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President Donald Trump Defends His Handling Of Coronavirus Pandemic; Fire Erupts At Beirut's Port Weeks After Deadly Explosions; EU Says It Will Stop help Greece Respond To Crisis; EU Home Affairs Commissioner Responds To Criticism Of European Migration Policy; GAVI Alliance CEO Estimates 2B Vaccines By 2021; Arab League Meeting Ends In Disappointment For Palestinians. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired September 10, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, which is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. This is the second hour of your show. And I want to start this hour with this. More than 900,000 people
around our world have been killed by what is a merciless scourge on our lives the Coronavirus.
That's almost a million people. We are nowhere near the end, it seems. We won't be able to tell all of the stories of all those who died, who they
loved, where they lived, what they had accomplished, no one ever will but let's just take a second to think of that number.
They are the kind of figure or it is the kind of figure that we talk about in wars. It's happening pretty much everywhere. Sadly, by now, many of you
watching will know or at least have heard of someone who has lost their life and nowhere is that more true in the world's only hyper power the
United States of America, by far and away, it has the most deaths from COVID-19.
As of now, 190,000 have lost their lives. A biggest believes doesn't it? But imagine this. That number in the U.S. is forecast to double - double -
by the end of the year. Well, CNN now getting access to new audio that reveals that the man in charge of protecting the U.S., the American
President Donald Trump, knew about the severity of the Coronavirus back in early February.
He talked about it in private but didn't let on to the public. Back then legendary journalist Bob Woodward conducted 18 interviews - that's
incredible access - with the president for his new book "Rage." President Trump speaking freely in his own words about the seriousness of the virus
even as he repeatedly seemed to mislead the public about its danger.
Seemed being an important word there, as he is defending himself now, as hard as ever. Joe Johns connects together all you need to know on the
Woodward tapes, the response from the White House and from the President's Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump in his own words admitting on tape that he understood just how dangerous the Coronavirus could be. The
revelation from a series of recorded interviews for journalist Bob Woodward's new book "Rage" in early February Trump privately told Woodward
the disease was deadlier than the flu. Weeks before the first confirmed Coronavirus related death in the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know the touch, you don't have to touch things, but the air, you just breathe the air, that's how
it's passed. It's a tricky, that's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than your, you know, even your strenuous flues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: But even 19 days later, here is what the president said to the public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: That's a little bit like the flu, it is a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for. And we'll essential have flu shot for this
in a fairly quick manner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: By mid-March Trump admitted privately he was downplaying the Coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I wanted to always play it down, I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: And despite the president's repeated claims like this one last month about the effects of the disease on children--
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you look at children, they're able to throw it off very easily. Their immune systems are very, very strong and they're powerful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Trump told Woodward months earlier that Coronavirus wasn't only harmful to the elderly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Now it's turning out it's not just old people, Bob, which is today and yesterday some startling facts came out. It is not just older.
BOB WOODWARD, AMERICAN JOURNALIST: Yes, exactly.
TRUMP: Plenty of young people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: The White House denied the allegations from the book even after the recordings were released.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has never lied to the American public on COVID. The president was expressing calm and his
actions reflect that. The president never downplayed the virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Hours later, the president respond to do Woodward's book himself and defended his handling of the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The fact is I'm a cheerleader for this country, I love our country. And I don't want people to be frightened. I don't want to create panic, as
you say, and certainly I'm not going to drive this country or the world into frenzy. We want to show confidence. We want to show strengths.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:05:00]
JOHNS: Trump's defense the same day the United States confirmed COVID-19 death toll topped 190,000 according to Johns Hopkins University, a grim
milestone the president says he prevented from being even worse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So, I think if we didn't do what we did, we would have had millions of people die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: In an interview with CNN Joe Biden slammed Trump's leadership during the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Disgusting. We learned this on the day that 100 - 190,000 Americans dead and he knew this? He waved a white flag.
He walked away. He didn't do a damned thing. Think about it. Think about what he did not do. It's almost criminal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: The book reports some of the Trump's top officials also questioned his abilities, Woodward writing Former Defense Secretary James Mattis
called the president dangerous and unfit for office. Dr. Anthony Fauci said Trump's attention span is like a minus number. And his sole purpose is to
get reelected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I don't really want to get involved in that kind of stuff. That
is very distracting to the kinds of things that I'm trying to and that we're all trying to do with this outbreak.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: And as racial injustice has fueled protests and unrest across the country and is taking center stage as an election issue, Trump dismissed
concerns about black Americans' frustration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOODWARD: Do you have any sense that that privilege has isolated and put you in a cave to a certain extent, as it put me, and I think lots of white,
privileged people in a cave, and that we have to work our way out of it to understand the anger and the pain, particularly black people feel in this
country.
TRUMP: No. You really drank the Cool aid, didn't you? Just listen to you. Wow. I don't feel that at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that was Joe Johns reporting for you. White House Reporter Stephen Collinson says these tapes exposed Donald Trump and I quote here
historic dereliction of duty. He joins me now from Washington, the president tweeting out that if these tapes were so revealing and so
important to save lives, why did Bob Woodward sit on them for months almost through this entire pandemic until now, a fair question?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I mean, I don't think so, really. Woodward was obviously writing a book. He was trying to tie all the
ends together. The responsibility for not saving lives doesn't rest with a journalist it rests with the President of the United States.
As we see on these tapes, the fundamental fact here is that Donald Trump knew the severity of the virus. He knew how quickly it was spread. He knew
the potential effects in the United States, and still not only did he not tell the American people that and marshal the government to meet this great
crisis, he did exactly the opposite.
He said it was like the flu, when on the tape he said to Woodward it wasn't like the flu. He didn't bring across the severity of the crisis. This idea
that he didn't want to create panic is quite absurd, really. The way you forestall panic is to level with people, as other presidents have done in
history, and what are you going to do to take on this massive national and international challenge? Ignoring it doesn't really get it done.
ANDERSON: Yes. With respect, you know, they may be Trump supporters, but there are many people out there posing the same question, though, of Bob
Woodward. Why sit on these tapes if they are so revealing in why sit on them for so many months?
Again, there is a point here, isn't there? I know you said it's not a journalist's job to sort of protect the country, but that's Donald Trump's
position.
COLLINSON: Right. That is clearly what Donald Trump would like us to talk about, you know, he wants Washington to start talking about it. There was
already a big line on conservative media where the real fog propaganda machine is already running saying well, if Woodward didn't think it was
important, why did he suddenly change his mind?
You could argue that Woodward could have done a "The Washington Post" store, say, in June or July when he started to get the book together and
the full picture of this became known.
I don't think in February when the death toll was pretty low in the United States if there was any deaths at all that it was clear when he spoke to
Trump on February the 7th that this statement, which is now such a big deal, was so explosive. You know, there is that question about why didn't
Woodward do it a couple months ago?
[11:10:00]
COLLINSON: I would say, however though that, we've all been writing for months that Donald Trump had ignored and downplayed and was negligent in
this crisis. I think what is the most interesting thing about the latest revelations is not so much the substance, which we basically knew already,
but hearing it in the president's own voice.
I think that's the thing that will indict him in history whatever effect it has on the coming election in less than eight weeks.
ANDERSON: Yes, fascinating. Despite what we are discussing here, and sort of the conceit of this discussion, on Woodward's book, and we are -
certainly Dr. Fauci has said that there were no discrepancies with what Donald Trump told him. Let's just have a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. FAUCI: He really didn't say anything different than we discussed when we were with him, so I may not be tuned into the right thing that they're
talking about, but I didn't really see any discrepancies between what he told us and what we told him and what he ultimately came out publicly and
said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Yes. These guys aren't exactly friends. So what's going on there, do you think?
COLLINSON: Well, one interesting fact is that the White House is using comments by Dr. Fauci very early in this crisis, when he was telling people
it wasn't necessary to wear masks, to kind of give the president some kind of defensive shield here, but Fauci changed his mind when the situation
evolved and the crisis got worse and the science indicated that.
You know, Fauci is in the business of saving lives. He has no interest in getting into some kind of beltway feud with the president who has already
sidelined him to a great extent. Fauci is going to make exceedingly important, and he's most trusted public health official in America and he
is going to be very important as we move into this phase of moving towards a vaccine.
He's trying to stay in the game. He's not interested in - there's nothing in it for him to have a public spat with the president. He's been very
careful to try and avoid that from his side. You know, he wants to keep pushing the science, maintaining his influence, and being a very important
figure as to how we eventually in the United States get out of the this nightmare?
ANDERSON: Steven, we are just over 50 days out from this U.S. election, Donald Trump's August fund-raising falls significantly short of Joe Biden's
by more than $150 million. What sort of impact do you think that will have on his campaign, briefly?
COLLINSON: I think it's already having an impact. You've seen the campaign pull some advertising in some key states. The big story of this campaign
was going to be that Joe Biden couldn't raise money, and Trump has this massive war chest.
He's already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. The key thing that we don't know is while that figure was low for Trump, the actual amount of
money he has on hand that he can actually spend on advertising in the remaining weeks of this campaigning, we don't know.
It's likely to be substantially less than that, so a real advantage for the Democrats in key battleground states as we head into the crucial last
stages of this election.
ANDERSON: There is no one we would rather hear from then you, Steven. These aren't easy questions to answer. I do really appreciate it, as I know our
viewers do your insights. You're a good friend of the show, and we really appreciate it thank you sir.
Well, next week CNN will host the town hall with Joe Biden. He is first since accepting the U.S. Democratic Presidential Nomination. CNN's Anderson
Cooper will put weird questions to the Former Vice President next Thursday night September 17th that is early next Friday morning if you are watching
here in Abu Dhabi round this region.
Well, if you think American politics are messy well; people in Lebanon surely look on with envy. What must look like to them perfect political
harmony and this is why. Have a look at these live pictures coming to us of thick black smokes rising from another major fire that have broken out in
Beirut in the last few hours.
This place coming in the same place as that monstrous blast that leveled much of the city just weeks ago and that of course leaving many people
there homeless or living in badly damaged places of the doors and windows blown out they are now of course inhaling what is dangerous air, unable to
lock it out.
[11:15:00]
ANDERSON: CNN's Senior Producer Ghazi Balkiz is on the scene for you and joins us now. Just describe what you are seeing Ghazi?
GHAZI BALKIZ, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Yes Becky, and speaking of inhaling fumes we can still smell burning rubber and some burning garbage. At the
moment I'm going to step out of the sites you can see more behind me. At the moment you can see that the fire is a little bit under control, even
the color of the smoke has changed from completely dark black to grayish brownish color.
Earlier on, there were about 16 fire trucks. I was able to count about 8 just before the live hit that we're doing now. So the fire seems a little
bit under control at the moment. The President of the Republic called up on the Defensive Supreme Council to convene to discuss this fire.
And the Minister of Justice has asked the prosecutor to conduct an in-depth investigation, but in reality, Becky, this doesn't really matter. If you
talk to people on the street, they don't believe anything that the government is going to come and say. They don't believe that the
investigators are going to come to anything. They don't believe what the government - are going to tell them.
One journalist told me - and actually a bunch of others told me that, when I talked to them on this break that have you noticed, that there isn't a
single politician, a single minister, a single government officials has come down to inspect the fire, to inspect the damage, to find out what's
going on? None of them are to be seen back to you, Becky.
ANDERSON: Ghazi, this was a statement from the Lebanese army. It's short - a fire broke out at a tires and oils warehouse at the free zone area in
Beirut Port. Efforts are underway to extinguish the fire and army helicopters will assist.
Ghazi is on the scene, and its places like Lebanon beset by total dysfunction that many people around the world want to escape, which takes
me to my next question - where do you go when you have nowhere to go?
At this hour, that's what many of the 13,000 migrants from the Moira Camp in Greece are facing. Flames tore through Europe's largest migrant camp
early on Wednesday. Now, Greece, France and Germany are scrambling to re- house them, including more than 400 unaccompanied kids who have been moved to Mainland Greece, temporarily, that's according to the Greek Migration
Ministry.
Now, says only about half of the other migrants would be moved of Lesbos. Now Europe is already dealing with an out-of-control migrant crisis. That
begs the question, what is next for these people that you are seeing on your screen? Melissa Bell is live on the scene in Lesbos and she joins us
now. Just describe what you have seen so far, Melissa?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, it's been described as a humanitarian catastrophe. And I think if you look around me you'll get a
sense of exactly what that looks like here on the Island of Lesbos as a result of this fire.
Now even behind me you can see another fire has been lit with the smoke just coming up behind me. So the camp itself was destroyed, but still fires
continue to be lit around. There's some dispute about who is responsible for those?
The Greek authorities and a number of people and NGOs say they believe this idea that it was caused by the migrants themselves, the original fire that
destroyed the camp, and the migrants here - that it had nothing to do with them and blame locals.
Just that dispute really, Becky, gives you an idea of the kind of tensions there are on this Island. This is a situation that neither the people who
live on the Island of Lesbos obviously not these migrants, some whom have been stuck in Moria for years, others for just months, it's for many the
result of that policy change in 2016 when Europe managed to create hot spots on Islands like this.
It did managed to stop that slow of refugees. It did not fix the migrant crisis, Becky. Dozens of family who fed fire in the Moria Camp now living
in this cemetery, among them 15-year-old Miriam and her sister Mahtab, who took videos as they ran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHTAB MORADI, REFUGEE: I ran to their house and everyone was running. We take the papers, and we run, too. But we lost everything like clothes and
medicine, my medicines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: An estimated 13,000 people had been living in Moria, those who knew the camp say the conditions inside were look horrible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FARID AL JAWAD, SPOKESPERSON, MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES: I was here in 2018 as well. I thought at that time that it couldn't really get much worse. I'm
here in 2020 and I was wrong. It's worse.
[11:20:00]
JAWAD: We're talking about children who potentially have never known anything but war, and now their futures are once again being ripped away
from them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: For now it's their very immediate future that is of most concern. In Moria, they had food and water. Here in the cemetery, they have nothing at
all.
Becky, there's of course some discussion now led by France and Germany about what can be done to help these nearly 13,000 migrants in the
immediate term? How they can be given the humanitarian assistance they need, the water, the food?
But also how they can be helped longer term. They're hoping to get as many European countries in on that as they can. And of course this has been a
great for Greece for years. Once the European migrant crisis was stopped, that those cases of geographically we're going to get hit hardest Italy and
Greece, these are countries that have been left to carry an unshared burden of this humanitarian disaster, Becky.
ANDERSON: Well, Melissa Bell is on the ground for you Melissa, thank you. So Greece says it's helping the refugees of the Lesbos disaster, but
insists it needs help itself. It can't cope with the volume of refugees landing on its shores, and it has been saying this for month. So what is
being done to help? I'll talking to the EU Home Affairs Commissioner up next
And later I'll sit down with Dr. David Nabarro, the WHO's Special Envoy on COVID-19, as 900,000 people have now died from the virus worldwide more on
that, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: We'll get you back now with more on what is being done to help thousands of refugees with no shelter and little hope on the Greek Island
of Lesbos. The European Union says it will help Greece respond to what is this migrant's crisis after their overcrowded camp was destroyed.
France and Germany say they are also stepping up, coordinating a solution to welcome refugees from the Moria Camp. We'll as the EU Commissioner for
Home Affairs Ylva Johansson oversees migration policy at the European Commission and she is live with me now from Brussels.
In the wake of this blast, you say that you've been in touch with the Greek Minister for Migration and have agreed to finance the immediate transfer
and accommodation of the 400 or so unaccompanied kids. Where are they right now, Commissioner?
YLVA JOHANSSON, EU HOME AFFAIRS COMMISSIONER: These 400 unaccompanied kids are right now on the mainland. We managed to evacuate them yesterday
evening.
[11:25:00]
ANDERSON: And what happens to them next?
JOHANSSON: Well, we have a very serious situation now where there's a fire and 12,000 people without shelter. Of course, we need to address this and
we need to help these people, because they're individuals and they need help now, but it's also important to recognize that we were not just
sitting waiting for this disaster to happen.
When I took office in December, we had doubled the number of these overcrowded camps on the Greek Islands, and the living conditions have been
unacceptable for many years, so we started to work together with the Greek authorities to move people out of these camps.
And now we have half the number. Six months ago there were 25,000 people in Moria, Lesbos. Now it is 12,000 and 13,000 still too many now, but we have
also been able to move up most of the unaccompanied minors. We have an ongoing project to relocate them to 12 other countries. This is what we
need to step up now.
ANDERSON: Absolutely. That project clearly needs to be stepped up. I just want to stick with these kids because that's what they are. What is their
future at this point? I will talk about what is going on Lesbos in a moment. I just want to know, what is the future for these 400 unaccompanied
kids that you now say you are helping?
JOHANSSON: I'm quite sure that we will see member states stepping in and saying that they will be happy to welcome them. We are already having
relocated 1,200. We have another 400 waiting, and it's really amazing to see these young teenagers being able to be welcomed at an airport in
another member state and starting their new life.
The first thing they ask for is when can I go to school? When can I start my new life and my new future? Also, as a mother, I think it's really
important that we help these young people to find hope for the future and in a new member state where they can start their lives.
ANDERSON: Yes, any mum will agree with you, they need a new life. Yesterday I spoke to the Lesbos project Coordinator for an NGO. Commissioner, have a
listen to what he told me about the fire there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO SANDRONE, LESBOS PROJECT COORDINATOR, MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES: What is clear, and there is no question about it, is the cause of the fire needs
to be finding the years-long orchestration of the human suffering and violence produced by the European and great migration policies, and these
are the polices to be blamed - where we should look at the roots of what happened yesterday, unfortunately, a disaster in the camp?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: He went on to say that people are fed up of the lies and fed up of the political games. He has a point. 13,000 refugees were still living
in this camp. I know you say the number was larger back in December it was around 19,000 as I understand it, but still this was six times the day
before yesterday what this camp was meant to hold, the conditions are horrible. Will you concede that not enough is being done by the European
Union?
JOHANSSON: Of course, I agree on that. We are supporting Greece heavily, but we are lacking - have been lacking a common European migration and
asylum system. That's been my main task since I took office. In a few weeks, I'm going to present the new proposal - sorry.
ANDERSON: Are you OK? I'll just let you have some water. Are you OK to continue? It's never easy. Are you happy to go on? You know what? I think
it's not easy. I know what it feels like when you - when you can't speak on air, so listen, we're going to let the Commissioner just take a bit of
time. We have got a couple other questions, but clearly I don't want to make her feel uneasy. So let's just take a very quick break. I'll be back
after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're watching "Connecting the World" with me Becky Anderson. It's just half past 7:00 here in the UAE; this is a show
from your Middle East Broadcasting Hub.
As the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson and oversees migration policy at the European Commission, she's back live with me now
from Brussels. And thank you very much indeed for staying with us. We've been talking about the fire at the migrant camp in Lesbos, one of, if not
your biggest refugee camp.
Many will say Commissioner that what happened in Moria in Lesbos is Europe's never-fixed migration crisis. Once again wearing its ugly head, I
know in a recent EU statement, you said and I want to quote you here "Better using the skills and potential of refugees and migrants makes our
labor markets more inclusive and contributes to the prosperity and cohesion of European society".
I know that the European Commission is due to come out with a proposal by the end of September on a new pact on migration and asylum. What can we
expect to come of that?
JOHANSSON: We can expect that we will be able to manage migration in an orderly way. Every year we have millions of people coming regularly as
migrants to the European Union, and we really need them. We have also people arriving irregularly and that it was will need to manage much
better.
We have to make the distinction between those that are eligible to stay, we should be welcomed and those who have a negative asylum decision that have
to be returned. And it's important to protect the right to apply for asylum, but it's also important to send people back that have a negative
decision.
ANDERSON: I have to say perpetual limbo many refugees say, and certainly those in Lesbos that is so demoralizing for them, not knowing what is next.
The arrival of huge numbers of refugees of course in 2015 was a defining moment that put European solidarity to the test.
As you rightly point out, refugees still arriving in huge numbers. We've got a map up here on the screen this year alone, nearly 45,000 arriving 500
dead many more missing. I want you just to listen to how the Operations Coordinator for a vessel rescuing migrants in the med described Europe's
position on migration. This is the Operations Director of The Louise Michel boat. Have a listen.
[11:35:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEA REISNER, OPERATIONAL COORDINATOR, THE LOIUSE MICHEL: In the end, I would say that the European Union is in a war against migration. So what is
happening is that Europe is trying to extend their borders further to the south, to just put the pictures of suffering people further away from them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: How do you respond when you hear that phrase? This is somebody whose job it is to rescue those who are trying to get to Europe's shore.
She says Europe is in a war against migration.
JOHANSSON: I do not agree at all. We need migrants, and we also have to take our share for refugees. It's our moral obligation is to be true to our
values, but I don't want people to pay this organized criminal groups that smuggle people and to risk their lives in the Mediterranean.
I would like to have legal pathways, both for refugees and for migrants to come to the European Union and at the same time, of course defend the right
to apply for asylum. And that means that we also need a strong solidarity mechanism, because different member states in the European Union are facing
different geographical realities.
And that's why the proposal we going to put forward is both about legal pathways and fighting smugglers, to have a solidarity mechanism and to
stand up for the right to asylum.
ANDERSON: Can we speak again when that resolution is submitted? It's important to have you on. Ylva Johansson is the Commissioner, Europe's
Commissioner for Human Affairs. We thank you very much indeed for joining us.
I want to get you back to our top story this hour. Around the world COVID- 19 has killed over 900,000 people, that are according to John's Hopkins University who tracks these numbers. It comes as AstraZeneca reveals it is
paused its vaccine trials worldwide, not once, but twice, most recently because of an unexplained illness in a volunteer in the UK, the other time
back in July.
Well, the company says its standard protocol to stop a trial in order to examine safety data, but with so much politicization, not to mention the
money and status at stake, every move these large drug companies make is under intense scrutiny. And Russia's vaccine process also under scrutiny.
Some U.S. officials have slammed Moscow for approving a vaccine before it finished its clinical trials, accusing the government of playing Russian
roulette, but phase three clinical trials for this Sputnik V are now under way. And CNN's Matthew Chance got exclusive international access to the
first day of trials in Moscow.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is what Russia hopes will be the vaccine that beats the global pandemic. We've been given
access to the start of crucial phase III trials. And to volunteers like Andrey to discover whether the Sputnik V, as it's called, really can save
lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREY OISHEVSKY, TRIAL VOLUNTEER: I've been looking forward to this third stage of trials. I want this vaccine to come into wide circulation as soon
as possible, so that all citizens of our big country can be safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Russia has good reason to want this battle won against COVID-19. With over a million confirmed infections, it's one of the world's worst
affected countries. But Moscow was going to accused of cutting corners, using spies to steal western research, which it denies, and after positive
early results, approving its vaccine even before third phase trials have begun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD HORTON, THE LANCET: What we can say is that this new Russian vaccine, the results are encouraging, but it would be highly premature to
think that this is the basis for a successful vaccine for public use.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: But at city hospital number two in Moscow, where we witnessed the first of an expected 40,000 trial volunteers being injected. Doctors told
me they're optimistic that these important trials will help establish the Russian vaccine.
Its why - Katarina, a nursery schoolteacher says she volunteered to take part despite the risks? It's necessary, she told me, not just for herself,
but for everyone else.
[11:40:00]
ANDERSON: We'll bring in the W.H.O. Special Envoy for COVID-19, Dr. David Nabarro has been a guest on this show since the beginning of the year on
almost I would say sort of weekly basis. And your attendance on this show is so important to us.
I'd like to get your reaction and thank you for that. To Russia's Sputnik V vaccine if you will Phase III clinical trials have begun the country drew
criticism in August when announced it had the world's first approved COVID vaccine for use. What are your thoughts? I want to speak vaccine
specifically, sir. Is this legitimate?
DR. DAVID NABARRO, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SPECIAL ENVOY FOR COVID-19: Well, any country can decide what it wants to do with regard to vaccines or
other necessary items for its population. Countries are sovereign, but of course when we're looking at something that's going to be made available
for global use, then the protocols become very important.
With regard to vaccines, there are three phases of the trials when they're being looked at in humans. Phase I is on volunteers. Phase II is usually on
a single population, phase III, assuming the vaccine gets through one and two, is on multiple populations.
At the moment there are thought to be at least seven vaccine candidates going through phase III trials, including the Russian vaccine. So one would
say it's really good that this vaccine is coming through the trials.
I think we're looking at it internationally; we have to wait to see the results of the phase III trials before it can be said whether or not this
is a vaccine that's effective enough and safe enough for widespread use.
ANDERSON: We're talking about nearly a million deaths around the world in less than a year. Are we any closer to getting a vaccine, sir?
NABARRO: Well, Becky, first of all a million deaths due to a new virus is a horrible statistic. And it's probably an underestimate. So the first thing
to say is it's really clear that the world is yearning to do two things. One is to get it organized to be ahead of this virus and stop being in a
situation where it seems the virus is chasing us down.
And secondly, yes, it would be great to have an effective vaccine, but my own view is that we should not let our expectations rise too high. It does
take a finite amount of time to develop a vaccine. You and I have discussed this before.
And my own view is that rather than get overly excited about when the vaccine will become available, let's instead focus on getting ahead of the
virus now. When the vaccine does come, there will be all sorts of issues about ensuring that everybody can get it.
There will be a lot of work to indicate to people that the safety work has been properly done. And so I see that is part two of the job, part one is
learning to live with this nasty virus in our midst, and getting on with our lives.
ANDERSON: I spoke to the CEO of Vaccine Alliance GAVI, yesterday. You know Seth Berkley well.
NABARRO: I know Seth, yes.
ANDERSON: They are leading the efforts to distribute vaccines equally across the globe. Have a listen to what Seth Berkley told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SETH BERKLEY, CEO, GAVI ALLIANCE: There will be a big supply demand problem at the beginning. But we estimate that by the end of 2021, we think
we can probably have 2 billion doses of vaccine available. Now, that's going to depend upon success, it's going to depend upon which approaches
work, it's going to depend on the yield from the manufacturing processes, but that's what we're planning towards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Two billion doses by the end of 2021. Are you confident in those estimates?
NABARRO: Well, what was so interesting about Dr. Berkley's comments is that he said it depends on many factors. And I think that's what all of us are
trying to share with the wider public.
We've been seeing the challenges of developing effective vaccines for lots of different microbes, and we know that it's not an automatic process.
There's a lot of uncertainty. We're dealing with biological processes in people's bodies.
[11:45:00]
NABARRO: So I'm quite confident that Dr. Berkley set is giving a very careful estimation here, when he says 2 billion at the end of to 2021 if a
number of factors are OK. And I think that's fair. We cannot at this stage say for certainty that it will happen.
We are still waiting on the results of all these trials, and therefore checking out to see whether we do have products that are good enough for
humanity. And that's right.
ANDERSON: David, some tapes accessed by CNN yesterday of conversations that Donald Trump, the U.S. President, had with the veteran reporter Bob
Woodward back in February and March, which seemingly indicate that the president did knew a lot more about the severity of this Coronavirus than
he led on to the general public.
And the numbers tell the story 190,000 people in America have lost their lives your sense and response to what we are hearing about what the U.S.
president knew and when.
NABARRO: Thank you, Becky. Actually all of us in the World Health Organization knew from the end of January that we were dealing with and we
are dealing with a dangerous and difficult enemy here. And we've been pretty consistent about this. I've been consistent about it with you, for
example, ever since that time.
We do feel that it helps the public if world leaders are absolutely transparent about what they know. The last thing we want is for people
anywhere to believe that we are perhaps concealing vital information from them. We've said this is a dangerous virus. We've said the world must work
together to respond to it. We've asked all world leaders to be clear and consistent with their messaging.
ANDERSON: And you're suggesting that Donald Trump hasn't been?
NABARRO: Well, you know that it is not my habit to make any comment that could be seen as criticizing any decision maker. I want to stress that the
decision makers in our world in dealing with this pandemic have had a really difficult time because they want to keep their people confident, and
at the same time they want to get on top of the virus.
Each one does it in their own way. I hope that over time, they will do it in a similar way across all nations. I think that would help the world
rather a lot.
ANDERSON: David, always a pleasure. Thank you, sir.
NABARRO: Thank you, Becky.
ANDERSON: Much more ahead this hour. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:00]
ANDERSON: Call to Earth, is a call to action for the environment, a call to share solutions to critical issues like global warming, deforestation on
plastic waste. For example, it's a long-term priority for all of us at CNN to work with you to drive awareness and to inspire change so that we can
all engineer a sustainable future.
Well, in this week's report, how an insect could be the answer to combating plastic pollution in the future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANJA BRANDON, STANFORD UNIVERSITY PHD: A thousand mealworms can eat about two grams of plastic a week. So it would take three or 4000 mealworms to
eat this Styrofoam cup about a week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's Anja Brandon, a Scientist at Stanford University, she studies how these eat this and still can be used to feed
these.
BRANDON: We all know that plastics are a huge issue facing the environment, especially in the marine environment. We're looking for good ways on how to
deal with all this plastic waste that we have? When we found that mealworms, tiny innocuous insects, found pretty much everywhere can eat and
degrade a few different types of plastic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mealworms are basically the larvae of a type of darkling beetle. They do have a commercial use, as food for livestock like
pigs and chickens. But then it was discovered in 2015, that these little grubs could eat polystyrene, and a whole new line of research has opened
up. One that Brandon has pursued.
BRANDON: So why mealworms are able to eat plastics is still an open question, where - trying to research that. There's other insects out there
that eat predominantly wax, which is also full of long-chain polymers.
And it looks like somehow evolutionarily these insects that are used to eating and breaking down these naturally existing big polymers are
fortuitously able to break down some of these plastics that we're putting into the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brandon's first discovery was that it wasn't just polystyrene that mealworms jumped down on. They ate polyethylene, too.
BRANDON: That's really cool because one issue that we have at plastic waste is that it's really hard to recycle multiple types of plastics together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is how they do it. Plastic has no nutrients in it, so it's the energy from breaking down the plastics polymer bonds that
the mealworms are after. They do this using a powerful bacterium in their gut, which breaks down the majority of the plastic into nothing, but
hydrogen and carbon. But there are other ingredients in plastics that are not quite so easy to break down.
BRANDON: There are all sorts of crazy chemicals used in plastics manufacturing from stabilizers to plasticizers to flame retardants. And
that's a problem because we know that some of these chemicals can be toxic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When Brandon looked into this, she found that some degraded plastics did come out the other end of the mealworm and flushed
out with them, clean all the chemicals that could do harm further at the food chain.
BRANDON: So they're not bio-accumulating. By means that this mealworm is still a valuable feed source which is great.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it's not the feed industry Brandon as interested in for her research. For her, it's a question of scaling up. And to do
that, she needed to understand how mealworm does what it does.
BRANDON: So, we're looking and trying to isolate the bacteria from the mealworm gut, to be able to scale those up in these big vats that we call
bioreactors that are just chock-full of bacteria, you can throw your plastic in and hopefully all break down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The latest report in our "Call to Earth", and we will continue to showcase the inspirational stories. This is part of the initiative at CNN.
Do let us know what you are doing to answer the call with the #call to earth. It's very easy. It's time for a quick break from us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:55:00]
ANDERSON: Palestinian leaders have been lobbying for regional condemnation of the new peace agreement between Israel and the UAE. They made their case
at an Arab league meeting on Wednesday. But the outcome not exactly what they have hoped for Arab league states failed to agree on what was a
Palestinian draft resolution condemning the UAE/Israel normalization deal.
I want to just get to my colleague here in Abu Dhabi, Sam Kiley with more. And Sam ahead of the U.S. holding a signing ceremony, of course, for the
UAE/Israel normalization deal at the White House quite next week, quite the disappointment for the Palestinians. What did they have to say?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Palestinians I think have been bereft. They condemned this deal of normalized relations between
the UAE and Israel when it was launched a few weeks ago.
They re-condemned it when Jared Kushner came here to underpin it during a historic visit by an Israeli jet with Israeli officials on it. And then
they try to get the Arab league to condemn it. And it just shows how very far the whole debate has gone across this region leaving the Palestinians
they would feel behind. This is how their Foreign Minister put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIYAD AL-MALIKI, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY FOREIGN MINISTER: The situation turned upside-down in a way where we became the troublemakers and the ones
to blame, because we dare to stand in front of the earthquake as we stood in front of the U.S. administration when they took our rights.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILEY: Now, Becky, the tectonic shift he's referring to there is a 40-year tradition really of the Arab league being full square behind the
Palestinian cause, in particular the two-state solution. Now they're not abandoning that, but neither is they subscribing, if you like, to an
automatic condemnation of it. This arguably though ultimately will give Arab nations like the UAE greater leverage in this matter with the
Israelis, Becky.
ANDERSON: Sam Kiley on the story and we will do more on that of course. So, I would normally do like to leave you with some reflections on the stories
these past couple of hours, not today, because we're out of time. Suffice to say that's your world connected. Good night.
END
