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Boosting U.S. PPE Production; Jobless Claims Near Historic Low; Boosters Coming For Ages 12 to 15?; Biden Set to Speak to Putin. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 30, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:13]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alisyn Camerota. Victor is off today.

Boosters may soon be available for 12-to-15-year-olds. A source tells CNN that the FDA is expected to green-light booster shots for that age bracket in the coming days. "The New York Times" reports it could happen Monday, and not a moment too soon, because, today, the U.S. just hit a new high in case numbers, averaging more than 300,000 new COVID infections in a single day.

And that shatters the previous pandemic record set just yesterday. Hospitalizations and deaths in this country continue to rise, but at a slower pace.

But, in some states like Ohio and Maryland, more people than ever before are hospitalized with COVID. The CDC predicts the entire country will see record hospitalizations in the coming weeks. They also predict more than 44,000 people could die in the next month.

For more now, let's turn to CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The skyrocketing, record levels of new infections have health officials playing defense in every way.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: We haven't lost control of it. This is a formidable outbreak. It is unprecedented, the likes of which we have not seen in well over 100 years.

FOREMAN: As predicted, the surge is not hitting everyone equally. DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: If you are unvaccinated, you are

10 times more likely to be a case and 20 times more likely to be a fatality.

DR. LEE SAVIO BEERS, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: We're still getting the data, but what we're hearing from hospitals really across the nation -- and this is very consistent -- is that the vast majority of the children who are being admitted are unvaccinated.

FOREMAN: So many people are being affected, many states are reporting near record highs. Maryland hospital officials are calling for a limited emergency declaration. In New York City, the fire department has so many out sick, they are reminding people to call 911 only in true emergencies.

And, everywhere, the drumbeat for more testing is growing louder, especially with schools reopening next week.

RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: Testing, testing, testing, testing all the time. So this is what I think we have to do. And you're seeing this in New York. You're seeing this in D.C. You're seeing this in as many places as we can.

FOREMAN: Test shortages have the federal government scrambling to sign a new contract next week for a half-billion free tests, which will start going out to the public in January.

In the meantime, two new reports indicate a booster shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine significantly lowers the risk of severe illness from the Omicron variant. And health officials are pleading, no matter which vaccine you choose, get your first shot, your second, then get boosted too.

DR. SYRA MADAD, NEW YORK CITY HEALTH AND HOSPITALS: That's where so many of us are echoing, go ahead and make sure that you get vaccinated, if you haven't got your first or second dose, and getting your booster dose. That's really what's going to protect you right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: And now the CDC has issued its highest warning yet for cruise ship travel, at least recently, basically saying, even if you are vaccinated, cruise ships are simply not a safe place for you to be in terms of the current variant and the current surge out there.

They have been investigating dozens of ships where there have been outbreaks, thousands of cases. It is indeed turning into a very difficult winter out here.

CAMEROTA: Understandable.

OK, Tom Foreman, thank you very much.

Let's bring in Dr. William Schaffner. He's a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and an adviser for the CDC Board for Immunization Practices.

So, Doctor, great to have you.

The FDA, we have just learned, is expected to approve boosters for kids aged 12 to 15 very soon. When will those kids actually be able to get a shot?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, DEPARTMENT OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE CHAIRMAN, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Well, they will likely be able to get a shot, Alisyn, six months after their second dose. That's currently the booster recommendation when you got an mRNA vaccine if you are an adult.

And I would anticipate it would be entirely similar for children.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: But meaning like, the boost, they will be able to get it next week? Can it move that quickly?

SCHAFFNER: Well, I would hope that the company is ready to start delivering the vaccine to the locations and get the word out to pediatricians and family doctors that they can do this if the children in their practice are eligible.

But let's get back to ground one. There are so many children yet who are 5 years of age and older who haven't received their first dose yet. That's where the really big push has got to be.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: We have those numbers. Let me just put up a graphic to prove that point, Doctor, for a second, because, right now, 50 -- only 51.2 percent of the children who are eligible have gotten the vaccine.

[14:05:00]

And so do you think that the boosters will follow that same pattern?

SCHAFFNER: Well, I'm afraid that's the case.

I know for sure that the proportion of children vaccinated is less than that in my state, because we're a state where there are a lot of hesitant vaccinators. And so I think, across the country, we're going to have to continue to push. All of my pediatrician colleagues are in this, I'm sure, pushing to get the kids in their practices vaccinated.

CAMEROTA: I mean, and it sounds like that's the answer, that the relationship that you have with your pediatrician goes further than something that, say, the Biden administration is pleading with you to do.

At least, that's what we have been told by doctors.

But I want to just pull up here, Dr. Schaffner, the numbers, because they're so stunning right now. The -- right now, we are seeing more than 300,000 cases, new cases, per day, OK? And if you compare that to one year ago, which was another huge spike, we all remember, the cases back then were 18,2000 roughly.

Now, if there's any good news, it's that the deaths are down from last year, thanks to the vaccines. But, still, we're at 1,500 deaths a day. I mean, that's still a staggering number. Last year, a year ago at this time, it was 2,400 deaths per day.

So what do you think, Dr. Schaffner, is going to happen in the next couple of weeks? Are those case numbers going to go even higher? Or are we close to the peak? What do you predict?

SCHAFFNER: Well, I think this Omicron strain, which is responsible for so many of those cases, is going to continue to spread and make more and more cases over the next four to six weeks.

After all, we have gotten together for the holidays, traveled and provided environments for this virus to spread. Now, that said, behind that will come increases in hospitalizations.

And those hospitalizations, whether adult or pediatric, continue to be in prominently unvaccinated persons. So we want to get our unvaccinated friends and neighbors in to get their first doses just as soon as possible.

That will blunt what's happening regarding hospitalizations. And then in addition, I'm sorry, I have to bring up yet another nasty respiratory virus, influenza. It's beginning to get active all over the country. And we will see influenza and COVID both driving people into the hospital.

So, we're in for a rough few weeks in the beginning of 2022.

CAMEROTA: I want to tell you about something interesting that Michigan is doing.

So, Michigan, the Department of Health there has decided not to go by the CDC new guidance in terms of the isolation time. So, as you know, the CDC had shortened it from 10 days of isolation if you got a positive test to five. Michigan says they're not ready to do that. In fact, they say that they're going to wait to review the supporting evidence.

Are they being too cautious?

SCHAFFNER: Well, they're being very cautious.

And if they can persuade their population to do that, good for them. But we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. And the CDC is trying to do what's best for the most people that actually works. It's based on science.

But, remember, public policy has to be accepted and work. And that's what the CDC was trying to do, get a science-based policy that would be accepted by the majority of people in the United States, substantially reduce the risk of transmission, not to zero, but, remember, don't let perfection get in the way of doing what you can do very well now.

CAMEROTA: So, Dr. Schaffner, I mean, the picture that you have laid out for the next few weeks is bleak, when you combine, obviously, Omicron and the flu.

So, all of us had just gotten used to going back into the mall and going back to restaurants and going back to work and going back to the gym. Should we be adjusting our behavior over the next few weeks?

SCHAFFNER: I would suggest people particularly who are older, underlying -- who have underlying illnesses, people who are immune- compromised, those people who are at greater risk of severe disease, yes, rent a movie, rather than going to the movie.

Adjust your behavior. Be meticulous in wearing your mask when you're outside, and don't let anybody in the house who is not vaccinated.

CAMEROTA: Dr. William Schaffner, always great to talk to you. Thanks so much.

SCHAFFNER: My pleasure.

CAMEROTA: OK, so, in the next hour, President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to hold a phone call. This one was requested by Vladimir Putin. So what does he want?

And new details on the suspect behind that deadly shooting spree in Denver. A series of writings by the gunman show how he not only foreshadowed the attack, but he named two of his eventual victims.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:14:26]

CAMEROTA: A source tells CNN that the Air Force just flew another surveillance plane over the Russia and Ukraine border, where as many as 100,000 Russian troops remain at the ready, despite warnings from the U.S.

So, in about an hour, President Biden will hold a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This will be their second call this month, and this one is at the request of Putin.

Joining me now is CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond, CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, and, in Moscow, we have CNN senior international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson.

So, Jeremy, before we get to what Putin wants, what does President Biden want out of this call?

[14:15:05]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, senior officials have told us that President Biden intends to make the choice that Vladimir Putin faces very clear and put it really in stark relief. And that is to say, on the one hand, there is this diplomatic path

here that the U.S. is prepared to engage in. Meaningful diplomacy are the words that a senior administration official used yesterday. And that begins, of course -- or continues, rather, with those bilateral talks set for January 10 between U.S. and Russian officials.

The other path is one that President Biden intends to reiterate to Vladimir Putin, something that he told him earlier this month when they had that videoconference. And that is to say that Russia will face severe, devastating, in President Biden's words, economic consequences if, indeed, he decides to move forward with an invasion of Ukraine.

In addition to that, he will also face stepped-up U.S. military support for U.S. allies at Russia's doorstep, including an increased, stepped-up NATO presence at Russia's borders.

So, that is essentially how President Biden intends to approach this conversation. At the same time, U.S. officials are under no illusion that there will be any kind of meaningful, dramatic, concrete progress coming from this call. But, certainly, it's an opportunity for the president to reiterate all of that and really to set the table for those talks, those bilateral talks set to begin the week of January 10.

CAMEROTA: OK, so, Nic, as we said, it was President Putin who called for this call. So what do we think he wants?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: He wants to keep the pressure on President Biden. He wants President Biden to drive a decision at NATO. He wants that decision to be to -- for NATO not to admit Ukraine to membership, to keep NATO troops and military hardware out of Ukraine, to roll back NATO from the borders.

He thinks that President Biden and the United States is the vehicle to do that. He could be trying to also drive a deeper wedge in divisions that already exists between -- in NATO and the transatlantic alliance. He may perceive President Biden's missteps on Afghanistan, missteps with France recently as well, as an opportunity to widen some gaps in the thinking that have happened across the transatlantic alliance.

But I think this is all about pressure. Putin brought the conditions for bear to have these conversations. He built up the troops on the border with Ukraine. He called for the conversations. He had that first telephone call. He's put the demands to President Biden. He wants this phone call today.

And we also understand that he's going to have military exercises in Belarus, where -- joint military exercises with the Belarus military. Last time they did that, a few months ago, that was 200,000 troops. He is not about to back off on the pressure. Those joint military exercises are scheduled to take place in February and March.

So, this conversation -- the negotiations will start in Geneva on January the 10th. Putin is planning way ahead of that. There is so much pressure that he is going to continue to bring to bear to get an outcome that he finds satisfactory.

CAMEROTA: So, Barbara, we're looking at some of these aerial shots, I believe, of the border, and we just reported that there was -- there were more surveillance flights.

So, does the Pentagon get any sense as to whether or not there's been a de-escalation at the Ukraine border or whether there are still just as many troops?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, if there is, the Pentagon is not publicly saying this.

The Russians earlier had claimed that they had pulled back some 10,000 troops. The U.S. has not publicly verified any of it. And it was just two days after that the first of that Joint STARS, an E-8B aircraft, flew over the border region, staying on the Ukraine side.

But there was another flight of the same type of aircraft earlier today just hours before the Biden-Putin phone call. So why is this so interesting? The Russians know we're there. They're very aware of it. They know the U.S. is conducting surveillance flights watching what they're doing.

The U.S. knows the Russians know. But Putin has put on the table that he does not want any NATO, U.S. or allied military capability anywhere near his border. And now, just hours before the two leaders have their phone call, we have evidence that the U.S. has again flown a military asset across Eastern Ukraine, not, of course, crossing the border into Russia, staying on the Ukraine side, but putting U.S. military capability right up against that border, which Putin says he cannot tolerate -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, we will be watching to see what the White House puts out after this phone call.

Jeremy Diamond, Barbara Starr, Nic Robertson, thank you very much.

All right, well, former President Donald Trump wants the Supreme Court to look at a "Washington Post" interview. We will tell you why.

And new unemployment claims are staying at their lowest levels in more than 50 years -- so, what this means about the state of the economy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:24:32]

CAMEROTA: The pandemic has brought our critical medical supply shortages into stark relief, especially personal protective equipment.

Now one company, the U.S. Medical Glove Company just outside of Chicago, wants to reduce U.S. reliance on imports, while creating jobs that pay well above minimum wage.

CNN Scott McLean has an inside look at how they're doing it

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Literally hot off the production line, the very first hand molds being dipped in nitrile.

[14:25:05]

The result? A reliable stream of medical-grade gloves made in America. This is a big deal because, for decades, the U.S. has imported these gloves from cheap suppliers almost entirely in Asia. It took a pandemic to start to change that.

Businessman Dylan Ratigan says he felt compelled to act.

DYLAN RATIGAN, CEO, U.S. MEDICAL GLOVE COMPANY: We have just watched hundreds of thousands more, than a half-a-million Americans die, and many of them for no reason. I think bad decisions have been made in American manufacturing, specifically for critical assets like class one medical devices.

The decision has been made to make sure that never happens again.

MCLEAN: When the pandemic exploded, the nitrile glove industry was plagued by price-gouging, fraud and scams. A CNN investigation found counterfeit, substandard or even dirty, used medical gloves being imported to the U.S. by the tens of millions.

(on camera): Pre-pandemic, there was only one nitrile glove producer in the U.S. in Fayette, Alabama, but the company says it struggled to get even the U.S. government to buy its gloves because they cost around twice the price.

That's because around 10 percent of the world's medical gloves are made in China, 20 percent in Thailand, and 65 percent in Malaysia, where the U.S. government only recently lifted an import ban on the world's largest producer, after finding evidence of forced labor earlier this year.

How do you compete with slave labor?

RATIGAN: The technology allows me to do it in a way that I can compete with even the dirtiest user of slave labor.

You want to be a customer of a slave labor company? I don't.

MCLEAN: And you couldn't do it 30 years ago?

RATIGAN: You could never have done this 30 years ago, because the technology didn't exist. But the most important thing that you need to see is this.

MCLEAN (voice-over): Ratigan is a former cable news anchor and now CEO of the U.S. Medical Glove Company, committed to paying workers at least $25 per hour, plus health care coverage and plans for free on- site child care.

There are currently about 100 of them now assembling new lines and ovens using all American-made parts.

RATIGAN: And that is a critical distinction between this company and others.

MCLEAN: The start-up housed in a sprawling former Caterpillar factory is backed by a $63 million advanced purchase order from the U.S. government. All told, Washington is spending $1.7 billion to help American companies manufacture PPE at home, after the pandemic exposed how dependent the U.S. is on foreign sources, which is a vulnerability in public health emergencies.

Another American start-up, USA Gloves outside Houston, was created by former importers who found it almost impossible to buy gloves from abroad. They don't have any government investment yet. But once the machines are finally up and running next month, they hope to turn a profit from private sales, even with higher prices than Asian brands.

ZISHAN MOMIN, CEO, USA GLOVES: And hospitals and clinics and even end users are willing to pay that slight premium, so that we're prepared for a future pandemic.

MCLEAN: It's still early days, but experts say it is essential for the U.S. to make more of its PPE at home. The question is:

PRASHANT YADAV, CENTER FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: Whether people will remember this and be willing to pay that premium in the medium term, or is this just a very short-term memory, and soon people will go back to thinking about, who's my lowest-cost supplier?

MCLEAN: That may ultimately be what determines the success or failure of these new enterprises, whether they're expensive experiments or the beginning of a new era that reduces America's dependence on factories on the other side of the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCLEAN: Now, at a time like this, of course, no one is complaining about government investment in domestic PPE production, but no one that we interviewed for this story thinks that that is a viable long- term solution either.

Instead, the medical supply chain expert you heard from at the end of the story says that it -- the government should be negotiating better trade deals to ensure that wages and standards in places like China, Malaysia and Thailand are comparable to American wages and standards, so that U.S. producers can actually compete on a level playing field, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Really interesting inside look, Scott. Thank you so much.

All right, well, the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, pulling the four-week moving average to its lowest level since 1969.

President Biden weighed in on Twitter, saying -- quote -- "Last year at this time, there were 823,000 Americans filing new jobless claims each week. This last week, that number was less than 200,000. That's historic progress."

CNN's Matt Egan me now to go over the numbers.

So, Matt, tell us about these numbers. And are you seeing things already being affected by the Omicron surge?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Alisyn, no, the latest numbers suggest that Omicron is not messing with this historic jobs boom.

And the numbers also really suggest that, despite COVID and high inflation, the economy's ending the year in pretty good shape, as you mentioned, jobless claims dipping in the latest week.