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FDA Authorizes Pfizer Vaccine Boosters for Kids 16 and 17; Jobless Claims Hit a 52-Year Low; Congressional Black Caucus Calls for Senate to Revive Voting Reform; Starbucks Employees at Buffalo Store Vote to Unionize. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 09, 2021 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: The FDA just authorized boosters for 16- and 17-year-olds. New studies show the Pfizer booster results in ten times fewer infections and deaths going down by 90 percent.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Now listen, there's a lot we don't know about the Omicron COVID variant but health officials warn that the Delta is what's fueling the spread of COVID in the U.S. right now. Cases are up in 45 states this week. Hospitalizations and deaths also on the rise. President Biden and Vice President Harris will meet with the White House COVID response team any minute now for the latest updates on Delta and Omicron.

Let's discuss all of this with Dr. Ali Khan from the University of Nebraska Medical Center's College of Public Health. Doctor, thanks for being back. Let's start on these boosters for young people. You know, we know that 16- and 17-year-olds can now get them. It's coming up on six months since the younger people, 12 to 15, have gotten those first shots if they got them pretty early on. Should they soon be eligible for booster, too?

DR. ALI KHAN, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER'S COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I think we'll wait to see that data. But data is really good for 16- to 17-year-olds, Victor.

[15:35:00]

And this is consistent with what we saw over the last couple of days. That if you want protection against Omicron, it's best to have all three doses in the primary series than just two doses. So, now we'll be able to protect the 16- and 17-year-olds also as, in addition to the 18 plus we know should get a booster.

CAMEROTA: OK, because I've got a six-foot tall 14-year-old on my hands. So, it seems like you should be able to be boosted at some point soon. But to your point, Dr. Khan, that the idea that we know that the three doses work best and maybe even against Omicron, why is the Pfizer CEO talking about a fourth dose now?

KHAN: I think Pfizer's CEO is talking about fourth dose because he's Pfizer's CEO. But there's also evidence from Israel that they're thinking about a fourth dose. Really, we need to drive these decisions by data. Which we need better data here in the U.S. that says how are people doing based on not vaccinated, one dose, two dose, three doses or hybrid immunity. And that's what's going to determine whether we need a fourth dose. But it's fair to say at this point, Alisyn, I think three doses is what a primary series looks like. Zero, one month and six months.

BLACKWELL: And people, listen, are getting the vaccine. We've now hit a milestone in the country, 200 million Americans fully vaccinated. It's about 60 percent, sorry -- put that up -- 70 average of people getting the first shot as well. The 70 average is about half million per day. That number of a half million per day getting the first shot. Should that be higher?

KHAN: So, that's good news but it's not good enough news. So, we probably need levels of about 85 percent if we really want to make a difference, and we're seeing this in highly vaccinated states. You know, people like to talk about Vermont and New Hampshire, et cetera, these days. And until we have rates about 85 percent, it's not going to be enough.

BLACKWELL: Wow.

CAMEROTA: I understand what you're saying that obviously we need to wait for the data and clearly that is hard for us to live in this sort of state of unknown, but when will we know for sure? I mean, will this be something that they'll just be new variants, you know, coming at us all the time and the vaccines will -- and doses will have to adjust? Or at some point will there be an answer soon?

KHAN: OK, so let's Step back. I know it's very easy to look at this dramatic 20 percent increase in hospitalizations. This is all still Delta that we were seeing since the summer. It's just sort of moving its way through the country. But we're still half as many hospitalizations than we were last winter. One-third as many deaths. So, we're making lots of progress. I think sometimes that gets missed in these horrific situations such as in Michigan you can't find a hospital bed and they call in the military to take care of patients.

But we are making progress. And if we layer the three strategies that we know work, right? Add vaccines, make sure that you're tested early and we're doing quarantines and isolation as needed, and social distancing as needed, antivirals. You know, if you put all of those strategies together, we have what it takes to go to the post pandemic phase of this epidemic.

BLACKWELL: All right. Dr. Ali Khan, thank you, sir.

KHAN: I've got a message for you.

BLACKWELL: I know you do.

KHAN: Obviously, get vaccinated and mask on.

CAMEROTA: No -- no way! That's a beauty.

BLACKWELL: That's fantastic. CAMEROTA: That was worth the wait.

BLACKWELL: I feel like you've got to send us a couple of those, Dr. Khan. Just look.

KHAN: Be safe out there.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Khan thank you. And I are not above wearing those around town.

BLACKWELL: I will certainly send them out to people.

CAMEROTA: That is so good.

BLACKWELL: Christmas cards, Victor and Alisyn, man.

CAMEROTA: I think we just found our Christmas card.

BLACKWELL: Stand by.

All right, some encouraging news about the economy. Prices are starting to fall and kinks in the supply chain are starting to straighten out bringing some relief in time for the holidays. Stay with us.

[15:40:00]

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BLACKWELL: So, it's between two and four here on the East Coast. 2:00 and 4:00. And we do this thing -- two to four things. Makes sense.

CAMEROTA: Yes, we do.

BLACKWELL: Makes sense. Today we're doing the economy edition.

CAMEROTA: CNN's Matt Egan joins us now to help. So Matt, let's start with this. Because I think this is a good news two to four things economic addition. OK. So, last week's jobless claims were the lowest in the U.S. in 52 years. How does that work?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, it's amazing. You know, clearly the jobs market is doing just amazing right now. In the balance of power between labor and bosses, workers have all the bargains power. I mean, companies, they can't fill all the job openings so they can't let go of the workers they have. So that's why we've seen jobless claims fall to lowest level since 1969, when Richard Nixon was in the White House. This is obviously a youth positive.

Now, economists say that this recent decline may be exaggerated a bit by seasonal effects. It's a little noisy this time of year. Also, COVID has really messed with the government's models. But still, big picture, even look at the four-week moving average, which takes away some of the volatility, that is the lowest level since March 2020. So, this is a slam dunk positive for the economy. BLACKWELL: All right, thing two. Gas prices dipping a bit. Solving

some of the problems with the supply chain. What's the impact on inflation?

EGAN: Well, we know that supply chain and energy, those are really two of the biggest drivers for this historic period of inflation. So that's what we have to pay attention to what happens there so closely.

[15:45:00]

There have been positives. Gas prices ticking down $3.34 a gallon nationally not cheap but lower. And there was these forecasts from the government, from Wall Street, for prices to go down further. Natural gas prices down as well.

Then the supply chain. So, the supply chain nightmare it's not over and it may not get back to normal anytime soon, but there are some glimmers of hope. There's some signs that maybe the worst is over. Port congestion is starting to ease. Prices have come down. Deliveries are speeding up. And to the extent that that actually starts to improve that should take pressure off inflation.

CAMEROTA: We have time for one more. So, I want to skip to -- J.P. Morgan is predicting the pandemic will be over in 2022. Who made them scientists? How do they know?

EGAN: Well, they -- that's a good question. They are citing sort of the scientific progress, though. They're talking about the progress in terms of vaccines and what that means. And so, they're saying that, look, you know, they feel pretty good that the pandemic is going to be over next year, things will be kind of returning back to normal. They think these economic wounds caused by COVID are going to fully heal next year and that would obviously be an amazing positive.

CAMEROTA: That would be. That would be huge. Matt Egan, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Matt.

EGAN: Thank you, guys.

CAMEROTA: OK. There's renewed push in Congress to get something done on voting reform as 2021 nears its end, we have that, straight ahead.

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CAMEROTA: Lawmakers are launching a new push to advance voting reform. Yesterday, the Congressional Black Caucus held a closed-door meeting with top Senate Democrats and reportedly called on Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to revive their stalled voting rights bills before it is too late.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Eva McKend is following this story for us. Eva, what more can you tell us about this meeting? EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Victor, Alisyn, my sources are telling me that it was intense. Senator Schumer at this meeting, Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Cory Booker as well as members of the Congressional Black Caucus. And this is a part of a long campaign from the caucus.

I remember months ago when the head of the caucus Congresswoman Joyce Beatty of Ohio carried out of the Hart Senate building in handcuffs leaning on the Senate to address this issue of voting rights.

Now Senator Schumer has said in a dear colleague letter that he does plan to bring this up but, you know, they have tried at this four times and failed. Now the caucus also talking to the administration. Vice President Harris discussing this issue of voting rights at a forum aimed promote democracy today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, insuring every eligible American can access that right is a top priority for our administration. And an effort that I am proud to lead. But executive action alone is not enough. Our Congress must act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So, the caucus members tell me that they have real concern about returning to their communities for the holiday and not getting this addressed. Congresswoman Beatty telling me we don't want to go back to our communities and fail them. But they're not going to take a dramatic effort in terms of holding their bloc together to block must pass unrelated bills. They are not going to go that far -- Victor, Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: Eva McKend for us in Washington, thank you so much.

Let's turn now to this unprecedented vote. Starbucks employees at one store in New York just voted to unionize. So, will that impact the cost of a latte? Find out.

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[15:55:00]

CAMEROTA: Now to some vanilla chai latte news. In an unprecedented vote Starbucks employees at one store in New York just voted to unionize. The vote passed even though the company campaigned to convince employees they were better off without a union.

BLACKWELL: Vanilla chai latte news. OK.

CAMEROTA: It's important.

BLACKWELL: Let's get right to CNN's business correspondent, Alison Kosik. So, what's this mean?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You guys are making me thirsty. I have some great questions. And one thing is for sure. This is a watershed moment because until today no corporate run Starbucks in the U.S. has ever been unionized.

Today in Buffalo there's a location that is now unionized. Those are some of the employees there. There were two other cafes in Buffalo that had the same vote. One voted against unionization and the other is still in question.

This is significant. Because restaurants are really some of the least unionized businesses in the U.S. But what this could wind up doing is giving momentum not just to other Starbucks to possibly try to unionize but other restaurant chains to possibly unionize.

Now Starbucks did urge employees to vote against this. They have made strides to try to improve their pay scale, they've moved their starting wage to $15 an hour.

This is a company that also has great benefits. They've got 100 percent college tuition paid for an online college. They offer health care. Not just to full-time employees but to part-time as well. They also offer stock options from day one for employees that vest after the first year.

But, still, the organizers that I've talked to, they said a lot of the benefits sound great on paper but they are inaccessible and they're irrelevant to their lives. Something that they hope that they can make Starbucks realize.

At least from the employees that I talked to at this one cafe they hope to get Starbucks to realize that some of these benefits don't really cater to them. They're also trying to help some of the longer- term employees get a higher salary who they say they often have the same kind of salary as a new employee.

CAMEROTA: Meaning like a manager?

KOSIK: Yes. Like somebody who has been there a while, the starting salary is 15 and their salary is very close to that, the union organizers are hoping to help those employees as well.

BLACKWELL: All right.

CAMEROTA: Alison, thank you.

KOSIK: You got it.

BLACKWELL: "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

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