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CDC Advisers Meeting To Debate Pfizer Vaccine Booster Shots; CDC: National Pace Of Vaccinations Slows, Drops 30 Percent In Past Month; DHS Releasing Some Haitian Migrants Into U.S. While Hundreds More Have Been Immediately Expelled; "Champions For Change," Driving With A Purpose. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired September 22, 2021 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Right now, CDC advisors are meeting to debate Pfizer vaccine booster shots. This is a two-day meeting, today and tomorrow.
So far, they have Pfizer's data in hand but what they don't have yet is official booster authorization from the FDA.
You're thinking, wait, isn't that what happened last week? No. Those were FDA advisors and they did recommend the Pfizer booster for people 65 years and older or people considered high risk of severe COVID.
But FDA officials still have to take the next step to formally give emergency use authorization.
Let's get our expert in here in Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician. The former Baltimore city commissioner is with us and also the author of "Lifelines."
Dr. Wen, when CDC advisors do their part, what do you make of the FDA? Why haven't they authorized boosters yet?
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I don't know, Ana. And I think it's inexplicable because the advisors met on Friday. It's now Wednesday. We should have an answer at this point.
It's also really difficult. But the CDC advisors can't vote before the FDA gives their recommendation and they only have a two-day meeting.
It's only going to affect the boosters, especially those at higher risk.
CABRERA: You called it unacceptable for them to have a delay. What do you see as the consequences?
WEN: Well, we know now that the immunity from the vaccines do wane over time. There are individuals who clearly would benefit from a third immunocompromised who can already get another dose, and people over age 65. What I expect the CDC to do is give an example of what high risk
means. It means age, it means underlying conditions, and it should also mean occupational exposure.
Not just health care workers, but what about teachers where the kids around them don't need to be wearing masks.
What about personal exposure? For example, if you're living at home with someone who is unvaccinated and are exposing you to all kinds of risk.
I think we should allow the American people, in confrontation with their physicians, should be making the decision about whether they are high risk and the benefit from a boost at this time.
CABRERA: What can they do if the FDA hasn't acted?
WEN: That's the problem. The FDA was expected to act by now. And that's why the CDC were having their meeting several days after the FDA's meeting.
I think it will be shocking if there isn't a vote by the end of tomorrow.
And also because many Americans are already taking matters into their own hands. They're already going to pharmacies, in many cases, lying about whether this is a booster. They know in order to get a booster they have to say it's their first dose.
That's actually messing up our reporting data as well. It's going to look like a lot of people are getting their first doses when actually it's their third dose.
For many reasons, including data integrity, but more importantly, protection of the American people, the FDA and the CDC have to get their act together and do the right thing.
CABRERA: We do have more evidence of how effective these vaccines are.
CNN analysis finds COVID death rates are four times higher in the least vaccinated states compared to the 10 most vaccinated university. Hospitalizations are also higher in these least vaccinated states.
Dr. Wen, talk to Republican leaders who have largely been outspoken against any kind of vaccine or even mask requirements.
[13:35:05]
WEN: Right. I mean, I think it's so disappointing at this time because we know what works to stop this pandemic. And what it takes to protect individuals' health.
We know that vaccines really work, but vaccines work best when we all get vaccinated, as in, yes, it protects the person who is getting vaccinated. But if there are so many people who are unvaccinated around them, first of all, the unvaccinated individuals are crowding out hospitals and people who are vaccinated but who may be in car accidents or having strokes may be compromised in terms of getting the care they need.
Also there's the spillover effect. The more unvaccinated people there are, the more COVID infection there's, that's going to affect the immunocompromised. That's going to affect the vaccinated as well.
I hope everyone recognizes we're in this together, that vaccines work best when we're all protected.
CABRERA: We did the math and right now there are still over 71 million Americans who are eligible to get vaccinated but still have not received even a single dose. And yet, the current pace of vaccinations right now is down 5 percent from last week. It's down 30 percent from last month.
Why do you think that is? What do you attribute it to?
WEN: Well, I hope that we are heading into a better direction when it comes to this particular surge.
But we have to remember that winter is coming. This Delta variant is still here. And, of course, we have problems around the world with new variants that may develop. So the worst of the pandemic is not at all behind us.
CABRERA: Dr. Leana Wen, thank you very, very much for all you do and for joining us.
Coming up, 8,000 migrants, mostly Haitians, still living under a Texas bridge waiting for processing. Horrific scenes like this. We'll take you to Del Rio, Texas, next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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CABRERA: Happening right now, chaos at the Texas-Mexico board. On the left, thousands of Haitians still living under a Texas bridge waiting for processing.
The Department of Homeland Security now releasing some to the U.S. and taking some back to Haiti.
On the right side, growing turmoil as the airport as many who fled years ago are now forced to return.
CNN's Josh Campbell is in Texas.
Josh, how do they decide who stays and who goes?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We're here at the border. It remains a crisis here, where you have official trying to process the thousands of people living under that bridge. There were about 8,000 there last night.
Although the Biden administration had taken a hard line at the outset saying these migrants would be expelled to their nation of origin, we're learning that some have been allowed to stay here in the United States.
That's because under the law, there's an asylum process. If there something that says they could face harm to go back in their country, they are allowed asylum.
Some are here pending an immigration hearing. And as they work to handle those cases, they're still work to go repatriate some under the bridge.
We're under that bridge. You can see the buses being loaded up and continuing to be brought out of there. This whole area is being ringed by what's called this barrier of steel.
We were just down there. You can see just a line as far as the eye can see of Texas state troopers.
And that's because Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sent word out to the Department of Public Safety to send resources from around the state.
He's trying to secure this border to ensure we don't see additional migrants coming in.
We also learned, of course, they're up to 30,000 migrants right now in Colombia that could be working their way north.
Texas officials really locking down this part of the border for potential additional migrants coming in -- Ana?
CABRERA: Josh Campbell, thank you for keeping us up on all that.
[13:44:00]
Up next, CNN introduces you to another champion for change, who is diving for a purpose. That's next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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CABRERA: It's time for "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE," where we spotlight individual bold doers tackling norms and making a lasting impact.
Like Kramer Wimberly, "Diving With a Purpose," inspiring a new set of divers to see preserve the ocean's ecology.
CNN's Fredricka Whitfield shows us why this is a cause close to her heart.
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KRAMER WIMBERLY, A CHAMPION FOR CHANGE & DIVING WITH A PURPOSE: I want to save the ocean because it's beautiful. I want to save the ocean because I spend my life there. I want to save the ocean because I want my children to be able to see and experience the beauty of it.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Kramer Wimberly's passion is coral reefs. They're vital to global ecology and they are dying.
Wimberley is a lead instructor with the group, Diving With a Purpose.
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(on camera): What is your purpose?
WIMBERLY: My purpose has morphed over time.
WHITFIELD (voice-over): At first, the avid rec diver of 30 years joined because the scuba diving group, founded 16 years ago, assembled mostly black divers to help look for a sunken slave ship, a watery tomb.
Spending so much time in the water, he noticed other mysteries.
WIMBERLY: There's a lot less fish and a lot less coral.
WHITFIELD: So he and his dive partner, Rian Tyler (ph), added an ecosystem monitoring program to the group's mission. They call it "Diving With a Purpose Cares."
WIMBERLY: Corals can't move, right, so they are directly affected by the changes and the rise of sea level. We're dumping seven million tons of plastics and garbage in our oceans annually. So we're killing the corals.
WHITFIELD: Once a lawyer and firefighter, DWP Cares is now his life's work.
(on camera): What caught my attention about them is that they were combining a sport that I love, scuba diving, and of course, they were conscious of the environment.
More importantly, they had incorporated the next generation.
And 18-year-old Ohio State freshman, Greg Hood, gets it. He learned to dive through DWP and has committed to the organization's five-year training program that teaches ocean conservation techniques.
GREG HOOD, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FRESHMAN: A lot of people don't know what's going on. I like to say I'm an advocate for the reefs.
WHITFIELD (voice-over): In Key Largo's Pickles Reef, they lay down a 100-meter tape measure then count and measure species along it.
(on camera): So I've loved diving for a long time. And I was really excited and anxious when my son became of age where he could start to process and getting certified. Now he's 16 and he's my best dive buddy.
I love hearing his observations. I'm looking for things whereas he is seeing things. (voice-over): This partnership between the young and seasoned diver is
behind the magic of Diving With a Purpose.
WIMBERLY: Problems that I think are insurmountable, they're problem solving now on how to resolve.
WHITFIELD: That was very beautiful. Beautiful, but not bountiful.
What I saw were just beautiful pockets of colors. But just as I was in that moment, I looked down and I thought to myself, well, what is that? Suddenly, I realized I'm floating over a reef graveyard. Just broken, crushed, demolished finger coral.
Plus, this sobering catch of the day. A floating tangle of plastic. The good and the bad are uploaded to NOAA's coral reef database, inspiring the activists of tomorrow.
WIMBERLY: All of the youth in the program are not going to end up working in the field of marine biology. Or ecology. But they are learning the importance of it and what their place is and what their responsibility is.
For me, that's enough.
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CABRERA: And Fredricka joins us now.
I was captivated by that. I am somebody who doesn't go down under very far because my ears always kill me.
You've been doing this for 30 years and it's something as you talk about, bringing into your family. How are the children, the youth, the next generation getting involved with this organization?
WHITFIELD: Well, that's what I love because Diving With a Purpose really has its doors open to everyone. Particularly teenagers.
Whether you're from Chicago or Columbus, as our young man, Greg, was from, Ohio State University, a freshman. To Costa Rica. It's a global reach.
They want to make sure that the next generation of divers who are conscious about the environment and who have a particular interest in helping to find those 1,000 sunken slave ships from the transatlantic voyage, that they have an interest in all of those things.
So Diving With a Purpose wants to teach the tools of making those things happen. Be conscientious, help our marine life and ecology.
If your family doesn't have the $250 it takes to get started for your teenager, they have generous contributions coming in. They want to make it happen.
As you know, Ana, scuba diving is a very expensive sport. And perhaps you don't live near the ocean or waterway, this is a group that wants to make it happen.
CABRERA: I love that.
Thank you so much, Fredricka, for sharing that with us.
WHITFIELD: Thank you.
[13:55:02]
CABRERA: And we'll continue to share these inspirational stories all this week. Be sure to tune in on Saturday where it all comes together at 8:00 p.m., "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE," one hour special.
Thank you so much for joining us today. See you tomorrow at 1:00 Eastern. Meantime, join me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera.
The news continues now with Alisyn and Victor.
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