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Connect the World
Over Half of India under Lockdown; Israel Responds to Gaza Rocket Fire with Airstrikes; Nine Killed in Russia School Shooting; Big Pharma Opposes Patent Waivers; Queen Elizabeth Opens Parliament. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired May 11, 2021 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have sirens, let's go, let's go.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Israel conducts more than 150 strikes on Gaza targets, sirens blaring nonstop. We are live on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Then --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With no village doctor or medics and the shortage of hospital beds in faraway
cities, many here rely on Jitu's (ph) experience as a pharmacist.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Rural Indian villages reel under the weight of the country's COVID catastrophe. We look at how communities without doctors are
coping.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): And --
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ELIZABETH II, QUEEN OF ENGLAND: My government will protect the health of the nation.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Queen Elizabeth opens a new session of the British Parliament with an optimistic road map out of the pandemic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson. Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
Even in a part of the world known for its sky-high tensions, violence is reaching a level not seen in years. Israel now calling up 5,000 reservists
as the military responds to rocket fire from Gaza with airstrikes.
Air raid sirens have been going off for hours in the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Hadas Gold is one of the people there running. We'll hear from
her in a moment.
Israeli emergency services say two people have been killed in Ashkelon. More than 30 others injured by rocket fire and by stone throwing. The
Palestinian health ministry says Israeli strikes have killed 26 people in Gaza, including several children.
Israel said it hit military targets and killed militants. This marks a dramatic uptick in the tensions we've been seeing play out on the streets
of Jerusalem over the past several days.
From around the world, pleas to defuse the situation before it's too late. U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken calling for all sides to de-
escalate, although he says Israel has the right to defend itself against rocket attacks.
Similar sentiments from the European Union; a spokesman says the violence must stop immediately and preventing further casualties must be a priority.
In the Middle East, Jordan's King Abdullah called for a, quote, "immediate halt" to, quote, "Israel's violations in Jerusalem."
CNN's Hadas Gold had to scramble for cover two days in a row now as those sirens go off. She joins us from the Israeli city of Ashkelon.
Just describe exactly where you are at present and why, Hadas.
GOLD: So Becky, I am in the bomb shelter of a building that was struck earlier today directly by a rocket. We've been here all day, essentially
unable to leave this area because, all day long, we've been hearing air raid sirens and rockets, as well as explosions, possibly interceptions by
the Iron Dome.
I'm going to try to walk you out to the front of this building to see the damage caused by one of the rockets. If we hear an air raid siren, which we
may any minute now, we'll have to come running back in.
But when there's a moment of calm between the air raid sirens, people come outside to get fresh air. We'll have our cameraman pan up so you can just
see the damage that this rocket caused this building. This happened in the early hours of this morning here in Ashkelon.
There's been a barrage of rockets. Israeli military say there have been at least 300, likely more, that have been fired from Gaza into Israel. They
say that -- emergency services here say that two people in Ashkelon have been killed. Others have been injured, including from this building here,
one of them seriously injured.
The Palestinian health ministry says at least 26 people have been killed in strikes in Gaza. We have been hearing -- sorry, including nine children.
Israel says it's investigating the deaths of civilians in Gaza, saying they take it very seriously.
They are also noting that it is -- that, amongst the rockets fired from Gaza, at least one-third of them are falling short. They say that's an
unusually high number for Gaza. But the IDF says they are striking Gaza militants.
We've been hearing planes buzzing overhead. We just now hear another airplane flying pretty close. We've been hearing some booms. Not sure if
we'll even be able to see that. But we can hear the airplanes buzzing. They've been doing this quite some time.
Typically what happens is a few minutes later we'll get an air raid siren and then rockets fire toward this city, towards Ashkelon. I've been
speaking to the residents of this building.
[10:05:00]
GOLD: And they say that while rockets being fired inside of Israel is nothing new, the amount they've have seen -- here we go. We've got an air
raid siren again. Becky, we're going back into the safety of the bomb shelter.
Like I told you, what we've been hearing is those airplanes flying, buzzing ahead of us. We'll hear some sort of strikes. We may lose you in the bomb
shelter because of the signal. But this is what's been happening all day long.
People are -- you're going to see the residents coming in alongside here as well. This is the bomb shelter of a residential building. They've been very
kind to host us here for most of the day. But this is what we've been hearing all day long. We'll hear airplanes buzzing ahead and then we'll
hear some sort of explosion sort of booms and then a few minutes later, the air raid sirens, rockets.
We just heard one explosion that could have been an Iron Dome interception. Ooh, that was a big one. We could -- I could feel that vibrating through
the air just now. There's another one. That's a big one as well.
I -- this is a very tense -- four right now, four in a row. This is all happening right now. Yes, as you can see, residents here, they say this is
-- ooh, that is another very close one. Another very close one, right above us or feels as though it's very right above us. That's at least six or
seven. I don't know if they were explosions or interceptions by the Iron Dome that have been happening.
Those have felt very, very close, Becky, honestly closer than a lot of the other explosions we've been hearing today. But this is what it's been like
here all day long. Israel says that it's striking Gaza militants in the Gaza Strip.
They say they are calling up 5,000 reservists to try and strengthen their positions. And as of right now, Becky, it just does not seem as though this
is quieting any time soon.
ANDERSON: And Benjamin Netanyahu describing this as the fight for Jerusalem and that this could go on for some time. I'm just interested
because there are a number of children beside you.
Rather than doing the politics of this, which we will go into at length in the next couple of hours, I just want you to describe the atmosphere where
you are. There are youngsters, kids around you. Just describe whether this feels familiar -- all too familiar for those children and families around
you.
What are they telling you?
GOLD: That's a dog barking.
Yes, as you can tell, this is a residential building. People live here. This is part of -- this is their daily lives here. And I spoke to some of
the residents of this building here. They were woken up with that direct rocket attack on this building in the early hours of this morning, as I
noted. It injured several people, including one critically.
And they have been spending most of the day and most of the last few hours in this bomb shelter. Sometimes they go in and out. But these children are
just spending their day here. They're on their phones, computers, mostly following the rockets, the sirens.
There's an app to download that tells you when there's going to be -- when a red alert siren goes off. They're following where the strikes are.
Unfortunately for the -- for those who live in this area, both in Gaza and in southern Israel, although this is a part of the daily life, rockets and
airstrikes, these do happen occasionally over the years, this level of intensity, this is an unusual level. They have not experienced something
like this. Especially here in Ashkelon. It's a little further north than what they are used to or than where we typically see many of these rockets
firing.
I think we're hearing another airplane flying ahead of us. We may hear this cycle go through again. Airplanes, we might hear some strikes. And then we
might hear the air raid sirens going off, which mean more rockets fired this way.
But for these children, this is just what their day is like today. School has obviously been canceled for them. Most people are staying off the roads
although we do occasionally see people coming through.
When you do hear air raid sirens, there's been a couple times when people have to leave their cars on the street, come running into whatever building
that they find and they'll come in here. A few hours ago, a couple came in here.
I heard one of them say, "Did you turn off the car?"
And the woman said, no, she didn't have time to. She just jumped out of the car and came in here. Very, very tense moment. We just heard one boom. Not
sure if it was an airstrike or something else. But people here just hunkering down in these shelters.
ANDERSON: Hadas, we are, as you and I speak, you are in the bunker there in Ashkelon. We've got a shot over Gaza City and this has been panning this
shot. We have billowing black smoke from something.
One can only assume the booms you heard are evidenced by this smoke. There were four plumes of smoke on the shot we saw before this. And now two dense
plumes of smoke rising above the skyline, as we see it, of Gaza City.
But it is unclear why -- from where that smoke is emitting. You are in this bunker, Hamas (sic).
[10:10:00]
ANDERSON: And you've been talking about the atmosphere there and the effect on these families.
Hamas has issued a statement saying, and I quote here, "As long as the Israeli occupation continues to perpetuate crimes and violations against
the Palestinian people, the Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas, will respond and defend Jerusalem, Al Aqsa mosque and the Gaza Strip."
And the statement goes on, "We have the right to respond to the Israeli offensive and protect the interests of our people as long as the Israeli
occupation continues its escalation."
You have spent the last, what, three or four days in Jerusalem. Just describe the atmosphere there. What we are seeing today seems to be a
further uptick in the tensions that we have been seeing of late in Jerusalem.
(CROSSTALK)
GOLD: Well, the (INAUDIBLE) militants have said that's in direct -- they are firing (INAUDIBLE) these rackets in direct retaliation to what's been
happening in Jerusalem over the past few days.
That's included really tense confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli police. The Al Aqsa compound and within the Al Aqsa mosque itself
where, just in one day, we saw more than 500 Palestinians injured. And that was the third straight day of clashes at the Al Aqsa mosque.
We've also seen skirmishes at the Damascus gate outside one of the main entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem as well as clashes in Sheikh Jarrah
neighborhood of East Jerusalem, which has really become a flashpoint in a lot of this.
As well as what's happening at the Al Aqsa compound. But in Sheikh Jarrah, there are several Palestinian families who have been facing evictions as
part of a long-running legal battle. And their case was actually supposed to be heard in the supreme court on Monday but that was delayed.
But the tensions still running very high. In the confluence of events, Monday was also Jerusalem Day, when Israel marks when it took control of
the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Typically there's a march of tens of thousands of Israelis through the Old City of Jerusalem.
At the last minute, they changed the route because it was originally supposed to go through Damascus gate, where a lot of Palestinians had been
gathering and we were there and they had blocked the street that takes you from Damascus gate to where the Israeli marchers were gathering. They
blocked it.
We did see at certain points the marchers trying to get up to the police barricades, trying to get their way through. They wanted to march down
towards Damascus gate and then at 6:00 pm last night we heard the air raid sirens in Jerusalem, which is quite unusual. They have not heard air raid
sirens in Jerusalem for quite some time.
That was a dramatic moment because there were tens of thousands of people out on the streets. They started to flee, to take cover. After that, they
just canceled the march entirely.
But clearly the tensions in Jerusalem have reached such a fever pitch that we're seeing the effect of it reaching into Gaza. Gaza militants firing
these rockets, hundreds of them, and just, as we speak, we continue to hear airplanes buzzing above us. We continue to hear these booms and, like I've
been saying, just air raid sirens constantly all day long here in Ashkelon, forcing residents here into their bunkers.
And Israelis -- Israeli military striking what they say are Gaza militant sites in the Gaza Strip. And we're seeing casualties now on both sides.
ANDERSON: Yes, absolutely. Hadas, I want to leave you for the time being. Do stay safe.
Hadas is in Ashkelon, on the other side of the border, of course, to Gaza. Israel Defense Forces tell CNN it has conducted more than 150 strikes on
targets across Gaza. And we have just been seeing more hitting the area in what were those live pictures.
The airstrikes killing 15 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, they say, as we've mentioned. The Palestinian health ministry says civilians, including
nine children, are among the dead.
Let's get to Gaza. My next guest tweeted, "These moments are reminding us of the 2014 war with Israel that lasted for 510 days."
Omar Shaban is in Gaza. He's a Palestinian writer, commentator and founder of PalThink. Joining us just now.
And as we speak, so we are seeing a shot of Gaza, with plumes of black smoke emerging from the skyline. Just describe what is going on in Gaza for
me at present, if you will.
OMAR SHABAN, PALESTINIAN WRITER: Thank you. It is my pleasure (INAUDIBLE) to correct the one mistake in my tweet. The 2013 war was 51 days, not 510
days.
I am in Gaza now. I am in my home. I cannot get out. There is shelling almost everywhere. Gaza is too small. You cannot escape from one place to
another place.
[10:15:00]
SHABAN: The escalation continue up to this moment until six (sic) Palestinian were killed, 9 of them are children; 1 of them 3 years old and
the other one 9 years old. And this reminded us, with the three major wars here in Gaza, 2008, 2009, which lasted for three weeks; 2012, which lasted
for 10 days and 2014, which lasted for 51 days, where (INAUDIBLE) and more than 10,000 houses were destroyed totally.
Gaza's war to be with and to go through this war again, we really hope this will finish in the coming few hours, although I'm not optimistic as the
escalation has been (INAUDIBLE) over the last couple of hours.
ANDERSON: What needs to happen in order for there to be a de-escalation at this point?
SHABAN: Thank you for this question and we should look at the roots of the problem. There are three main reasons for what happened now in Gaza.
First, the first reason was what happened in Jerusalem, Palestinian in Jerusalem and in Gaza (INAUDIBLE) as one nation. So Palestinian and Gaza
were very angry and upset with the violation of the freedom of the Palestinian to go and to pray in the Al Aqsa mosque and the Israeli
intention to evict the Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah.
Second is the Palestinian were frustrated by the refusal of the Israeli (ph) to lift the Palestinian (INAUDIBLE) election in Jerusalem, which was
supposed to be happening 22nd of May. This has forced our president to postpone the election. This postponement of the election has fueled the
frustration, the anger among the Palestinian.
Still, the absence of the international will. You remember the former U.S. president Trump has announced Jerusalem as the united capital to Israel,
did not start any peace process.
And now Joe Biden, the new president, which we welcome very much, until now, they did not -- the American -- the U.S. administration did not
present any initiative to resume talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Of course, Gaza has been under siege for the past 14 years. There's unemployment frustration and radicalization of the society, which consider
a destabilizing factor to the Middle East, to the peace for the Israeli security itself.
So Gaza is not isolated from what's going on and what is needed to be there is two things. (INAUDIBLE) make the election in Jerusalem (INAUDIBLE) in
Gaza to remove the siege over the Gaza Strip that was imposed in 2014, which it create in 2007, which it created socioeconomic difficulty for the
Palestinians in Gaza.
Two million Palestinian in Gaza who were left are living in 200 mile square, which is very small. It's a very (INAUDIBLE) area. The unemployment
is around 75 percent. Two-thirds of the (INAUDIBLE) families are poor. There's no good (ph) water, there's no access to cover (ph) to the -- where
to 62 percent of the Gaza population, 62 percent of the Gaza population are under 50 years old, who have never been outside.
So this is a bomb that will explode one day so we should not defuse the (INAUDIBLE) problem not to continue with the same rhetoric every time.
We've been under this escalation many hundred times since 2007 up to now. So we need to end this cycle of violence that happens every couple of
weeks.
ANDERSON: Let me put this to you. There is, at present, a vacuum of Palestinian leadership, that Hamas and Gaza has ofttimes tried to fill. And
let's be quite frank. You talked about Palestinian elections. They've been postponed. His critics say that actually suits Mahmoud Abbas.
Do you and the people of Gaza support Hamas and agree with their conviction that they have a right to lob rockets at Israel, so long as they continue
their, quote, "occupation," of Palestine?
What's the sense on the ground where you are?
SHABAN: I have heard this speech many time with (INAUDIBLE) Hamas in Gaza won the election in 2006. For many reasons that some of the (INAUDIBLE)
that don't exist anymore. According to the recent war on Palestinian Territories before the election, Hamas (INAUDIBLE) 25 percent (ph), much
more than that. The majority of the Gazans under Palestinian are not in support with Hamas but this narrative is used by the Israeli politician to
justify their act against Gaza.
Hamas, like any other faction, is part of the Palestinian society. I am not here to defend Hamas or any others. Many Palestinians are against using
rockets from Gaza against Israel.
[10:20:00]
SHABAN: But this rocket came as a reaction to the Israeli policy. We need to go back to the roots of the problem. There was a siege was imposed on
Gaza, 2007, for 15 years. Gaza have been denied access to travel. There is no social health services.
The unemployment among Gaza youth is very high. How to get out of this is by unification the Palestinian political system and by having a (INAUDIBLE)
leadership that can assume (ph) peace talks with Israel and (INAUDIBLE) support for Palestine, which every time they use -- they use Hamas as a
reason for what happened against Gaza.
What happened now is the action to what happened in Jerusalem. Palestinians have the right to establish a state of 1967 border in West Bank, in
Jerusalem and in Gaza. The U.S. administration position is in support with the two-state solution.
I urge you, through you, the U.S. administration, to intervene and to present initiative so that will lead to make the Palestinian reconciliation
and Palestinian leadership unified again.
And then we'll resume the peace talks with Israel. We should must -- we should must bring an end to this conflict that has been here for 70 (ph)
years. Yes, we have something to do as our home as a Palestinian but Palestinian issue is not very domestic thing.
It has original international dimension. America has a (INAUDIBLE) stake on our case (ph) and America has the big leverage over Israel. And we want
America to advise Israel, not to pressure Israel but (INAUDIBLE) is not good, not only for us but for them as well and for the future of the
stability and peace in the Middle East.
ANDERSON: With that, we're going to leave it there. We thank you very much indeed for joining us. And we do hope that you stay well and safe. Thank
you.
Later, we'll get perspective from the Israeli and further perspective from the Palestinian side, with the senior adviser to the Israeli prime
minister, who is a human rights attorney, who says the world has been desensitized to death in Gaza. That's next. That's next hour indeed on
CONNECT THE WORLD.
This is a developing story. Do stay up to date with all the latest news, video and analysis on cnn.com. Also follow the story on the CNN app. We
will be back right after this.
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ANDERSON: At least seven schoolchildren are dead after a shooting attack in Russia. This happened earlier on Tuesday in the Russian city of Kazan.
Two adults were killed as well. Russian anti-terrorism officials say a lone gunman burst into a school there and opened fire. Fred Pleitgen joining us
from Moscow with more details -- Fred.
[10:25:00]
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Becky, and everything about this shooting is, obviously, tragic. One of the things,
the worst thing about this, this happened exactly on the first day of school after children came back from a public holiday, which it was here in
Russia on Monday.
What the authorities are saying is that, around 9:30 am, this gunman burst into the school and opened fire. As you mentioned, at least nine people
were killed. Seven of them were children.
There's harrowing eyewitness accounts that we've heard here throughout the course of the day. Obviously, a lot of those kids very much in panic. There
are scenes of children running out of the school, some apparently even jumping from windows as high up as the third floor to try and escape this
gunman. So clearly a lot of panic that ensued.
On your screen, we can see some of the security forces that amassed outside the school and then went into the school. What we're hearing is the gunman
is a teenager. The gunman was apprehended. Apparently he's 19 years old.
And one of the things about all of this is that apparently a rifle was used in this shooting. And one of the things we're already hearing here in
Russian society is that Vladimir Putin is putting forward a proposal to further restrict the ownership of guns.
The gun used in this was legally registered to this person. Russian society is saying something like this should not ever happen again. Of course, one
of the things we always have to point out is that incidents like this are extremely rare here in Russian society.
There's not the amount of gun ownership that you would have in the United States and, therefore, of course, events like this extremely shocking to
the people of Kazan. It's been a very long time since a tragedy on that scale happened in Kazan or in a place like that.
So obviously, the people there very much shocked at what happened and already saying that there possibly needs to be more restrictions on gun
ownership, as they're in a state of mourning after this terrible incident.
ANDERSON: Frederik Pleitgen on the story, thank you for that.
Well, vaccine inequality is a huge roadblock in the race to eradicate COVID-19. One of the plans to clear that roadblock has pharmaceutical
companies furious. We'll note why and the counterargument coming up.
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QUEEN ELIZABETH: My ministers will address lost learning during the pandemic and ensure every child has a high quality education and is able to
fulfill their potential.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Vowing to tackle inequality as the U.K. recovers from the coronavirus. Queen Elizabeth presents her government's agenda to
Parliament. More on that speech a little later.
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ANDERSON: India's COVID catastrophe, as we've been reporting, has been spilling beyond its borders, with cases exploding across South Asia. And
now the World Health Organization warning, the variant first seen in India shows evidence of increased transmissibility.
That news coming amid indications that India's second wave may finally be peaking. New COVID-19 cases did dip again today to about 330,000 daily
cases. Another 3,800 people in the country died of COVID over the past day.
And as we've said before, the actual numbers of cases and deaths are likely much, much higher than these official numbers.
In the thick of this crisis, India has proposed a plan to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents. That will only happen if the World Trade Organization
approves the measure. And that is a big if. The group's director general says the WTO should have a decision by December.
As we just saw, that may be too late, because many, many places need help now. Critics say waiving the patents still doesn't address the immediate
need to manufacture doses fast.
U.S. President Joe Biden has backed the dropping of this patent -- the waiver -- and are angering pharmaceutical companies. One pharmaceutical
industry group calls the U.S. stance shortsighted and ineffectual adding, "While we
wholeheartedly agree with the goal of protecting citizens around the world through vaccines, waiving patents will make winning the fight against the
coronavirus even harder."
The woman who wrote that memo joins us live. Nathalie Moll is the director of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.
Thank you. Health experts, human rights groups, dozens of countries and leading academics have all argued for months that waiving IP rights is
critical to addressing vaccine shortages.
So how can you argue against that?
NATHALIE MOLL, EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES AND ASSOCIATIONS: Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me today,
Becky. Good morning or good afternoon from Europe.
In fact, as you just mentioned yourself and as French president Macron and German chancellor Merkel said just this weekend at an E.U. summit, the
problem is not about patents. It's about production and sharing.
This is what we need to do today. We need to continue to increase the production. We need to overcome the manufacturing hurdles. We need to put
everything in common, have a global approach to make sure we increase production from the zero doses we had at the beginning of the year to the
10 billion doses for the end of the year, when the WTO decisions will take place.
The issue is about doing something today. And in order to do that, there are three things really that we're looking for governments to do together
globally and it's about sharing any excess doses that are already available in some countries.
It's about optimizing that production and taking away any barriers to that increase in production and manufacturing. And it's about moving any export
restrictions to make sure those supply chains, to produce vaccines, are as solid as possible.
ANDERSON: So far, only 0.3 percent of COVID-19 doses worldwide have been administered in low income countries. The current vaccine producers are not
keeping up with global demand and new variants continue to emerge.
Countries such as India and South Africa are convinced that waiving the IP, the patent, is going to help. Considering how high the stakes are right
now, surely it makes sense to explore every avenue available to increase production at this point. I hear what you're saying and what others are
saying.
But the truth of the matter is that we need to explore all avenues to ensure that we get these vaccines to the people who need them most.
MOLL: I couldn't agree more with you, Becky. That's really what our industry has been doing from the beginning. Today we have four approved
vaccines. And that's just within a few months of the first approval in January, within a year of the pandemic being declared.
And that's an incredible feat of science if you think about it. But there are another 20 candidates in the last stages of testing and another 100
still being looked at.
[10:35:00]
MOLL: So this is not the end -- the vaccines we have today is not the end of the vaccine so we're all focusing on the ones available today. We're all
looking at how we can ramp up the productivity.
As an industry, we've already struck more than 280 licensing deals, voluntary licensing deals, with manufacturers all over the world, including
an NGO in South Africa to increase that production.
But as you may have read and found out, these are incredibly complex living organisms that need to be reproduced. So it's not your standard, let's say,
recipe, as I read that as well. It's about really manufacturing extremely complex living organisms that need to be administered in very different
technologies.
And in those voluntary licensing agreements, so where a patent exists but it's voluntarily licensed out to a manufacturing capacity, there's a whole
technology transfer, usually there's an adaptation of the production side of --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: I understand. I've -- and I've heard this argument. Let me -- sorry. I don't want to rudely interrupt you and I hope it wasn't rude. But
let's just be quite clear about this.
Your critics -- and there are many, your job is, of course, to represent the pharmaceutical industry operating in your -- say that opposition to
this waiver from Big Pharma is just about greed, protecting the bottom line.
What is it about this waiver that is such a bad idea?
I get that you say this isn't the only way that we can get more jabs into people's arms.
But what's so bad about this waiver?
President Biden believes, in the end, despite a huge lobby from Big Pharma in the U.S., that this is the human thing to do. This is a humane thing to
do.
Your industry is about protecting its bottom line, is it not?
And these waivers will hurt the shareholder at the end of the day.
MOLL: To be very frank, Becky, in this pandemic, I think you saw, from the very beginning, when we came out with commitments, that this pandemic is
not about bottom line. This pandemic is about adding on top of all the things we already do. So we continue to produce other vaccines and
therapeutics, adding the fight against COVID-19.
And certainly that has been the priority, creating new manufacturing lines --
(AUDIO GAP)
(CROSSTALK)
MOLL: -- access to that information and to try and make an mRNA vaccine or any other vaccine, without the technology transfer I was talking about
before. So without the knowledge and without any knowledge also, the initial producer, of who is doing what, you will not have the guarantees on
the quality of the final product.
But the other thing that's important to know is that, today, I was mentioning one of the bottlenecks is the raw materials to produce those
vaccines because we're suddenly ramping up from nothing to 10 billion. We're not used to doing that.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: I understand. I understand. You are providing a -- you are -- sorry. You are providing every argument to ensure that our viewers will be
convinced that a waiver is just a terrible idea.
And my question was simply why are they such a bad idea when every expert I speak to says they -- a waiver would help. Look, I'll get you back at some
point because this conversation will continue. The WTO still has to make a decision on this and possibly this will be a discussion that we can
continue before December when that --
(CROSSTALK)
MOLL: If I may --
ANDERSON: But thank you.
MOLL: OK. If I may, I just think the diversion today of producing vaccines and manufacturing for everybody today, which is the priority, as you just
mentioned, looking at India and everyone else, we cannot afford that diversion today. I think it would be dramatic --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Fair enough.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: You've had your say. Thank you very much indeed.
Vaccines just one tool helping to ease restrictions in some places. And that means some football fans heading back to the stadium just in time for
the end of the season. We'll have a preview of what the Premier League could look like just ahead.
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[10:40:00]
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QUEEN ELIZABETH: My lords and members of the House of Commons, my government's priority is to deliver a national recovery from the pandemic.
It makes the United Kingdom stronger, healthier and more prosperous than before.
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ANDERSON: Well, a call to revive the health of a nation, its economy and people after a long battle with COVID-19. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II
opening Parliament a short time ago with a speech written by her government promising a more prosperous post-pandemic U.K.
The ceremonial event was very understated. As you know, the queen is also a widow, grieving the recent loss of her husband, Prince Philip, and the U.K.
mourning the loss of more than 127,000 lives lost to coronavirus.
The queen laying out the post-pandemic outlook just a day after British prime minister Boris Johnson gave the green light to more easing of COVID
curbs in England, at least. For the world of sports, that means fans beginning to head back to stadiums.
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[11:00:00]
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