Italy's PM Claims over 1 Million Vaccinations; Health Care Collapsing in Manaus. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired January 16, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Michael Holmes, appreciate your company.

Coming up on the program, as the world hits a staggering 2 million coronavirus deaths, there are new concerns over America's vaccine reserves.

Plus, Brazil's hard-hit health care system is in collapse amid skyrocketing cases and limited supplies. We have a report from one of the struggling hospitals.

This is Donald Trump's final weekend as President of the United States.

What could be the fallout to U.S. democracy?

We break down Trump's legacy coming up.

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HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.

Washington is on high alert and in near lockdown as the nation prepares for President-Elect Joe Biden's inauguration. With only four days to go, some 25,000 National Guard troops are being deployed to the area.

This, as the FBI warns protests could begin later today in D.C. and state capitals across the country. So far, investigators have opened 275 criminal cases and charged nearly 100 people in connection with last week's pro Trump riot.

Meanwhile, we learn more about the days leading up to last week's insurrection and according to a source familiar with the matter and a senior matter with the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and DHS, failed to issue threat assessments about potential violence that day. "The Washington Post" reports three days before the deadly riot a

Capitol police report warning that violent pro Trump supporters could zero in on Congress itself.

Following several security failures, the nation's Capitol now readying itself for any impending threat. CNN's Alex Marquardt with more on the challenges officials are facing.

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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The American Capitol now a fortress, unprecedented scenes as Washington and the country brace for more violence around Joe Biden's inauguration.

MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM J. WALKER, D.C. NATIONAL GUARD: People should be aware that we have a new national security environment we're operating in.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): A new bulletin from the country's main security agencies warning, domestic extremists who believe the election was stolen from Donald Trump are the main threats.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mayor Bowser --

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Today, D.C.'s mayor, police, Secret Service and others, trying to reassure a nervous country, the inauguration will go well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all hands-on deck for our entire agency.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): New 12-foot fencing with concrete bases around the Capitol complex, the National Mall officially closed until after the inauguration. Threats being monitored across the country. At least a dozen states have activated the National Guard to secure their capitals.

MATT MILLER, USSS WASHINGTON FIELD OFFICE: We have so many assets inside the Penn Quarter Capitol area that there is the potential for people to go elsewhere whether it's back to their state capitals or to other parts of the city.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Few specific threats, the FBI says, but lots of worrying chatter.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: We are seeing an extensive amount of concerning online chatter.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Now 9 days after the storming of the Capitol building, we are learning how much worse things could've been. A terrifying new revelation: "The Washington Post" reporting that Vice President Mike Pence was even closer to the rioters than previously known.

"The Post" reporting that, as this heroic officer led rioters away from the Senate chamber, Pence and his family were less than 100 feet away in another room, reportedly staying out of the view of the mob by mere seconds.

D.C. police officers are now describing their terrifying ordeals to CNN.

OFFICER MICHAEL FANONE, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: I was beaten from like every direction and then tased a number of times on the back of my neck. And then some guy started getting a hold of my gun and they were screaming out, you know, "Kill him with his own gun."

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Officer Daniel Hodges was brutally crushed in a doorway as rioters charged in.

OFFICER DANIEL HODGES, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: There was a guy ripping my mask off and he was able to rip away my baton and beat me with it. And he was practically foaming at the mouth.

[02:05:00]

MARQUARDT: Just horrifying stories from those Capitol police officers. Now we are learning that there may be even more National Guard troops on the streets of Washington, D.C. The Pentagon on Friday authorizing up to 25,000 National Guard troops for the inauguration of Joe Biden.

That is 4,000 more than had previously been authorized. They come from every state, territory and the District of Columbia. It bears repeating that that is four times the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria combined -- Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: With the nation on edge, the U.S. president, mostly out of sight. He did meet with the CEO of a company called My Pillow on Friday. The Trump ally said he wanted to hand the president supposed evidence of voter fraud. White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, with more on these final days of the Trump presidency.

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During his final days in the White House, President Trump is planning an early exit. Instead of attending his successor's inauguration, CNN learned that he will leave Washington Wednesday early following a military sendoff and plans to be in Florida by the time Joe Biden is sworn in.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Not going to the inauguration. Maybe that's best now, given the situation we're in.

COLLINS (voice-over): Trump was against the idea of leaving D.C. as an ex-president, meaning he will get one last flight on Air Force One and won't need Biden's permission to use a government jet.

Military aides will have two nuclear footballs ready, one that will fly with Trump and one that will be with Biden. Once Biden is sworn in, Trump's launch codes will no longer work. With five days left in office, Trump is watching his presidency

unravel after being impeached for inciting a deadly insurrection on Capitol Hill. He is leaving the White House with the lowest approval rating of his presidency.

After it fell to 29 percent in the latest poll, conducted by Pew Research, which, also found that two-thirds of Americans do not want Trump to remain a major national political figure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should never as a party let a person be more powerful than our party.

COLLINS (voice-over): Sources say the president's advisers have casually discussed him resigning but Trump shut the conversation down immediately and banned all mentions of Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974 before he could be impeached and possibly convicted.

Instead of following in Nixon's footsteps, Trump will face a second impeachment trial, although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to give details on when that trial will happen today.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I find this to be a very emotional time. I said to the members, we are very passionate to our reaction to this assault on our democracy.

COLLINS (voice-over): As National Guard troops flooded Washington, Vice President Mike Pence has filled the typical role taken by a president during a time of crisis, as Trump has mostly remained behind closed doors. Ten weeks after the election, he finally called Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris for the first time yesterday.

COLLINS: And while the president's public schedule looks like so many others have since the election, only saying he had many calls and many meetings today, CNN has confirmed one meeting that the president had.

That was with the My Pillow CEO, Michael Lindell, a longtime ally of the president, who was seen leaving the West Wing with notes in his hand that a "Washington Post" photographer captured.

Those notes are raising eyebrows because they mention things like taking the Constitution back, martial law, that pro-Trump attorney, Sydney Powell, who spread many lies about the election.

So we have confirmed they did meet one-on-one but the White House is not offering any details beyond that though it does give an indication into what the president is doing with only 5 days left in office -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

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HOLMES: Joining me now, Timothy Snyder, a professor of history at Yale University. He's also the author of the book "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the 20th Century."

If you haven't read it, you really should.

Professor, good to have you on. You have long warned that, quote, "big lies are part of authoritarian regime changes over history."

And there have been some big lies lately, huge consequential ones.

Even with Donald Trump out of office, do those lies still have fallout going forward in terms of the strength of U.S. democracy?

TIMOTHY SNYDER, YALE UNIVERSITY: They certainly could. What history tells us is that a big lie can survive the liar.

So for example, there was a big lie in 1918 about the defeat of Germany in the First World War, which said, it was not the army that lost, it was, in fact, that Jews and socialists behind the lines on the home front betrayed us.

That simply wasn't true but 15 years later, that big lie was part of the story which Adolf Hitler brought to power in Germany in 1933.

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SNYDER: Big lies make democracy impossible, because they divide citizens into believers in what is not true and everyone else. So it's very important at this moment in American history for the big lie to be cut off. When Mr. Trump leaves power, the big lie also has to be brought to an end.

(CROSSTALK)

SNYDER: Those who haven't told the truth, should.

HOLMES: To that point, can the division, the tribes as you describe them, created by the big lies, can they be healed?

Especially if the main liar won't admit the lie?

SNYDER: They can but not just by talking about healing and pretending that nothing happened. History is very important here. We have had an event take place which, by any measure, is extremely important in history of the United States of America.

It has to be treated as a factual event; the truth has to be repeated over and over again. The big lie will not go away immediately but there is no choice but to tell the truth about it now.

HOLMES: I even hesitate to use it -- but the word fascism has been bandied around when it comes to this president and his most ardent supporters and enablers. It can be a loaded term. It can be used as a weapon.

But in your view, does a look at the history of fascism have a valid place in this discussion?

SNYDER: Look, Americans are just accustomed to treating themselves as exceptional. They're accustomed to thinking that they are somehow outside of history and that, automatically, their country is a democracy and the problems that others face, they don't have to face.

If we think of the history of fascism, it can be useful because fascists told big lies. Those lies were very often about elections and deeply about race. Our current American big lie is also about race.

The claim that Mr. Trump won the election is, basically, the claim that Black people's votes shouldn't count. Black people's votes are fraudulent. That goes deep into our history and unless we confront that, yes, we are risking a situation where armed, angry, white supremacists will do things like attack the Capitol.

That has already happened. Things like that continue to happen.

HOLMES: Donald Trump, of course, gone in a few days. I know you also argue that Republicans who have enabled Trump -- you put it this way -- have no interest in the collapse of the peculiar form of representation that allows their minority party disproportionate control of the government.

Explain that briefly for us, will you?

SNYDER: Well, I think that is true of most Republicans, let's say, in the Senate. As they themselves have pointed out these last few days and weeks, the Electoral College gerrymandering, dark money and so on allowed the smaller of our two parties to have disproportionate power.

So they don't want that system to break down and that, I think, explains why Mr. McConnell is now against Trump.

However, there are a few Republicans, I think, who would be happy to see the system break down. They're the ones who are aggressively spread the lie, like Senator Hawley and Senator Cruz.

HOLMES: One of the most disturbing aspects of the Trump presidency is how a party and a movement coalesced around one individual, an individual with no checks on him, somebody who said, "I alone can fix this," "The news is fake," "Only I can be trusted."

There's been an almost idolizing of the man rather than the policy.

How dangerous is that in a historical sense?

SNYDER: It's fundamentally dangerous. There are two ways to run a state: by way of law -- and the law has a succession principle, allows you to move from leader to leader -- our succession principle is democracy.

The other way is by having a person who organizes a movement or a clan or a tribe and who defies the law, says the law is for other people.

What happened in the U.S. wasn't just about democracy; it's also about our continuation as a state. I think that's something we should be thinking about.

HOLMES: Professor Timothy Snyder in Vienna, Austria, I wish we had more time. Thank you so much. "On Tyranny" is the book everyone should read. I appreciate your time.

SNYDER: My pleasure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: We have to take a break here on the program. Coming up, health experts agree the current U.S. vaccination strategy is falling short. The incoming president proposing a new plan.

But will it be enough to turn the tide?

We'll discuss when we come back.

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HOLMES: Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar has handed in his resignation letter to take effect the moment Joe Biden is sworn in as president. Azar writes that the Trump administration legacy has been tarnished by the actions and the rhetoric following the presidential election, specifically of course, the riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Azar first praises the Trump administration's pandemic response by saying they were, quote, "early and aggressive to fight it."

Many others would disagree and he does not mention what Mr. Trump did to minimize the pandemic, like saying the virus would just disappear. In fact, more than 23 million Americans have been infected so far.

Azar also failing to address the nearly 400,000 U.S. deaths in his letter. Another thing, Alex Azar said Friday that, despite what the Trump administration promised state leaders, there is not a reserve of second coronavirus vaccine doses. Here is why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: No, there is not a reserve stockpile. We now have enough confidence that our ongoing production will be quality and available to provide the second dose for people. So we are not sitting on a reserve anymore. We have made that available to the states to order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: That is not what states were told, however. So far, the U.S. is behind on vaccinations, well behind. More than 31 million have been distributed to states but only 12.2 million shots have been given.

Meanwhile, President-Elect Joe Biden outlined his plan to administer 100 million doses in his first 100 days in office. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Dr. Ravina Kullar is an infectious disease expert and epidemiologist. She joins me from Los Angeles.

Good to see you, Ravina. I want to get your thoughts on the news that the Trump federal vaccine reserve, well, it doesn't exist. It's already gone.

How will that impact the ambitious rollout that the Biden administration is planning, do you think?

DR. RAVINA KULLAR, EPIDEMIOLOGIST AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT: Thank you, Michael, for having me on.

To take a step back, I think it is great that Biden has taken office or will be taking office, shortly. There has to be something that is done with this vaccine issue we have here. It is not an issue of there being enough production, enough distribution, enough supply or demand.

It is about an issue, really, of there being enough people who can give out the vaccine. So with Biden taking office, he has a very aggressive plan to hopefully clean up some of the work that Trump did in terms of holding back some of the vaccines.

And my hope is, with that plan, there will be enough people who are vaccinated in 2021.

HOLMES: In the context of all of that, what do you make of the CDC prediction that this more contagious variant of the virus is going to become the dominant source of infection by March, which isn't far off?

What does that suggest the next couple of months will be like?

[02:20:00]

KULLAR: It's a very scary outlook for Los Angeles where we are at an ICU capacity where -- we are at full capacity. We have no room for any more patients, we are completely bombarded, we are exhausted.

The next couple of months, it will get worse before it gets better. This new strain, the B117, first identified in the U.K., has already been shown to be about 70 percent more transmissible.

It has been shown it is not as deadly, it is not more deadly than the original variant. But with more cases, there is more risk of death. It is very concerning that just over the course of three months, the U.K. has identified at least 420,000 of these new variant strains. That is what we will, unfortunately, probably see here in the U.S. by March.

HOLMES: You are in L.A. and I was reading in "L.A. Times" a piece about how bad it is there. Ambulances driving around for hours, because they can't find a hospital to take the patients.

Meanwhile, the forecast, 90,000 people could die in three weeks. The daily death toll is routinely the second most deadly day in U.S. history, after the Galveston hurricane in 1900.

Do you worry that, even now, a large number of Americans don't understand the risks that they are taking every day, that those numbers have become meaningless?

KULLAR: Michael, that is exactly our concern and our concern for the health care workers, my concern as well is that these are just statistics, just numbers, that unless they have been impacted themselves or know a loved one who has been impacted, that none of these numbers mean anything to some individuals, to some American people.

So it is quite concerning and I don't know what to say to really -- to tell the American people they have got to mask up, they must physically distance, hang in tight. We are all exhausted. But the only way will get to this virus is working together and following the mitigation strategies put into place. And also get vaccinated. We have two highly efficacious vaccines. When it is your turn to get vaccinated, get vaccinated.

HOLMES: Going back to the Biden plan, he wants 1 million vaccinations per day. That sounds really optimistic. Many experts are saying that it is actually not enough.

What needs to happen with this new administration that, perhaps, wasn't happening with the last?

KULLAR: I think there needs to be an emphasis on vaccine acceptance. I think that many individuals, including health care workers, are still hesitant about getting a new, entirely new vaccine, which has never been used before in human beings.

So there has to be a vaccine acceptance strategy, which Biden is putting into place, and also there has to be an allocation of more health care workers, non health care workers, individuals who can give the vaccine, so that there is not an issue with personnel in giving the vaccine.

So I think the key message is that there has not been enough messaging about vaccine acceptance. Many people are hesitant; there needs to be more messaging about the safety behind these vaccines.

HOLMES: I'll be first in line when I'm up. Dr. Ravina Kullar, appreciate it, thank you so much.

KULLAR: Thank you, Michael.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: When we come back, here on CNN NEWSROOM, new information on just how close the Capitol rioters got to Vice President Mike Pence. We have the details and much more, when we come back.

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HOLMES: "The Washington Post" is reporting that the angry mob which attacked the U.S. Capitol was just seconds away from contact with Vice President Mike Pence. At one-point rioters less than 100 feet away. Tom Foreman looks at how much danger the vice president was in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PROTESTERS: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the mob chanted "Hang Mike Pence" and makeshift gallows went up, the vice president, his wife and daughter, were just seconds away from being spotted, according to "The Washington Post."

At one point, they were hiding less than 100 feet from the violent crowd, attacking police officers, journalists and others. The timeline tells how it happened. Just before 1 o'clock, President Trump demands Pence toss the election results.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you, I will tell you right now. I am not hearing good stories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: The Senate will now retire to its chamber.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Pence has no legal power to reject the vote.

But in little more than an hour, as he led Congress in certifying the vote for Joe Biden, the Trump crowd is hammering through Capitol barricades. Inside:

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We have been told by Capitol police that the Capitol is in lockdown.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Outside, by 2:11, the mob smashes into the building. Moments later, "The Post" says, Pence is hustled out of the chamber.

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): And it will stand at recess until the call of the chair.

(CROSSTALK)

FOREMAN (voice-over): 2:14: Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman single-handedly slowing the surge of rioters, some shouting, "Where is Mike Pence?" Based on "The Post's" reporting, the few seconds Goodman buys keeps the mob from seeing Pence and his family, being hurried into hiding in an office. Goodman lures the crowd toward other officers, likely giving other lawmakers time to escape, too.

Soon after, the violent mob seizes the Senate floor anyway, taking the very seat the vice president occupied minutes earlier.

And President Trump during all of this, he was watching events unfold on TV, according to many witnesses, taking no action for hours to stop the attack, and tweeting at 2:24, "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done."

It was later deleted.

FOREMAN: Of course, the vice president came back later to declare Joe Biden the winner and the Secret Service says Pence was secure at all times. But that security, we now know, was far more tenuous than we thought -- Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: To Uganda now, where the opposition presidential candidate, Bobi Wine, says his home is under siege by the military. He is claiming victory in Thursday's election, as Uganda's electoral commission is expected to declare the winner formally later today.

But preliminary results show that president Yoweri Museveni is ahead. He is seeking a sixth term in office. Wine tweeted that the military jumped over his fence and has taken control. Journalists tried to speak with Wine but were turned away from his residence.

But CNN's Becky Anderson got through over an, apparently, untraceable phone. Wine says he is living in fear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Do you fear for your life at this point?

BOBI WINE, UGANDAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I fear for my life right now because, in this situation, where the internet is completely blacked out, where all our phones here in the house are blocked.

We cannot make or receive any calls. And it's just me and my wife in the house, surrendered by the military and some people that are not wearing uniforms, but they are having assault rifles.

We are fearing for our lives and that is why we are sending a message to all the citizens of the world, to keep their eyes on Uganda. And we are asking all the international community, all the development partners, to hold General Museveni to account, to make sure that they put a precondition of human rights and listen to the rule of law and also hold General Museveni accountable.

They should push him to reinstate Democratic principles, to reinstate the voice of the people of Uganda. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Museveni told CNN on Tuesday. He would accept the results of the election if he lost.

[02:30:00]

HOLMES: India has just kicked off a massive vaccination program, more than 300,000 people could get their coronavirus shot on Saturday alone. How they might pull this off, we will discuss, when we come back.

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HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers all over the world, I am Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

California is building massive vaccination sites, pulling out all of the stops to get the vaccine into as many arms as possible. For weeks, the state has been the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. California has counted just shy of 3 million cases.

Hospitals are packed and quickly running out of intensive care beds, if they haven't already. People are dying faster than ever, too. CNN's Paul Vercammen with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Finally, some good news in COVID-19 ravaged Southern California. Two mega COVID-19 vaccination sites now open, one at Disneyland, one here at Dodger Stadium.

Now they opened just as Southern California is feeling the ravages of holiday get-togethers and a subsequent outbreak. Two signs of this, on the mortuary grounds, a freezer truck, filled with bodies, because there isn't enough room inside the funeral home.

Then, in a hospital, they're treating patients. The hospital is overwhelmed inside a gift shop. But here at Dodger Stadium, they began the vaccinations. Health care workers, driving through, they started with an estimate of vaccinating 2,000 people in the first day, ramping it up to 4,000 it was going so well.

So, this is a reason for optimism for the organizers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the same time, it is when we see the folk actually getting those vaccines out into their arms it is all of those things' kind of fade away.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VERCAMMEN: The goal here at Dodger Stadium is vaccinate 12,000 people per day, they say they have enough of the vaccine to last themselves until Wednesday, they are not sure if the supply will continue and they've heard the reports about the supply shrinking fast.

But they say they will dig in and keep putting needles into arms, here, at Dodger Stadium -- reporting from Los Angeles, I am Paul Vercammen, now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Let's take a look at Europe, where officials are also trying to work to speed up coronavirus vaccinations. Italy's prime minister says that his country has become the first in the E.U. to vaccinate more than 1 million people.

[02:35:00]

HOLMES: But the good news out of Europe pretty much ends there. Ireland, one of the worst hit countries on Earth right now, almost half of its total COVID-19 cases being reported in the last 2 weeks alone.

France's nationwide curfew will kick in 2 hours earlier, starting today. It will run from 6 pm to 6 am. It is supposed to last 15 days at least.

Pfizer telling the E.U. it will make far fewer coronavirus vaccine deliveries than planned, at least, temporarily. Some European countries, starting with Germany, say that they are being left in the dark as to when they will get the doses they need. Melissa Bell is in Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Europe, several countries continue to report worsening COVID-19 figures in a week that saw several E.U. nations either extend or tighten restrictions that are now in place.

Now there is bad news also on the vaccination front, several countries expressing disappointment at an announcement by Pfizer that there will be delays in terms of the delivery of the vaccine over the next few weeks.

It's the result of modifications that are being done at its plant in Belgium. Several countries expressing their disappointment, including Germany, one of those E.U. nations really under pressure over the slow rollout of their vaccination program.

In fact nearly 3 weeks after the E.U.'s vaccination program began, Germany has vaccinated just 1 percent of the population. This Friday Italy became the first E.U. nation to announce it had vaccinated 1 million people -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: A mass vaccination drive is underway in India. The government says about 100 people will be vaccinated in each vaccination center. There are more than 3,000 of them across the country. Nurses, doctors and other front line workers will have priority. Vedika Sud, following all of this from New Delhi for us, joining us live.

Vedika, how will it work, what are the challenges?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: Good to see you, Michael. The big vaccination drive began in India. The prime minister, as well as the health minister, call it a historic day for the country.

You are right about staggering numbers. The biggest challenge would be to ensure that we inoculate a significant percentage of the 1.36 billion population in India. Prime minister Modi did launch a rollout of the vaccine this morning in India, about 10:30 local time.

He addressed the nation across India, where there is over 3,000 vaccination centers. The vaccine's prime minister, to health care workers, a very strong message going out to the world. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER (voice-over): Famous experts, raised doubts with respect to India. Our large population was being characterized as our biggest weakness and we, instead, made it our strength.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUD: The 2 vaccines that have been rolled out at the same time, one is the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and the other is an indigenous vaccine made by BioNTech with a government-run institute. Both of these vaccines are being rolled out at the same time.

But what is interesting is that the people of India will not be given the option of choosing the vaccine they want. That is what the health ministry has said to the media during a press conference.

It's quite interesting but 1.36 billion people waiting to be inoculated and like the health minister of India said, it will be the health care workers first. They were emotional moments to see when the first vaccine that was inoculated in this hospital. This is just day one, a long way to, go and we will have to see how well this drive takes place here in India -- back to you, Michael.

HOLMES: Vedika Sud in New Delhi, appreciate, it thank you.

Now Brazil has the third most coronavirus deaths after the U.S. and India. Now officials say that the health care system in Manaus is in collapse. Oxygen running desperately low, people waiting in line for hospital beds. CNN's Isa Soares with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Manaus, the Brazilian city at the heart of the world's Amazon, is gasping for air. Relatives here are rushing to buy oxygen cylinders to save their loved ones suffering with COVID-19.

The lady on the right, pleads for help in moving the oxygen tank to help her 80-year-old father who has the virus. His family tells us, unfortunately, he did not make it.

Most here blaming the government for failing to impose a lockdown in December. Now anger has spread, as hospitals dealing with a mass influx of COVID-19 patients run out of beds and oxygen supplies.

[02:40:00]

SOARES (voice-over): Infections are so high, in fact, authorities say demand for oxygen is up fivefold in the last 15 (ph) days. This man said he was able to buy an oxygen cylinder from the family of someone who died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The only way to save my mother was to chase down oxygen, asking for help from acquaintances and friends, because it was the only way to let her live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES (voice-over): Hospitals have not been able to keep up with demand and those who can source or afford their own tanks are facing impossible odds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My sister was in a rush and they asked her to come immediately. That is when she found out that my mother had passed away, at 4 in the morning.

What caused it?

The lack of oxygen.

SOARES (voice-over): Exhausted medical staff have been keeping patients alive by doing manual compressions but it simply, isn't enough. Now they are pleading for help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I ask all of you for mercy. We are in a deplorable situation. The oxygen in one of our health units, simply, ran out. And there is no oxygen and a lot of people dying.

If anyone has oxygen available, please, bring it to the emergency area of the clinic. For the love of God, there are a lot of people dying.

SOARES (voice-over): The minister of health together with the governor of the Amazon, are warning of a health care system in total chaos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Today, the Amazonas state, to which the world directs its attention, when there is an issue related to the preservation of the environment, is clamoring. It is asking for help.

SOARES (voice-over): The Brazilian air force has stepped in, delivering 6 emergency cylinders of oxygen, totaling almost 10,000 kilograms. Hundreds of patients have been airlifted to other Brazilian states for treatment.

The government meanwhile says that there was no way of predicting the collapse in Manaus. The medical professionals and local officials say their repeated warnings were ignored -- Isa Soares, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now as millions, perhaps billions of face masks are worn every single day amid this pandemic, they may be imposing a deadly threat to wildlife. There are images of macaques chewing on old masks there outside of Malaysia's capital.

Then a video of a gull tangled in the straps of a disposable face covering. And then, scenes of marine life trapped beneath PPE in the Mediterranean. Animal rights and environment groups say that single use surgical masks are endangering animal habitats as they are discarded at staggering numbers worldwide.

One lesson: be careful where you throw them. Cut the straps so animals don't get tangled.

I'm Michael Holmes, I'll be back in 20 minutes for more CNN NEWSROOM. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA," coming up after the break.