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Biden Brings Compassion, Centrism and Big-Time Vaccine Promise at CNN Town Hall; WHO Reports Decline in Global Coronavirus Cases From Last Week; South Africa Receives First Shipment of Single-Dose Johnson & Johnson Vaccine; Japan Struggling to Cope with Virus as Olympics Surge; U.N. Envoy Issues Warning on Myanmar as Protesters Face Down Military; North Korea Accused of Hacking Drug-Maker Pfizer; U.K. Calling for Vaccination Ceasefires Around World; President Biden Addresses Concerns in Town Hall. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired February 17, 2021 - 00:00   ET

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

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello everyone. Welcome to CNN. I am Robyn Curnow, live from CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta.

Ahead on the show, U.S. President Joe Biden comes face to face with everyday Americans in a CNN town hall, suggesting life could finally return to normal by Christmas.

And new charges are filed against Myanmar's ousted leader, sparking a massive backlash inside and outside the country.

Also, the growing battle of rich versus poor over who gets access to the coronavirus vaccine.

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CURNOW: Joe Biden has wrapped up his first presidential town hall on CNN with encouraging new predictions about the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Biden says it's impossible to be sure but he hopes things will be close to normal by Christmas.

He predicts every American who wants a vaccine should be able to get one by the end of July, as younger children can likely get back to in- person learning by the end of his first hundred days in office.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is about needing to be able to socially distance, smaller classes, more protection and I think the teachers and the folks who work in the school, the cafeteria workers and others, should be on the list preferred to get a vaccination.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CURNOW: As you can see from this graph, the number of COVID infections in the U.S. has now fallen dramatically since January. We have more on the president's plan from CNN's Kaitlan Collins.

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This was President Biden's first time interacting directly with voters since taking office. He was here in Milwaukee for that first town hall with CNN.

Of course, the number one topic was the COVID pandemic, still raging throughout the country. President Biden said he believes the deadline for when every American who wants to get a vaccine will be able to get one is the end of July.

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BIDEN: By the end of July, we will have over 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate every single American.

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COLLINS: He had a very important caveat, that does not mean every American will have had one by the end but he said by the end of July, they will have, those 600 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

The next challenge is going to be actually getting those administered into the arms of Americans, dealing with the challenge of vaccinators and also vaccine hesitancy.

You heard him here tonight talking about his COVID-19 relief plan making its way through the halls of Congress. But also the other major topic in the country right now, the reopening of schools. President Biden said it was a miscommunication when you heard an official from the White House recently say their goal of having a majority of schools open by the end of his first 100 days in office meant kids being in school one day a week at a minimum.

He said that's not his goal. He wants it to be K through 8, a majority of those schools open, 5 days a week, by the end of his first hundred days in office. He said he believes that's something he can achieve. But high school is a different story and there is a chance summer school could be an option.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Your administration had set a goal to open the majority of schools in the first hundred days.

You are now saying that means those schools may only be open for at least one day a week?

BIDEN: No, that's not true. That's what was reported. That's not true. It was a mistake in the communication. What I am talking about is I said opening a majority of schools in K through 8th grade, because they are the easiest to open, the most needed to be open in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay at home.

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COLLINS: So not a ton of clarity there. There will still be questions for health officials in the administration about what exactly that's going to look like. But there was President Biden clarifying the timeline there tonight.

Those are the big questions. Those are the big headlines coming out of this when it comes to the pandemic. He was asked about several other topics -- foreign policy, China, domestic terrorism here at home, something that's a major conversation since the January 6th riot.

This was the first time taking questions from voters. He will be hitting the road again, going to Michigan on Thursday, as he continues to try to sell a 1.9 trillion dollar plan directly to voters instead of just to lawmakers in Washington, D.C. -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, traveling with the president in Milwaukee.

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CURNOW: David Gergen is a CNN senior political analyst and was a presidential adviser during the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton administrations. He joins us now from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

So good to see you, David. Essentially, this was a sales pitch for the president's COVID plan.

How do you think it went?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it was a very good section for the country with President Biden. In effect, he was closing a chapter on the past, on the Trump administration and the trial we saw this weekend and opening a new era where people can focus on the future in America.

It was a very domestically oriented conversation. But it is in such stark contrast to Trump. Biden comes across as much more decent, is empathic and caring. He talks to people in the audience and he has got a good smile. Some will argue with his wording about ideas and numbers. But overall, I am sure his staff went home very happy tonight.

CURNOW: There was very little mention of Donald Trump. That might be a relief for many Americans. It might not be for others. President Biden also just referred to him as the other guy, I think, the former guy. He didn't want to talk about Donald Trump.

Do you think this was also about really introducing this new president, the way he talks, the way he was riffing on things, the kind of guy he is to America?

This is the introduction. GERGEN: I think so. He is part way into his term as president. But I

think people want to know, who is this guy really and what is he trying to do?

There is an old saying about leadership, that a leader is a teacher. The leader has to help other people understand reality. I thought Biden did a lot of that tonight. He was not making news. He was trying to help people understand how his response to the COVID situation is going, why these vaccinations are so slow, why he hopes to speed things up, what Pfizer is doing, what Moderna is doing.

He walked through this in a way that I think everybody walked away saying, I may not agree with him. There were Trump people in the audience, which I also thought was smart. He needs to bring them over. He needs to make them part of his coalition.

One of the numbers he did use tonight was how much support he has from the American people overall on his great big 1.9 trillion dollar relief package that has 66 percent approval. Trump's favorability ratings are down in the high 30s.

Joe Biden is making a lot of progress. He will need results but I think the tone he set for the country, the decency, the caring, the empathy, the honor, the sense of integrity, I am not going to lie to you, all of that is so welcome in today's environment.

CURNOW: This is his first trip out of D.C. since he moved into the White House. You talk about him introducing himself, coming across as a decent guy, the tone. But in many ways, Americans are desperate to be listened to at the moment.

Do you think this is a part of that?

How much more does he need to do, listening?

GERGEN: I think he has to be very consistent. If people can believe that Joe Biden next week will say the same thing as Joe Biden this week, that builds trust. There is so much distrust in government and institution in this country and across much of Europe right now. A lot of democracies are suffering from this.

People don't trust these institutions anymore. I think Biden is saying I don't pretend to be somebody else. I am who I am. I've lived a wonderful life with a wonderful family. I'm a regular Joe from Scranton, Pennsylvania.

If Reagan had been the president just before Biden, there would be no stark differences. Reagan was a good guy, too. I think the fact is it is a stark contrast to Trump that really works in his favor, at least for now.

They start bungling things, they don't get results, a lot of those things at the end of the 100 days he hasn't produced, he's going to come under a lot of criticism. But right now, I think he is setting a tone for a potentially very successful presidency.

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CURNOW: David Gergen, always good to speak to you.

GERGEN: Thank you.

CURNOW: You are also a presidential adviser in the Nixon, Ford, Reagan administrations. It's always great to get your take. Thank you, sir.

GERGEN: Thank you.

CURNOW: In case you missed it earlier, we will replay President Joe Biden's town hall coming up in a little less than 2 hours from now. That is 7 am in London, 11 am in Abu Dhabi.

As the U.S. reports fewer cases of the coronavirus, health experts are urging the public not to let their guard down. They warn more contagious variants are spreading quickly and could reverse all the positive trends we are seeing.

Right now, almost every state is reporting lower numbers, with the national average falling below 100,000 cases a day. Still officials say now is not the time for complacency as Alexandra Field explains.

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ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Today, a more hopeful picture emerging across America. Every state but one trending in the right direction.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, U.S. FDA VACCINE ADVISER: I think we are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. But at best, it is a start.

FIELD (voice-over): Hospitalizations are at less than half the peak in early January. Deaths nationwide are at the lowest since November.

OFFIT: One possibility is that you are starting to see some evidence for herd immunity or population immunity.

FIELD (voice-over): Not all experts agree the worst is behind us. White House senior COVID adviser Andy Slavitt warning the numbers could be misleading.

ANDY SLAVITT, SENIOR ADVISER, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM: We should be assuming the next wave of case growth, to the extent we have it, will be with B117 and that's something I think everyone has to be a bit more cautious about.

FIELD (voice-over): B117, the variant first identified in the U.K., is expected to be the dominant strain in the states by March.

DR. JEREMY KAMIL, VIROLOGIST: Our country has really not done enough to keep up to date or keep tabs on what the virus is doing. I think the bigger messages we need to be doing a better job and a more even job sequencing the virus so we can know whether there are changes to be concerned about. FIELD (voice-over): The vaccines currently available in the United

States from Pfizer and Moderna are believed to be effective against the U.K. strain. On average, 1.7 million shots are now making their way into arms, far more needed.

PAUL FARROW, WAUKESHA COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Our goal is to provide 1,000 vaccines a day, 7 days a week. The only limitation we currently have is getting the vaccine.

FIELD (voice-over): In a letter to the White House, the National Governors Association is calling for better coordination between the Biden administration and the states in distributing vaccines, just as severe weather deals another blow to those working with what they do have.

Vaccination sites from the Midwest to Florida are announcing delays and postponements. Officials in one Texas county managed to salvage 8,000 shots after the power went out.

ROBERTA SCHWARTZ, HOUSTON METHODIST HOSPITAL: They were able to get these vaccines that needed to be utilized very quickly into arms and not waste them.

FIELD (voice-over): The federal government opening the first two federally administered vaccination sites today. They've promised 100 such sites in Biden's first hundred days. Dr. Anthony Fauci now says it could be May or June before vaccines are available to the general public, farther out than the previous April estimate.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We've got to continue with the public health measures as much as we've been doing it for a long time and people are fatigued with it, we've got to continue until we get it so low that it's no longer a threat.

FIELD: While Dr. Anthony Fauci is urging people to proceed with caution, the rush to return to normal is evident in America's airports. More than 5 million people flying in the last 5 days. That makes this the heaviest travel period we have seen since the holidays.

The difference now is that there is a federal mask mandate in effect. That means you have to wear your mask in the airport and on planes. The CDC is also advising people who travel to take a test 1 to 3 days before and 3 to 5 days after, that is, if they must travel at all -- in New York, Alexandra Field, CNN.

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CURNOW: South Africa could soon become the first country in the world to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It received its first shipment on Tuesday and is expected to administer shots as soon as this week.

The government turned to Johnson & Johnson last week after pausing its rollout of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. Here is David McKenzie to explain why.

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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: South Africa received 1 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine with much fanfare several weeks ago. Now they say it will not be using those vaccines. It's offering them to the African Union to distribute them to African countries that want the vaccine.

The complication happened when clinical trials showed that this vaccine was ineffective against mild and moderate COVID-19, when caused by the variant discovered here in South Africa.

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MCKENZIE: That could have caused a curveball to be thrown at vaccine strategy in South Africa. They have now shifted gears and, as early as this week, South Africa will be giving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has been shown to be effective against the variant to health care workers as part of a very large scale implementation trial.

That vaccine hasn't received approval yet here in South Africa, in fact, anywhere. But this will be an opportunity to test with a large number of people and possibly help health care workers that have been on the front line of this fight in South Africa -- David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.

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CURNOW: So the Australian state of Victoria will soon end its 5-day coronavirus lockdown, the restrictions will be lifted at midnight, local time. The state premier says it comes after no new cases were detected on Tuesday. People will be allowed to leave their homes for any reason and schools and nonessential businesses will also reopen.

However masks will still be required when people cannot physically distance. And New Zealand is planning on Thursday to begin rolling back the coronavirus restrictions it put in place, last Sunday. It comes as officials work to contain a small cluster of new cases connected to one family.

The government will be reducing restrictions in Auckland to its second lowest level and the rest of the country will be reduced to level one.

Japan is launching its vaccination rollout as the country faces its third wave of the coronavirus. Health officials say the Pfizer vaccine will first be given to thousands of health care workers from hospitals nationwide. Blake Essig is joining me now live from outside a hospital in Tokyo with more on all of that.

Blake, what can you tell us?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Robyn, with Japan hosting the Olympic Games in just a few months, they had every reason to move quickly to approve a vaccine and get shots in arms. But the vaccination minister said the Olympic and Paralympic Games were never a consideration. As a result, Japan joins a list of about 90 other countries to start

its vaccination program. Up first is 40,000 doctors and nurses at 100 hospital in the country, including right here at the Tokyo Medical Center.

As they move forward, the 20,000 of those doctors and nurses are being asked by the Japanese government to track their health and keep a diary for a total of 7 weeks through the first and second doses to track things like headaches, fevers, any potential side effects from those vaccines.

Now after that they're going to work towards 3.7 million front line health care workers with seniors expected to receive vaccinations in April. Part of the reason for that slow rollout is because the Japanese government wanted to do a in-country clinical trial of about 160 people that lasted 2 months.

I talked to several medical care professionals who don't understand why they would do that, saying that such a small sample size would provide no scientific evidence of vaccine safety or efficacy. Now I had the chance to ask the vaccination minister Taro Kono last night about, that here's what he said.

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TARO KONO, JAPANESE VACCINATION PROGRAM CHIEF: I think it is more important for the Japanese government to show the Japanese people that we have done everything possible to prove the efficacy and the safety of the vaccine to encourage the Japanese people to take the vaccine.

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ESSIG: With vaccinations underway, the challenge now is to convince a skeptical Japanese population to get the vaccine. Now a recent "Lancet" report shows that Japan has one of the lowest vaccine confidence rates in the world, with only about 30 percent of people thinking vaccines are safe, important and effective -- Robyn.

CURNOW: OK, that's interesting, Blake in Tokyo, good stuff, thanks so much.

So people in conflict zones faced many threats and hazards but the pandemic is certainly making things worse. Now the U.K. wants to take action to get them vaccinated.

Also in a defiant rejection of Myanmar's military coup, protesters jam the streets in Yangon. We have the latest on these images.

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CURNOW: Welcome back, I'm Robyn Curnow. It's 21 minutes past the hour.

Protesters in Myanmar are answering the call for a mass demonstration in the commercial capital of Yangon. Live pictures of these growing crowds, activists are asking for millions to gather and that's raising fears of a potential violent military crackdown.

Police have filed an additional charge also against deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi. She already faced charges of illegally importing 6 walkie talkie radios, now her lawyer says she's charged with violating a natural disaster law.

Meanwhile prime minister Boris Johnson has blasted this new charge, saying it was, quote, "fabricated" by the military and is a clear violation of her human rights. And the U.S. echoed that criticism.

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NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: I think it's fair to say that we are disturbed by reports that the military has charged Aung San Suu Kyi with additional criminal acts.

As we have before, we call on the Burmese military to immediately release all unjustly detained civilian and political leaders, journalists and human rights activists and other members of civil society as well as to restore the democratically elected government.

As the president has said, the military's seizure of power is a direct assault on the country's transition to democracy and the rule of law.

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CURNOW: I want to go straight to Paula Hancocks, Paula is in Seoul.

Hi, Paula, seems that every day that we've spoken there's been another escalation and it is certainly looking worrying now. These are pictures that we are getting from the streets of Yangon.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Robyn, right now the crowds are starting to swell in Yangon. There are, as you said, calls by activists, by some members of the National League for Democracy, to come out in support of the democratically elected government today.

And also the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi had that very secretive trial yesterday and another charge was added, most of us and most on the streets were expecting her to have her trial today, this Wednesday.

So certainly this seems to be the galvanizing fact, for people to come out onto the streets. It is festive, it is peaceful. We have seen doctors coming out outside of hospitals to show their support.

Also an impressive turnout when you consider that they had, once again, the third night in a row, an internet shutdown. So despite that, people are still being galvanized by what has happened.

As you say, there are great concerns that there could be some kind of force being used by the security forces. We've heard this from the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews.

He said he is concerned, with this many people in the streets, that there could be potential for violence on a greater scale. Also he said reports that the troops have come in from outlying regions into Yangon itself, saying that when that has happened in the past, that has led to some killings and atrocities on the security forces side.

Also there are concerns about the types of troops that are on the streets of Yangon at this point. It's not just the fear of seeing the armored vehicles but we understand it is the light infantry division, which has been accused of human rights abuses in the past.

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HANCOCKS: Human Rights Watch itself saying they are conflict-ready infantry troops, used to fighting against ethnic rebel groups in the jungles, in the mountains and human rights groups saying that they have a very nasty reputation.

So clearly there are a number of factors here that are joining together this Wednesday, that do make people very concerned. There could be some kind of a crackdown by the security forces. But as we pointed out, at this point, the protests, they are large but they are peaceful, Robyn.

CURNOW: OK thanks for that, Paula Hancocks there, of course, we will continue to monitor all of these events in Myanmar, thank you very much.

For the protesters in Myanmar, there is a substantial risk. The military has shown its willingness to take harsh action against dissent but with a fragile democracy at stake, the demonstrators remain defiant. Clarissa Ward reporting now on a turning point for the country.

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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For weeks, the streets of Myanmar have been flooded as hundreds of thousands have come out to reject the military coup that overthrew the country's democratic government on February 1st.

"We are one," these protesters chants. They are met with water cannons and rubber bullets. But still they hold their ground. Among them, teachers, lawyers, doctors, even monks, part of a civil disobedience movement that aims to bring the country to a halt and put pressure on the military regime.

Many flash three fingers, a symbol of defiance taken from the "Hunger Games" movies; 31-year-old activist Myo Htet has been out on the streets every day.

MYO HTET, ACTIVIST: Every day we see more and more energy on the street, people are very committed because it's very energetic here against the leadership. WARD (voice-over): But there are signs that a military crackdown may

be imminent. Civilian leaders have been arrested and much of the country's internet regularly shut off. Already blood has been shed; 19-year-old Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing was shot in the head last week while attending a protest. She has been on life support since.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has endured decades of repressive military rule. Sandwiched between India and China, the country of 54 million is rich in oil and gas. In 2015, a democratically elected civilian government under Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed to take power.

But her position has always been precarious. Suu Kyi has been detained since the coup, along with the Burmese president. Last week U.S. President Joe Biden announced sanctions against the generals.

BIDEN: The people of Burma are making their voices heard and the world is watching. We'll be ready to impose additional measures.

WARD (voice-over): But as the situation continues to escalate, U.N. special rapporteur Tom Andrews has a stark warning.

WARD: Give us a sense of what's at stake here?

TOM ANDREWS, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR: A disaster and it could take many forms. It could take a bloodbath and we've seen this happen in the past. This is not an idle threat by the military. They have shown that they are capable of massacring people, large numbers of people.

But for the incredibly brave people of Myanmar, that are on the streets protesting, engaging in several disobedience, despite that threat, what is more terrifying for them than anything is going back into the clutches of a military authoritarian regime.

WARD (voice-over): Myo Htet says he is aware of the risks.

WARD: Are you scared?

HTET: No, not. We will fight until the end, we will fight until we get back our rights, Until we get back our democracy. We will fight. We will win this fight for sure.

WARD (voice-over): Clarissa Ward, CNN, London.

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CURNOW: Thanks to Clarissa for that.

Coming up, hard to fight the coronavirus in places where people are fighting each other, we will look at efforts to get vaccines into conflict zones.

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow. [00:32:02]

There have been serious allegations against North Korea from South Korea from a South Korean lawmaker. He says Pyongyang successfully hacked drug maker Pfizer to try and steal coronavirus vaccine technology. Want to go straight to Will Ripley for more on this story.

Will, hi. What can you tell us about this?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is interesting, Robyn, because on the record, North Korea claims they don't have a single confirmed case of COVID-19. But I've been speaking today with sources who are telling me that it's a very different feeling inside the country.

There are checkpoints everywhere. Any foreign diplomat who remains, and there are just a handful left, are basically treated as if they have COVID.

Not to mention the fact that even though, in images of North Korean leader Kim Jong-U.N., you never see people wearing masks. But then, in other images when he is not present, everybody in the room is wearing their mask.

So these are all ways that a country would behave if they were concerned about COVID-19, especially given what we know about North Korea's largely outdated and dilapidated healthcare system.

So what this -- what this South Korean lawmaker is alleging, he says he was briefed by -- by South Korean intelligence, their spy agency, NIS. That the North tried to hack not only Pfizer but perhaps other pharmaceutical companies, looking for information about a vaccine.

The question is will they try to make their own domestically-produced vaccine so they don't have to rely on countries like China, which is their primary ally and benefactor? Would they perhaps try to see if they could sell this hacked vaccine information for a profit to other countries that are looking for their own vaccines themselves.

Because keep in mind, for North Korea to actually develop and store a vaccine, they would not only need cutting-edge technology but millions, if not billions of dollars, both of which are very much in short supply inside North Korea, which has an economy that has been struggling. With their borders closed more than a year because of the pandemic.

So it's a really interesting development, but we are still, like always with North Korea, Robyn, trying to decipher from a distance, I was talking to one source who said that North Korea today is probably the most isolated it has been in decades because not only are the borders shut, but most foreign diplomats have left the country. So it's really tough to get credible information right now.

CURNOW: OK. Well, thanks, anyway. Will Ripley there. Appreciate you bringing us up to date with what you do now. Thank you. There are mounting accusations now that the global coronavirus vaccine rollout is unfairly weighted in favor of richer nations. Mexico is set to file a formal complaint at the U.N. Security Council, alleging unequal access to the shots. It currently sits on the council.

Poor countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have been hard hit by this virus. And while Mexico's signed agreements with international drug firms for millions of doses, there have been global delays and shortages.

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ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): These issues are things that we want to see in the United Nations, that there be equity, so that there is no hoarding of vaccines, that there is a principle of equality so that all countries have the possibility of vaccinating their people.

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CURNOW: And the U.K. is bringing another vaccine-related issue to the Security Council on Wednesday: getting shots to people in conflict zones such as Yemen. Britain will call for a resolution to help negotiate vaccine ceasefires.

The British foreign office says hundreds of millions of people around the world are at risk of being excluded because of instability and conflict.

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab says, quote, "Global vaccination coverage is essential to beating coronavirus. We have a moral duty to act and a strategic necessity to come together to defeat this virus."

For more now, let's go to CNN's senior United Nations correspondent Richard Roth. Richard joins me now from New York. It is lovely to see. You what exactly as the U.K. proposing here?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: The U.K. is going strong, trying to get the Security Council to at least start the momentum to get vaccines to people living especially in conflict zones and less developed countries. And it's going to be a tall order.

But sometimes, Security Council meetings provide some momentum. The United Kingdom's foreign secretary has already stated that they want to come up with a firm plan that will allow for global vaccination of as many people as possible.

You know, the U.N. says 10 countries have administered 75 percent of the vaccines available in more than 130 countries, have not even have anybody receiving a single dose of the vaccination.

A spokesman for the U.N. secretary general on Tuesday put it plainly as to what the U.N. diplomatic leader would like from the Security Council. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, SPOKESMAN FOR U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL: The one big ask, I would say, is to truly operationalize vaccine solidarity to really do away with vaccine nationalism. It is clear that in the path that we're following now, we will not be able to vaccinate everyone at a speed that needs to be done.

It's fully understandable that each government looks out for its own people. That is their primary responsibility. But we do believe that, through enhanced international cooperation, backed by financing, the needs of the wealthiest nations can be met at -- the governments can meet the needs of their own people; at the same time, show real solidarity through financing to the developing world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: And the United Kingdom wants access by U.N. and other international humanitarian workers, Robyn, to the people who will need these vaccinations. And they also, as usual, need a lot of funding -- Robyn.

CURNOW: Has this ever been done before, some sort of ceasefire for public health? And with that in mind, is there really any hope of this kind of action actually working?

ROTH: There was a two-day pause in Afghanistan around 2001 to let 35,000 workers get in to help the people there with either polio or malaria, maybe a few months later. That's a much smaller issue than we're dealing with now around the world.

Look, the Security Council took six, seven months to even agree on a statement last year acknowledging a global pandemic. That's when China and the U.S. were bogged down in differences over how much responsibility the WHO had.

We have a new president, a Democratic presidency; and maybe the U.K. feels it's got a little better chance. It's too early to know how China, Russia, and the countries that usually are divided with the U.K., how they feel about all this going forward, despite the humanitarian urgency.

CURNOW: OK. Richard Roth there in New York. Always good to see you, sir. Thanks so much.

Straight ahead on CNN, millions of Americans are left in the dark as temperatures plummet below freezing, and another storm is on the way. A check on the frigid forecast when we come back.

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CURNOW: Millions of Americans are without power as deadly winter storms grip much of the U.S. Nearly three-quarters of the country are covered in snow. About 2,000 record low temperatures have been shattered just this week.

And in Texas, where more than three million customers are without power. So Pedram Javaheri joins me now with more on all of this devastating weather. I mean, it really is fundamentally changing people's lives here, particularly folks in Texas.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. And you know, the long duration aspect that you noted here with some 2,000 records in place, that's really what's most frustrating for a lot of the folks that are being impacted by this. And you kind of break down the numbers here.

Some 500-plus record temperatures that were set for minimum temperatures overnight in the last seven days and nearly 1,400 record cold temperatures for minimum temperatures for an afternoon reading were set across a large area of the United States.

So when you put them the maps in motion, here's what we're looking at across the United States, temperatures running 20, 30, and in some cases, some 40 degrees below average.

Unfortunately, the long duration nature of it continues for at least a couple of more days here with cold air firmly in place. I'm not sure if you're able to see the elements anymore, but I think we're having some technical issues getting the visuals directed your way.

But I'm hearing that you're able to see it, so if you are, the concern is now moving forward. Not only are these historic temperatures in place, but another round of wintry weather, potentially, going to work its way across portions of the southern United States. You could see another round of ice accumulating on top of the snow that is already on the ground, with some four million, almost four million customers across the United States that are without power.

And you kind of take that number and take into account about four people per customer, and you're looking at about 10 to maybe 16 million people that are without power with a historic spell of colder air and another round of wintry weather coming in here, Robyn, through the next 24 to 48 hours, potentially bringing down, again, another round of, say, one and a half, maybe two centimeters of ice on top of power lines that are already reaching capacity and potentially could come down across these areas. It's going to be devastating.

CURNOW: Yes, so this is not over yet. Pedram, thanks so much for the update there. Thank you.

You're watching CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow. WORLD SPORT starts after the break. Then I'll be back after that.

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