Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Biden Administration Expected to Advise Boosters for Americans; Biden Doubles Down on Decision to Leave Afghanistan; Afghans Rush to Airport in Attempt to Flee Kabul; Grace Gets Stroger, Threatens More Devastation in Haiti. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 17, 2021 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, vaccinated Americans may be rolling up their sleeves again. The White House is expected to call for Americans to get a third shot.

Biden defiant in the face of Afghan chaos, doubling down on his decision to pull out of Afghanistan.

And Grace regains strength and threatens more devastation for quake- hit Haiti.

Good to have you with us. Well, we begin with America's fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The Biden administration is expected to advise COVID booster shots for most Americans. According to a source familiar with the discussions, they are planning to recommend a booster dose eight months after full vaccination. CNN's Kaitlan Collins has more details on the booster plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We are learning now that as soon as this week, top health officials in the Biden administration could announce that they are recommending boosters for most Americans. And the way this would work and the ideas they are coalescing around right now is that Americans should get a booster shot eight months after becoming fully vaccinated.

And currently the guidance is revolving around those of us who got two dose vaccine shots. There are three vaccines, of course, authorized in the U.S. right now under Emergency Use Authorization. Two of them are two dose, one is Johnson & Johnson which is one dose. And they are still compiling data for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine whether those people need booster shots.

But right now, we are expecting this week that they could recommend most Americans to get a booster shot eight months after becoming fully vaccinated. We should note that the plan right now would start in mid to late September, but all of this is contingent upon authorization from the FDA. Of course, they are the ones who make the actual changes to how these vaccines are authorized and then the CDC votes on recommending those authorizations. And that's when this ball gets rolling on this process.

But it is significant given that so far the many, many times we've asked this question, they have said right now the general population does not need them, but it does appear that is about to change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: One health expert told CNN a potential third booster shot for Americans makes sense if you follow the data.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: This really follows a trend that we've been following out of Israel and there was also a recent Mayo Clinic study that's been showing what looks like waning immunity after 6, 7, 8 months. And for a while we didn't know if it was true waning immunity or whether there was a specific issue around the Delta variant or maybe a combination of the two.

It looks like there is indeed a waning immunity especially in older populations. And now I think the game changer is not only is it waning immunity against infection, you know, it had gone down to as low, a 40, 45, 50 percent protection against infection but it was still holding up against hospitalizations. Now we're starting to see more breakthrough hospitalizations and I think that was the trigger to say now we have to boost Americans.

And in some ways, it was actually both predicted and predictable because, you know, when these vaccines were released through emergency use, it was imperative to vaccinate as many Americans as you could quickly and it was only a three-week interval for instance, for the Pfizer vaccine between the first and second dose. And that's not usually enough to give longer lasting immunity. So, you often need to space things out more. So, by giving this third immunization, I think it's going to give really robust protection and that may be it for a while. We may not need annual boosters. This could be the third and done.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 70 percent of Americans eligible for a COVID vaccine ages 12 and up have received at least one dose.

Well, the incredible speed of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan has shocked not just the world but clearly the Biden administration as well. Joe Biden left his presidential retreat to return to Washington on Monday for his first address to the American people since Kabul's collapse. The chaotic scenes at the airport could not be ignored.

[04:05:00]

During his speech President Biden acknowledged mistakes and accepted responsibility but also pointed some fingers and insisted the U.S. pullout is the right decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So, what's happened? Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed. Sometimes without trying to fight. Americans cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.

If Afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance to the Taliban now, there is no chance that one year, one more year, five more years or 20 more years the U.S. military boots on the ground would have made any difference.

I stand squarely behind my decision. After 20 years, I've learned the hard way, that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces. I know my decision will be criticized. But I would rather take all that criticism than pass this decision on to another president of the United States, yet another one, a fifth one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: As convincing as some may find President Biden's arguments, some images simply speak louder than words and scenes of panic and desperation like those that unfolded at the Kabul airport on Monday have underscored just how chaotic the situation has become. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has more now from Kabul.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): This is the only way out for so many. The airport road jammed, chaos, over a trillion dollars spent and this is what the end looks like. Walk where you can't drive.

WALSH: Just ahead of us is the gates into the airport and this is the panicked scene of many people still moving there despite how hard it has been.

WALSH (voice-over): Now the entry to the last bit of Afghanistan America controls, there is panic.

WALSH: There's only tanks, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, they say that --

WALSH: It's time now.

WALSH (voice-over): Tanks, someone shouts. But who is doing crowd control outside America's evacuation spot? The Taliban. The vehicles they've taken from the Afghan army paid for by America now used to keep the desperate crowds back people whose only hope is to get out possibly with American help. Crowding at gates trying to climb walls originally built to keep an insurgency out. At one time pushing en masse and being sent running. Nearly every gate with a crowd fueled with the idea this is their only way out. U.S. troops at the perimeter shot dead two Afghans who they said were armed, but later admitted or not Taliban.

But inside the airport, the great escape was not going, according to script, and check-in security had collapsed. Afghans convinced the promise of a flight out was their only life ahead, clambering over walkways and tarmac the U.S. spent billions on to maintain its presence. And then this startling image, one of the U.S.'s largest cargo planes taxiing laden with Afghans who did not want to be left behind.

Later, a plane takes off from -- and what you're about to see is disturbing. As the plane ascends, two objects or people appear to fall from the fuselage. But the sheer scale of those who needed help meant it was even harder to come by. Civilian flights cancelled. Even the Americans had to pause operations till they could regain control. These images from satellites in space showing just the volume of people thronging in and around Hamid Karzai International Airport, the symbol of the United States' billions spent in a 20-year project. The U.S. always wanted to win hearts and minds here, but their swift unconditional departure has instead filled them with panic.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well right now, it is 12:30 in the afternoon in Kabul where the situation at the airport is said to be stabilizing. That is according to British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab. British troops have been among those sent to Afghanistan to aid evacuations. They have been joined by the French military. The French Embassy says special forces were flown in earlier to get their nationals out.

The Taliban have a brutal legacy and many Afghans are terrified about what a return to their role will look like. But the militants are trying to project a new image for now. They are speaking to female journalists and one deputy leader has told his fighters not to enter people's homes or seize property.

[04:10:03]

Well, CNN's Anna Coren has reported extensively from Afghanistan, including on a recent trip there. And she joins me now live from Hong Kong with more on this. So, Anna, what are you learning about what's happening at the airport in Kabul and of course on the streets of the capital?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the streets of Kabul, Rosemary, it seems relatively quiet. People are going about their business. Shops are open, there is traffic, we're not seeing the intense crowds that we did yesterday. And I think the reason is that you do have Taliban out there providing security to that perimeter. Clearly there was none yesterday. Hence you had that breach and thousands of people were on the tarmac.

I was in touch with a number of Afghans who made it on to the tarmac and were witnessing those scenes. These were Afghan interpreters who thought that if they got to the airport that perhaps they could get on a plane out of there. Only a handful of Afghans, and we saw that image of more than 600 Afghans crammed on to that transport plane that flew them out of Afghanistan. I mean that obviously is the hope of so many others.

But you need a visa. You need that special immigrant visa or you need to be a member of staff, U.S. embassy staff. We know that at least 500 of the 4,000 staff have been flown out. I'm sure that it has increased since then. We know there were Afghan interpreters, other Afghans who've worked with Americans, with foreigners, that have also got the right documentation to fly out of there.

But of course, it is a matter of securing the perimeter, so we're not seeing chaotic scenes that we did yesterday. But that fear that we were hearing about yesterday, I mean that is still very real even though the Taliban has announced a general amnesty for government workers or government officials. They're asking people to return to work.

And then of course, we saw those images that you mentioned of a female news anchor on TOLOnews interviewing a TOLO member and she's just wearing a hijab. She's not -- you know, she's just doing her job as she always has, and she was asking him questions. Like what is the future of women in this country. His response, Rosemary, interestingly enough was you can keep on doing what you're doing. We want women to be part of the workforce, we want girls to go to school.

But at this stage this is what the Taliban are saying. You know, whether they deliver on that, we'll just have to wait and see.

CHURCH: Yes, at the moment hearing mixed messages on that, aren't we. Anna Coren joining us there live from Hong Kong, many thanks.

So, it is clear many Afghans are not reassured that the Taliban are telling them that they have nothing to fear now that the militants are back in power. I spoke earlier Fawzia Koofi, a former Afghan lawmaker and member of the negotiating team with the Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FAWZIA KOOFI, AFGHAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: I have been engaged now with the Taliban for the past three years trying to achieve a peaceful political settlement in a way that we can preserve the gains and values that people of Afghanistan have stood for in the past years.

They have been saying the same things in the negotiation. We have had general statements from them indicating that they want women to go to school and work within Islamic principles.

Now, I understand -- I lived in Afghanistan all my life including the Taliban time. Their interpretation of Islamic values is very, very extreme. And in fact, some of their foot soldiers in the provinces on the ground right now, they are actually implementing very extreme Islamic principles. So, I think that the political office in Qatar, Suhail Shaheen and the

rest of the team that I know them, they have to make sure that whatever they say in terms of their policy is enforced by their foot soldiers. My concern is that most of the foot soldiers are people who have only seen guns and weapons in their lifetime. They have only struggled a military extremist. They have not seen school or education. And for most of them girls education does not mean anything but you know, girls not respecting Islamic values of their definition.

So, I think that they have to really practice what is happening in the rest of the Muslim world and take bold steps to assure people that we will not go back to scratch.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:15:00]

CHURCH: And still to come, the death toll is climbing in Haiti after Saturday's powerful earthquake. And the government says it is trying to ramp up its aid and recovery efforts. But complicating those efforts, tropical storm Grace is now bearing down on Haiti. We are tracking the storm's path just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: New Zealand's Prime Minister says her country will begin a three-day lockdown after a new local case of COVID-19 was detected in Auckland. Jacinda Arden says the level four lockdown will start just hours from now. Under this level, people must stay home in their bubble other than for essential travel.

In Haiti, the death toll from that massive earthquake on Saturday keeps climbing. Haitian officials now report more than 1,400 people have died, thousands more are injured and tens of thousands of homes are damaged or destroyed. All this comes as heavy rain from tropical storm Grace threatens to unleash flash flooding and mudslides in the area where the quake hit on Saturday. And as we wait to see the impact from the storm, CNN's Matt Rivers was in Les Cayes earlier touring some of the damage near the epicenter of the quake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Getting to the hardest hit area of this earthquake means a helicopter ride 100 miles away from Port-au-Prince. Land and the reality of Haiti's latest trauma greets us on the tarmac. Awaiting truck filled with people injured over the weekend still waiting to be evacuated. First to come out, a young child held by a relative carried into awaiting plane.

Next up, an elderly woman in a wheelchair unable to walk, lifted out of her chair, she's carried out step by cautious step on her way to the help that still eludes so many.

Things are out of control at the hospital, he says, not enough doctors, not enough medicine, serious injuries. We need urgent help before things get worse. At least 1,400 have been killed and thousands more injured in the worst earthquake to strike here since 2010.

Not far from the airport, this is what remains of a multistory hotel, officials say there could still be bodies in the rubble, some here digging trying to help, others digging for scrap metal and air conditioners.

RIVERS: What you don't seed here are Haitian authorities. There is no police presence. There's no firefighters. There are no search and rescue crews here. There's just people from the community and this lone excavator that is not currently in operation. It's very indicative of what we're seeing as we drive through this area near the epicenter.

RIVERS (voice-over): Aid simply not arriving quickly. Part of the reason, blocked roads like this one impassable for some convoys.

JERRY CHANDLER, DIRECTOR, HAITI CIVIL PROTECTION AGENCY: The response effort is taking time to actually get there. We should have been there already. We're getting started but we're not satisfied.

RIVERS (voice-over): Back at the airport first responders desperately look for a way to get this young girl out. She is stoic, but her leg is gravely injured and she's clearly in pain. This plane is full, another helicopter takes off without her. And so, after walking around the tarmac, she's placed in another truck, a painful wait for help goes on.

RIVERS: And rainfall continues to come down from tropical depression Grace. Of course, the more rain that falls the greater the risks are both of flash flooding, and things like mudslides, landslides, those are the kind of things that will make the search and rescue efforts that much harder. The more it rains, the more time that goes on, the slimmer the chances are of finding more people alive in the rubble.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And for more on the tropical storm Grace, let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. Good to see you, Pedram. So, what's ahead for Haiti with this tropical storm as search and rescue operations continue in the wake of the quake?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, Rosemary, one more very soggy day here through Tuesday. I do expect the rainfall to begin to taper off later on this afternoon and this evening and really the heaviest rains is going to begin to move out of here within the next say six or so hours.

But it has been an incredible night of thunderstorms, gusty winds and as much as a 250 to 300 millimeters that have come down across region of western Haiti. And that's the concern when you kind of look at this landscape, you know how mountainous this region is and also, you know that the deforestation levels here among the highest in the world. In fact, of the 50 highest peaks across Haiti, 42 of them are considered almost entirely stripped of their vegetation and about 1 percent of the primary forest across Haiti remains in place.

So, speaks to the incredible amount of damage that has been done across just the resources in this region. In that's really important because we know vegetation can absorb and really deflect as much as 70 percent of rainwater that comes down. It's absorbed, it's used, it's consumed and it's kept in place. Once you remove that vegetation -- and again only 1 percent of the primary forest remains here -- you are essentially leaving the way here for not only mudslides to take place but flash flooding and all of that water will want to end up downstream across some of these communities and that is the last thing you want to see.

And fortunately, this storm system is quickly moving out of here and it'll be gone as we get into later this afternoon or this evening. But our friends in Cozumel, in Cancun and eventually across northern Mexico and south Texas going to be on alert for Grace to how up here on their doorsteps as early as Thursday and then again, come Saturday for that second landfall.

Now there's also tropical storm Fred to tell you about. The system moving across the borders of Georgia and Alabama at this hour, expected to push through metro Atlanta as a remnant low and produce an incredible amount of rainfall across the north Georgia mountains, into portions of the Appalachians in western Carolinas there around say Highlands, North Carolina, Cashiers into Boone. These are areas that could see as much as 8 inches of rainfall the next couple of days thanks to this tropical feature that made landfall in the last few hours -- Rosemary.

[04:25:00]

CHURCH: All right, many thanks to our Pedram Javaheri with all of that information, appreciate it.

Well, President Biden is defending his decision to get the U.S. out of Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: How many more generations of America's daughters and sons, how many more lives, American lives is it worth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: We will look at the chaotic situation this Kabul and how the White House is responding.

And the race is on to get Western diplomats out of Afghanistan amid the chaos. European countries are making a promise to the Afghans who have spent years helping them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: U.S. President Joe Biden acknowledges the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and the government's collapse happened quicker than his administration had anticipated. But in a speech to the nation, he insisted that ending America's longest war was the right decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: How many more generations of American's daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghanistan's civil war and Afghan troops will not. How many more lives, American lives, is it worth. How many endless rows of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. I'm clear on my answer. I will not repeat the mistakes we've made in the past.

I know my decision will be criticized. But I would rather take all that criticism than pass this decision on to another president of the United States, yet another one, a fifth one. Because it's the right one, it's the right decision for our people. The right one for our brave service members who risked their lives serving our nation. And it is the right one for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)