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Connect the World
Myanmar's Military Seizes Power, Detains Aung San Suu Kyi; International Condemnation Of Military Takeover In Myanmar; David Nabarro: "We Would Like To See A Fair Approach" On Vaccines; Connecting You Through Our Pandemic Era; World Health Organization Team In China To Investigate Origins Of Virus; Scottish Fishermen: Red Tape Threatens To Kill Business. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired February 01, 2021 - 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. This is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello and welcome. It is 10:30 pm in Myanmar where we begin this hour. It is again under military rule the
country's armed forces seizing power three months after their party suffered overwhelming defeat in national elections.
Well, today the capital streets are blocked by soldiers. There is a widespread internet outage, and the banks are closed and military
propaganda videos appearing on the state television. Military leaders seen here meeting at the Presidential Palace say they have staged the coup
because their allegations of voter fraud in November election were not properly investigated.
And they say they will return power to whichever party wins a free and election though they did not say when that election will take place. Well,
democratically elected officials including de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi now detained at their residences.
Ivan Watson has more on the startling speed of this coup and how the latest detention of Suu Kyi highlights history of political turmoil in Myanmar?
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is a textbook example of a military coup. Troops showing up before dawn at the homes of elected
lawmakers in Myanmar arresting them in the dark. An announcement read out on the military-owned TV channel declaring that this man, the Military
Chief is now assuming control of the government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The state of emergency is in effect nationwide and the duration of the state of emergency is set to one year.
WATSON (voice over): Now detain and held in Communique Caddo the country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi along with the president and a growing
number of other top government officials from her national league for democracy party.
MANNY MAUNG, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: We have also heard that activists and some student leaders and politicians from around the country and not just in the
- they've been taken. There is just no way to verify where they are or what they are doing?
WATSON (voice over): For many in Myanmar, the military's shocking power play is a dramatic reminder of what up until 2015 had been more than a half
century of military dictatorship where any public decent was brutally crushed.
MAUNBG: It's devastating because now people are wondering are we going to live under another five to seven decades of this shadow over us.
WATSON (voice over): During military rule Suu Kyi became an international symbol of Myanmar's pro-democracy moment, winning a Nobel Peace Prize while
under house arrest in --for some 15 years. That changed in 2015 when the military finally allowed the country's first modern democratic elections.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people who had decided that they must be involved in the political process of this country.
WATSON (voice over): People celebrated in the streets after Suu Kyi and her party won by a landslide. She entered an uneasy power sharing agreement
with the military. But excitement over Myanmar's transition to civilian rule faded in 2017 amid disturbing scenes of hundreds of thousands of
members of the Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority fleeing across border to Bangladesh to escape a brutal military crackdown.
Though Aung San Suu Kyi was their ethnic cleansing in - state. The Nobel Peace Prize winner defended the military rejecting accusations of genocide.
On November 8th 2020 the people of Myanmar went back to the ballot box in another national election despite the threat of COVID-19 they voted in huge
numbers expanding Suu Kyi's mandate and all but crushing military backed candidates at the polls.
Without providing evidence, the military claimed electoral fraud and has now used these claims to justify its overthrow of the government.
MAUNG ZARNI, CO-FOUNDER, FORCES OF RENEWAL SOUTH EAST ASIA: The Burmese military have proven themselves very capable of slaughtering its own
people. So we have extremely, you know, troubling situation from here on because the pretense of civility in politics, and the pretense of
democratization is finished.
WATSON (voice over): A country with a long history of violence now headed into a new period of uncertainty. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
[11:05:00]
ANDERSON: Well, there is widespread international condemnation of this coup. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying the people's vote must be
respected and civilian leaders released. Similar sentiments coming from Sweden, Belgium and from European Union officials, and in China referenced
its friendly relations with Myanmar calling on all sides to resolve their differences and uphold political and social stability.
Well, in the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying his country is bravely concerned about the detentions of civilian government leaders. And
he is calling on the military to release them immediately.
Well, my next guest also calling for a very strong response from the Biden Administration including imposing crushing international sanctions as soon
as possible. Bill Richardson is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Former Governor of New Mexico joining us tonight via Skype from
the New Mexico capital of Santa Fe.
It is good to have you on sir. The White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has said and I quote, that the U.S. will take action against those
responsible if the steps are not reversed. You have mentioned sanctions, and what are you expecting from President Biden if this coup continues?
BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: Well, President Biden has made a good start condemning what happened, but now what needs to
happen is I believe not just the United State, but targeted international sanctions at any companies associated with the Burmese with Myanmar
military.
General men had been already been sanctioned by the Trump Administration, but I think those international sanctions need to be put on immediately
crushing sanctions to try to reverse course which I think is going to be very, very difficult.
I think countries like Malaysia and Japan have been on the right side on this Rohingya human rights issue, but China and India need to do more to
try to reverse this course of action by the Burmese military by the Myanmar military to bring stability to bring some kind of electoral answer, an
election, free and fair election, but it does not look very good right now.
ANDERSON: Is it the sort of action that you are advocating likely do you think?
RICHARDSON: Yes. Yes, I think that the Biden Administration has made a hallmark of reversing the Trump disinterest in human rights as a standard
of U.S. foreign policy. So I see something happening, but why did this happen? This happened because of the power sharing agreement with Aung Sun
Suu Kyi was really a farce.
And right now, the General Min has taken control, because he felt that the national league of democracy, the party, had really won and was going to
amend the constitution, less power for military, so they moved at this time when there was a pandemic around the world.
United States has just entering a new government, and everyone is preoccupied with the virus, and so, this is why they made the move at this
time, and it is important that action be swift to try to counter what happened.
That it happened right away that these sanctions, the United Nations, and the international community, the European Union, Asian democracies rise up
against this tragedy which is almost 1 million Rohingya are in Bangladesh and Bangladesh has been good about keeping these Rohingya going and beating
but it is a tragedy that possibly has involved genocide by the military in Myanmar.
ANDERSON: Well, that is something that is being investigated by the international criminal court of course at present. In your statement, some
of which I read out just earlier on, you also said, and I quote you here.
While Aung Sun Suu Kyi is complicit in the atrocities conducted by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya and others ethnic minorities, we
demand that her safety be insured. Now in 2018 you resigned from an international panel set up by Myanmar to advice on the Rohingya crisis,
saying it was conducting a whitewash and you accused Aung San Suu Kyi of lacking moral leadership.
It is not clear what her fate might be as the result of this coup. How concerned are you, and is as was suggested in Ivan's report, the pretense
of democratization in Myanmar over?
[11:10:00]
RICHARDSON: Well, I hope she is safe. She was my friend until I felt that she was whitewashing the genocide of the Rohingya, and the military was
running the show even though it was a power sharing agreement, and she was head of the civilian government.
But right now, I hope she is fine. I hope she speaks out. I think this is her chance to restore her legacy where she won a human rights prize, the
noble prize, but she was an accomplice to the military, to the military chief of staff who was taking over.
She did not defend human rights and democracy for journalists and Rohingya, but hopefully the international community will push for her safety the
safety of members of her party that also have been detained and that there is a free and fair election come back immediately.
I think this military they love the power. They run the country. There are human rights violations galore, and maybe Aung Sun Suu Kyi can come back,
but she needs to make a powerful statement denouncing what has happened, but I doubt it based on the fact that she has been an accomplice to the
military literally running the country and violating human rights and being against a democratic system.
ANDERSON: Let's be quite clear, the Myanmar military has said it will return power to the winning party of what they say is a free and fair
general election they have not though specified when elections would be held? As we mentioned they say they staged this coup of unproven claims
from fraud in the November vote.
I wonder whether if the military go ahead with these elections, how the international community should or might get involved.
RICHARDSON: Well, I think that the military is perpetrating a fraud. They don't intend to have free and fair elections because they have disrupted
this last election where they basically lost with the national league of democracy won, and the military feared that the civilians would amend the
constitution in the parliament which was only controlled by 25 percent of the military.
Now, if you look at the new ministers, the new officials, they are all military, and they are all stooges of General Min and the military chief of
staff so the prospects are not good. What they are trying to do is to buy time, and that is why the international sanctions should be placed on them
immediately.
A push for free and fair elections within a few months, and a quick effort for the international community, allies of Myanmar's military like China
and India to reverse their position and stand with nations in the European Union, Canada and the United States, possibly to put on sanctions, unless
there is a free and fair election right away.
And hopefully Aung San Suu Kyi can be part of that effort. She was my friend and I've been there seven times in Myanmar. She was an icon of
democracy, but she became an accomplice, and maybe this is the time when she can speak up and take another lead in her country towards democracy.
ANDERSON: Bill Richardson joining us here with his thoughts on CNN. Thank you, Bill. I want to return to the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic
now in a quote step forward on vaccines now for the European Union, that at least is according to the Commission's President Ursula Von Der Leyen says
AstraZeneca will deliver 9 million additional Coronavirus vaccine doses to the EU in the first quarter.
This comes after a furious rout between the bloc and the drug company last week. When it looked like AstraZeneca would fall short of what the European
Union had hoped for as far as vaccine deliveries are concerned.
Nic Robertson joining us now from London with more on the broader implications of what is this ongoing spat and Nic, a sort of semi victory I
guess is how you might describe it for Ursula Von Der Leyen in ensuring that more vaccine is available from AstraZeneca to the bloc.
But ultimately, at the same time pretty much sidelining and annoying almost everybody in her wake. How is this playing into the wider narrative of
vaccine nationalism at this point do you believe and indeed to the future of the bloc?
[11:15:00]
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think that there are two fundamental things here. One is this Ursula Von Der Leyen's
credibility and she is clawing that back after making what everyone has pretty much agreed.
And we have been speaking to former members of the European Union parliament, and, you know, others directly connected with, you know, with
Brussels over the years and their thinking. In essence, Ursula Von Der Leyen made a big mistake by triggering what was known as article 16 in the
Northern Ireland protocol which threatened to sort of put checks on the border between North and South of Ireland a hugely contentious issue in the
context of Brexit and particularly in the context of Northern Ireland.
So what she has been doing by making sure that the EU can get these vaccine supplies and there was an announcement today about another 75 million doses
coming from Pfizer/BioNTech as well for the European Union. Ursula Von Der Leyen made that announcement.
What she is really doing here is trying to sort of re-establish that old European Union citizens after this spat with AstraZeneca can get the
vaccines that they are hoping to get. They have all been watching the U.K. obviously that is very well advanced in relative terms with its vaccination
program.
But the other picture that you speak about here, and let's take the example of Northern Ireland where this very contentious announcement about this
article 16 in the Northern Ireland protocol came into play. The Brexit division in Northern Ireland caused by the new Brexit deal with the
European Union is a really open and sore wound.
When I was speaking to Northern Ireland politician this morning and she was telling me look, the decision by the European Union really opened that all
up again, and as looking just before we went on air just now a clip from the parliament of Northern Ireland today - where they are debating this
issue in heated terms about what the European Union did?
So there were knock-on consequences here. Now, the Former Finnish Prime Minister who is himself a European Union Politician Alexander Stubb told me
he was disappointed in what the EU had done. He is a strong supporter of the EU believes Ursula Von Der Leyen will get beyond this, but he wander
that very serious consequences of sort of collateral damage in these vaccine wars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDER STUBB, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF FINLAND: This pandemic really is hybrid. It has an impact on politics, on economic, on health, on social
affairs and international politics. And we have to remember that we are really, really in this together. You know vaccine internationalism it
doesn't get much more stupid than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And from that decision, the repercussions of that decision in the context of Northern Ireland will continue. The EU citizens will get
their vaccines, but he says that they will get their vaccines but the contentious politics of Northern Ireland that has been heated up again, and
that is going to take some time to tamp down.
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson with the kind of wider analysis Nic, thank you. Well, amid this rout, the W.H.O. has requested that the U.K. pause its
vaccination program after it is done vaccinating vulnerable groups and they have asked the U.K. to do that so that it would be able to share some its
supply with poorer nations.
The U.K. Trade Secretary says it is too early to do that. Well, earlier, I spoke with the COVID-19 Special Envoy to the W.H.O. Dr. David Nabarro and I
asked him whether the politicians in the U.K. will do the right thing and share their stockpiles, and this is his response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DAVID NABARRO, COVID-19 SPECIAL ENVOY FOR THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: This is a global pandemic. The risks faced by people all over
the world are very well understood, and I believe along with my colleagues in the World Health Organization that the access priority right now is to
ensure that all those most at risk are vaccinated as quickly as possible.
We would like to see a fair approach with the same opportunities for everybody, and we would really be unhappy if there were some people who
were denied access to vaccine yet or facing high risk because they are in places that are poorer and less easily able to access the vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that is Dr. David Nabarro. And we also spoke about the World Health Organization's investigation in China, the rest of that
interview coming to your screens in just under 15 minutes. Do stay with us for that. Also ahead on "Connect the World."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of fishermen voted for Brexit are going to be regret about it now?
[11:20:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never - for it but at the moment it does not matter who voted for what? We are here and we have to get solutions to go forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Collapsing prices and rotting seafood why Brexit has not been a good catch for the U.K.'s fishing industry. And just as Israeli sense a
nationwide lockdown, it is seeing mass defiance of the restrictions. The images like these and live report from Jerusalem is ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, we've seen the global tug of war that is going on around the world over the limited supply of Coronavirus vaccines. The urgency
cannot be understated as nations around the world do whatever they can to keep their people safe every day.
Well, Israel is so far been keeping up an ambitious vaccination campaign, but even as serious cases are surging as COVID-19 mutations continue to
spread. And the Israeli Prime Minister says that his country is in a "Very tight race to vaccinate as many citizens as possible".
Well now, the government has extended a nationwide lockdown until at least Friday. Sam Kiley is live for us in Jerusalem. Sam, this news is coming as
we see images of hundreds if not thousands of people flouting these pandemic rules. Explain?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well actually, Becky, you say thousands actually the police estimate for massive demonstrations
of grief at the funerals of two Rabbis in Jerusalem on Sunday.
But the figure in the around 20,000 people, Great Rivers of Black Clad ultra orthodox worshippers and adherence to the already tradition saying
farewell to two Rabbis both in their late 90s and one of whom at least is reported to have died as a result of COVID infection, and the other had one
injection.
But since has passed away creating very bitter reaction across this country particularly in the media but also from politicians against the ultra
orthodox committee who have for months been flouting lockdown regulations and social isolation regulations at a time when particularly the British
and Brazilian viruses are believed to be getting something of a grip on the Israelis.
The number of infections is coming down slightly from peak, about two weeks ago and about 10,000 a day, and now it is just over about 5,000 a day, but
the race that Benjamin Netanyahu is referring to there is the race to try and get herd immunity effectively his way to be achieved with the
vaccination of everybody they want to vaccinate which is everybody over the age of 16 in Israeli territory by the end of March.
[11:25:00]
KILEY: Of course, as far as the Israelis are concerned they're not responsible for people 4.5 to 5 million people in the Palestinian
territories of the West Bank and Gaza but there has been a transfer of a very small 2,000 shots to Palestinians in the last 24 hours, Becky.
ANDERSON: Well, let's be clear that the images that you saw during Sam's report there were both of today during these huge outpouring of people for
these funerals and indeed of rioting late last week Sam, thank you for that.
Let's get you up to speed on some other stories that are on our COVID radar right now. Turkey says it has vaccinated more than 2 million people since
its mass roll out of the China's Sinovac vaccine began on January 14th. All healthcare workers across Turkey who wanted the vaccine have now received
the first dose. People over 65 are now being vaccinated.
Well, countries in Latin America will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine through the World Health Organization's Covax program later this month. 36
nations and territories were given - with an estimated amount of doses each would receive. Officials say the Americas all need to immunize
approximately 500 million people to control the pandemic there.
Parts of Western Australia are under a five-day full lockdown after a hotel security guard tested positive for COVID-19. With a population of just
under 3 million, the state has had only about 900 Coronavirus cases so far and only 12 of those are active.
Well, the U.K. is stepping up surge testing as they call it for COVID-19 in parts of England where the South African variant has been detected. The
government says of 105 cases of the variant found in Britain so far 11 cannot be traced back to international travel. All are now self-isolating.
Well, as the world scrambles to track down cases and distribute vaccines, the World Health Organization is in China to find out where exactly this
virus came from? Ahead on my show, my conversation with the COVID-19 Special Envoy to the W.H.O. David Nabarro, that is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ANDERSON: This hour, a team of the world's very best scientists are busy in Wuhan hot on the trail of the deadly pathogen that has come to rule and
ruin our lives. Well, I want to explore how we got around the initial response, and then what is going on in the hunt for the pathogen's genesis?
I will discuss that with the W.H.O. Special Envoy to COVID-19, as his organization's team that continues their investigation in China. And
finally I'll look at how and where we are in succeeding and/or failing with the vaccines over in Brazil?
I begin on that point though back in Wuhan itself the apparent point of origin for the virus with the question what was the initial response there,
and for that I turn to CNN's David Culver.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is right here is the photo--
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Matching the photo on his phone with this Wuhan Park where he last spent time with his father, he can
barely keep it together. He says his father severed in China's military defending his country but as COVID-19 spread in Wuhan the epicenter of the
global outbreak early last year weeks passed before health officials publicly acknowledged human to human transmission.
When they finally did it led to their city of 11 million residents locking down. But by then, his 76-year-old father had contracted the virus and
dying days later.
CULVER (on camera): When you told me that when you are here, a few emotions come to mind, obviously the sadness and sorrow missing your dad, but also
anger. With whom are you angry?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the virus appeared in Wuhan in the early days the local government of Wuhan City and Hubei Province could truly have put
people and life first. They could have taken measures to control the virus, he says, but they didn't instead they covered up and missed the precious
opportunity.
CULVER (voice over): The government figure states nearly 4,000 people in the City of Wuhan have died from COVID-19, and he is now suing the local
officials and the hospital that treated his father. He is not the only one channeling his grief into action.
In the back room of the quite Wuhan tea house, we met - she packed envelopes addressed to China's high court. Her brother worked for a driver
for a local market and was infected in January of last year. She considers him a front line worker, but she says the local government declined her
family's claim for work injury compensation.
He felt that he would leave financial burdens behind she tells me, and wants to negotiate for proper compensation in exchange for his death so
that I can take care of his child and family and pay the mortgage and shoulder other responsibilities he could not complete.
Wang's efforts to persuade China's high court to help unlikely to change anything given the courts declined to take up any COVID-related cases. For
her, it is not even about the money, but what she calls spiritual justice for her daughter.
CULVER (on camera): What is the truth as you know it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The local officials did not about the pandemic she says. If measures were taken, I would not have sent my child to the
hospital which was the source of the infection. Last January, her 24-year- old daughter had been receiving treatment for cancer, and she contracted COVID-19. She said that the hospital was so overcrowded that she snuck in
to tend to her own daughter. I could not bear it anymore and so I disguised myself in a set of blue surgery garbs that one of my doctor friends gave me
and I went into the hospital she says.
I blended in to take care of my child. She says that she also contracted the virus, and while she was recovering, her daughter passed away. She says
her husband whose brother also died from the virus nearly drove off of a bridge; he wanted to take his own life.
Following the outbreak in Wuhan, several local and provincial leaders were ousted from their jobs, but she wants to see more done. I think that the
government officials who covered it up needs to be punished and not just disciplined, she tells me. My question is why is it that those who have
killed so many are not punished? If there is no explanation, there is no justice.
China's Foreign Ministry has said as recently as last month that the accusations of the country covered up the outbreak are simply groundless.
CNN reached out to the local and provincial officials for comment, they have not yet responded.
These grieving family members believe local officials should have done more, and they are now knowingly risking their own freedoms by showing
their pain publicly. He says given his entire father sacrificed for his country as an army veteran, he deserves better even in death.
[11:35:00]
CULVER (voice over): My father was a patriot and I am also one, he says. I always believe that it is a patriotic act to speak out. David Culver, CNN
Wuhan, China.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
NABARRO: Studying the origins of a new pathogen which is our word for disease agent, and finding out how a new pathogen has moved from an animal
species into the human race is always a tricky thing to do.
They will be looking for the origins of the virus perhaps in a bat, and then they'll be trying to work out how the pathogen moved from a bat
perhaps to an intermediate species in a market like the one they visited and then they will be considering how it could have moved from that
intermediate species to humans?
They may well be lucky and be able to find a pretty clear path, but the usual story is that you end up with a series of clear propositions, but you
don't end up with absolute certainty, whatever the results, I will tell you, they're going to be really helpful not only in understanding the
origins of this particular virus, but also in trying to make certain that there won't be future episodes like this.
We are always trying to use the experiences of one outbreak to help us to be better prepared to prevent other outbreaks from happening. We have done
it before on things like bird flu, and I'm absolutely certain that it will give us valuable clues this time as well.
ANDERSON: When will the details of this team's findings be revealed?
NABARRO: Well, first of all they have to come back from doing their visits into different parts of the country, and then they have to - report, but I
suspect we are talking about a number of weeks, and I can't give you precision I don't want to because I want them to feel that they are able to
do the work they have to do with as little pressure from outside. So let's wait until they come back and then work through it that is the best way, I
think.
ANDERSON: Can I ask you specifically though what you at the W.H.O. want to achieve with whatever these investigators bring back?
NABARRO: Well, the most important is as I said just now to really do everything possible to make sure that this kind of the phenomenon doesn't
happen again. We have not had a Coronavirus pandemic in any our living memory.
We have not had a situation which has caused quite this degree of suffering. We all want to do everything possible to prevent a recurrence
and that's the primary focus of it. It's not trying to explain precisely what happened this time last year or before when it started?
What matters is all of the time to look forward and to make sure that we are more secure and less likely to be affected in a similar way in the
coming months, years and decades.
ANDERSON: Clearly COVID-19 has created an awful lot of issues on the diplomatic front. How concerned are you that this team will get caught up
in the politics of COVID? I mean, should they find - should they find enough to suggest that this market for example weren't ground zero? Are
they free to point the finger of blame at this point?
NABARRO: Well, I don't think that the role of those of us working in the World Health Organization is to point fingers of blame as you put it. We
just have to try to explain what has happened. It's not frankly an issue of finding fault. It's an issue of trying to understand what happened and then
using that information to inform policy in the future.
I mean, we all work within the political environment. This is an intense political environment right now, and I believe that the researchers who are
involved, they are used to operating in a tricky context.
I personally believe that knowing several of them that they are really well equipped to be able to focus on the evidence and to make certain that they
do that in the most responsible manner, and then it will be up to others to decide what they do with the information?
For now, it is the technicians who are going to produce the best possible information, others will almost certainly wish to do things with it, but
our job is to always try to find out the best possible explanation to what is happening and that is what they will do.
ANDERSON: Sir, let's discuss the vaccine rollouts if we can?
NABARRO: Oh, yes.
ANDERSON: Countries like U.K. and Canada have procured enough vaccines of course to immunize their populations some two to three times over.
[11:40:00]
ANDERSON: Through its Covax scheme the W.H.O. is trying to secure vaccines for low-income countries and you and I have talked about this on a number
of occasions. And you have been warning that should we not immunize up to or more than 20 percent of the populations in some of the poorer countries?
The world will fall far short of sort of providing sort of herd immunity, and you have been concerned about that for some time. We are still seeing
uneven distribution and vaccine nationalism what can be done to address this inequality within the procurement process before it is too late,
David?
NABARRO: Well, it is good that you end the question by saying before it is too late. I agree with you, when you got a situation like this you rather
hope that the world leaders will get a grip on it quickly before it deteriorates into a situation where there is a lot of mistrust and
suspicion.
This is a global pandemic. It is affecting everywhere, and it is evolving and so the only way to deal with it is with a global response, and
worldwide effort. There are so many moving parts this worldwide effort that needs quite careful attention. We have got several vaccine candidates
coming on stream, but they are bit different from each other.
We have got tight supply situations. The manufacturing of vaccines is not an easy process. It goes wrong from time to time, and we have to prepare
for that. And not all of the vaccines that are coming available have yet been through the World Health Organization's emergency use authorization
process.
So there is a lot happening that is not exactly clear. I think what I would like to really recommend to everybody is try to move towards a situation
where we deal with this the global response rather than with country-by- country responses.
Let's try to shift away from a having too many national targets that become really strong political commitments because in the end if these national
targets become so central that they become dominant when vaccines suddenly are in short supply because of a manufacturing difficulty, then there is
going to be lots of competition between those who have different targets.
So I would much rather that we move fairly quickly please to a situation where this is dealt with as a global response program in which all national
leaders and all the major company CEOs and all of the international organizations work on it together.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Some of Sao Paulo's sickest come here the COVID-19 ward at Muriel Robust Institute of Infectious
Disease. Here a man struggles for air that won't come. He is put under an intubated and no one knows if he will survive. Nurse - tries to make sure
he does.
She says I have already lost eight of my colleagues to COVID. It is such a cruel disease. And yet n a way, she is lucky because in mid January -
became the first Brazilian to receive a vaccine no small feat given that Brazil's vaccine rollout is a mess as hospitals across the country overflow
with COVID-19 patients, only 1 million doses have been administered that is a stunningly low number given Brazil's decade long success in vaccinating
its population.
RIVERS (on camera): You have got the infrastructure, the experience but you don't have the product to get people vaccinated.
NATALIA PASTERNAK, MICROBIOLOGIST: It is really frustrating, we got everything. We just needed a better president and a minister of health.
RIVERS (voice over): President Jair Bolsonaro has been widely criticized for not securing vaccine supplies earlier spreading misinformation and
could undermine confidence in taking the vaccine. He said, "If you become an alligator that is your problem. If you're woman that grows a beard or a
man's voice become high pitched, I have nothing to do with that".
Though he argues no country would "Do better than my government is doing" Brazil has the second highest Coronavirus death toll worldwide and as we
saw in the City of Manaus last week health systems have collapsed across the country. A deal with AstraZeneca to manufacture 100 million doses of
that vaccine in Brazil by July has yet to produce a single dose.
There are tentative agreements to buy hundreds of millions of other doses but no one knows when or if they'll arrive? That's led some to take drastic
action.
[11:45:00]
RIVERS (voice over): Sao Paulo's State Governor Joao Doria tells us he went around the Bolsonaro administration last year and negotiated with China
directly for supplies of the Sinovac vaccine. He secured million of doses only to be forced to turn over those supplies to the federal government.
JOAO DORIA, SAO PAULO STATE GOVERNOR: It was a big mistake of the Bolsonaro government to choose just one vaccine, the AstraZeneca vaccine and not
three or four or five vaccines.
RIVERS (voice over): Bolsonaro has said Brazil would buy more vaccines as they become "Available" in the market, but who knows when that will be
given the current worldwide demand?
RIVERS (on camera): It has led many Brazilians livid with protests like this on becoming more and more common. They're seeing surge in case
numbers, a new potentially more transmissible COVID variant and a pandemic that has no end in sight all because they say of an inept federal
government.
RIVERS (voice over): Back at the COVID ward, it is easy to see why they are angry? We are told that this woman is now brain dead and kept alive by
machines and her family will have to decide when to give the go ahead to shut them off, another death that might have been prevented with a vaccine.
Matt Rivers, CNN Sao Paulo, Brazil.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ANDERSON: That is it. That is how important it is. If leaders don't follow the science, people die. If we don't follow the science and protect once
another, people die. If we don't understand where the virus started from, how can we stop it from happening again?
And if we don't evaluate our government's responses, how can we hold them to account, not just for COVID, but for climate change and all manner of
issues? That is why we connected you to Brazil, and to the W.H.O.'s man on the front of all of this, and to Wuhan in China, itself? And it is your
world, and we are connecting it back after this very quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: now, check this out, a Russian fighter jet buzzing an American destroyer operating in the Black Sea where the U.S. Navy has dispatched
multiple ships for exercises. Well, this happened on Sunday. U.S. Naval forces aboard the "U.S.S. Donald Kirk" posted this video of the incident of
these six fleet Twitter accounts.
Well, the tweet said it was operating in international waters at the time and that the navy routinely operates there to reassure NATO allies and
partners and to ensure security and stability in the region. And it comes at a time of increasing tensions between the U.S. and Russia.
For the U.K. fishermen, the Brexit deal not living up to its promises. Those in the industry are facing turmoil from collapsing prices to copious
paper work to sea food that is dead or rotting when it reaches European shores. Anna Stewart reports from Peterhead, the U.K.'s largest fishing
port.
[11:50:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Bob Teviotdale's weekly haul.
BOB TEVIOTDALE, FISHERMAN: These have just come from just a bit - of the coast this morning.
STEWART (voice over): A relief for the fourth generation fisherman who last week had to stay at home. New export delays following Brexit are putting
off his European customers.
TEVIOTDALE: We need to put sand - we had the catch, and it goes to these markets, and so, yes, it is absolutely crippling. Any expense incurred
obviously with any weak link in the chain obviously comes back to us.
STEWART (voice over): These brown crabs likely now risk arriving in Europe dead a problem for exports like AM Shellfish.
ALLAN MILLER, OWNER, AM SHELLFISH LIMITED: And we are looking 24 hours earlier than normal now just in order to take - back even.
STEWART (on camera): A lot of fishermen voted for Brexit, do you think they regret that now?
MILLER: I have never voted for it. But, at the moment, it doesn't matter who voted for what, we are here and we have to get some solutions to go
forward.
STEWART (voice over): These fishermen won't benefit from catch - renegotiated in the post Brexit trade deal. Porters don't apply to most
shellfish.
STEWART (on camera): Well, this is the very last brown crab being loaded up into this lorry, ready to go to Europe. It's been quick work. They have
collected shellfish from individual fishermen and small business right across the area, but the next stop for these guys it is going to take
longer. The lock jam starts here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So they have to got to go until - catcher is certificate. So that's also another certificate.
STEWART (on camera): OK, another certificate the export certificate, the catch certificate?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, many have got their - certificate and then we've got our delivery note. We have got commercial invoice, and then we've also
got security documents and we have also our import entries from the front side as well.
STEWART (on camera): Before Brexit what paperwork needed to be done, just that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the delivery note.
STEWART (on camera): Staying up all night to do paperwork isn't the only problem. These document costs nearly $5,000 a lorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have actually - and if they're sold, gone forward this just won't be here. Plus the fact, live shellfish, it doesn't wait,
and it is no sell date on it. It is alive or dead.
STEWART (on camera): For the - arriving at customs is daunting.
PIP ANDREW, DRIVER, AM SHELLFISH LIMITED: Yes, a lot of customs queues. There will be a delay in getting away - due to the paper work and then it
depends how long they hold you.
STEWART (on camera): Do you think it is going to be better or is it going to get worse?
ANDREW: You know there is going to be problems before you can get there.
STEWART (on camera): The U.K. government has announced a $30 million compensation package for fishing businesses impacted by Brexit. Short-term
relief, but Miller says it is not enough to stem the carnage. The survival of shellfish hangs in the balance as does the future of fishing communities
in the U.K. Anna Stewart, CNN Peterhead, Scotland.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And you are watching "Connect the World." I'm Becky Anderson, and we will be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: I just want to update you on a story that we have been following for you this hour. Myanmar's military leadership has just released a
statement explaining its actions after seizing power of the country in a coup.
[11:55:00]
ANDERSON: The Defense Commander in Chief alleges voter fraud in this past election and says it must be investigated. He touts what he says as the
country's history of fair elections in recent years saying officials have even investigated other claims of voter fraud and dismissed them. But he is
saying that the scale of these allegations is much larger. He is referring to elections that were held back in November.
Well, over the last year, the Coronavirus pandemic has dominated the headlines and indeed dominated medical research. There are many other
illnesses, particularly tropical diseases that don't get the attention that they need. That is why the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi started World
Neglected Disease Day in 2019.
To mark the second annual event on Saturday, more than 60 landmarks around the world were lit up to bring awareness to the problem. We're talking
about the nearly 2 billion people suffering from illnesses like Dengue, Chikungunya and Guinea Worm disease among those landmarks see great
pyramids in each of the - Rome and the Great Wall of China. They really are quite some sights to behold aren't they?
I'm Becky Anderson. That is it from us. Wherever you are watching in the world, do stay safe and stay well. It is a very good evening from the team
here in Abu Dhabi and those working with us around the world.
END
