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White House Lays Out Vaccine Distribution Plan for Kids Under 5; Study: COVID During Pregnancy May Be Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders in the Baby; Pelosi: Vote Next Week on Protecting Supreme Court Justices; Ukraine: Most of Severodonetsk Under Russian Control; Scientists Detect Repeating Radio Burst from Far-Off Galaxy; PGA Tour Suspends All Golfers in Saudi-Backed LIV Golf Event. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 09, 2022 - 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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[13:32:02]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: The White House says it has 10 million COVID vaccine doses for kids under 5 ready to go. Assuming the FDA signs off on the shots.

The agency's vaccine advisers will meet next week to review the data and, if authorized, the first vaccinations for the youngest Americans could begin by June 21st.

CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us now.

Elizabeth, the White House has just revealed the distribution plan. If these vaccines are authorized, what's the next step for parents?

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The next step for parents is to get in line or, hopefully, there won't be a line to get their young children vaccinated.

So let's take a look at what we know sort of the timeline for vaccinating these very young children.

So on June 15th, a group of FDA advisers will be voting on whether to recommend that it get authorized. It is expected that they likely will. We haven't seen all the data, and weird things happen. But it is expected that it will happen.

If, indeed, the FDA goes ahead and authorizes it and the CDC gives the green light, which would be expected, then that means the vaccinations could begin the following week, which would be the week of June 20th.

Now let's take a look at what's perhaps an even bigger question is, which is, do parents want to vaccinate their young children? Remember, it's been perceived the children really aren't at such risk for COVID complications.

Let's look at what parents think. The Kaiser Family Foundation did a poll in April. And what they found was that only 18 percent, not even one in five parents, said they would get it as soon as it was available for their children under the age of five.

Two in five said they would wait and see. That was the biggest chunk. And then the rest said only if required or definitely not.

So I think there's been a question for all age groups how enthusiastic people are. I think that's an especially large question for this group.

It will be interesting to see if parents actually step up and bring their children in for these vaccinations -- Ana?

CABRERA: Elizabeth, a new study has found that COVID-19 during pregnancy may be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in the baby. This sounds pretty scary.

What do expecting mothers need to know?

COHEN: It certainly does sound scary. It is another reason that women who are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant should be getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

I think often women think, oh, I don't want to do anything while I'm pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant. On the contrary, you do want to be vaccinated against this disease.

So let's take a look at what this study in Massachusetts found. They looked at 222 babies who were born to mothers who had COVID.

And 6 percent of those -- that's a relatively high number -- 6 percent were diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders within 12 months. These were mostly developmental disorders involving speech or language or motor skills -- Ana?

CABRERA: OK. And obviously, more research needed to determine exactly --

[13:35:01]

COHEN: Yes.

CABRERA: -- who is most vulnerable.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says lawmakers will vote next week on a bill to beef up security for Supreme Court justices and their families.

The bill passed in the Senate last month. It's been stalled in the House. And there's new urgency after a man was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh's home.

CNN justice correspondent, Jessica Schneider, is joining us.

Jessica, what are we learning about the suspect and his alleged plans?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Ana, we've learned a lot from the criminal complaint. The suspect allegedly confessed to the FBI that he traveled across the country from California to break into the home of a Supreme Court justice and kill him. And we know that the target was Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

So this whole scene unfolded around 1:00 Wednesday morning, just outside D.C., in Chevy Chase, Maryland, right outside Kavanaugh's home.

Authorities say the suspect got out of the taxicab. He was wearing all black. He carried a backpack and suitcase. And inside that, a trove of weapons and gear.

It included a lot of scary equipment, including a black tactical chest rig, a Glock 17 pistol with two magazines and ammunition, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, a screwdriver, a crowbar and duct tape.

After the suspect got out of the cab, officials say he almost immediately called 911, essentially turning himself in. And he told the dispatcher that he was having suicidal thoughts and had a gun.

Well, police arrived. They took him into custody.

And when he was interviewed by the FBI, he said he was concerned about several things. First, the leak of the abortion draft decision from the Supreme Court last month.

He said he was also upset about the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. He also thought Justice Kavanaugh would vote to overturn a gun law and loosen restrictions on concealed carry in that state. We're waiting for the opinion to come out from the Supreme Court.

So, Ana, right now, the suspect is in federal custody. He was charged with attempted murder of a U.S. judge. That carries up to 20 years in prison.

And you know, Ana, this is all happening as we've seen DHS warn about the possibility of increased threats in the coming weeks against these justices.

But of course, security has been stepped up. We're seeing the U.S. Marshals protecting the justices and their family. That's why they were outside the home of Justice Kavanaugh when it unfolded early Wednesday morning -- Ana?

CABRERA: Wow. We have learned so much.

Thank you so much, Jessica Schneider.

Now, call it a Spanish misstep. A late-night scooter trip in Rome lands two American tourists in big trouble. We'll tell you why.

And President Zelenskyy says the fate of Ukraine's Donbass region is being decided in a key eastern city right now. The latest on that fierce battle in the CNN NEWSROOM when we come back.

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[13:42:38]

CABRERA: We're following several headlines in Ukraine today. President Zelenskyy says the fate of the entire Donbass region is being decided in Severodonetsk. Local officials say much of the eastern city is now under Russian control after weeks of fighting.

Also today, a warning from the United Nations that the war has caused a food crisis that could unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and destination around the world.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is joining us from Kyiv.

Salma, how much longer can Ukrainian troops withstand the Russian forces in the east?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Ana, coming to you here from Kyiv, I can imagine you're seeing the shot behind me, the sun setting over the capitol and it looks quite peaceful.

But it's just a few hundred kilometers from here in the east of the country where President Zelenskyy says the fate of the country is being decided, the fate of the Donbass region. That's because of the crucial battle over Severodonetsk.

For weeks now, Russian artillery, superior Russian artillery, that is, has been grinding down Ukrainian forces. They are outmanned, they are outgunned, they are running out of weapons.

And that's according to Ukrainian officials who said their troops have had to retreat back to tactical positions.

In Severodonetsk -- I'm going to bring up these satellite images that I want you to look at -- have been entirely decimated by the battle. Nearly every building destroyed.

Essentially, these two sides now fighting over a wasteland. But it is important, Ana, and I will explain why.

Let's bring up that map of the frontlines.

Severodonetsk is essentially the last Ukrainian stronghold in Luhansk region, one of two portions, of course, of the Donbass region. President Putin's larger goal here is to hold that.

But even without winning Severodonetsk outright, already Russia is solidifying its gains in the Donbass and all the way further down that frontline.

Remember what the strategic goal here was for President Putin. That was to form a land bridge that connects Russia through the Donbass region, down to the newly occupied regions in the south of Kherson, in Mariupol into Crimea. And down to the all-important warm-water ports in the Black Sea that would give Russia access to important ports, important trade, important security year around.

It's hard to imagine, Ana, how much longer Ukrainian forces can hold out here.

[13:45:01]

CABRERA: Salma Abdelaziz, thank you for that reporting.

Isn't it, "When in Rome, do like the romans do?" Well, two American tourists didn't. And now they're paying the price.

Take a look at these nighttime images released by police. They show a man and woman pushing their scooters down Rome's famous Spanish Steps.

Authorities say the woman deliberately threw down her scooter three times. One of the historic stairs was chipped. And will cost about $27,000 to fix.

Both tourists were hit with more than $400 in fines and are now banned from the historic city center for two days.

Astronomers say unusual radio bursts are coming from a galaxy far, far away. So what or maybe who is sending them?

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[13:50:14]

CABRERA: Is something or someone trying to communicate with us from three billion light years away? Astronomers have detected a mysterious repeating radio emission from a galaxy far, far away, they say, and it is unlike others they have discovered before.

CNN's Rachel Crane is following this story for us.

Rachel, I'm very curious. We know fast radio bursts, as they're called, have been detected before, so what makes these so unusual?

RACHEL CRANE, CNN BUSINESS INNOVATION & SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, I don't want to burst your bubble here, and, of course, never say never, but the probability that these are little green men or some sort of alien life force sending us a message, pretty, pretty slim here.

Now, these FRBs, as you just mentioned, they were first discovered in 2007. And since then, hundreds of them have been detected. But of those hundreds, about 5 percent of them repeat themselves, so it's a very, very small percentage.

Now, only for the second time now scientists have discovered that in between those repeating bursts, there are these persistent, weaker radio waves still coming out from these objects. So, scientists, although they've been baffled by what these are, they

now think there might even be a new class of FRBs or several as a result of this finding.

So, you know, there's a lot of excitement here. But, Ana, everyone wants to know where are these -- what are these objects? Where are these radio waves coming from?

Now, they were able to use an array of satellites in 2020 to determine exactly where this object was. Three billion light years away on the outskirts of a dwarf galaxy.

Now, exactly what is it? Maybe a neutron star left over from a supernova, scientists have theorized, or perhaps it's a neutron star with a really extreme magnetic field called Magneta.

But you know, there's more questions than answers here, Ana, at this point.

And that's why things like having the James Webb Telescope up there, you know, hopefully, very soon beaming down images to us, will be very informative to the fabric of our cosmos and, hopefully, getting some answers of these FRBs.

CABRERA: We could get some of those images from the James Webb Telescope in the next few weeks.

Rachel Crane, it sounds like this could be the beginning of some kind of science fiction movie. We'll see where it goes and how this mystery unfolds.

Thank you.

Now to some major news in the golf world. The PGA tour has just suspended all players in the LIV golf series near London, saying they made their choice to play in the Saudi-backed league.

The tour is controversial because the Saudi government is accused of various human rights abuses, including the killing of "Washington Post" journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.

And CNN's Alex Thomas is at that LIV tournament.

Alex, how's this news being received there?

ALEX THOMAS, CNN ANCHOR, "SPORT WORLD": Well, Ana, there will come a time when we will talk about the actual action at a LIV golf event, but that time has not yet come.

Such is the compelling controversy of the course. A very acrimonious civil war, virtually, at the top of the men's professional game.

As you say, the players that were PGA members or still thought they were PGA tour members, that took the Saudi money to come and play in this brand-new LIV golf invitational series, the first of eight events being held at the Centurian Club just outside London. Learned shortly after teeing off, altogether, in this innovative shotgun start, that the PGA tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, had decided to suspend them all from all PGA tour competitions, even the ones that had resigned their tour membership beforehand.

There was a sort of simmering fury about his two-page memo directed to the current PGA tour players, almost as if it was a "you're dead to me" vibe to the players that had jumped ship.

Part of that memo reading, "I'm certain our fans and partners, who are surely tired of all this talk of money, money, and more money, will continue to be entertained and compelled by the world-class competition you display each and every week."

The LIV golf response was swift but equally direct:

"Today's announcement by the PGA tour is vindictive," they said, "and it deepens the divide between the tour and its members. This certainly is not the last word on this topic. The era of free agency is beginning."

LIV golf has always said, Ana, they would back any legal dispute that their players get into as a result of splitting from the PGA tour. And I think this is heading for the courts.

CABRERA: Why is it always seemingly always about the bottom line?

Alex Thomas, thank you for your reporting.

[13:55:56]

And that does it for us today. Thank you so much for being with us. I'll see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. So much to discuss, no doubt. Until then, you can always find me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera.

And the news continues right after this.

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