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CNN Presidential Town Hall with President Joe Biden; Mass Protest Against Coup is Underway in Myanmar; Biden Says U.S. Will Have 600 Million Vaccine Doses by July; Mexico to File U.N. Complaint Over Vaccine Access; United Kingdom Calling for Vaccination Ceasefires Around Globe; Biden Sells his Stimulus Bill to Americans; North Korea Accused of Hacking Drug Giant; U.S. Sees Decline in Infection and Hospitalizations; South Africa Offers AstraZeneca Vaccine to African Union; U.K., Japan See Progress with Vaccination Efforts. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired February 17, 2021 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(CNN PRESIDENTIAL TOWN HALL WITH PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- when I came back from China. And I said, I predict within less than a year, they're going to end their one-China policy.

[03:05:00]

(CNN PRESIDENTIAL TOWN HALL WITH PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN)

[03:10:00]

(CNN PRESIDENTIAL TOWN HALL WITH PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Mr. President, thank you so much for joining us --

BIDEN: Thank you.

COOPER: -- in this town hall. We want to thank our audience for being here for their questions. We also want to thank the Pabst Theater for hosting us.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church.

U.S. President Joe Biden face-to-face with voters for the first time since taking office, answered questions and tried to alleviate America's worries during CNN's town hall.

[03:15:00]

For more than an hour in Milwaukee, Mr. Biden looked to reassure but not overpromise as he discussed the country's top issues, including the fight against COVID-19, the economic crisis, and unifying a divided nation.

On the pandemic, he said the U.S. will have enough vaccine, 600 million doses, to vaccinate every American by July. And he spoke to the key question on the minds of so many, when my life finally gets back to normal?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: As my mother would say, with the grace of god and the goodwill of the neighbors, that by next Christmas, I think we will be in a very different circumstance, god willing, than we are today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): Joining us now is CNN White House correspondent John Harwood. Good to see you, John. So, President Biden went to his town hall with the aim of selling his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill to the public. How did he go with that?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): He did quite well. He was selling himself, which he did by connecting in a skillful way with the audience, including with the second grader who was on hand, making sure that he connected with the individual stories of the people asking him questions, and also making the case for that COVID relief bill, which is already pretty popular if you look at the polling.

But he was making that argument in a swing state, Wisconsin. Like the Republican lawyers for Donald Trump in the impeachment trial, he needs only to appeal to his own side right now because it appears that he is going to do this with democratic votes only, so he is trying to unite his party.

And in fact, when he got a question about Donald Trump and impeachment, he said he didn't even want to talk about President Trump. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Before the Senate voted to acquit the former president in the impeachment trial, you said you were anxious to see if Republican senators would stand up. Only seven did. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the rest cowards. Do you agree with her?

BIDEN: I'm not going to call names out. I -- look, I -- for four years, all that has been in the news is Trump. The next four years, I want to make sure all the news is the American people.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARWOOD (on camera): Rosemary, that's part of the key appeal of Joe Biden. During the campaign, he wanted to convey a calmer, more stable, more sober presence than Donald Trump, and he certainly exerted a lot of effort to do that tonight. I think he succeeded.

CHURCH: And John, the other big question everyone wanted answered was how to open schools safely. Did President Biden do a good job on getting the message across on how he wanted that done?

HARWOOD (on camera): Well, he played some cleanup from some stumble by his staff. This has been a huge issue of concern to parents. Obviously, the pandemic in general and the situation of reopening schools and other institutions is uncertain because nobody knows the course of the pandemic. But there is a lot of impatience by parents to get schools open.

He had talked in the campaign about getting schools open in the first hundred days of his presidency a few days ago. One of his spokespeople, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, had defined opening schools in the first hundred days as one day a week of some in-person schooling at American schools, at most American schools. Joe Biden said, no, that is not the definition, and he made it more precise. Here is Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Your administration had set a goal to open the majority of schools in your first hundred days. You are now saying that means those schools may only be open for at least one day a week.

BIDEN: That's not true. That's what was reported. That's not true. It was a mistake in the communication. But what I am talking about is I said opening the majority of schools in K through eighth 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.

COOPER: So when do you think that would be K through eight --

BIDEN: I think we will be --

COOPER: -- at least five days a week if possible.

BIDEN: -- I think we will be close to that at the end of the first hundred days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARWOOD (on camera): He offered that kind of qualified reassurance on a number of issues, on schools, on when most people could get vaccinations. He said vaccines would be available, widely available in July. He suggested that life would begin to get back to something close to normal by Christmas time. He didn't make firm promises on those because the pandemic is unpredictable.

[03:20:00]

HARWOOD: But he did try to give people a sense of hope towards a particular goal. Christmas is the one he laid out for something like a return to normal life in the United States.

CHURCH: Right. CNN White House correspondent John Harwood, many thanks.

We turn to Myanmar now and demonstrators are defying the threat of violence to protest the military coup earlier this month. They have gathered in Yangon for what organizers hope will be a massive show of opposition. But the U.N. special rapporteur for Myanmar said he is terrified of the potential for violence if the protesters and troops confront each other.

An infamous division of the military was spotted in Yangon this week. Human Rights Watch says that division was part of a violent crackdown on an uprising back in 2007.

Now, Paula Hancocks is tracking all the developments from Seoul. She joins us now live. Good to see you, Paula. So, there is much concern, of course, about what Myanmar's military might do next. What more are you learning about (INAUDIBLE) stand right now?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this point, Rosemary, the live streams and people we are talking to on the ground are telling us that there are many people on the streets. These are massive crowds that have come out.

Activists are calling for millions to gather in protest of Aung San Suu Kyi, the ousted leader being held. Now, this, of course, comes just a day after there was a court case for her and there was another charge that had been filed against her and her court case adjourned until March 1st. She will remain in detention.

So this has really galvanized many protesters out onto the street. But as you say, the U.N. special rapporteur is just one of many that is concerned that with these many people out on the streets and also with an increased presence of armoured military vehicles and also troops that there could be some kind of force.

Now, we did hear from that rapporteur, from Tom Andrews, saying that he has received reports of troops coming in from outlying areas into Yangon, and he said that in the past, what that has meant is that there have been deadly clashes that have followed.

Now, we know that --- from what we are seeing at least and what people are telling us is that these protests are peaceful. We can hear on the live streams that we see.

We know also from those on the ground that the part of a civil disobedience movement is some people are actually stopping their cars and pretending that they have broken down to try and block some of the roads, to try and stop normal life from carrying on in Yangon, and they are trying to convince more civil servants to come out on to the streets with them.

You did mention though, Rosemary, that there is one particular set of troops that is in Yangon, this is the light infantry division. Human Rights Watch says that it was involved in the 2007 violent crackdown against protests. It has also been involved in Rakhine State against the Rohingya Muslims. And so they call this -- they say it might -- they have a very nasty reputation. Now, we don't know whether they will be brought into play at this point. Maybe it is just the fact that they are there and people can see them on the streets that will make them fearful.

But certainly, this is part of the reason why we are hearing from the U.N., from the U.S., from others, that they are fearful, that there could be a heavier crackdown to come. Rosemary?

CHURCH (on camera): All right. I know you will continue to monitor this very important story. Paula Hancocks, many thanks.

Despite fears of a violent crackdown with a fragile democracy at stake, demonstrators remain defiant. CNN's Clarissa Ward reports on this turning point from Myanmar.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CROWD: (INAUDIBLE).

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For weeks, 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.

CROWD: (INAUDIBLE).

WARD (voice-over): We are one, these protesters chant. 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.

CROWD: (INAUDIBLE).

WARD (voice-over): Many flash three fingers, a symbol of defiance taken from "The Hunger Games" movies.

MYO HTET, ACTIVIST: (INAUDIBLE).

WARD (voice-over): Thirty-one-year-old activist Myo Htet has been out on the streets every day.

HTET: Every day, we see more and more energy on the street. People are very committed. People are very energetic here against the institution (ph).

[03:25:00]

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. Nineteen-year-old Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing was shot in the head last week while attending a protest. She has been on life support since. CROWD: (INAUDIBLE).

WARD (voice-over): 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.

(APPLAUSE)

WARD (voice-over): 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.

(GUNSHOTS)

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

(On camera): Give us a sense of what's at stake here.

TOM ANDREWS, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR: Disaster and it could take many folds. It could take a bloodbath. We've seen this happened 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.

(On camera): Are you scared?

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

(APPLAUSE)

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

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CHURCH (on camera): Getting COVID vaccines to the poor and those in conflict zones is taking center stage at the U.N. We will have a live report. That's next.

And heading in the right direction, Japan and the U.K. are seeing encouraging developments with their vaccination efforts. We will take a closer look later this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. U.S. President Joe Biden says roughly 600 million COVID vaccine doses could be available to the country by the end of July.

[03:30:00]

CHURCH: At Tuesday CNN town hall, he said that would be enough to vaccinate every single person in the country. But the nation's top infectious disease expert says it may take longer than expected for the shots to reach the general public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: If you start talking about when vaccine would be more widely available to the general population, I was hoping that that would be by the end of April. Namely have gone through all of the priorities and now say, OK, anyone can get it. That was predicated on J&J, the Johnson product having a considerably more doses than now we know they are going to have. So, that timeline will probably be prolonged maybe into mid to late May and early June.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): So far, more than 70 million vaccine doses have been shipped nationwide. Of those, about 55 million have actually been administered.

Well, Mexico says wealthy countries such as the U.S. are getting more than their fair share of vaccines. It is set to file a complaint to the U.N. Security Council demanding equal access to doses for poor countries. Meantime, the U.K. is calling for cease-fires so vaccines can reach people in conflict zones in places such as Yemen. The British foreign office says some 160 million people around the world are at risk of being excluded because of instability and fighting.

And for the latest, CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now live from London. Good to see you, Nic. So, how might this clear inequity regarding COVID vaccination distribution and vaccines getting to war zones be figured out?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, it's certainly something that is going to come up at the U.N. Security Council today. Britain is the chair of the U.N. Security Council at the moment. The foreign secretary Dominic Raab will be chairing the meeting today, and we understand that push to be -- a push for those 160 million people in war-torn countries, Yemen, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia to be able to get a chance to get the vaccine.

So what we're likely to hear from the U.N. is talk about, you know, going back to 2001 in Afghanistan when 35,000 health care workers vaccinated, 5.7 million people against polio in a space of just two days when a cease-fire was called across the country then.

So, they're going to draw these historical parallels but they are also going to call for a greater contribution to the World Health Organization. Covax system of doses of vaccine to go to, less well off nations. And of course this is going to strike very closely to what Mexico is saying.

The foreign ministry saying is look, quite simply, richer nations are getting the doses before us. He said, Mexico has 750,000 doses of vaccine coming, it has ordered 230 million, and this is going to draw that very clear inequity of the distribution. What the Covax system does, and this is where we will get into the details and the discussion will come about, you know, coming from 92 different countries will receive the benefit of it.

But it is not a (inaudible) series, not going to cure the pandemic in those countries. Because it is not going to reach across the whole population. Far from it, a fraction. Take Columbia, in Latin America, Caribbean region which is principally what Mexico is drawing attention to. Columbia is going to get about 2.7 million doses of the vaccine through the Covax mechanism, but it has a population of 50 million people.

Mexico is saying, only 35 million doses for that whole region have been put aside under the Covax system. And there are 500 million people living there. So the conversations are likely to get into some of the technicalities of the countries that are ready to receive it.

But the reality of the conversation is going to come down to the fact that, although there's a readiness and a willingness to help these poor nations, as Mexico puts it, the richer nations are getting the vaccine first because not all of these promised vaccines are ready to go out at the moment.

Some of them won't even be through the manufacturing process and ready to be shipped. Never mind ready to be put into people's arms. So this is the beginning of a very, very long and very fraud and very difficult discussion, particularly for those less well off nations.

CHURCH: Yes. Absolutely, Nic Robertson, many thanks for bringing us up to date on all of that. I appreciate it.

Well, New Zealand is planning on Thursday to begin rolling back the coronavirus restriction they quickly 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 Oakland, to its second lowest level and the rest of the country will be reduced to level one.

[03:35:12]

And still to come hacking accusations against North Korea. Did it try to crack one of the world's leading COVID vaccine makers?

And President Biden takes to the CNN Town Hall stage to sell his $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus bill to Americans? How convincing was he? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH (on camera): Welcome back everyone, the U.S. President Joe Biden clearly did not want to over promise, but he says he is hopeful American life will return to normal by Christmas. Mr. Biden offered his timeline drawing a CNN Town Hall event, Tuesday evening, he covered a wide range of issues including his pitch to get a $1.9 trillion relief plan passed to help boost the economy.

He also offered encouraging predictions about COVID-19 vaccination. He said that the U.S. will have 600 million vaccine doses by the end of July, and offer every American. And he is urging everyone to get the shots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If you are eligible, if it's available get the vaccine. Get the vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): Joining us now is CNN economics and political commentator, Catherine Rampell, she is also an opinion columnist with the Washington Post. Great to have you with us.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER (on camera): Great to be here.

CHURCH: So how successfully did President Biden sell his big and bold $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill to the public? And can he do this in the end? Given to of his Democratic Senators are pushing back on his (inaudible) to include a $15 minimum wage hike.

RAMPELL: Well, I think there are a few things to unpack here. One is that he reminded his audience that the bill is already popular. If you look at polling at the bill overall it suggests that in general American supported. Even a very high fraction of Republicans and Trump supporters already support it. So, he was trying to amplify those numbers.

There are still some components of the legislation as you mentioned, for example, the $15 an hour minimum wage that remain divisive and I don't know, even in the polling, and I don't know how successful he was necessarily at winning over people to those specific agenda items. I would argue that his most persuasive tool this evening, was not necessarily you know, making substantive argument for specific components of his plan.

[03:40:10]

Although he did attempt that obviously on a number of these kinds of issues, including on the minimum wage. Probably his most persuasive tool this evening was in fact his ability to connect with the audience, to be the empathizer-in-chief, to show people at home that he cared, and that ultimately may be much more important than how the public or how individual Senators, for that matter, feel about any of these individual measures.

If there is sort of a groundswell of support for this guy who seems to feel the pain of the American public then maybe that will be enough to get this bill over the finish line.

CHURCH: Yes. That was certainly the overriding optics of the whole thing, wasn't it? And President Biden insists that if his $1.9 trillion package is pass it will create seven billion jobs this year. He says bigger is better, not spending less. But Republicans, I mean, they've clearly made it sure that everyone understands that they do not support that. They want to see some effort to trim that package. So, he doesn't seem to be willing to do that, he is going to go at it alone and isn't he?

RAMPELL: Well, he has said, he made the comment this evening among his other argument for why this bill should be big and bold, that, in the wake of the previous recession, the great recession that we weren't pulled enough. The research does bear that out that the recovery act that followed the financial crisis was probably not large enough even though at the time it seemed enormous.

And so he's arguing that that is part of the reason why we should go big or go home this time. And it may ultimately save us more money in the long run. At least the government have more money in the long run and potentially the economy in general. If in fact more is done upfront.

You know, he also argued that he has had support, basically, across the political spectrum of economist. Now, it is not actually true that economist, universally, support this package either its overall size or its individual components but he has had some support from some sort of unexpected experts. For example the former chief economic adviser to President Trump has come out in support of a big bold package, etc.

CHURCH: And on helping small businesses. He highlighted the fact that the Trump administration gave small money away to big business businesses money away too big businesses, and that he will make sure that that does not happen under his watch. How convincing was he, and how difficult will it be for him to keep his eye on the money? And where it goes?

RAMPELL: Well, that is really one of the challenges here, right. How do you make sure that money gets to -- as many of the needy recipients as possible, as quickly as possible, without it also going to those who are not to needy, maybe even those who are, you know, trying to apply for this money fraudulently.

And this was an issue in the previous rounds of aid, right. The, the fundamental priority was getting out the money quickly rather than doing tons and tons and tons of screening and accountability because that slows the process down, and it will continue to be a trade-off that we face going forward.

CHURCH: Catherine Rampell, thank you so much for your analysis. I appreciate. It RAMPELL: Thank you.

CHURCH (on camera): The U.S. has now administered more than 55 million vaccine doses nationwide. And President Biden says the rollout will continue to improve. But this week the vaccine drive faced significant setbacks due to severe winter storms that delayed shipments. CNN Nick Watt has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNKNOWN: This is a little bit of a shock.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Snow and sub-zero temperatures, snow and vaccination from Illinois to Texas, and delaying the delivery of doses

UNKNOWN: Sometimes by a day, sometimes by two days.

WATT: A momentary blip.

FAUCI: The critical issue is that the demand far outweighs the supply. That is the issue.

WATT: Doctor Fauci had said everyone would be eligible for a shot by the end of April, now says Johnson & Johnson will deliver fewer initial doses than the administration thought. So --

FAUCI: That timeline will probably be prolonged, maybe into mid to late May and early June, but it may take until June, July and August to finally get everyone vaccinated.

WATT: New case count and hospitalization are falling faster now, than at any point in this pandemic.

FAUCI: We just got to be careful about getting too excited about that, because we do have a challenge of variants.

WATT: That faster spreading variant first identified in South Africa now detected in eight U.S. States. The variant first found in the U.K., now confirmed in 40.

[03:45:07]

We are told masks and mitigation still required to keep overall case counts falling.

FAUCI: We've got to continue until we get it so low that it's no longer a threat.

WATT: But it is complacency creeping in? Despite warnings not to, more than 5 million people flew in the five days over the holiday weekend.

This newly-opened vaccination site in East Los Angeles, run jointly by FEMA and the Governor of California's office, they hope when they are up to capacity later this week to be delivering 6,000 shots a day into peoples arms. This is what it looks like on the ground when President Biden and his team say they want to speed up the vaccine rollout. Nick, Watt CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH (on camera): Now, to serious allegations against North Korea. A South Korean lawmaker says Pyongyang successfully hacked the drug maker Pfizer to try to steal technology linked to coronavirus vaccines. But now we are hearing that may not be the case. Will Ripley is following this story from Hong Kong. So, Will, what is the background to this and what happened exactly?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, the caveat here, Rosemary is that whenever you are talking about anything related to North Korea, intelligence is difficult to come by. But this is a South Korean lawmaker who says he attended a classified briefing with South Korea's spy agency, the NIS. And he even posted a note to (inaudible) talking about accusations at North Korean hackers stole vaccine technology from U.S. drug maker Pfizer.

Now, North Korea officially claims they don't even have a single COVID-19 case, but if you look at some new images that were just released showing Kim Jong-un in public with his wife, Ri Sol-ju for the first time in more than a year, you see that nobody is wearing a mask, the country projecting this confident image that it's virus free.

And yet behind the scenes, I'm speaking with sources who have connections with diplomats, the handful of foreign diplomats who remain on the ground in North Korea, who say that the country seems very tense right now, with checkpoints and lots of different procedures in place, the kinds of things you would see in countries that had a large outbreaks, certainly not a country that would be confident in its status to being virus free.

Now the National Intelligence Service, they do say that North Korea has been conducting hacking attacks on Bio tech companies, trying to get information technology inside about COVID-19 vaccines. But they are denying that they mentioned Pfizer by name in this briefing, but that South Korean lawmaker when contacted by CNN just a couple of hours ago is doubling down his claims saying he knows what he heard and he says that Pfizer was targeted by North Korean hackers.

Of course back in November, there was that Reuters report that AstraZeneca, the British bio tech company was also targeted, and Microsoft that same month last November, also accused North Korea of hacking multiple pharmaceutical companies, trying to get information by sending emails posing as World Health Organization representatives.

North Korean hackers, we know Rosemary are very capable. The United Nations just last week shared a confidential report with CNN alleging that hackers stole $360 million last year, money that was going largely towards their nuclear and ballistic missile programs. But now, according to some sources, Rosemary, this COVID-19 vaccine is a new cyber target for their very large cyber army.

CHURCH (on camera): Understood. Will Ripley joining us from Hong Kong with that update on the story. I appreciate it.

Well, South Africa may 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 begin administering shots as soon as this week. The government turned to Johnson & Johnson last week after pausing it's rolled out of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. CNN's David McKenzie has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): South Africa received a million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine with much fanfare several weeks ago. Now they say it's not going to 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.

That could have caused a curveball to be thrown at the vaccine strategy here 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.

[03:50:00]

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH (on camera): Japan is wrapping up preparations for the Olympics later this year. And that includes launching their vaccine rollout today. How is it going?

Plus, some early impact from vaccines in the U.K. We will take a look with live reports from both countries. Back in just a moment with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Some encouraging news on coronavirus vaccine efforts. The U.K. says more than 40 percent of people over the age of 80 have tested positive for virus antibodies. And health care workers have begun receiving their vaccines today in Japan. Blake Essig is in Tokyo, covering the vaccine rollout for us, but let's start with Salma Abdelaziz joining us live from London. Good to see you Salma, so more good news coming out of the U.K. What is the latest on all of this?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER (on camera): Absolutely, Rosemary. Signs that the vaccination program is working. So, it is now been found under government studies that there was most likely to have antibodies from COVID-19 or to COVID-19 are those over 80. Which of course was among the first people, the first group of people who are vaccinated in this country. So, check mark there. It seems to be working. That is a great sign.

Now, what we don't know and what the authorities and researchers are still working on is, yes, those antibodies protect you from getting seriously ill, from ending up in hospital, but do they protect you from actually passing on the virus? There so needs to be more studies around that. But what it does mean is that for the grandmothers and grandparents of this country, who so many have been worried about that they are safe from this disease, that they are safe from this illness for now.

Now the of course, variant in this is the variant itself. There's a variant that's prevalent here in the U.K. That seems to be working against the vaccine, but you see tough rules and restrictions in place all across the country to keep any other variants from entering the U.K. or spreading across the U.K. because you have so many people who have been vaccinated right now.

Over 15 million people who had been vaccinated right now and you want to make sure to keep those gains. But yes, a great sign of progress here that I am sure will push forward and will help with things like vaccine hesitancy, Rosemary, and encourage people to go out and get that shot.

CHURCH: Yes. Very true. Great, encouraging news, which is what we want to see. Thanks for that Salma. I want to turn now to CNN's Blake Essig, he is outside of Tokyo hospital where health care workers are now getting the first vaccine. So, Blake, how would these vaccinations progressing?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, you know, Rosemary, obviously good news, the vaccinations have finally gotten underway here in Japan, but you know, the real question is you know, compared to other advanced nations, why did it take Japan so long?

[03:55:03]

Especially given that the Olympics, you know, coming in just a few months gave Japan every reason to move quickly when it comes to vaccine approval process in getting shots into arms. The vaccination minister Taro Kono said that the Olympics and Paralympic games were not something that he considered when talking about how long the rollout would take.

One of the things that was an issue was looking at an in country clinical trial that took about two months to test 160 people, really to try to gain confidence in the vaccine for the Japanese people. But to your point, today, 40,000 doctors and nurses are starting to be vaccinated, 100 hospitals across the country.

After they are done, about seven weeks from now, during that process, they are going to look at 20,000 of those doctors and ask them to keep a health diary, looking at potential headaches, fevers, any potential side effects as a result of these vaccines last seven weeks before they'll move on to the next group of 3.7 million frontline health care workers and then seniors by around April.

Now, again, you know, going back to Japan's skepticism, and probably the reason why that they moved forward with that small clinical trial even though health experts said I've talked to and have said that such a small trial does not offer any scientific evidence of vaccine efficacy or safety.

But again, here in Japan, going back decades, there is a serious vaccine skepticism. There is lawsuits surrounding the polio vaccine, influenza, the MMR vaccine and even just recently in 2013, 2014, the HPV vaccine. So, people here in Japan, according to a recent Lancet report are -- you know as far, you know, the world is concerned, or have some of the lowest vaccine confidence in the world, with only roughly 30 percent of people thinking that vaccines are safe and you know, and actually worth taking. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Well, they have certainly had the benefit of watching other countries successfully administer. And everyone is doing well, as we have learned the situation across the U.K. Blake Essig in Tokyo, Salma Abdelaziz in London, many thanks to both of you.

And thank you to you our viewers watching from home. I am Rosemary Church. Be sure to connect with me on Twitter at Rosemary CNN. And I will be back with more news, including the U.S. winter storms that have left millions of Americans without power in the U.S. That's coming up after a very short break. Do stay with us.