Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with Rahel Solomon

New Vaccine Advisers Recommend Preservative-Free Flu Shot; U.S. State Department To Block Visas Of Close Associates, Relatives; Bezos Wedding Weekend Underway With A-Listers, Protesters. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 27, 2025 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:33:45]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, three people were killed in the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine's Kherson region officials said on Thursday, but 13 others were injured in the attack which caused multiple fires.

Further north, Ukraine says it has stopped Russian advance in its Sumy region. Moscow's troops have been gaining ground there for months, but Ukraine says the front line has not been stabilized and its troops are recapturing the territory.

Well, at least 15 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a market in central Gaza. Local health officials add that several others were injured on Thursday. The market reportedly crowded as food in Gaza remains very hard to find. Only a fraction of the amount needed is said to be coming in.

Israel has been keeping a tight lid on more aid. On Thursday, the controversial Israeli-backed aid group the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was the only one allowed to distribute food. Israel has accused Hamas of stealing humanitarian aid. A major U.N. relief group say there's no evidence of the significant -- a significant amount of aid is being stolen.

[05:35:00]

And also three Palestinians reported killed in a confrontation with Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Palestinians say the settlers set fire to homes and vehicles in a town near Ramallah on Wednesday. Israel's military says several people were killed without specifying who. On Thursday, Palestinians said the IDF killed at 15-year-old boy. Israel says it soldiers fired at people who were throwing explosives at them.

And new vaccine advisers appointed by health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy are pushing for changes to the flu vaccine that many Americans get each year. A report on that is after this.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:40:20]

ANDERSON: Well, and a very good morning. I'm Becky Anderson.

The new group of advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending a new shot that can protect babies from RSV. The respiratory virus is, of course, the most common cause of hospitalization in infants. The advisers were appointed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy earlier this month. They also voted to recommend that people receive flu vaccines that are free of preservatives that contains a form of mercury even though there is -- there is evidence that it's harmful.

CNN's Meg Tirrell has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this two-day meeting of this newly assembled group of vaccine advisers to the CDC concluded with probably the most controversial topic that was on the entire agenda and one that had been added as kind of a last minute addition by this new group of advisers.

And it concerns a preservative in vaccines called thimerosal. This was actually taken out of vaccines about 25 years ago from most vaccines over theoretical concerns that there may be a safety risk because it contains a form of mercury. But no risk had ever been seen from this preservative, and no one has actually been seen since.

However, it became a focal point of people who believe that this vaccine preservative could be linked to neurodevelopmental issues like autism, and decades of research and multiple studies have found no link. But people like Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have focused on that and he actually published a book about this vaccine preservative in 2014.

And so this new panel of advisers that he handpicked added this to the agenda and they took a vote recommending that people in the United States not receive vaccines with the preservative thimerosal in them. We should note that it's still only in very few vaccines. Multi-dose vials of flu vaccines and only about four percent of influenza vaccines given last season actually contains this preservative.

Still, there was concern around this vote, including from one of the panelists, Dr. Cody Meissner who is a pediatrician at Tufts and probably the best respected panelist when it comes to vaccine expertise by peers in public health. And here is what he had to say about it.

DR. CODY MEISSNER, CHIEF OF PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES, TUFTS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: The risk from influenza is so much greater than the nonexistent, as far as we know, risk from thimerosal. So I would hate for a person not to receive the influenza vaccine because the only available preparation contains thimerosal. I don't -- I find that very hard to justify.

TIRRELL: He was the only panelist to vote no on this recommendation. We should also add that groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics worried about the addition of this topic to the agenda saying that "False information and faulty science about thimerosal are frequently used to mislead parents in an attempt to scare them out of vaccinating their children."

The American Academy of Pediatrics has typically participated with this panel in terms of guiding vaccine policy in the United States but this week they were breaking with that, saying that they were concerned about its scientific integrity.

Meg Tirrell, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, New York's incumbent mayor kicks off his re-election campaign taking stabs at his leading opponent. Zohran Mamdani outlines his Democratic socialist vision for one of the world's most expensive cities. That is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:48:05]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson. Here are some of the stories that we are watching for you today.

And a second intelligence briefing for members of the U.S. House scheduled for later. Senators heard the latest on the Iran strikes from the Trump administration on Thursday. Many Democrats acknowledge that there was severe damage, but they questioned the president's claim of total obliteration.

New advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention want flu vaccines to be free of a preservative that contains a form of mercury although there is no evidence that it is harmful. They are also recommending a new vaccine that can protect babies from a common respiratory virus known as RSV.

Donald Trump's domestic policy agenda facing a setback in the U.S. Senate. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that key provisions of the bill do not meet strict budget rules that would allow it to pass by a simple majority. Republican senators now plan to work through the weekend to revise the bill.

The New York mayor's race getting more crowded. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams officially launched his bid Thursday for a second four-year term as an Independent candidate.

He wasted no time attacking Zohran Mamdani who won the Democratic primary this week, saying that the state assemblyman was offering handouts and fantasies, and would turn New York City into a socialist city. It's an allegation Mamdani isn't pushing back on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: The definition for me of why I call myself a Democratic socialist is the words of Dr. King decades ago. He said, "Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism. There must be a better distribution of wealth for all of God's children in this country."

And that's what I'm focused on is dignity and taking on income inequality. And for too long politicians have pretended that we're spectators to that crisis of affordability. We're actually actors and we have the choice to exacerbate it, like Mayor Adams has done, or to respond to it and resolve it, like I'm planning to do.

[05:50:08]

We are ready in the most expensive city in the United States to have five boroughs that New Yorkers can actually afford. And this entire race was about the question of affordability. And ultimately, I have run a campaign that speaks about the tools that city government actually has to deliver that affordability in the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the world. And it's time that we have a mayoral administration that follows through and actually delivers that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: And despite conceding the Democratic primary to Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo may not be leaving the race. Sources say the former governor will likely stay on the ballot for the November election as an Independent candidate.

Well, as part of the Trump administration's effort to stop the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States, the State Department is taking aim at friends and relatives of suspected drug traffickers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. will begin blocking the visas of family members and close personal and business associates of those under sanction for drug trafficking. Rubio said that the move will keep those people from entering the country and act as a deterrent for continued illicit activities.

Well, the Trump administration says Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant wrongly deported -- wrongfully deported to El Salvador earlier this year, will be deported to a third country once he is released from custody. A Justice Department lawyer revealed the plans during a brief court hearing on Thursday.

Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States earlier this month and then arrested on human smuggling charges. He's pleaded not guilty but remains in custody.

In 2019, a judge ruled that Abrego Garcia would not be returned to El Salvador for fear of gang violence, but that order doesn't apply if he is sent to a third country.

Well, a lavish weekend wedding celebration is now underway in Venice in Italy. Billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiance will tie the knot but not without controversy.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:56:40]

ANDERSON: Billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are about to get married in Venice. The event has drawn celebrities and protesters to the Italian city. Reports say that the wedding ceremony will be on Friday with a party on Saturday at a former medieval shipyard that now houses art.

Well, among the A-list celebrities attending, Oprah Winfrey, actor Orlando Bloom, singer, Usher, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Ivanka Trump.

But the lavish celebration has also sparked protests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROTESTERS: You are not alone! You are not alone! (PH)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, anti-capitalists and other activists have draped posters and banners around Venice criticizing the extravagant event.

CNN's Melissa Bell is live there. Melissa, what do we know at this point?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At this stage we're starting to get an idea not just of the events being organized that we understand that is just me on San Giorgio Island there in San Giorgia Church that the couple will tie knot later today with a gala expected afterwards.

They've kept everything under wraps, of course, because of the protests you just mentioned that continued until late last night just before the heavens opened, Becky, and we were soaked by the most tremendous storm.

That group -- a local group of activists who have been campaigning against things like the cost of living in Venice and the fact of the one percent celebrating such a lavish wedding at such difficult times for ordinary people. The group is called "No Space for Bezos." They've managed to bring together all these activists in the last three weeks once they got wind of the fact that this series of events was going to be held here in Venice.

We saw them last night, with a laser, mark their protest. "No Bezos, No War," they said on big church clock in San Marco Square.

Still, the events will continue, we understand, again with that ceremony tonight where the couple are expected to tie the knot.

But as you say, there's already been something of a victory for the protesters insofar as it is the big Saturday events that were planned to be the north of Venice in a sort of 16th century very famous cathedral up there that had to be moved to the Arsenale, which is slightly outside of the city. Because activists were simply threatening to jump into the canals with inflatable unicorns and inflatable crocodiles to prevent guests from making it to the event.

And it is also tomorrow, Becky, that we expect the biggest protests since activists will be walking from Venice train station to the town center. Still, they claim a victory for now. The events continue as planned, and it is this evening in that extraordinary island just opposite that we expect Lauren Sanchez and the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to tie the knot, Becky.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you there. What will she wear, we're asking ourselves.

Thank you.

Well, a rare daytime fireball was spotted hurdling through the air in several states in the U.S. Southeast on Thursday. It triggered a sonic boom that bled through the region. Both events quite unusual, especially during daytime when fireballs are extremely hard to see. Experts say it may have been dropped by a meteor before breaking apart into potentially hundreds of fragments.

[06:00:00]

It's not yet known if the fireball hit the ground but there are reports of a piece of meteorite smashing through the roof and cracking the floor of a home in Georgia. I hope they're safe if that is the case.

Thanks for watching. You've been watching EARLY START with me, Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.