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Devastating Tennessee Flooding; Henri Dumps Rain on Northeast; FDA Fully Approves Pfizer Vaccine; Dr. Carolos del Rio is Interviewed about the Vaccine Approval; Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NH) is Interviewed about the Infrastructure Bill. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 23, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Officials are calling the severe flooding in middle Tennessee over the weekend a, quote, devastating loss of life. Dozens of people in the Humphreys County community were swept away by the fast-moving waters. I mean the aftermath is just alarming. So far 21 people have been confirmed dead. However, 25 others remain missing this morning.

CNN's Nick Valencia, he's on the scene of where those floods hit.

Nick, you know, I look at those pictures. It looks like something out of a Hollywood film. I mean cars upside down, swept away like toys. What are you seeing there firsthand?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A catastrophic event, no doubt. You look behind me, you see this car that is nose down on the edge of a creek. And just look at the force of the water, Jim, what it did here to this bridge, cracking the road here. I mean there is damage all around here. People's clothes are hanging in the tree. And we -- as we just showed up here to Waverly a short time ago we met Sayid and Araty.

Hey, guys, here, let me put my mask on here.

You guys actually survived this. You lived through this, Araty, what -- what was it like?

ARATY RODRIGUEZ, SURVIVOR OF THE FLOOD : It was scary. I was afraid I wouldn't survive. It was really scary.

VALENCIA: Is this -- is this your stuffed animal, one of them that made it?

A. RODRIGUEZ: Yes.

VALENCIA: Yes, you're so lucky to have that possession. I bet you're grateful for that.

A. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. VALENCIA: Your brother here, he's 11 years old. I want you to come

here, Sayid. You said that you didn't think it was going to be that bad.

SAYID RODRIGUEZ, SURVIVOR OF THE FLOOD Yes, like, honestly, I thought it would only go to like maybe -- I was thinking it would go to the house, but not like halfway. Like, it went halfway. I thought it would just only go like just a bit. Yes, I was --

VALENCIA: And you were in water up to your knees at one point you said?

S. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Yes, when we were finally going to leave to go to higher ground, it was up to my knees.

VALENCIA: Your mom's here just off camera. She's cleaning out the place. I mean, looking at your home, you know, I -- when I walked on -- you know, up on you guys, you guys just had all your possessions out on the front lawn. I mean it's got to be just so weird that you lived through this.

S. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Like, I mean, it's hard, like, but we're going to -- we're going to find a way just to get back on our feet.

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A. RODRIGUEZ: Yes.

VALENCIA: And, Araty, you said that this reminded you -- you said you play a video game about natural disasters?

A. RODRIGUEZ: Yes.

VALENCIA: And it seemed like a video game?

A. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. It reminded me of this game where I have to survive these natural disasters.

VALENCIA: But you survived it in real life.

A. RODRIGUEZ: Yes.

VALENCIA: I mean what an experience to live through it at eight years old.

A. RODRIGUEZ: I guess so.

VALENCIA: I mean come -- come here. Walk with me a little bit, guys. I mean when you look at this creek, there's a -- there's a car over there. You see that car upside down in the creek? I mean this normally has water in it but it doesn't look like this ever I'm sure.

S. RODRIGUEZ: Yes.

A. RODRIGUEZ: Yes, it never looks like this.

VALENCIA: Yes.

S. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Yes, it's usually -- the river is usually calm. Like, during the 20 -- I think it was 2018 flood, our house -- like a shed was over there. Yes, we had to go over there and get our stuff out. But now it's gone. Like -- like the stuff in our shed's completely gone. That's -- we have nothing left.

VALENCIA: Well, we wish you guys the best of luck. We'll be here throughout the day.

Twenty-one people died as a result of this. You know, they're some of the lucky ones. Still, at least 20 people missing.

And you see the cleanup and recovery effort is ongoing and it will be for days if not weeks.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, what a sweet little pair of kids. I'm so happy they're safe.

Nick Valencia, thanks so much.

Well, crews are working around the clock to restore power to thousands in the northeast as what is now a Tropical Depression Henri dumps heavy rain on the region. More than 49 million people remain under flash flood alerts.

CNN's Derek Van Dam, he's in Rhode Island.

So, Derek, in the end, what areas are going to feel the worst of this?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it -- we're talking about is the potential of flooding today across portions of Long Island into Connecticut, Rhode Island, and even into western Massachusetts as well. It's just incredible to think that we're talking about flood potentials. Two disasters that have taken place in different parts of our country, one in Tennessee and here across New England. But when the history books are all said and done, they're all written from Tropical Storm Henri, it won't be the storm surge, it won't be the wind, it will be this flood that -- the flooding that took place.

And I want to show you what happened in Middleton, New Jersey, because this is an area that was hit particularly hard at the onset of Henri's arrival. They saw over eight inches of rain in a very short period of time that left roads flooded. That left businesses impacted. Some of the cars just left stranded within some of those roadways as well.

The concern here going forward is that there is a very saturated ground. More rain on the way. Another one to three inches. The Weather Prediction Center is calling for a moderate risk of severe flooding today across portions of southern New York and into Connecticut, as well as Rhode Island, where I'm standing. So the threat here would be, of course, more flooding and the potential to topple over more trees, taking down more power as well. Temperatures going to warm up this week. We need air conditioning back up and running. SCIUTTO: I hear you. Derek Van Dam, good to have you there.

Well, a key vote on the president's broad, legislative agenda, particularly infrastructure, is scheduled now for tomorrow. House Democrats are fighting among themselves over this strategy, the votes, what comes next. Will they blow this all up? We'll discuss.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SCIUTTO: Well, the news is in. The FDA has now granted full approval to the Pfizer BioNTech COVID -19 vaccine, this for people aged 16 and older. This is the first coronavirus vaccine given full approval by the FDA. To this point, remember, it's been under what's known as Emergency Use Authorization, still safe, and many tens of millions of people have been vaccinated.

However, big changes expected with this, including opening the door to more vaccine mandates.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen joins us now.

I mean in the scheme of things, this is pretty remarkable speed to get to full approval for a vaccine such as this.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is remarkable. I mean they just started the clinical trials about 13 months ago. I mean that is really amazing. People were talking, oh, it will take four or five years. They went from 13 months from starting the trial to full approval. That is really quite amazing.

Now, unfortunately, about a third of the United States hasn't seen it as amazing as this sort of medical miracle that we were given. Some people see it as, wait a minute, that's a little too fast for my taste. I don't care that more than 40,000 people were involved in the clinical trial and that it was declared safe and effective. I want full approval. I want them to take more time. The hope is, is that those people will now roll up their sleeves now that there's full approval. It's unclear exactly how many people feel that way, that full approval will make a difference.

One thing, however, is clear, Jim. You talked about mandates. Now some places are already doing mandates. If you want to sit inside a New York City restaurant, you need to be vaccinated. That's been true now for a little bit of time. So they did that even without full approval. The hope is, and the plan is, is that more businesses, more employers, more restaurants will say, you know what, we have full approval, we're going to mandate it in the same way that daycares and schools and universities, they mandate vaccines with full approval all the time. You can't send your child to school without a -- without getting certain vaccines, like measles and mumps and whatnot. I mean you -- you are required to have them vaccinated or to have some kind of religious exemption. The hope is, is that this vaccine will now be one of them.

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It will just be standard that you will have to be vaccinated to do all sorts of things, such as go to school.

SCIUTTO: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.

We also have Jeremy Diamond at the White House.

And, Jeremy, as you know, getting a handle on COVID, big priority, arguably the biggest priority for the Biden administration. They met some of their goals. They are slower to get to some of their other vaccination goals. Tell us how the Biden administration is receiving this news and what it plans to do next now that -- now that full approval's been granted.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is, obviously, something that the White House has been waiting for, hoping that the FDA would do soon. And so, obviously, they're elated to see this finally come through.

But, of course, one thing that the White House wanted to make clear throughout this process was that they were not interfering, they were not pressuring the FDA in any way to approve this vaccine. They let that process play out independently, on its own. And that is exactly what has happened.

And because of that independent process, there's certainly a hope inside the White House that this now makes it irrefutable for anybody who wants to question the safety and the effectiveness of this vaccine, that the FDA went through this independent process, looked at all of the various studies, the safety, the efficacy and was able to make this conclusion.

And to Elizabeth's point, there is certainly a hope in the White House that not only will this perhaps help to change, you know, maybe two out of -- two to three out of every ten people who are unvaccinated to perhaps convince them to get vaccinated, but mostly that it will encourage businesses and institutions and universities to fully enforce vaccine mandates. That is something that those businesses and organizations have signaled to the White House they would do. So now we'll have to wait and see how quickly that moves forward.

SCIUTTO: Well, the U.S. military, one of those institutions. Secretary Austin telegraphing that a short time ago.

Jeremy Diamond, hold on for a moment.

We're also joined now by Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean, Emory University School of Medicine at Grady. Dr. del Rio, great to have you on. A couple questions for you. First, just for folks watching here, yes, this came more quickly than often happens, but there's an enormous amount of data. And the data shows a very effective and safe vaccine. I'm drawn to the number we just had on the screen, 363 million vaccine doses administered in this country so far.

Tell us for folk listening who perhaps have not gotten the vaccine why they should be confident in the process here.

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT GRADY (via telephone): Well, Jim, I think several things have happened. Number one, you know, since the vaccine was given Emergency Use Authorization back in December, as you have said to us, there have been millions of doses of vaccine administered. And the system has worked in the sense that past the EUA there has been very good surveillance for side effects. And little side effects have been picked up. And as you realize, those side effects have been mostly mild, few and far between. And when you look at them, you know, the safety of the vaccine, clearly the efficacy is tremendous. And the safety is really fantastic.

So the system has worked. And what the FDA has done is it has, you know, reviewed a lot of information, millions of pages of information, that have allowed -- have allowed them to make this recommendation to give what's called biological, you know, approval, sort of the kind (Ph) of approval of the Pfizer COVID vaccine for people 16-year-old -- 16-year-olds and older.

As you realize, for under 15, they're still reviewing the information. They're still, you know, looking at the data and basically doing -- you know, I have utmost respect for the -- for the FDA scientists because they really do their job well and they really take their job very seriously.

SCIUTTO: OK. Let's talk about the difference that this can make. You've dealt with a lot of patients. Some of those patients reluctant, resistant to taking this vaccine. There is talk. We heard this from the surgeon general a short time ago that full approval might move those people. And, by the way, there's some polling that shows that full approval, at least some of these people have said, hey, once it's fully approved, I'm OK with it.

In your experience, is this -- is this a mover? Is this a game changer for people like that?

DEL RIO: Yes, I think it would be a game changer for a variety of reasons. Number one, I've heard from many people say, well, you know, this is an Emergency Use Authorization. I'm not ready until there's full approval. And I think, however, that -- that there is a -- there's very few people that actually will go -- will say, well, I am ready to now take it because it has changed. The reality is that that change for most people is not that significant.

It is significant, however, for corporations. I think many corporations -- and I can tell you, for example, you know, I know Delta Airlines, Delta has said we're not going to mandate the vaccine until it receives -- until it receives full approval. So many corporations are going to wait until that full approval in order to mandate.

And this allows (ph) about to be, you know, something that you do with a lot of confidence and say, well, now that it has full approval, I can go ahead and mandate the vaccine.

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But the other thing that it does is, once a product has full approval, the company can then go ahead and advertise on television, which they haven't been able to do up to now and it also can be sold at, you know, pharmacies and other places, which it hasn't happened up to now. And those three are very important things because, again, seeing more about the vaccine in the media through advertisement I think is going to make also a difference for many people who up to now have only been hearing government officials and public health officials talk about the vaccines.

SCIUTTO: Well, listen, the data shows it saves lives. Let's hope that message comes out. We're going to have much more on this breaking news at the top of the hour. That is the FDA giving full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Carlos del Rio, thanks very much.

Well, other major story we're following this hour, rising tensions within the Democratic Party in the House over how to enact President Biden's sweeping economic plan. It could reach the boiling point this week as lawmakers return to Washington. The first test may come as early as tomorrow when the House is expected to vote on a budget resolution approved by the Senate earlier this month. A group of nine House moderate Democrats is threatening to rebel against the White House and party leaders to block that vote. Instead, they want to first pass a separate, bipartisan infrastructure package before speaking to the larger plan.

One of them, Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Hampshire, joining me now.

Congressman, thank you for taking the time this morning.

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NH): Thanks for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: I am sure that you privately and publicly have been getting a lot of pressure to change your opinion here. You, as you know -- Democrats, as you know, hold a narrow majority in the House. You know the risks here. Are you and the other eight Democrats willing to sink these bills to make your point?

GOTTHEIMER: No, actually just the opposite. We want them both to move forward and pass. And, you know, but first and foremost, we've got to pass that historic, once in a century infrastructure bill that came out of the Senate a couple of weeks ago with all 50 Senate Democrats and 19 Republicans.

And, you know, Jim, what I heard from the calls I'm getting are actually from the hard-working men and women of labor and from people in my district who are saying, I don't get this, we voted on this in the Senate. It came out. So all of this to happen to get shovels in the ground and 2 million people a year to work is to pass this in the House. So that's all we're asking for. And then full steam ahead working on the reconciliation package. I'll support the budget resolution as soon as we vote on infrastructure.

I just -- we just can't afford to wait months on that when you've got a third of our bridges unsafe, you know, a (INAUDIBLE) roads in the county in Jersey.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOTTHEIMER: The idea that we would wait just doesn't make any sense. So I think this is pretty common sense and we'll work it out.

SCIUTTO: I get that, but you know the sense here is really the votes. You have nine moderates willing to hold this up, but the fact is, as "The Washington Post" notes, far more than nine progressives are willing to hold up the bipartisan infrastructure deal if they don't get assurances on other priorities. I just wonder why proceed if you're outnumbered?

GOTTHEIMER: And that's the exact -- that's the exact question. And that's the exact question, why -- why --

SCIUTTO: I know, but why proceed if you're outnumbered by them?

GOTTHEIMER: No, I'm just going to say, that's the exact question, why would some of my colleagues want to hold up the president's infrastructure package for months or say that they'll never vote for it at all when this was historic 2 million jobs a year? Like, I don't -- that's what I don't really understand. And people are asking me at home, I don't get that. And I don't really have a good answer for them.

So all we're saying is, let's have like everybody vote on this infrastructure package and this is the president's key priority.

SCIUTTO: I get that.

GOTTHEIMER: He said, send it to my desk as soon as possible. So that's what we're trying to do here.

And, you know, you're talking about a lot of lives for a lot of hard- working men and women plus a crumbling infrastructure in too many parts of our country. So let's just get that done, not wait months, not risk it and then move right to reconciliation.

SCIUTTO: I hear that but it's the math of the votes, you know, sadly.

I wonder, have you spoken to Speaker Pelosi about this?

GOTTHEIMER: I think they'll be there, the votes.

We've talked and, you know, I think the votes, from all of our caucus, if we voted on infrastructure today, that they would all be there. No one's going to vote against 2 million jobs a year and fixing -- and significant investments in climate -- in the fight against climate, electric vehicles, fixing the largest investment in water, fixing our water infrastructure and getting lead out of our pipes, right, fixing our roads, bridges, and tunnels, broadband. I don't think anyone's going to vote against that.

So I think we should take that vote and move forward right away with the bipartisan infrastructure package and then move right to start the reconciliation process. You know, we've got a bill that's been voted on out of the Senate, sitting there for us to consider. Let's just consider it and vote on it, get it to the president's desk.

SCIUTTO: I get the -- I get the argument. I get the argument. But, again, the math is against you here. And I wonder if, though that makes common sense to you, and probably some of the folks at home you're talking to, labor, et cetera, are you willing to risk what you're -- what your risking here? Is it important enough for you to have that vote first to risk both of these bills? That's the question.

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I don't think -- I don't think -- I don't agree with that. I don't think we're risking anything.

[09:55:01]

I believe both will move forward and get done. I think we'll work this out. You know, I'm ready to sit at the table and so are my colleagues, ready to sit at the table and figure this out.

And we can, right? This push makes sense to get both bills moving. We can do that. You know, but the -- but there's no reason to wait four, five months or more sitting on this infrastructure package and risking that or threatening and holding it hostage like some of my colleagues are doing. That just doesn't make sense.

And, you know, I think we're doing right here for the country and for all those working men and women and, frankly, for our competitiveness in our economy. So if you drive around Jersey, I'm about to go to this union hall. You drive around Jersey, and third worst roads in the country, worst on time transit. These resources are going to help fix that and we should start it immediately and that's what's best. It's a great win for the country. Democrats and Republicans coming together and then let's move immediately to the next process.

SCIUTTO: OK, we'll -- well, we'll see how those votes go. I've driven those roads and I've ridden trains on the tracks, so I know what you're talking about.

Congressman Josh Gottheimer, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

GOTTHEIMER: Thanks so much for having me.

SCIUTTO: Breaking news, in just the last few moments, the FDA has just granted full approval to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. This is a major step in the effort to vaccinate this country. We're going to break down what this means in particular for the future of vaccine mandates.

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