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CDC Signs Off on Pfizer Vaccine; Interview with Premier Medical Group USA President and CEO Dr. Scott Miscovich; Facebook Scraps Facial Recognition Software; Atlanta Braves Crowned World Series Champions; Two Major Pledges At COP26 Climate Summit; Ethiopia Announces Nationwide State Of Emergency; Biden Criticizes China's Xi For Not Attending Talks. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired November 03, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:21]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. And I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead. Two big pledges at the COP26 Climate Summit one to curb methane emissions and the other to save the lungs of our planet. We'll explain.

A nationwide state of emergency is in effect in Ethiopia as Tigrayan forces gain ground near the Capitol. Officials are telling citizens to take up arms to protect themselves.

Plus, the U.S. CDC signs off on a COVID vaccine for children ages five to 11. We will speak to an expert about this latest.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, world leaders huddled in Glasgow for the critical COP26 Summit. They have accelerated action to address the climate crisis. Threatening the planet and humanity. We're now just hours away from the start of another day of meetings and the U.K. is set to announce plans to become the world's first net zero financial center. As part of the proposal, U.K. financial institutions and listed companies will be required to publish plans on how they will reduce their contribution to global warming.

That announcement is just one of the pledges coming out of COP26 on Tuesday. Dozens of nations agreed to cut methane emissions by 30 percent from 2020 levels by the end of the decade. The British Prime Minister says there's still plenty more work to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We must take care to guard against false hope and not to think in any way that the job is done because it is not. There is still a very long way to go. But all that being said, I am cautiously optimistic. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Max Foster has more now from Glasgow.

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MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): End of the great Chainsaw Massacre of the world's forests. The words of Boris Johnson. Host of the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow. As global leaders more than 100 on Tuesday announced a pact to end deforestation by 2030.

JOHNSON: And the role of humanity as nature's conqueror and instead become nature's custodian. We have to stop the devastating loss of our forests.

FOSTER: Crucially, signatories include Brazil and Russia. Two states previously singled out for allowing deforestation to accelerate in their respective territories. Russian President Vladimir Putin prerecorded a speech to rubber stamp the deal.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: After all, our country accounts for around 20 percent of the world's forest land. We take the strongest and most vigorous measures to conserve it.

FOSTER: The pledge is backed by almost $20 billion in public and private funding, including two billion from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

JEFF BEZOS, AMERICAN ENTREPRENEUR: Will we in this room work together.

FOSTER: And it covers an area of more than 13 million square miles. From the northern forests of Canada to the tropical rainforest of Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Climate activists in Glasgow expressed healthy skepticism on the news.

JO BLACKMAN, GLOBAL WITNESS SPOKESPERSON: This is the problem with a lot of these commitments. There is an accountability gap. Governments make similar pledges in 2014, with the New York Declaration on Forests but they didn't need to go anywhere near the progress that was expected.

FOSTER: How can you guarantee that this forest deal will work better than the last one in 2014?

IVAN DUQUE, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT: I think we have very concrete actions. In the case of Colombia, we have committed to declare 30 percent of our territory protected area in 2022. And I think the next challenge is going to be mobilizing green financing to ensure that we conserve the land and that's why we're promoting natural conservation contracts with peasants and indigenous communities.

FOSTER: There are reasons to be optimistic. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told CNN.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. CLIMATE ENVOY: I will tell you there is something bigger, more engaged, more urgent in what is happening here than I have seen in any other COP. And I believe we're going to come up with record levels of ambition and different from all the past we have private sector coming to the table in ways that we've never seen before.

[02:05:08]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cutting back on methane emissions.

FOSTER: Also on Tuesday, more than 80 nations launched an initiative to reduce global methane emissions. Committing to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2030. U.S. President Biden said the set was amongst the most important things we can do to keep global temperatures in check. And a cornerstone promise of his administration. That promise now extends to the deals signatories. Can they hit the target? That's the question, Max Foster, CNN, Glasgow, Scotland.

CHURCH: And CNN's Phil Black is following developments. He joins me now from Edinburgh, Scotland. Good to see you, Phil. So what all has been achieved so far, and what lies ahead on this day?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, the call going into this conference was for concrete, meaningful actions, specific plans, not just more words, and aspirations. And these first few days have sought to deliver on that, not through the Paris agreement process necessarily where individual countries set their own targets in the hope of cutting emissions to achieve a global goal.

We knew going into this that those voluntary targets were insufficient to the goal that it wasn't going to get us there. Where the progress has been where the excitement has been on some level has -- is surrounding these additional agreements that sit alongside the Paris Agreement. So, as you heard from Max's report there, these big new deals on deforestation, more than 100 countries committed to that by the end of the decade.

The promise to dramatically cut methane among another big group of countries, a smaller group of countries, getting together financially to assist South Africa transition away from coal. It is in this area, these specific targeted actions against very particular problems, where there has been arguably some progress where hopefully these things are followed through with, they can have some effect on slowing the changing climate.

Now the big leaders have -- had left, the big names have left, the workforce to the negotiating teams. The slow, grinding, incremental progress that really defines these conferences. There is a powerful mood of urgency at this conference. I think it even maybe after these first few days, just a little hope. But a clear-eyed assessment has to say that there is still so much to do, and obviously still so much at stake, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our Phil Black joining us live from Scotland. Many thanks.

Well, China is signaling it could be warming up to more ambitious goals and fighting the climate crisis. So far, Beijing has been reluctant to commit to keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, suggesting a slightly higher cap instead. But on Tuesday, China's Special Envoy for Climate said his country was not resisting the 1.5 target. China is the world's largest polluters, so securing Beijing support is critical to curbing climate change.

And yet China's President Xi Jinping has been notably absent from COP26. On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden criticized his decision not to attend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: We showed up. We showed up. By showing up we've had a profound impact on the way I think the rest of the world is looking at the United States and its leadership role. I think it's been a big mistake, quite frankly, for China, respect of China not showing up. The rest of the world will look to China and say what value added are they providing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Andrew Deutz is the U.S.-based Global Policy Director for The Nature Conservancy. He joins me now from Washington. Good to have you with us.

ANDREW DEUTZ, U.S.-BASED GLOBAL POLICY DIRECTOR, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: Good to be here.

CHURCH: So climate activists are not happy but world leaders are congratulating themselves for several major announcements at COP26, including 100 nations joining the U.S. to adopt strict new rules to curb methane emissions. Will this and other deals like ending deforestation by 2030 be sufficient do you think to bring the negative impact of climate change under control?

DEUTZ: This is a big step forward but we're not there yet. The fundamental architecture of the Paris Agreement was what we call pledge and review. So countries make commitments. And then every few years we come back and review those commitments, assess whether or not they're adequate and then crank this giant ratchet mechanism to increase the level of ambition. So Paris set a goal that the world to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

[02:10:05]

DEUTZ: But when you add up all the commitments that were on the table in Paris we were headed for a dangerous trajectory of 3.1. When you look at the new commitments that are on the table that have come in over the last year, we're now headed for a world of 2.7 degrees warming. So it's still dangerous, but it's not as bad as 3.1. So we're making progress. But we still have to crank that ratchet several more times and increase ambition a lot more and a lot faster.

CHURCH: And of course, President Biden blasted the leaders of China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia for not attending the COP26 Climate Summit, calling it a big mistake. How does the world make sure that those big carbon polluting nations do their part to reduce emissions when the leaders don't even turn out? DEUTZ: Well, each one of these countries is doing a lot domestically. And the way that the Paris Agreement process works is countries make their own commitments of what they can do. So they're going to be driven by domestic pressures. And that's what's driving the commitments that China has made. And then they're going to be driven by international pressures as well, whether they can join these clubs of limiting deforestation or limiting methane.

Whether they can access the financial resources that are being put on the table, South Africa has done that successfully. So in each case, we know we need a global solution. We need everyone to be leaders. But ultimately, the market conditions are changing. Investment is going to change and the countries that put in place the right policies are going to drive investment and are going to reduce emissions.

And the countries that are left behind are going to find themselves losing out in the global competition for the economy drivers in the 21st century.

CHURCH: And more than 40 countries we know including the U.S., U.K., India, China and E.U. back to the first international commitment to achieve near zero emission steel production by 2030. How significant is this, particularly for China known for its dirty steel?

DEUTZ: Well, ultimately, to solve the climate problem, you need an all of the above solution. So you need solutions in every sector of the economy. Steel is important. Cement is important. Airlines are important. Global maritime shipping is important. And one of the things we're seeing a lot of progress on this copy is nature is important. So we need to stop deforestation, improve forest restoration and change the way we do agriculture.

So like I said, ultimately, the shape of the global economy and the direction the global economy is going to be towards a low carbon future. The countries and the companies that figure out how to do that first are going to be the winners in the 21st century economy.

CHURCH: And just finally, President Biden urged optimism at the Climate Summit, even though he says that there's a reason for people to be worried, of course, how optimistic are you?

DEUTZ: Well, like I said, this was one more big ratchet up in the commitments. We have several more to go. The thing that I'm probably most optimistic about is that the world is finally figuring out that we need to solve the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis simultaneously. And we're taking steps to do that. If we can solve, nature can solve a third of the problem of climate change. And if we can invest in nature, we can make the climate problem easier to solve.

And vice versa, if we can solve the climate problem, we can improve the state of the world's biodiversity and ecosystems. They move together.

CHURCH: Very encouraging. Andrew Deutz, sir, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

DEUTZ: Thank you.

CHURCH: Some very happy news now. A four-year-old girl who went missing in Western Australia has been found alive more than two weeks after she disappeared from her family's campsite. Cleo Smith is now back with her family and police have a man in custody. CNN's Angus Watson has the details.

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: A joyous end to a harrowing story of a four-year-old girl missing from her family for almost three weeks. Cleo Smith, rescued by police in Western Australia at around 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday local time, found in a locked house in the town of Carnarvon. Some 30 miles from where she went missing from her tent at a campsite in remote Western Australia some three weeks ago.

That ended a mammoth search operation for the young girl which included federal and state police. Emergency services and members of the local community. Police say they never lost hope, but Cleo went missing from an extremely remote area of the Australian outback leading to fears that she might have disappeared forever. Her parents didn't give up hope or so. They say that when they woke to find her missing from the tent the zipper had been raised to a height that Cleo couldn't possibly have reached leading police to suspect she might have been abducted. Here's what they had to say about the moment she was rescued on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. BLANCH, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, WESTERN AUSTRALIA POLICE FORCE: One of the officers picked her up into his arms and asked her, what's your name? She said my name is Cleo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:15:01]

WATSON: A 36-year-old man has been taken into custody in connection with Cleo Smith's disappearance. Police haven't laid charges yet and are still questioning him. Police say he's not related to Cleo in any way. Now she was taken to hospital shortly after she was rescued. Pictures haven't been released yet but premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan says that she could be seen smiling on her hospital bed.

She's now spending time with her parents, the family now whole again, Angus Watson, CNN, Sydney.

CHURCH: And we now have that picture of Cleo Smith in hospital which was just released by the Western Australia Police. They posted it with the caption, the miracle we all hoped for. Absolutely. What a delightful sight there.

Well, it is election night in the U.S. and Republicans are celebrating a huge win. CNN projects Republican Glenn Youngkin will be the next governor of Virginia. This is a state Democrat Joe Biden carried by 10 points in last year's presidential election. Youngkin won about 51 percent of the vote. Until now Republicans had not won a statewide race in Virginia since 2009. President Biden and other high-profile Democrats had campaigned for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe to no avail. McAuliffe has yet to concede.

And in New Jersey the governor's race is neck and neck. Democratic incumbent Phil Murphy and his Republican rival former state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli are separated by just a few 100 votes. Ciattarelli address supporters a short time ago but did not declare victory saying we want every legal vote counted. More than 80 percent of the ballots have been processed. But Murphy's campaign insists the race will flip because votes are still coming in from the Democratic suburbs.

And still to come. How the Ethiopian government is telling its citizens to prepare as forces from Tigray threaten to advance on the country's capital.

Plus, a plan to build luxury apartments ends in disaster in Nigeria. The warning signs before Monday's deadly building collapse. Well back in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Ethiopia has announced a national state of emergency as forces from the northern Tigray region are reportedly gaining ground. The Tigray's People's Liberation Front claimed to have taken two key cities and say they're considering advancing on the Capitol. Authorities in Addis Ababa have told residents to prepare to defend their neighborhoods. The U.S. State Department is advising against traveling to Ethiopia and urging Americans to make preparations to leave the country. CNN's Larry Madowo has more.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The state of emergency just an alternate Ethiopia comes just days before the conflict and Tigray in the north of the country, chance a year old. In fact, a joint investigation by the United Nations and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission will announce the report on Wednesday. And the background for that the United States believes that the parties to that conflict are violating internationally acceptable human rights.

And that is why Washington is warning that it will pull Ethiopia out of a preferential trade deal unless it changes course. Not in the weeks, in days if it does not do so by January 1, Ethiopia will be out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. And this is how the U.S. explains it. According to the U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feldman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY FELDMAN U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR THE HORN OF AFRICA: It is worrisome to see a continuation of military -- of military advances by the TPLF, airstrikes by the -- by the government against targets in Tigray that will only increase the human suffering when in the end there's going to have to be talks. So the sooner we get to talk, the better -- the fewer people will suffer in Tigray and Amhara the closer we get to talks.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MADOWO: The Ethiopian government says withdrawing the country from AGOA would punish ordinary people. This is what the trade ministry put out in a statement. We are extremely disappointed by the threat of AGOA withdrawal currently under consideration by the U.S. government. These actions will reverse significant economic gains in our country and unfairly impact and harm women and children.

Ethiopian government claims that the two biggest exports under AGOA and to the U.S. leather and apparel, employ 200,000 people directly. 80 percent of them are women and they are the ones who will be worst affected. Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.

CHURCH: That's the scene in Nigeria as an ambulance evacuated survivors of a deadly building collapse. It's been nearly two days since the Lego's high-rise disaster which killed at least 14 people. The site was being built as high-end apartments. But there were warnings about the structure before it collapsed. CNN Stephanie Busari reports from Lagos.

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN DIGITAL SUPERVISING EDITOR, AFRICA (voice over): It was built as a place where future residents who could afford the minimum $1.2 million price tag could live the seven-star hotel experience. Before one of the three towers of the so-called luxury in the sky high rise complex came crashing down into a heap of concrete rubble Monday in the middle of the affluent Ikoyi neighborhood of Lagos.

Now rescue workers are painstakingly moving through what remains of the collapse building looking for survivors.

(on camera): Rescue officials say they are using the latest technology to find signs of lives of those trapped in the rubble in this building. Giving hope to hundreds of relatives desperately waiting for news of their loved ones.

IBRAHIM FARINLOYE, NIGERIAN NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGMENT AGENCY: Two excavators are deployed to the areas where we are hearing voices, and those ones are getting closer to the people who are trapped, who are still speaking with us.

BUSARI: Rescue teams dropping oxygen tanks beneath the debris to sustain those people they believe to be alive until they can safely reach them.

FARINLOYE: Hope is high. Their voice is still very, very strong and we are keeping hope that we will be getting them.

BUSRAI: As the hours pass, relative standby agonizing, hoping that the sound of voices coming in from beneath the debris means the loved ones have survived and may still be rescued.

MOTUNRAYO ELEGBEDE, BROTHER TRAPPED UNDER COLLAPSED BUILDING: That's why we are here since yesterday. He is still inside. We are waiting for news, for them to bring them out alive. We want him alive.

BUSARI: Yet fearing the worst with each new body pull from the rubble. Anger rising over just what caused the more than 20-storey building under construction for the past two years to collapse. Authorities say they're investigating what could have caused the structure to suffer such a catastrophic failure.

[02:25:04]

BUSARI: But CNN has confirmed red flags were raised about the project last year in February of 2020, Prowess Engineering sent a letter to Four Score Homes, the developer of the three tower 360 degrees complex, withdrawing from the project, saying they no longer share the same vision on how the project is being executed. And Lagos State deputy governor telling CNN that the building had been sealed off for several months last July amid structural concerns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was sealed because our agency came in to do an structural test, and they saw some anomalies and shut it down until those things were corrected.

BUSRAI: Four Score Homes has so far not responded to CNN's requests for comment. On Monday, local residents tell CNN but they believe dozens of workers and project officials was still inside the complex working when the building collapse. As rescue workers call out for survivors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody died.

BUSRAI: The exact number of those still missing remains unknown. Stephanie Busari CNN Lagos.

CHURCH: A deadly attack in Kabul as among the latest challenges to Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Official say at least 20 people are dead after blast and gunfire were heard at a major hospital. ISIS-K is the prime suspect. They've attacked this hospital before but so have the Taliban in fact suicide bombers linked to the former insurgents hit this very same facility a decade ago. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has the latest on Tuesday's attack.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: The key military hospital in Kabul, the Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan Hospital was attacked today. So the Taliban, they claimed that they had the attack under control within 15 minutes. Witnesses inside said how they had to shelter and protect themselves from the attackers. The Taliban said that was ISIS. What was once Afghanistan's insurgency the Taliban now governing the country and facing a more extreme Islamist insurgency of their own.

The Taliban set, 15 minutes later they had the situation under control and that they use military helicopters, presumably those taken from the previous government when it fled to help in controlling the situation, along with the deployment of their special forces. But while they said the Taliban that there were no casualties inside the hospital, health officials have suggested the death toll continued to mount.

The Taliban saying that ISIS wanted to target civilians and saying that civilians indeed had been killed in the perimeter of the hospital. But it will be a stark reversal, frankly, for long-term observers of this conflict that it is now the Taliban who used to in fact be the ones attacking hospitals when the government was in place to now face the threat of Islamist insurgency. ISIS raging in many different cities, responsible for mass casualty attacks.

And now it seems capable of penetrating some of the secure parts of Kabul. It comes at a time though of deepening economic problems, winter on setting and certainly some bid perhaps to gain an element of control of the economy too today was announced by the Taliban when they said they will be banning foreign currencies apart from the local Afghani. A terrifying attack though certainly one for which the death toll continued to rise in the hours after which it happened.

One I say remind people, frankly, how vulnerable the Taliban are in government here with security issues, particularly with a persistent threat and attacks that ISIS are capable of putting on. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

CHURCH: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come. The CDC signs off on giving the Pfizer vaccine to young children, but some parents are still not sure what to do. We'll get expert advice from a doctor after this short break. Stay with us.

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[02:30:00]

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CHURCH: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director has given the final greenlight for the immediate rollout of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for children ages five to 11. It's the youngest age group cleared for COVID vaccine so far in the U.S. The CDC's vaccine advisory committee voted unanimously in favor of the kid sized shots on Tuesday. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta breaks down the approval process and where things go from here.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We've just seen the same four-step process for the authorization of those vaccine for five to 11-year-olds as we've seen for the last year and a half now. FDA Advisory Committee recommended to authorize. The FDA officially authorized. The CDC advisers unanimously voted to recommend this vaccine. And now, you hear from Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director to make it official.

What it really comes down to, when they make these decisions is does the reward of recommending this vaccine outweigh the risk. We'll take a look specifically at the benefits of getting the vaccine, what they find is that for every million kids that are vaccinated, and remember, there's about 28 million kids in this age range, they find that close 60,000 cases of COVID could be prevented. 190 or so hospitalizations, 130 cases of multi-inflammatory syndrome and 60 ICU admissions potentially prevented as a result of 1 million kids getting vaccinated. Again, you know, close 28 million kids fall into this category.

Also, there's the impact on the pandemic overall. One of the studies that came up a couple times was a modeling study showing that if you get about the same rate of vaccination among these five to 11-year- olds as you had between 12 to 17-year-olds, you can decrease the exhilaration of the pandemic by about 8 percent over the next few months. Potentially preventing 600,000 cases of COVID by March of next year.

Keep in mind, it's not just the kids that we're talking about, but it's all the other people they might potentially transmit to the next several months. That's why so many cases could potentially be prevented. So, next steps, you know, these vaccine doses have already been going into pediatricians' offices, and, hospitals and clinics, so they should be available soon. One thing that jumped out of me listening to the discussion today, was that overall, the side effect profile for the vaccine for five to 11-year-olds was even better than you saw in older children.

Fewer incidences of fever, for example and lower incidences of myocarditis, which has been a big topic for teenagers. Myocarditis typically seems to happen after someone reaches puberty. So, it really wasn't an issue in this younger population. Obviously, there's a lot of hesitant parents out there, you want to be thoughtful about this, but I think the data is pretty clear as provided now by these two organizations.

As we get more information about this, we'll certainly bring it to you.

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CHURCH: Thanks for that. And joining me now is Dr. Scott Miscovich, the president and CEO of Premier Medical Group USA. He's also a national consultant in the U.S. for COVID-19 testing.

Good to have you with us, Doctor.

Dr. Scott Miscovich, President and CEO, Premier Medical Group USA: Hi, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, now, that the CDC has given the go ahead for kids five to 11 to start receiving their COVID shots, that could start happening in just a few hours from now in some parts of the U.S. How big a deal is this? Even though many parents of the 28 million eligible children are reluctant to get them vaccinated at this juncture. If at all.

[02:35:00]

DR. MISCOVICH: Rosemary, first of all that was a great summary by Sanjay. And my team is out there across the country, have the vaccines in hand and we will be administering these vaccines, like you said, within hours. And, you know, I think I'll highlighting the side effect profile is so low that that's always a question that we're getting. And the answer is, this is a game-changer. Let me make a comment that I really want to highlight this talk following off Sanjay. We have the holidays coming up. We know the kids, as Sanjay pointed out, will not be is sick and their chance of death is low. But if they have the disease and you take it and there around older family members, that is the huge thing we're trying to prevent. The positives of getting your children vaccinated now and then getting another shot in the arm before we have our major holiday season is where lives will be saved. And I really can't emphasize that enough. So, this is a huge point for the pandemic for the United States and the world.

CHURCH: That is critical. My next question was going to be what you would say those parents who don't want to get their kids vaccinated? I'm sure you essentials say that. But for those parents who are really concerned about any side effects with their young children, because, you know, this is just a third of the dose that an adult gets. But still, some of these parents are wearing aren't they.

DR. MISCOVICH: Yes. They are wary and I'm a parent also and I talk to parents all the time. The answer is that, as Sanjay said, the amount of side effects, the fever is only like 6 to 8 percent of the children. A little bit of muscle ache, a little bit of fatigue the following day, minor. The chances you're going to get any of the other side effects are very, very low.

And the great news, a lot of parents ask me, well, I have 11-year-old, should wait till they're 12 because they're getting a one-third versus a full dose? No. The great news for parents is the immune system of a child is robust that that smaller one-third dose just produces a massive amount of antibodies that protect them. And that's what we need to see. We need to see our children being protected so that they're not -- you know, I always one loss of life in a child is one life too many, or when I see admission (ph), no one wants to see that. This is how you prevent it. The data is crystal clear that it stimulates the immune system to prevent them from being hospitalized, let alone thinking lose a life.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, we can't emphasize that enough, that these children, five to 11, will get just get a third of the adult dosage and they will receive two shots, just like adults do. At what point though would you want to see the COVID shot made mandatory for all school age kids, as happens with chicken pox, measles, mumps, and other vaccines that allow all these kids to attend school safely?

DR. MISCOVICH: Wow. OK. Boy, yes. This is -- you went right after it with this one, Rosemary. That's good, because this is a big issue nationwide. It is being studied right now. It is being studied right now at numerous levels across the federal level to add this one to a mandatory vaccination. My feeling is, and I don't want to be political otherwise, I believe it will be there, I believe it is going to be mandatory vaccination and I believe it will save lives.

Is it my decision to make? No. It's going to go through -- we already know it's going to go to the Supreme Court, it's going to go to so many different levels. But I do believe it is safe, which is the first key, and it will save lives at all levels. And I'm doing testing throughout schools, throughout the United States and getting the kids back to schools right now safely, our country needs it. The children need that. They need to learn how to deal with peers, they need after- school activities. This is how we did it as a country or as a world.

CHURCH: It's so great to get your calm, intelligent arguments on this. Dr. Scott Miscovich, many thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

DR. MISCOVICH: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And still to come here on CNN, a look at baseball's new World Series champions. Back with that in a moment.

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[02:40:00]

CHURCH: Facebook is scrapping facial recognition software used to identify people in photos and videos. It's a major shift for the social media giant known for collecting vast amounts of data about its billions of users. The future had fueled privacy and ethical concerns among critics. Facebook says it will delete the data gathered through this software. This comes as Facebook is under scrutiny for how its platforms have fueled misinformation and the potentially harmful effects they have on younger users.

Well, this year's Atlantic hurricane season has been so busy, the entire list of storm names has been exhausted with about a month ago. Wanda is meandering well out in the Atlantic right now. Typically, by mid-November they are about 14 named storms. But this year, there has been 21 before the month even started. After Wanda, should any new weather systems be form, officials will have to consult a supplemental list of names as this year for the first time they have ditched the Greek alphabet system.

The Atlanta Braves have just been crowned World Series champion. They beat the Houston Astros on Tuesday to win the series 4 games to 2. It's Atlanta's first World Series title since 1995. The most valuable player was Brave' outfielder, Jorge Soler. And Houston made it to the World Series in 2019 and won the championship in 2017.

Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. World Sport is coming up next.

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