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J&J Set To Meet Vaccine Delivery Goal; Myanmar Security Forces Kill At Least 114 Civilians Saturday; Gridlock Growing With Massive Ship Blocking Suez Canal; Venezuelan Opposition Leader Positive For COVID-19; COVID-19's "Lost Decade For Development"; Texas Mom Escapes Anti-Vaccine Movement; Thousands Flee Fighting In Mozambique; Shocking Police Torture In Belarus. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired March 28, 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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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for your company.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, massacre in Myanmar: security forces killed more than 100 unarmed civilians on one bloody Saturday.
One of the top COVID advisers in the Trump White House now says the majority of pandemic deaths in the U.S. could have been prevented.
Plus 14 tugboats do all they can to -- with an assist from the tide but one of the biggest cargo ships in the world is still blocking the Suez Canal.
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HOLMES: Welcome, everyone. The world is looking on Myanmar with horror the day after security forces reportedly killed 114 unarmed civilians. It's by far the bloodiest day of military violence since the coup last month.
Groups fear the real death toll is probably much higher. This happened on the day Myanmar's top general promised to, quote, protect civilians and uphold democracy. But instead, according to local news reports, security forces killed people in 44 towns across the country.
And they did not just target protesters; several children are among the dead. One victim, a 13-year-old girl, reportedly gunned down in her own home.
Myanmar's U.N. envoy calls it a massacre and is begging for real international action. The defense chiefs of the U.S., U.K., Canada and several other nations releasing a rare joint statement, condemning the Myanmar military.
Here's one example of how brutal the violence is. A warning for you. It's graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES (voice-over): Now what you saw there is a man on a motorcycle, who was shot twice by security forces. He was then put in the back of a truck. Two other people on that bike did get away. We don't know if the man is alive or dead. Kristie Lu Stout joining me from Hong Kong.
The bloodiest day in a already bloody military crackdown.
What's the latest?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: There is a chorus of condemnation after yesterday. A horrific day of terror in Myanmar. The bloodiest day since the coup on February 1st, the bloodiest days since the beginning of protests.
According to Myanmar Now, an independent media group inside the country ,at least 114 people have been killed on Saturday, including children. There are reports of a 13-year-old girl being killed in her home in Myanmar, a 5-year-old boy being killed in Mandalay.
We've also seen deeply disturbing footage of 1 year old baby who was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.
The international condemnations is growing. We heard from the U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken, who says he is deeply horrified by the events on Saturday. We heard from the U.S. secretary general, Antonio Guterres, who says he is deeply shocked. The foreign secretary of the U.K. has also called it a new low.
In a very rare move, the defense chiefs of the United States and 11 other countries have come together to issue a joint statement condemning the violence caused by the Myanmar military. Let's bring this statement up for you.
"As chiefs of defense, we condemn the use of lethal force against unarmed people by the Myanmar armed forces and associated security services. A professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting, not harming the people it serves. We urge the Myanmar armed forces to seize violence and work to restore respect and credibility with the people of Myanmar that it has lost through its actions."
I should mention that among the 12 nations that signed on to the statement, India, noticeably absent. In recent days we know that the U.S. and Europe have issued new sanctions against Myanmar, its military rulers, as well as military owned conglomerates. But the military has friends, including Russia.
On Saturday Armed Forces Day, Russia's deputy defense minister attended the military parade. We heard from the Myanmar chief calling Russia "a true friend." China has refrained from issuing criticism of the coup, as you know, of course, with Russia and China have permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council -- Michael.
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HOLMES: Yes, hence unlikely for that to do much good. Myanmar has armed ethnic factions.
What do we know about the potential for them to get involved in that?
And how does that change the dynamic of the protest movement?
STOUT: Up until now, the protest movement has been relatively peaceful. But now you are seeing a new armed resistance rising with the involvement of these armed faction groups.
Reuters reported on Saturday that the current national union, one of the armed factions in Myanmar, targeted a military outpost near the border with Thailand. The military responded with airstrikes.
We just learned from a aid group inside the country that three people are dead as a result of the airstrikes. This represents a very dangerous new front in the ongoing crisis. The protest movement is evolving. It is involving armed students and armed factions.
Guerrilla tactics are at play. The resistance is now using lethal weapons. They are manufacturing their own weapons, such as bows and arrows and pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails.
Critically they are staging attacks on the police and the military; as the crackdown gets more violent, the resistance is getting more violent as well. Michael.
HOLMES: A real determination among the protesters. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Thanks so much.
Joining me now is Tom Andrews, U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar.
Good to see you, sir. I want to refer to a tweet that you put on Saturday.
You said, "The military celebrated Armed Forces Day by committing mass murder against the people it should be defending. The civil disobedience movement is responding with powerful weapons of peace. It's past time for the world to respond in kind with and for the people of Myanmar."
It has been a horrific day for the people of Myanmar.
What do you mean by time for the world to respond?
How?
TOM ANDREWS, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR: Michael, first of all, there are things within the capability of this world, this international community, that it has not taken. Let's start with the U.N. Security Council.
The U.N. Security Council was designed specifically for these kinds of crises. The Security Council should be meeting. It should be debating what is going on. Action should be put before it. And votes should be taken up or down. Votes should be taken. The community of nations that care desperately about the people of
Myanmar under siege right now can also work together to coordinate things like sanctions, there are dozens of sanctions regimes that are out there right now. We need to coordinate them into one coherent powerful whole.
And an emergency summit of these countries could gather together, establish this coordination and provide a unified front against this military junta.
Also accountability mechanisms could be put into place. The International Criminal Court could begin investigations and quickly begin pursuing charges against those responsible. So there are a number of things that can be done that should be done, that are not being done.
HOLMES: The U.S. embassy in Myanmar joined the European Union and the United Kingdom in condemning the killings as murders as well. But it is clear that such declarations and even the sanctions that have been levied so far are just not having a impact. You mentioned the U.N. Security Council, as toothless as ever, if Russia and China continue to stand by the generals, right?
ANDREWS: That's right. The fact is that we don't know where China and Russia would come down, if an actual vote was put before the Security Council. Everyone is assuming that they would veto it. They'd be against it.
But I think it is important that the Security Council have the opportunity to put back in front of itself, to have a full, open, honest debate and let countries decide where they stand when it comes to this brutality and vote up or down.
Then they can move forward for those countries that are willing to work together outside of the Security Council, if the Security Council is not willing to work as a Security Council, then there can be a coordinated effort to help those countries that are willing to stand behind their people.
HOLMES: You mentioned that there is a weight of video evidence that is being accumulated as this all unfolds. I did want to ask you though about the protesters. Their determination to continue is remarkable, given the deaths, given the detentions and in the face of warnings, as we saw this week from the military, pretty much literally saying we are going to kill you.
What does that say about the determination and the character of those people?
ANDREWS: It's truly, truly awe inspiring, Michael, nothing short of incredible. They're tenacious. They are courageous, they're creative.
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ANDREWS: They are using everything that they can come up with, peacefully to confront this nightmare. They're not going back. Listen, they've had a taste of what it is like to have freedom and to be able to express themselves, to not be censored. The young people that are leading this movement were told by their parents and grandparents just how horrible it is to live under a brutal military regime.
They don't want to go there. So they are in this for the long haul. They are not going to stop unless they prevail. And they deserve the international community to be standing with them.
HOLMES: Yes, certainly remarkable courage in the face of what they are facing. Tom Andrews, appreciate you, appreciate your work. Thank you.
ANDREWS: My pleasure, Michael. Thank you for having me.
ANDREWS: There is growing anger in the U.S. state of Georgia over sweeping new election laws. Protesters gathered in downtown Atlanta Saturday to vent their outrage over the Republican backed measure.
It targets African American voters, among other things. The measure signed Thursday imposes stricter identification requirements and gives state officials more power over local election officials.
U.S. President Joe Biden has called the law an atrocity and says the Justice Department is looking at it. Now Georgia's governor, though, is defending the law. He says it ensures election integrity. But a coalition of civil rights groups has already taken action. CNN's Natasha Chen with more on the outcry against the measure.
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NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: About 150 people gathered outside of Atlanta city hall here on Saturday to protest this Georgia voter bill and also to stand with Georgia representative Park Cannon. She was arrested when she was knocking on the door of the governor's office to try and witness him signing this bill.
And, of course, he did that behind closed doors. He was depicted signing the bill standing next white men. Also in the room was a painting that seemingly shows a plantation.
I talked to one voter who said that she first didn't think much of it but upon a closer look she found that that was the very plantation where her family had worked. Such an emotional moment for some of these people, minority groups taking a look at this moment and feeling that this directly impacts them.
I also spoke with someone who was at the capital when Park Cannon was arrested. Here is how she described that moment.
She was not disruptive. So to have that incident happen right in front of me and for it to end with her being taken away, it was horrific to watch, as a Black woman, to watch her taken into the elevator and watch as the doors closed, it was triggering. It was frightening. I felt her pain, I felt her terror.
CHEN: I spoke to another voter here who described her experience voting in the Georgia primary in June of 2020. She said that she waited for hours in line, past dinnertime, to the point where a local pizza delivery company had delivered some food soda and pizza so that they could still eat and wait in line to vote.
She said, of course, the way that the law was written and passed now, that would be illegal -- Natasha Chen, CNN, Atlanta.
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HOLMES: Virginia police are investigating a officer-involved shooting of a Black man on Friday night. Authorities have not identified the officer who fired the shot that killed 25-year-old Donovan Lynch. There are conflicting reports that Lynch may have been unarmed at the time. But the chief of police disputes that.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have seen some of the community concerns about Mr. Donovan or Mr. Lynch being unarmed. I can tell you that there was a firearm recovered in the vicinity of where this incident occurred.
We would like to be more forthcoming but, unfortunately, we don't have body cam footage of this incident. The officer was wearing a body cam. But for unknown reasons at this point in time it was not activated.
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HOLMES: Now the officer involved has been placed on administrative assignment during the investigation. Police say the incident was one of three separate shootings on Virginia Beach on Friday night, the gunfire killing two, people injuring 8 others.
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HOLMES: Now we turn to the ongoing battle against the coronavirus. Here in the United States, more than 50 million people are now fully vaccinated. That's according to the CDC.
But despite this good news there are worrying signs around the world. Plus a member of the COVID response team under Donald Trump now says hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved simply with more effective messaging. CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro reports.
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EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than a year into the pandemic, a former Trump administration official revealed in a blockbuster interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, airing Sunday night, that she believes many of the deaths in the United States could've been prevented through different policy decisions.
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, FORMER WHITE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: I look at it this way, the first time, we have an excuse. There were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge. All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): To look back at the past year comes on the heels of some relatively good news. The total number of vaccine doses in the U.S., on Friday, reaching a new daily record, according to the White House. More vaccine doses are coming.
Next week, Johnson & Johnson expected to deliver at least 11 million doses of its single shot vaccine across the country. More supply means more Americans will have access. And analysis by CNN shows only two states have yet to say when they will make doses available to everyone eligible under FDA guidance.
The other 48 have already made or are planning to make the vaccine available to everyone older than the age of 16 in a matter of weeks.
But experts say this is not the time for Americans to let their guards down, especially as warmer weather and spring holidays may lead to larger gatherings. And more contagious virus variants are still spreading. Over 100 cases of COVID 19 in Nebraska were traced to a child care facility, many with the variant first identified in the U.K.
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We have 2.5 million vaccinations per day. That is fantastic but I also think restrictions are being lifted so quickly, including mask mandates. People are getting very tired and, at the same time, we also have these more contagious variants that are circulating.
But we can help people manage their risk and then try to reduce that risk as much as possible. That means encouraging vaccination, continuing to wear masks and, ideally, messaging that, masks and vaccinations are our way out of this pandemic.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): It's a very different story outside of the U.S. Brazil is struggling to get doses of the vaccine and reported its highest single day death toll from COVID-19 on Friday.
The president of France, admitting the European Union reacted less quickly than the U.S. when it came to the initial vaccine rollout.
While it sorts out its vaccine problems, the E.U. is struggling to reopen. In France, increasing cases in schools, leading to new classroom closures. In Germany, imposing new quarantine and testing rules on visitors from France, a country it now labels a high risk COVID-19 area -- Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, New York.
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HOLMES: That massive cargo ship, stuck in the Suez Canal for five days now, there is new speculation about what may have gone wrong. We will catch you up on this herculean effort to free the vessel.
Plus, what the Biden administration may want you to see versus the reality on the ground at the U.S.-Mexico border. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Gridlock is growing, thanks to the colossal cargo ship, still blocking the Suez Canal. The operation to free the Ever Given is daunting, to say the least. It is taken heavy tugboats, diggers and dredgers, to move massive amounts of mud, so far, around 706,000 cubic feet of sand and 9,000 tons of ballast water, cleared out. More than 300 other ships can only sit and wait. Ben Wedeman, with the latest.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Efforts continue to dislodge the massive container ship blocking one of the world's most important waterways.
But the ship has only budged slightly. Almost as long as the Empire State Building is tall, the Ever Given got stuck Tuesday, navigating through a sandstorm in 40 knot winds.
WEDEMAN: Initially, it was thought that high winds and a sandstorm where the cause for the grounding of the Ever Given. Now we've heard from the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, perhaps, human and technical error are also to blame.
OSAMA RABIE, SUEZ CANAL AUTHORITY (through translator): There may have been a technical or human error. There are many mistakes but we cannot definitely say what the reason is.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Dredging continues, as attempts to free the carrier during high tide were not successful enough to refloat the ship.
With around 12 percent of global trade volume, typically passing through the Suez Canal, countries around the world are pitching in. The Dutch salvage company brought in to help is sending a crane and two tugboats, heavier than these, hoping to free the ship before its precarious position gets worse.
SAL MERCOGLIANO, MARITIME HISTORIAN: You have to start worrying about the vessel rolling. You have to worry about the vessel cracking. The nightmare scenario of all-time is the vessel breaks apart. That would not be weeks or days of salvage but months.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Meanwhile, traffic remains at a standstill in a waterway that, normally handles the equivalent of $10 billion per day, in cargo. More than 320 ships, backed up, in either direction. Their only alternative is to divert around the southern tip of Africa, adding about a week to the journey.
SAL MERCOGLIANO, MARITIME HISTORIAN: This is going to be costing an extra 3,500 miles, 7 days steaming. So we're about to see it in the pocketbook here real soon. WEDEMAN (voice-over): The backlog will also be costly for vessels,
waiting in place. About a dozen are carrying livestock, at risk of dying, if the situation is not resolved within a few days.
Japanese shipping companies who own the Ever Given told CNN that they are bracing for lawsuits but insist their priority right now is refloating the ship a soon as possible.
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WEDEMAN (voice-over): Executives even bowed in apology on Friday. But with costs skyrocketing for the global shipping industry, saying sorry may not be enough -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Cairo.
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HOLMES: The crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is only getting worse. That is what officials are telling us.
These images support that view. Right now, thousands upon thousands of migrants, many children, are stuck in a precarious limbo. At latest count, the U.S. government has custody of more than 18,000 children.
According to government records CNN obtained, the Biden administration could need more than 34,000 more beds to keep up with the influx.
Meanwhile, politicians are down at the border, weighing in, as politicians do. Senator Ted Cruz, one of the latest Republican lawmakers to tweet a video from inside a south Texas facility, appearing to show children, crowded in a room, wrapped in Mylar blankets.
One Democratic representative says that Cruz and others are busy playing politics.
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REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ (D-TX): These groups of Republican senators that came down yesterday, where were they during the Trump administration when children were being ripped from mothers' arms and caged and families were being divided?
Did they all of a sudden have a softened heart to come down here and look at it?
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HOLMES: President Biden, meanwhile, facing increased pressure to deal with the housing conditions in border facilities. On the left, images the media has been allowed to see. But the images on the right appear to show a different reality. CNN's Rosa Flores, with more, from the border.
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ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what the Biden administration has not allowed America to see. To tell this story, we were escorted by Texas state troopers.
Lines of migrants on Texas trails along the Rio Grande.
Nancy is pregnant and cried, describing her painful journey from Honduras.
Ronnie says his family fled Honduras due to devastation from two recent hurricanes.
Under this bridge, even more lines of migrants. They're silhouettes, beyond the trees, a sign that America's immigration system is overwhelmed.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Please sit down. Thank you.
FLORES (voice-over): During his first formal press conference, President Biden said --
BIDEN: I will commit to transparency.
FLORES (voice-over): And while pool news camera was allowed inside an HHS facility for unaccompanied migrant children this week, it was a sanitized version of reality. Far removed from the bottleneck of this border processing facility. U.S. Customs and Border Protection releasing their own video this week.
CNN's repeated requests for access to immigration processing facilities have been denied. The day we captured this video, Texas state troopers were our guides.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as they make landfall, it is considered the U.S. side for us.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): The cartels will --
FLORES (voice-over): Sent here by governor Greg Abbott earlier this month to thwart smugglers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a way to suffocate and put a lot of pressure on the cartel.
FLORES (voice-over): He is the top cop in charge of what Abbott calls Operation Lone Star.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As border control is tied up with processing migrants that come across, they will leave miles, at times, open on the river.
FLORES (voice-over): That is where Texas steps in. By water. Air and by ground. To fill the gaps of security on the Rio Grande.
According to state troopers, if you look closely in between those trees, you can see a camp. Some sort of staging area, on the Mexican side. I am on the U.S. side and this is one of the hotspots they described an area, a trail that is used by migrants. Clearly, you can see the path. The landscape, peppered with evidence
that it is used by migrants. We see clothes, documents, masks.
FLORES (voice-over): All leading to these dirt trails, with arrows pointing migrants to the immigration processing center under the bridge.
Nancy says, "Feeling hungry for two was the worst part of the journey."
While most of the migrants I met said that they made the trek to the U.S. because they were poor, this little girl was rich in faith, ending our conversation by saying, "Thanks and God bless you."
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HOLMES: That was Rosa Flores reporting from Mission, Texas.
When we come back, a lost decade for development. We are looking at the financial impact of COVID-19 and why a United Nations report says it is widening the gap between the haves and have-nots.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Now in Brazil, the coronavirus seems to be spiraling ever further out of control. For the second day in a row and only the third time since the beginning of the pandemic Brazil reporting that more than 3,000 people have lost their lives. This was just on Saturday alone.
With more than 310,000 deaths altogether, Brazil has the second highest coronavirus death toll in the world after the United States, of course. Meanwhile, in Venezuela, opposition leader Juan Guaido has tested positive for COVID-19.
He describes his symptoms as mild and says he is currently self isolating. Venezuela has had more than 150,000 cases in total and has seen a sharp uptick in infections and deaths this past month.
Now COVID-19 has more than a medical impact, of course. It has a financial one as well. A recent United Nations report says that it could lead to a lost decade for development. It is calling for more long term financing to developing countries to fix growing inequalities and come back stronger.
Joining me now is Megan Greene, a global economist and senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. Good to see you again, Megan. We know well the health impacts of the
pandemic but you and others at the United Nations have been writing for a decade of lost development, particularly for developing nations.
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HOLMES: What does that look like?
MEGAN GREENE, GLOBAL ECONOMIST: For a lot of these developing countries, they have been racking up debt for the past decade. Now all of a sudden they have all these extra expenditures. They have to pay for health costs. They have to support the most vulnerable.
At the same time investors are getting scared that they will ever be able to repay their debts and that creditors that they have borrowed from are much more diverse than they've been in the past.
So to come up with a solution to have a debt writedown of any sorts involves getting a whole bunch of actors in the same room and agreeing to the terms of that. That could take a really long time.
In the meantime, these countries are seeing growth crater and desperately need the money. So the result of that could be a lost decade. We saw it in the 1980s with Latin America. We saw it in the 2010s with Europe, where you have this crisis that took a really long time to resolve.
And even once they had kind of addressed the main issues, it took another decade to get back to where they would have been if they hadn't had the crisis. I think there is a real risk that we are going to see that in emerging markets in low income countries.
HOLMES: Just piling on for those countries. The U.N. deputy secretary- general Amina Mohammed said "A diverging world is a catastrophe for all of. It's both morally right and in everyone's economic self interest to help developing countries overcome this crisis."
What to you are the most lasting economic scars from the pandemic, not just for the developing nations only but richer nations too, in what is a interconnected world?
GREENE: You pointed out we are living in a globalized world. If we have a lost decade in emerging markets, that's going to have blowback for richer countries. Not only are emerging markets plugged right into our global supply chain, so they can't reopen factories, for example, that will have knock-on effects for U.S. companies and other Western companies.
But also emerging markets provide a huge amount of global demand, about 75 percent of global consumption. So if emerging markets don't get back on their feet, they are not generating the demand for us richer countries to sell our products and services into. So that essentially just dampens global growth and affects us all.
HOLMES: OK, so you know, these disparities and inequities are pretty stark. But the thing is they're not new. They are just exacerbated. Right?
What needs to be done to lessen the impact?
GREENE: So as I mentioned, a lot of emerging markets have been racking up a lot of debt over the past couple of decades. But now it's happening, it's been really accelerated. That's not new. It's just an exacerbation of a we already had.
I would say that inequality within many countries has existed for a lot since the 1980s but inequality between countries has fallen quite a lot as poorer countries were moving up the value chain, we are lifting millions above the poverty line.
Unfortunately, this crisis has pushed millions back under the poverty line. To address that, we need lending for a lot of countries. If investors aren't going to put their money on the line it is going to have to come either from other countries or from multilateral institutions, like the IMF.
HOLMES: Fascinating stuff. And worrying stuff as well. Megan, always good to see you, Megan Greene. Thanks.
GREENE: Thanks for having me.
HOLMES: Vaccines are helping the U.S. turn the corner of this pandemic. But shots only work if they get into arms. Anti-vaccination groups are, of course, working overtime to promote frightening and usually false theories about them online. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan spoke to one mother, who got pulled in, to learn how she ultimately got out.
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HEATHER SIMPSON, FORMER ANTI-VACCINE MISINFORMATION PUBLISHER: I was like, oh, my gosh, we are not vaccinating our kid. There is no way. The vaccine goes into our child, she'll just die, that's all there is to it.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: You thought if your daughter took the vaccine, she might die?
H. SIMPSON: That she would die. Not might. Just like would.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Until recently, 30-year-old Heather Simpson was somewhat of an influencer in the anti-vax space. Now she's changed her tune, although her husband has not.
(on camera): You're going to get the COVID shot when you can get it?
H. SIMPSON: Right.
O'SULLIVAN: Ben, are you?
BEN SIMPSON, ANTI-VAXXER: Probably not and that's because I already had it. Like I had COVID, so I have antibodies.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): The CDC recommends all adults get the vaccine, even if they have had COVID-19. Heather says she blames herself for the vaccine misinformation she shared online and with her husband.
(on camera): When you went online you became part of the anti-vax community. Tell me how you found it. How you got into it?
H. SIMPSON: When Charlotte was 15, 16 months old, I decided to make a post thinking I was so brave about my anti-vaccine views and vaccine hesitancy and it got shared like 600 times.
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H. SIMPSON: 3and I was like holy crud. And then after that I just got this following of people.
O'SULLIVAN: You got the validation from the likes.
H. SIMPSON: Yes. Yes, the validation that I'm not an idiot. A lot of people believe this.
O'SULLIVAN: And then you got pulled in?
H. SIMPSON: Yes, I feel like a lot of the anti-vax moms all found each other all at once. I was getting like a friend request per minute.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): With the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, the stakes of online misinformation about vaccines are even higher.
Renee DiResta, expert at Stanford explains how negative but not representative stories about vaccines go viral online.
RENEE DIRESTA, STANFORD INTERNET OBSERVATORY: When I was a new mom I joined a couple of groups on Facebook for new moms where people were saying, well, I have a friend and she vaccinated and then this terrible thing happened. And it was this concept of like the friend of a friend narrative.
The power of the personal story is what social media really brings home for all of us. We may live in a world of facts and statistics in the aggregate, but in terms of what we personally feel, it's what comes to us from our communities. It's what comes to us from people who are like us. That's what people are really sharing. That's the kind of content that spreads.
H. SIMPSON: Here's the vaccine that protects you from getting sick.
O'SULLIVAN: Heather says her views on vaccines and on medicine began to change when she needed surgery.
H. SIMPSON: I posted about it and my friends were like, this is the lazy way out. You need to be eating this food and taking this and doing this to heal yourself. Getting surgery is lazy.
O'SULLIVAN (on camera): So was it overnight you went from -- H. SIMPSON: No, it took months. And I had friends that really poured (ph) into me listened to my fears and talked me through it. And it really helped to know that they were scared, even though they're pro- vax, they're scared giving their kids shots because that's just normal parental anxiety.
O'SULLIVAN: You said your intent by posting this was to inspire some parent to stop their child from getting vaccinated. Do you think you did that?
H. SIMPSON: Yes, like I know I did. I've had people tell me that they're not vaccinating because of my posts.
O'SULLIVAN: How does that make you feel now?
H. SIMPSON: Really bad. I'm sure it's not just those few, like the amount of people I reached. Because my main way of posting was fear- based and emotional-based and I can't take it back.
O'SULLIVAN: Are you afraid that you might have harmed some children?
H. SIMPSON: I mean, I don't -- I would hope not. I'm also hoping that if they still follow me, they're going to see that I changed and maybe I could reverse the damage. I know that's a long shot.
O'SULLIVAN: Have you sought to contact any of them to say, I was wrong?
H. SIMPSON: I don't even know who they are anymore. I shut that Facebook down and I started a new one and I -- all I can hope is that they will somehow see me changing my mind. But, yes, it is hard to live with.
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HOLMES: Donie O'Sullivan reporting there for us.
A quick break now. When we come back, pro-democracy activists in Belarus are risking their lives to escape a brutal crackdown from police. Their harrowing and horrendous experiences coming up next in a CNN exclusive.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
Dozens of people are unaccounted for in Mozambique following a attack by Islamist insurgents. This is according to multiple sources contacted by CNN. Rights groups say thousands have fled the northern town of Palma since Wednesday, when it was stormed from three directions by attackers believed to be affiliated with the terror group, ISIS.
Witnesses report seeing bodies in the streets and heavy fighting continuing into Saturday. Security forces have been trying to evacuate civilians and foreign workers in the area. One person describing the scene as complete chaos.
Now a CNN exclusive investigation has found shocking and disturbing examples of torture by police in Belarus. Witnesses and victims tell of a violent effort to keep in power the man known as Europe's last dictator, president Alexander Lukashenko.
The president has faced seven months of massive protests against an election that most observers say was rigged. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh with this report, which, we warn you, features some graphic content.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): Somewhere through the icy sludge here is the path to freedom, across the border and out of what's been called Europe's last dictatorship, Belarus. Some walk, if they can. One man, we'll call him Sergei, had no choice but to swim it, nearly three miles.
Here he stands on sheet ice, free but in anguish at having to flee after just crossing out of Belarus into the safety of Ukraine. He films himself in flippers and a wet suit to leave evidence of what he tried in case he doesn't make it.
"I'll try to crawl there," he says, "and hope I won't freeze. I'm navigating by the stars. The feeling is indescribable. I've been going 90 minutes and have a mile left."
Being detained for protesting and on a wanted list, he had to flee imminent arrest. Can't turn back now.
WALSH: It's testament to how bad things have got in Belarus that people feel compelled to make this dark, perilous journey, a run to freedom, the likes of which Europe hasn't really seen since the Soviet Union.
WALSH (voice-over): Belarus, caught between Russia and the European Union, has been ruled for decades by autocratic president Alexander Lukashenko. He declared victory in August elections, the U.S. said, were fraudulent. Huge protests followed. And he moved swiftly to crush them.
He and Russian president Vladimir Putin are two peas in a pod when it comes to shutting down dissent. So Putin swiftly helped his skiing partner with $1.5 billion and other unspecified aid. Months of systematic repression and torture followed, documented by human rights groups.
CNN has obtained from defected police officers videos exposing abuse, leaked from the police's own archives. Here the white SUV is full of activists, fleeing the protest crackdown. Riot police pounce. One fires a gun.
The ferocity is startling. Some kicked where they lie. Another has had his face rubbed into the ground. Most lie incredibly still. They are then detained.
In custody, CNN was told mistreatment ranges from extreme cold and cramped cells to being beaten severely and sexual assault.
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WALSH (voice-over): Andre endured on another day perhaps the worst abuse in the back of a police van. He refused to unlock his phone so they cut open his pants and raped him with a baton.
"It was hard to move at all because I'd been heavily beaten. He cut my underwear using this knife. He asked me to give the password again. I refused. Then he did what he did. It's not just anger. Police train to do this. We're just seeing it now at a huge scale for the first time. It's touched nearly every family in Belarus."
Custody is often brutal. Detainees from an October protest were filmed by police and forced to face the wall inside a police station, some bleeding, one with seven teeth smashed in. Some ravaged by tear gas. Many here told us they were later beaten in custody. Some have fled Belarus.
But you can also see a teenage boy motionless on the floor. Witnesses told CNN he had likely had an epileptic fit but the police ignored him, occasionally kicking him and saying, are you a boy or a girl?
A minor, he was released later.
In these rooms, police are still tracking down protesters, one we'll call Anya. You can see her here running from riot police. The stun grenade hit her leg badly. In hospital, doctors gave her little help, she said, but tested her blood for alcohol and rang the police to say she was a likely protester. She fled home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I got a phone call from the police, asking where I had been. I began making up stories. They said they would come and get me, a unit of them. And if they take me, I thought, then I can say goodbye to my limbs because no one will look after me."
WALSH (voice-over): Police ferocity in Belarus, a riot squad descending on a car here, that slowly and quietly swamped a generation desperate for a new life and calling for new nationwide protests on March the 25th.
The U.S. has imposed commonplace sanctions and the Kremlin its usual writ of fear. It's an early test for President Biden which method will win out -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Ukraine.
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You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. We will be right back. I
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HOLMES: A Qantas Airlines mystery flight departed on Saturday. Passengers boarding in Brisbane had no idea where in Australia they were going. The carrier did hint it was somewhere perfect for people who love gourmet food and wine.
It turned out to be the city of Orange. Qantas has scheduled two more mystery flights departing from Sydney and Melbourne. The trips meant to boost tourism in areas hit by coronavirus travel restrictions.
Sounds like fun.
Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @HolmesCNN. For viewers in North America I will be back with more news in just a moment. For our international viewers, "LIVING GOLF" next.
