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Interview with Resident of Kharkiv, Ukraine Victoria Goncharenko; Russian Forces Stalled in Ukraine; Russians Continues to attack Kharkiv, Ukraine; FDA Authorizing Second Booster for adults over 50; Interview with White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients; Shooting Attack Near Tel Aviv. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired March 29, 2022 - 14:30:00   ET

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

[14:30:00]

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DON LEMON, CNN HOST: I'm Don Lemon in Lviv, Ukraine.

A senior U.S. defense official said Russian troops are stalled in several regions of Ukraine, including Kharkiv in the east. But they continue to use aircraft and artillery to attack the city. Video shows devastating images of destroyed buildings and deserted streets all across Kharkiv. Victoria Goncharenko, joins me now.

Victoria, thank you so much. Appreciate you joining us.

You said that you won't leave until Ukraine wins the war. What is it like in your city today?

VICTORIA GONCHARENKO, RESIDENT OF KHARKIV, UKRAINE: Hi, Don. First, it's an honor for me to be your guest now, and to have the opportunity to share my experience with you.

So, living in Kharkiv now is absolutely different comparing to our previous life, how we call it now. So, it's terrifying. It's terrible. Because living in shelling, in airstrikes, that's nothing I want to have in my life.

LEMON: Yes. Victoria, as we understand, your husband was injured while fighting, your brother-in-law was captured by the Russians for 24 hours. How are they doing?

GONCHARENKO: It's true. Oh, now they are well, I can say. So, my husband is a warrior in territorial defense, and he was wounded, would be more correct to say wounded. Two and a half weeks ago during the airstrike that happened in the city center. And, of course, I heard this blast and exactly this time I felt very special anxious at that moment. And my husband got fractured. His chin and tore his ligaments.

And another story of my brother-in-law, my husband's brother, he was captured by occupants when he was heading to a small town, (INAUDIBLE), which is very close to the border of the Russian federation. So, he headed a humanitarian convoy to deliver humanitarian aid to people in this occupied town. And the green corridor was discussed and agreed with Russians. And nevertheless, they stopped six cars, including the ambulance car, and drivers and doctors were kept in cold basement for 24 hours and then, released because no military signs were found. It's very important to be civilian in humanitarian convoy. So, all guys were released. Yes?

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LEMON: So, listen, I want to know about what you're experiencing as well. But let me just add this, yesterday, the U.N. said that they were able to deliver food and supplies to Kharkiv, Victoria. Do you have enough supplies? Do you have enough food? And we're looking at these horrific pictures. Tell me about what you need and what you're experiencing.

GONCHARENKO: Now, at the moment, we don't need -- so, of course, we need, but we are provided with food, with medicine because there is delivery by post, by humanitarian convoys to Kharkiv, exactly Kharkiv. So, we have enough medicine and everything else very important for living, for surviving. Because now we turn to the survival mode.

It's crazy to say, it's a real hell. I still want someone to wake me up, just to wake me up. Kharkiv is now provided with food, fortunately. Thank you. Thank you for all of the help, from all over the world. We do appreciate it.

LEMON: Victoria, I can feel how hard this is for you and every word clear and we feel your emotions and we are thinking about you. You -- be well and be safe and thank you so much for coming onto CNN, OK? Appreciate it.

GEIST: Thank you very much. Thank you.

LEMON: Alisyn, like she said, every day they wake up to a living hell. I mean, can you imagine? The pictures there. The -- and she said she is not leaving until they win this war. And you know, that's not going to be any time soon. I mean, quite frankly, you know, these things take time. They're not even at the negotiating table yet. There's still, you know, explosions and bombardment. Oh, boy.

CAMEROTA: Don, I mean, I -- what I took away was what Victoria said about how quickly you have to change into survival mode. She said she can barely believe it.

LEMON: Yes.

CAMEROTA: But now, they're just in survival mode and they're so grateful that they're being provided for with humanitarian care, just with medications and the, you know, food supplies that they need. How quickly your life can be turned upside down like that.

Don, thank you very much. And obviously, we'll check back with you momentarily.

So, back here, the FDA is authorizing a second booster shot for adults over 50. Does that mean the immunity has waned? How often will we need to be boosted? We're going to speak with the White House COVID-19 coordinator next.

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CAMEROTA: The FDA expanding the emergency use authorization of Pfizer and Moderna's COVID vaccines to allow for a second booster shot for adults aged 50 and older. Also, today, the CDC said the highly contagious Omicron subvariant, BA.2, is now the dominant strain in the U.S.

Let's bring in Jeff Zients. He's the White House COVID-19 response coordinator.

Jeff, great to see.

I'm interested in this second booster recommendation. I got my booster four months ago. Does that mean that my booster, the protection has now worn off?

JEFF ZIENTS, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: It has not worn off, Alisyn. First of all, thank you for having me here from chilly Washington, D.C.

It is an important day on boosters. And the boosters work and Americans should get their booster. There is waning across time. So, it's important that people take advantage of the extra protection of a booster shot. So, booster shots are good for all Americans and those over age 50 have just been authorized for an additional shot.

CAMEROTA: But how often do you think we will have to get additional boosters?

ZIENTS: You know, that -- for that, we turn to the science and medical experts. What the FDA has determined today and the CDC will recommend is that those over 50 are now eligible for a fourth shot after four months. But we'll continue to follow the science. And what's important is that Americans take advantage of the extra protection of a booster and get their booster shot as soon as possible.

CAMEROTA: So, basically, is it fair to say we don't know yet how often we'll have to be boosted?

ZIENTS: You know, I think we're learning through the science. The scientists follow the clinical trials, the effectiveness of vaccines. And the vaccines continue to be very effective, particularly against hospitalizations. Those who are vaccinated and boosted are much, much less likely to end up in the hospital.

So, what we do know is that people should get boosted and we do know the FDA and CDC are the gold standard and they'll track the science and data and make recommendations off of that information.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's talk about something else significant that's happening today. And that is, today, I think, is the end of the final military medical deployment, for the military personnel who were helping out with COVID. So, what does that mean?

ZIENTS: It's an important day, you're right, Alisyn. And that the team from Utah is coming home. That's the final team in this deployment.

Let me step back for a second. The president on day one of his administration instructed the team to deploy every resource, pull every lever, leave no stone unturned. And deploying the military for the first time ever against a public health crisis has been critical to the progress we have made.

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The men and women in uniform, there's no one better than that group to handle a crisis. And they stepped up initially to set up vaccination sites across the country, 5,000 military personnel. That led to 220 million shots in the first 100 days in office. And then, during the Omicron surge, 1,100 medical -- military medical personnel were deployed to hospitals across the country to help care for patients, help save lives. These are true heroes and they join the heroes -- the healthcare heroes on the frontlines across the country and other frontline workers. And we welcome them back as true heroes who have made a real difference and have saved countless lives.

CAMEROTA: That's so true. I mean, we have seen so much heroism in all of this. Let's talk about the money for whatever is going to happen next. You know, Congress is trying to figure out how much more to allocate to fight COVID-19. Senator Mitch McConnell was saying today that basically all the past money that's been allocated has not yet been spent and he doesn't want more until all of that in the pipeline has been spent. Do we have enough for whatever is going to happen next?

ZIENTS: No, Alisyn, we need funding right away. So, there was $160 million direct allocated to fighting COVID, the medical countermeasures. We are out of money. So, we are now cutting back supplies of monoclonal antibodies, they are very effective treatments. We're not able to order more treatments. We are going to jeopardize our capacity that we have built of tests across the country, at-home tests.

We are at the point now where we need the money and there are immediate consequences. Congress needs to move quickly. Congress has known about this for months. We're out of money. We risk being prepared. We have the tools so that we can be prepared and protect the American people and get ready if there's ever a new variant that we need to fight in addition to Omicron. We can be ready.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

ZIENTS: But we need the resources to do it. This virus is not waiting on Congress. Congress needs to act.

CAMEROTA: But is it true -- I mean, but is it true what Senator McConnell is saying that there is money that hasn't been spent yet? ZIENTS: That's just not the case. I don't know what money he's referring to, but it's certainly not the money for the direct COVID response. And the American Rescue Plan money is largely allocated and spent at this point.

CAMEROTA: OK. Meanwhile, you're a tenure as the COVID-19 coordinator in the White House is coming to an end. And you'll be replaced by Dr. Ashish Jha, who we know well from having interviewed him here on CNN many times. What advice do you have for your successor?

ZIENTS: Well, first of all, I can't imagine a better choice. As you know, he is a world-renowned public health expert. He's been on the case of COVID since the very beginning. He's a practicing doc. He's the right person to lead the next phase of staying prepared, making sure that Americans have the tools and that we're protected against COVID going forward.

My advice to him is to continue to do what this team has done, which is a whole of government effort to make sure that we're pulling every lever we can to protect the American people. As I said earlier, Congress needs to do its part and provide the resources and then, we can continue to execute on the president's plan.

CAMEROTA: Jeff Zients, thanks so much for your time. Great to talk to you.

ZIENTS: Thank you, Alisyn. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We're following some breaking news right out of Israel. There's been a deadly attack near Tel Aviv. We have the latest for you next.

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[14:50:00]

CAMEROTA: We have some breaking news out of Israel. According to Israeli Emergency Services, there's been a shooting attack near Tel Aviv that's killed at least four people. This is the third attack on Israelis in a week. The total death toll in the past week is now 11 people.

CNN's Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem for us.

Hadas, what do we know about this latest attack?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is what we know so far, Alisyn. The shooting attack took place within the last two hours in Bnei Brak. It's an ultra-orthodox city just east of Tel Aviv, essentially a suburb of Tel Aviv. We know four, now apparently, five civilians were killed by at least one attacker. Police say that there may have been more attackers but they know at least one of them used an assault rifle on civilians indiscriminately along the street before at least one of the attackers was killed by police himself.

The mayor of the city has been asking all residents to stay inside because police are still concerned that there may be other accomplices or assailants out there. But as you noted, it is the third such attack against Israelis just in the past week.

On Sunday, there was a shooting attack that killed two and wounded six in Hadera, which is a city about 30 miles north of Tel Aviv. And then, last Tuesday, there was a stabbing and ramming attack in the southern city of Beersheba. That killed four.

Now, those last two attacks were done with -- by people who were affiliated with ISIS, and that's notable because ISIS hasn't claimed responsibility for an attack in Israel since June of 2017. Now, we don't yet know who is responsible for this attack tonight and whether they claim affiliation with ISIS or any sort of other organizations, there is concern about rising violence in general in Israel, in the Palestinian territories as well, especially as we approach this next month. Because it's a very unique month.

[14:55:00]

For the first time in many years, the holidays of Ramadan Passover and Easter are all coinciding at same time. Tensions have been rising already for some time in Jerusalem and the West Bank. There had been some several stabbing attacks in Jerusalem in the past month as well as shootings of Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli security services.

Officials here are very concerned that the tensions, especially as all these holidays are coming up, are just going to boil up into even further violence. Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: And again, five people now killed in today's attack. Hadas, thank you very much for the reporting.

Well, Russia says it will drastically reduce military operations near Kyiv and in the city of (INAUDIBLE). We have a live update from Pentagon for you coming up.

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