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Cubans Stage Rare Protests Against Lack of Freedom and a Dire Economy; Pfizer to Brief U.S. Officials on Possible Need for COVID Booster; Italy Beats England in Penalty Shootout to Win 2020 Euro Title. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired July 12, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is EARLY START, I'm Laura Jarrett.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Good morning everybody, good morning Laura, I'm Christine Romans, it's Monday, July 12, 5:00 a.m. exactly in New York. But we begin this morning with an extraordinary sight in Cuba.
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ROMANS: Thousands of ordinary Cubans taking to the streets in protests demanding more food, medicine and relief in the midst of a pandemic-driven economic crash there.
JARRETT: In Washington, White House officials have expressed support for the demonstrations and warned the Cuban government against a violent crackdown on protesters there. CNN's Patrick Oppmann has the latest from Havana.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Thousands of protesters took to the streets here in Havana and across Cuba on Sunday, demanding change. This is something that almost never happens here that people engage in anti-government protests. The government does not permit it, usually they're shut down very quickly, and many people are just too afraid to openly criticize the government. But on Sunday, it was a very different picture as thousands of people did just that. They said they were sick of energy shortages and empty store shelves, many complained about the government's coronavirus response. The economy here has been deeply damaged.
It was economy that was already ailing before the pandemic, but now with more than a year of almost no tourism, very little tourism, to this island, people are hurting, and many of the people who took to the streets said they were simply not afraid anymore. They had nothing left to lose and in front of Cuban police officers. They criticized their government. They called for a change, but so far at least, those calls have fallen on deaf ears because we saw several arrests, people being taken away violently by the police.
We saw the government sending in their own counter-protesters that said they supported the revolution, they tried to drown out the anti- government protesters and Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel; the successor to the Castros said that the supporters of the revolution needed to take to the streets, needed to defend the revolution, and that he was giving them an order to flood the streets to defend their government. So far at least, despite these calls for change, unprecedented calls for change, the Cuban government does not appear to be giving an inch. Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.
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JARRETT: Patrick, thank you for that. To COVID now, with the Delta variant surging around the world, Pfizer is said to brief U.S. officials virtually tonight on a possible COVID vaccine booster shot. The company said last week that immunity is weakening over time among people who have received its vaccine.
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SCOTT GOTTLIEB, PFIZER BOARD MEMBER & FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: If we don't get started right now, we're not going to be in a position to have boosters available should we need it come the Fall. I think quite frankly, we've probably missed the window in terms of providing boosters for the Delta variant.
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JARRETT: The Pfizer meeting is seen as a courtesy. Federal guidance is not expected to change, however, that guidance mainly being the people who are fully vaccinated do not need a COVID booster at this time. But all the supplies to people who have been vaccinated, the CDC released data, Sunday, showing that more than a third of Americans over the age of 12 have received no vaccine at all.
ROMANS: In Arkansas, about two-thirds of those eligible haven't been fully vaccinated, one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. And now the state faces a disturbing rise in COVID cases. CNN's Polo Sandoval is there with more.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, good morning to you. Here in the state of Arkansas, it is a race to increase vaccination numbers while they're tracking what's being described by the Arkansas Department of Health as an alarming spike in COVID cases, many of those directly linked to that highly contagious Delta variant, making matters worse is that vaccination rate.
Authorities here telling me that only about a third of the state's population has been fully vaccinated. This weekend, Dr. Cam Patterson from the University of Arkansas for medical sciences told CNN that so far, they are experiencing what he described as an upward surge and get another wave of COVID-19 cases. Dr. Patterson explaining that many of the hospitals are once again full with COVID-19 patients, many of them tending to trend on a younger side of things. Some pregnant women as well. Another doctor from the same hospital system telling me that about 95 percent of the major COVID cases that they're seeing are people who have not yet been vaccinated.
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That is certainly a very telling statistic, it's been shared with the public as it certainly speaks to a high level of protection that the current vaccines do off of people when it comes to the virus, especially when it comes to this Delta variant, with previous incentives leading only to what's being described here by the governor as limited success.
State officials are now turning to so-called COVID conversations throughout the state, especially targeting some of the more rural regions, hearing some of those concerns, some of those are fairly understandable, others that are more of a conspiracy theory, so authorities hoping to address that, trying to get that number up as experts have noticed clear links between unvaccinated populations and higher incidents of COVID cases particularly when it comes to that Delta variant.
It's certainly not an issue just here in Arkansas, but other parts of the south, even parts to the Midwest as well, Laura and Christine?
ROMANS: Polo, thank you so much for that. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is urging G20 leaders to step up vaccine-sharing efforts as countries race to vaccinate as many people as possible.
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JANET YELLEN, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: We're very concerned about the Delta variant and other variants that could emerge and threaten recovery. We are a connected global economy.
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ROMANS: Yellen met with the world's economic leaders in Italy to discuss the recovery and how countries can improve vaccine distribution. The Delta variant is now the dominant variant in the United States. Concerns over this virus briefly rattled markets last week and the variants in particular. Investigators though seemed to brush off those worries on Friday and stocks hit record highs. The Treasury Secretary added that officials have a goal of getting 70 percent of the world vaccinated by next year.
JARRETT: So, we need to get back --
ROMANS: Yes --
JARRETT: To normal. All right, England fans, a crushing defeat after Italy wins the Euro 2020 football championship. We are live in Rome and London. That's next.
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JARRETT: This morning, all of Italy is celebrating after their national soccer team defeated England to win the Euro 2020 title. The final match decided in a penalty shoot-out. It's Italy's first European championship since 1968. CNN's Barbie Nadeau is live for us in Rome. Barbie, good morning, what's the celebration been like there? Is anyone sleeping?
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, nobody slept last night. I don't think. There were cars going around all over Italy, and the city of Rome was electric, it was alive until 4:00 or 5:00 this morning. People were singing, you know, waving the flags, talking about the match, replaying the best moments of it. You know, soccer is really part of the DNA of this country, and to win something like this has really brought the country together, especially after they've suffered so much during that COVID pandemic. It really felt like a success, and for the first time, we feel optimism here.
And you know, the players have come back to Italy. They'll be meeting the president and the prime minister. They're being celebrated. This is a party that won't end any time soon.
JARRETT: All right, Barbie, thank you so much, appreciate it. So great for those fans.
ROMANS: Absolutely. But as Italy celebrated, England fans were gutted.
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ROMANS: But pandemonium around London started well before the match, fans jumping turnstiles at Wembley stadium, pushing past paying ticket holders. In central London, rowdy fans tried to shove their way into a so-called fan zone where the game could be watched for free, but tickets were required. And then there was the racism directed at some England players on social media. For more on all of it, let's bring in CNN's Alex Thomas live for us at Wembley. Alex, the mayor of London now calling on social media companies to do more about all of this racist garbage online.
ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that's why England's footballers take a knee before kickoff in every match just to remind everyone they stand against any form of racist abuse, particularly online where it's become rampant. Three England footballers missed the crucial spot-kicks in a penalty shoot-out after the match was still 1- 1 with Italy after normal time, and half an hour of extra time, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all missing in quick succession, and then sadly getting abused online with monkey emojis on their social media accounts and refers to those another even more vile forms of abuse, just really marring what had been a day of celebration here.
The first time a men's football team, soccer team had got to a major final for 55 years since the 1966 World Cup in England, the fifth year in the old Wembley Stadium that's now been rebuilt behind me, adds that to all the violence when the carnival atmosphere turned nasty with too much drinking, not enough policing, bottles being thrown, fights breaking out, kids in tears. It was a very dark day for English football.
ROMANS: Yes, I will say, and just so tough there to have that loss, but in a year and a half into -- after COVID, just to have the social disorder just really unfortunate. All right, Alex, thank you --
JARRETT: How do you turn on your own players like that? Like what year is it?
ROMANS: I have -- we keep saying this, people have forgotten how to behave --
JARRETT: Yes --
ROMANS: In a past year-and-a half --
JARRETT: Yes, and get it together, people.
ROMANS: Yes, get it together.
JARRETT: All right, well, the Milwaukee Bucks catching up to the Phoenix Suns in the third game of the NBA finals. We got your highlights next.
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ROMANS: All right, a lot going on between the Euro final, Wimbledon Men's final and the NBA finals, it was quite the weekend for sports. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT". Good morning, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Christine. It was an incredible sports weekend. We're going to start with game three of the NBA finals last night. Now, this is a game the Bucks had to win because they could not afford to fall behind 0-3 to the Suns. And you had thousands of Bucks fans outside the arena in the Deer District watching the game on the big screens. First, NBA finals game in Milwaukee since 1974, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, a man on a mission again. He will go for 41 points in 13 rebounds, second-straight finals game he poured in more than 40.
Now, the Suns were trying to hang in there. Cameron Johnson with an incredible dunk on P.J. Tucker, plus the foul. But the Bucks, they'd go on a 24-6 run to end the third quarter.
[05:20:00] They go on to win game 3 easily, 120-100, the final. Suns still lead
the series 2 games to 1, game 4 will be Wednesday night in Milwaukee. All right, earlier in the day, Novak Djokovic coming through with another historic victory. Djoko beating Matteo Berrettini in the Wimbledon final to claim his 20th Grand Slam title, tying with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most all time. Now, this was Djokovic's third-straight Wimbledon title, six overall, he's now very close to some more history. No man has won a calendar Grand Slam, which is winning all four majors since Rod Laver in 1969. Djokovic can do it this September at the U.S. Open.
He could also get the so-called golden slam, which is all the majors plus gold at the Olympics in the same year. No man has ever done that. Djokovic, though, says he's 50/50 on whether he's going to compete in the Olympics in two weeks. All right, finally, an incredible come-back by the Astros against the Yankees yesterday. New York took a 5-run lead into the bottom of the ninth, but the Astros got the winning run to the plate and it was the Yankee's worst nightmare. Jose Altuve, he blast a walk-off three-run homerun to left, as the Astros win it 8-7.
Now, earlier in that series, Aaron Judge trolled Altuve, pulling in his jersey as he rounded the bases, a nod to the Astros cheating scandal. While Altuve's teammates completely ripping off his jersey yesterday as he crossed home plate to show Judge and the Yankees no cheating here, just got beat. And I tell you what, it is going to be one long all-star break for the Yankees, guys. They are in fourth place, eight games out in the division, not good times there in the Bronx.
JARRETT: What's with ripping off the jersey? I mean, am I just out of touch? What is this?
SCHOLES: There's a long back story to that, which we don't have time for now --
JARRETT: OK, I got it --
SCHOLES: I'll tell you about it another time.
JARRETT: Got it, enough said. Thank you --
ROMANS: Sports fan Laura --
SCHOLES: All right --
ROMANS: Sports fan Laura --
JARRETT: That's right, thank you, Andy.
SCHOLES: All right --
JARRETT: All right, coming up, a new age of space travel is dawning.
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RICHARD BRANSON, ENGLISH MAGNATE: To the next generation of dreamers, if we can do this, just imagine what you can do.
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ROMANS: He did it. He really did.
JARRETT: He did it. What Richard Branson's out-of-this-world trek could mean for the budding industry of space tourism.
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JARRETT: Four more years, that was the warm welcome for former President Donald Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference. A glowing reception in Texas Sunday, another sign of the iron grip Trump still holds on the Republican faithful. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has more from Dallas.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christine and Laura. CPAC here in Dallas this weekend was very much the Trump show. And that was reflected in a straw poll that was conducted here over the weekend, 70 percent of attendees, people surveyed here said they would want to see Trump be the Republican candidate in 2024, and Trump had a remarkable moment of honesty about that poll. Listen to what he had to say.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And by the way, you have a poll coming out, unfortunately, I want to know what it is that -- you know they do that straw poll, right? Now, if it's bad, I just so -- I say it's fake!
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If it's good, I say that's the most accurate poll perhaps ever taken.
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O'SULLIVAN: Of course, Trump repeating lies about the election, we heard many of those same lies repeated by many attendees at this conference over the weekend.
Do you accept he lost the election?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I accept that on paper things happened to make it appear that way. I don't know what would have happened.
O'SULLIVAN: Right --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I find it very questionable that he lost, given the support that he had.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he did lose the election, but we believe -- I believe there are some discrepancies and those will be revealed at some point.
O'SULLIVAN: What are you hoping to hear from Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That he is going to regain his rightful seat as president.
O'SULLIVAN: In 2024?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
O'SULLIVAN: When?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As soon as the election is overturned for the election fraud.
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O'SULLIVAN: And also many lies about the insurrection. People still in denial about what happened on that day. Some people even claiming that it wasn't actually Trump supporters involved, which of course is false. Back to you.
ROMANS: All right, Donie, thanks for that. You know, the Trump faithful CPAC crowd also cheering when it was mentioned on the CPAC stage that the U.S. fell short of President Biden's July 4th vaccination goal, cheering on the pandemic, frustrating and horrifying says Dr. Anthony Fauci.
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ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It's horrifying. I mean, they're cheering about someone saying that it's a good thing for people not to try and save their lives. I mean, if you just unpack that for a second, Jake, it's almost frightening to say, hey, guess what? We don't want you to do something to save your life. Yay, everybody starts screaming and clapping. I just don't get that. I mean, and I don't think that anybody who's thinking clearly can get that. What is that all about?
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ROMANS: Fauci also telling CNN it should be a top U.S. priority to get children back to in-person learning in classrooms in the Fall.
All right, good morning.
