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White House Press Briefing; Afghanistan Evacuation; President Biden Addresses FDA Approval of Pfizer Vaccine. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 23, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:02]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nationwide, cases are still rising, especially among the unvaccinated.

Across the country, virtually all the COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths continue to be among the unvaccinated. That's worse in states where vaccination rates are overall low, but even in states where many people are vaccinated, the unvaccinated are still a risk.

Let me be clear. There are cases where vaccinated people do get COVID- 19, but they are far less common than unvaccinated people getting COVID-19. And, most importantly, their conditions are far less severe.

The overwhelming majority of people in the hospital of COVID-19 and almost all those dying from COVID-19 are not vaccinated, not vaccinated. If you're fully vaccinated, both shots, plus two weeks, your risk of severe illness from COVID-19 is very, very, very low.

Now, I know that parents are concerned about COVID-19 cases among their children. I will be addressing this soon with Secretary Cardona to discuss how we get our kids back to school safely.

Cases among children are still rare, and severe cases among children are very, very rare. But I know that parents are thinking about their own kids. It's not as reassuring as anyone would like it to be.

So, let me say this as parents -- to the parents. As you have -- you have the tools. You have the tools to keep your child safer. And two of those tools, above all, are available to you. One, make sure that everyone around your child who can be vaccinated is vaccinated, parents, adults, teens.

Two, make sure child is masked when they leave home. That's how we can best keep our kids safe. As I have said before, a pandemic of the unvaccinated is a tragedy that is preventable. People are dying and will die who don't have to.

So, please, please, if you haven't gotten your vaccination, if you haven't gotten vaccinated, do it now. It could save your life and the lives of those you love.

Now, the good news is that people are getting vaccinated. For the past several weeks, my administration has imposed new vaccine requirements on federal workers, the armed forces, people who work in federal medical facilities and nursing home workers. Governors, mayors, and private sector leaders have done the same.

We have also encouraged new incentives. For example, in some states, you get $100 if you get vaccinated. These new requirements and incentives are accelerating vaccinations once again, giving us the hope that we can put this Delta variant behind us in the weeks ahead.

There are three facts everyone should know about where we are in this fight against this pandemic. First, even as the Delta variant has ravaged the unvaccinated, the deaths have climbed -- deaths have climbed, the death rate is still 70 percent lower than it was last winter. Why? Because we did such a good job vaccinating those most at risk, senior citizens.

America has about 54 million senior citizens. About 50 million have at least -- have gotten at least one shot. That's almost 92 percent. Secondly, overall, weekly new vaccinations are up more than 56 percent from where they were a month ago.

Last week, we saw a record of vaccinations, more than one million shots a day for three straight days. This is the first time this has happened since June, six million shots in the last seven days, the highest seven-day total in over a month-and-a-half.

Remember -- remember when we were trying to get 70 percent of the people over 18 at least one shot? Well, we have not only gotten that done. We have gotten 71 percent of everyone age 12 and older their first shot. And that's over 200 million Americans. And over 170 million are now fully vaccinated.

Third, states that have been lagging are seeing their vaccination rates grow faster. In fact, in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, more people got new vaccinations in the past month than in the prior two months combined.

The progress we're making on vaccinations now is going to produce results in the weeks ahead. The sooner you get fully vaccinated, the sooner you will be protected.

[14:05:00]

According to the experts from the Yale School of Public Health, the pace of our vaccination effort has saved over 100,000 lives and prevented more than 450,000 hospitalizations. This is critical progress. But we need to move faster.

As I mentioned before, I have imposed vaccination requirements that will reach millions of Americans. Today, I'm calling on more countries -- more companies, I should say, in the private sector to step up with vaccine requirements that will reach millions more people.

If you're a business leader, a nonprofit leader, a state or local leader who has been waiting for full FDA approval to require vaccinations, I call on you now to do that, require it. Do what I did last month. Require your employees to get vaccinated or face strict requirements.

As I said last week, vaccination requirements have been around for decades. Students, health care professionals, our troops are typically required to receive vaccination to prevent everything from polio, to smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella.

In fact, the reason most people in America don't worry about polio, small box, smallpox, measles, mumps and rubella today is because of vaccines. It only makes sense to require a vaccine to stop the spread of COVID-19.

With today's FDA full approval, there's another good reason to get vaccinated. So, please get vaccinated now.

If you go to vaccines.com, vaccines.com, or text your zip code to 438829, 438829, you can find a number of vaccine sites near you just minutes away where you can get your shot without an appointment. All around the world, people want these vaccines. Here in America, they're free, convenient, and waiting for you.

So, please go today for yourself, for your loved ones, for your neighbors, for your country.

I will close with this. We're in the midst of a wartime effort to beat this pandemic. It's one of the biggest and most complicated challenges in our history. And it's based on an unparalleled vaccination program that is saving lives and beating this virus.

It's a vaccination program that's getting us back to our loved ones and a way of life we were used to. It's happening. And it's going to keep happening. If you help -- it helps our economy. It gets everything moving. It keeps us growing.

Together, we have made significant progress in just seven months. We just have to finish the job, with science, facts, and confidence together, together, as the United States of America.

So please get vaccinated today.

God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK, we have been listening there to President Biden talking about, trumpeting, really, the idea that the FDA has now -- eight months after the emergency use authorization, has now fully approved the Pfizer vaccine.

And, basically, he was saying, if you're one of the people -- and we have spoken to them -- who says that you have been waiting for the full FDA approval, today's your lucky day.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Today, you can go out and get that shot.

BLACKWELL: The president said the moment you have been waiting for is here.

The question is, how many people have really been waiting for this moment that now, after all of these months, oh, we have got FDA approval, now I'm going to go out and get the shot? So we will see if there is a tick up after there's now this full approval.

Let's bring in our panel to talk about what this could mean for companies and for individuals.

Senior White House correspondent Phil Mattingly is with us, senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, and senior CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen.

So, what then, Elizabeth, you first, is the significance of this announcement that it's got full FDA approval?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Victor, I heard a bit of skepticism in your voice about...

BLACKWELL: Just a hint.

COHEN: Just a hint.

BLACKWELL: Just a hint.

COHEN: I have to say that I share that, because I have actually spoken to people who have not gotten the shot. And they tell me things like, oh, it'll make me infertile, oh, my left arm will fall off, oh, my hair will turn green, I mean, all sorts of crazy stuff.

I don't know the full FDA approval is really going to change things for them, maybe for some people. I don't know that it's going to be sort of this tsunami of people who are going to start standing in lines that go around the corner.

But let's talk about what the hope is that the effect of that this full approval might have. So, first, as we have been talking about, hopefully, people will think oh, wow, now I will get it because it's been fully approved.

Another possibility is that or another thing we know is true is that having full approval allows Pfizer to advertise. They couldn't do that with emergency authorization. Pharmaceutical companies are good at advertising.

[14:10:03]

Let's hope they're really great at advertising the vaccine. Also, this is really the most important one, is that having full approval encourages employers, restaurants, et cetera, to require a vaccine.

Now, you folks know, because you're -- we're in New York, that restaurants here have been doing that for indoor seating for a week or two now, but more places will probably feel comfortable. And that's where it might happen. If your boss says, I don't care what you think about this shot, if you

want to work here, you have to get it, that's going to encourage higher vaccinations.

BLACKWELL: It will.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Wen, that's what you think the game-changer is today. What do you think the significance of what we just heard is?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think that's exactly right.

I totally agree with Elizabeth .I don't know a lot of individuals who are going to say, hey, I was just waiting for this final stamp of approval, and now I'm going to get my shot.

I think it's more that companies are going to require vaccinations, and that's going to give individuals the nudge, the push that they need in order to take that step. I also think that the significance here is a lot of people have been talking about the COVID vaccine differently than they talk about other vaccines.

I mean, all 50 states require for children to get some form of immunization prior to entering school. They may have different opt- outs, but they all have requirements for vaccination.

We need to start talking about the COVID vaccine in the same way. Doctors always advise our patients about the flu vaccine, about pneumonia, about shingles, about tetanus. Well, we now need to talk about COVID not as something totally different, but as part of the normal suite of vaccinations that are required and are a part of everyday life.

And I do think that the full approval paves the way to them. I was hoping, though, that the Biden administration, that President Biden today would say more. I wish that he would have said more about, for example, requiring vaccines on planes, on trains, in federal buildings.

I think that will be an important next step. And that's up to the Biden team to take that bold next step to really encourage vaccinations.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Phil, he hasn't gotten that far yet.

But we did hear more from the president not hoping or anticipating that municipalities, that companies will require the vaccine. He said, do what I did. Make it mandatory, or then start the strict testing regimen. What did you hear?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, two key words: Require it. That was what the president said, just flatly and bluntly making very clear full FDA approval is here, now you should act.

And it's interesting how they have been building on this over the course of the last several weeks, obviously getting more aggressive in their posture across several fronts as it relates to the Delta variant, as they have seen the spread, as they have seen the surge.

But the president very clearly -- I would agree with what my two colleagues have made clear. There's no assumption inside the White House that millions of people are all of a sudden going to get away from their hesitancy and go get vaccinated because of what the FDA did today.

They believe there will be some. There's no question about it. But I do think that, when you talk to White House officials, the thing that they're keying on right now is that this opens the door for companies, for private businesses to feel more comfortable with mandates or requirements, but also for governments as well.

And we have seen it. There's been a domino effect in just the last couple of hours, whether it's New York City educators, whether it's New Jersey government officials, whether it's the Pentagon making clear that a plan that had been in place to mandate the vaccine is now moving forward.

I think the expectation inside the administration is that will start to spread kind of with more vigor over the course of the next couple of weeks because of the full approval. And I think, when they look at the numbers -- and you heard the president read them off, six million vaccinations over the course of the last seven days, the most in six weeks, up more than 50 percent, in terms of vaccinations -- yes, in part, that's due to fear of what's been happening with the Delta variant and how transmissible it is.

But they also believe that that is, to some degree, a result of the requirements that they have started to put in place, the requirements that companies have started to put in place as well, something they hope will be turbocharged by what the FDA has done today, guys.

CAMEROTA: So, Elizabeth, what does this mean for kids? People are waiting to know when 12 and under can get vaccinated.

COHEN: That's right.

And you know what? This is completely separate. This doesn't really mean anything for kids, because, for kids, for children under 12, they have had to do entirely different clinical trials. And that's a good thing. We want them to do that. Children may need very different doses. A 6-month-old may need a different dose than an 11-year-old.

And so we want them to do these clinical trials. So what happened today doesn't really mean anything. Those clinical trials are ongoing. They're looking out for efficacy, and they're probably even more vigilantly, they're looking out for safety.

CAMEROTA: But how long do you think that those will take?

COHEN: I think it's going to be -- I mean, what they keep saying is sometime this fall. Hopefully, it will be sometime this fall.

BLACKWELL: Dr. Wen, the president also mentioned not just the mandates, but incentives, $100 if you get a shot.

Is there any evidence that these incentives are working?

WEN: Not really.

I mean, I actually think that we need to be thinking about incentives differently. We're looking at what the NFL is doing, and having a disincentive, if you will, for what happens if there are lots of infections in a team, something like that might actually be a next step.

[14:15:01]

So, for example, I hope the federal government will be more aggressive with companies, maybe giving companies a tax break or some financial incentive for requiring vaccinations, but also looking at the negative incentives.

I do think that the requirements, potentially with an opt-out, are important to. Essentially, we need to make vaccination the easy choice. And just giving somebody $100 I don't think will quite do that. But imagine that if you're told you have to get tested twice a week in order to go to work, and that's going to cost you. You have to pay for the cost of this testing. Or you could get vaccinated.

Something like that will be a lot more powerful than a one-time incentive to go to a concert or get a voucher.

CAMEROTA: Elizabeth, you know what else seems to be working in terms of vaccine numbers going up? Fear.

A million people a day for the first time in the past week, I can only chalk that up to the Delta variant wreaking havoc.

COHEN: I think that's absolutely right. All of a sudden, people started not just hearing about it on the news, but people also started knowing people who were in the hospital or who unfortunately died from this.

And you can see these new vaccination numbers administered, that it would -- really has gone up since earlier. That's -- it's -- we don't want people to have to die in order for people to be inspired to get vaccinated. And, apparently, people dying in huge numbers is not enough to.

So, to Dr. Wen's point, there really needs to be more than just -- there needs to be something else in order to get people vaccinated.

I'm going to tell you a story about someone in Israel who I know who did not want to be vaccinated. She was very, very hesitant. You know what made her get vaccinated? The restaurants required, the movie theaters required vaccination, and she was tired of her family going to restaurants and movie theaters without her. She couldn't be with her family.

That made her get vaccinated. That's the kind of thing that will -- that will help someone change their mind.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

And we are seeing, of course, that uptick.

So this is just Pfizer with the full approval.

Elizabeth, how far behind potentially are Moderna? And has J&J even applied yet?

COHEN: So, Johnson & Johnson, it's a little bit unclear. And in some ways, it matters much less. It is just harder to get a Johnson & Johnson shot. It's harder. If you go on vaccines.gov, and you look around, and we have done this, it's pretty -- it's quite easy to find a Pfizer or Moderna shot.

It's harder to find a Johnson & Johnson shot. So they're not sort of as much a part of this game.

For Moderna, we don't know when they're going to get their full approval. In some ways, it matters much less than this Pfizer approval. This Pfizer approval, I think, is going to be what makes employers say, all right, they have made -- they fully approved this. I'm going to make you get a shot if you want to keep working here.

That's what will make more restaurants, et cetera. So Moderna might get it, but this is more of the game-changer than whatever happens with Moderna.

BLACKWELL: Because there is one now that's fully approved.

COHEN: Correct.

BLACKWELL: Yes. OK. Yes.

COHEN: Correct. So you can get a fully approved vaccine.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

COHEN: No one can say, oh, I don't want to get a shot because it's not fully approved.

There is a fully approved vaccine. And Pfizer's all over the place. It's easy to find.

CAMEROTA: Is there some new information about vaccine efficacy, about the shots we have already gotten, about how long they're lasting? Do we have some new information on that?

COHEN: What we have been told is eight months. That's what health experts say, is that, around six to eight months, the vaccine efficacy starts to wane.

And that was repeated again today when the FDA had a press conference. So, around six to eight -- the six-to-eight-month mark, you start to see vaccine efficacy wane. For example, at the press conference that the FDA had today, they

said, you know what, we thought in December that it was 95 percent effective, but when we followed people for longer periods of time, it was actually 91 percent effective. Still incredible, still great, but you can see it waning.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

Dr. Wen, there are families who are watching who are excited about the full approval Pfizer. They have long been vaccinated, but their 9- year-old, their 12 -- their 11-year-old has not yet been vaccinated.

What do we know about the timing of an emergency use authorization for those under 12?

WEN: Well, I'm in this position, Victor. I have a 1-year-old and a son who turns 4 today, still well under the 12-year-old -- 12-year-old range.

Look, I think that the FDA needs to be a lot more transparent about what's going on in these studies for younger kids, because the timeline keeps on getting moved. We were initially hearing from Pfizer that the studies were expected to be complete for the 6-to-11-year-old group in September/October.

Well, now we're approaching September/October, and those studies are not in yet. We're told that the -- that Pfizer is now being asked to submit more data, potentially longer safety data beyond two months, and potentially including a larger group of kids.

All that may be necessary, but we want to understand what exactly is happening. And I think the risk/benefit calculation has also changed, because we are now having more children hospitalized right now than at any point during the pandemic, with kids going back to school in the midst of the Delta surge.

I think the risk/benefit has changed, and maybe we don't need as many months or as many kids enrolled in these studies. And so I don't think we know right now about what that timing should be.

[14:20:05]

But I really hope we get some clarity sooner. And I hope that we will get at least the 6-to-11-year-old group, but ideally also the 3-to-5- year age group, approved before the end of this year.

BLACKWELL: Yes, especially as kids go back to school. That is at the front of mind for so many families.

Dr. Wen, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you both.

CAMEROTA: OK, now to this.

The U.S. is racing to meet the end-of-August deadline to leave Afghanistan, but there are big questions about exactly how many people still need to get out. BLACKWELL: And this is being described as a tidal wave, the flood

that happened over the weekend in Tennessee. One town is trying to recover from the destruction that came so quickly.

We have got more for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:10]

CAMEROTA: OK, update on Afghanistan now.

The Pentagon says 16,000 people were flown out of the Kabul Airport in the past 24 hours, most by military aircraft, some on chartered flights.

But Pentagon officials say several thousand Americans and their family members still need to be evacuated, and that's not counting the tens of thousands of Afghan helpers trying to leave.

The Taliban declared that everyone must be out by August 31, or the mission must end by August 31. That's eight days from now. But the U.S. Defense Department says that official says that extending the deadline is still an option.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: I'm not going to speak to his specificity with the communications that we're having with the Taliban. On any given day, it happens several times a day.

We are well aware of the stated desire to -- by the Taliban to have this mission completed by the 31st of August. I will tell you that we too are still planning on completing it by the 31st of August. That is the mission that we have been assigned by the commander in chief assigned to us, and that's what we're trying to execute.

And if there needs to be a discussion about extending that timeline, then we absolutely will have that discussion at the appropriate time with the commander in chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, the danger at Kabul Airport is intensifying, last count, 13,000 people at least there on site.

Overnight, a sniper shot and killed an Afghan guard helping to secure the base. That firefight involved American, German and Afghan forces.

Now, plus the terror group, ISISK, sworn enemy of the Taliban, may be planning an attack at the airport. That has forced the U.S. military to set up alternative routes to the airport. The president's national security adviser calls the threat real, acute, and persistent.

Let's turn now to CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins and CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara, the big question here, will this be complete by August 31?

Any indication from the administration?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Look, I think that's absolutely unknowable at this point. And it's probably important to be very candid and very precise that it is unknowable.

They hope to. And that's what John Kirby is really reflecting publicly and behind the scenes. Many administration officials want to get this wrapped up for the very reason you talked about. The longer they stay, the bigger the risk. They know that ISISK is out there hoping to attack them.

They're very concerned about that.

BLACKWELL: All right, Barbara, I have to interrupt. I apologize for that.

We have got to go to the White House press briefing. And here's Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Turn it over to Jake.

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Thanks, Jen.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I will make some comments, and then, as Jen said, I'm happy to take your questions.

I want to start once again by saluting our troops and civilians at the Kabul Airport. Kabul fell just over a week ago. Within 48 hours, they had secured the airfield. They had safely and effectively drawn down our embassy compound and retrograded our embassy personnel.

They have now facilitated the evacuation of more than 37,000 people out of the country since August 14, American citizens, third country nationals, our Afghan allies, and Afghans at risk of persecution or worse.

In the last 24 hours alone, 28 U.S. military flights have evacuated approximately 10, 400 people from Kabul. In addition, 61 coalition aircraft have evacuated approximately 5, 900 additional people. That is more than 16,000 people in 24 hours. And the flights are continuing hour by hour as we speak.

We have established a network of transit centers in multiple countries in the Gulf and Europe, where we are getting U.S. citizens on flights home, and we are running biometric and biographic background checks on Afghan evacuees before bringing them to the United States or having them relocated to a third country.

All told, 26 countries on four continents are contributing to this effort, one of the largest airlifts in history, a massive military, diplomatic, security, humanitarian undertaking, a testament to the power and purpose of the United States and our allies.

I want to provide an update on American citizens. We have helped thousands of Americans leave Kabul already. We have contacted Americans still in Afghanistan by e-mail, by phone, by text to give them specific instructions.

We have developed a method to safely and efficiently transfer groups of American citizens onto the airfield. For operational reasons, I'm not going to go into further detail on this.

Many people have asked, reasonably, why we cannot provide a precise number.