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BioNTech CEO Speaks About Vaccine; Pressure to Pass Stimulus Bill; Georgia; Officials Receive Threats. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 02, 2020 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.K. government says it plans to begin vaccinations next week. Obviously, this is a major development. The United States could be just a week or so behind.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen live in Germany with the CEO of BioNTech in the first interview he has granted since the announcement.

Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, John.

Yes, and he's known as the father of the BioNTech and Pfizer vaccine. Of course it's the whole team of Ugur Sahin, who is with me right now, who developed this vaccine in the labs that you see right behind me here, in Mainz, Germany.

Sir, first of all, congratulations to you. And, second of all, how big a step is this for you in general towards beating the pandemic?

UGUR SAHIN, CEO, BIONTECH: Yes. Thank you very much. This is really, of course, very important milestone. So it will be the first time that people outside of clinical trials will get access to our vaccine. And we believe that it is really the start of the end of the pandemic if we can ensure now a bold rollout of our vaccine.

Of course it's the first country to enable an authorization and others will probably follow, but it's a good start.

PLEITGEN: How fast are things going to go now from this approval to people actually getting the vaccine first in the U.K. but then, of course, also in other places as well?

SAHIN: Yes, so we are at the moment in the process of preparing additional documents and dealing with logistics. So if everything goes well, I expect that first people could get the first vaccinations beginning next week.

PLEITGEN: Beginning next week in the U.K.

At the same time, you're also, you believe, and almost everyone believes, very close to getting approval, Emergency Use Authorization, from the FDA. When do you think that's going to be the case? How soon do you think that will be?

SAHIN: Yes. So we are in close interaction with the FDA and addressing that questions, providing additional data. The next important meeting will be on December 10th. The (INAUDIBLE) meeting. And after the (INAUDIBLE) meeting, depending on the outcome of this meeting, it could be very fast. So it could happen that the days after that (INAUDIBLE) meeting we might get the authorization. And if we get the authorization, we will be able to start delivery of the vaccine very fast.

PLEITGEN: How fast is very fast? Because a lot of people in America, of course, also are asking how soon will they be able to get the vaccine? How much have you already produced, for instance?

SAHIN: So we have -- we have already produced a lot of doses in the last weeks. The doses -- the vaccine doses are now going to be released with certificates, with quality certificates. We already mentioned that we will deliver up to 50 million doses to the different regions in 2020. So that means a significant proportion of those doses would also go to the United States. Of course it depends -- it depends on when we would be able to start the rollout. So technically we are prepared to start the rollout. It depends, of course, on the regulatory approval.

PLEITGEN: One of the things that we've been hearing over the past couple of weeks is the logics specifically of your vaccine, having to be stored at around minus 100 Fahrenheit. There are some who have called it a logistical nightmare. How do you plan to mitigate that in the future?

SAHIN: Yes. So this is -- this is the early phase of pandemic supply and of course the early phase of pandemic supply is a logistical challenge for all of us. It's not only the storage of the -- of the -- and transportation of the vaccine, but also really getting the people to the right place at the right time and ensuring that they can come back for the second vaccination.

We are in the moment working in analyzing other transportation temperatures, including minus 20. We are evaluating whether the vaccine is stable at 228 degrees for a longer time. And what we also do is we are working already on a second generation of formulation, which could -- which might allow us even transportation at room temperature. We will see, but this -- this will -- this will (INAUDIBLE).

PLEITGEN: When would that second generation be available?

SAHIN: So, first of all, what is important is that in the next few months we will get additional data supporting us, the transportation of the vaccine in a -- in, for example, at minus 20. So that's the first change. And the second generation will be available most likely in the second half of 2021.

PLEITGEN: When -- and this is the final question -- when do you think that this will all have such an effect that we will begin to see the end of the pandemic and life will be going back to normal? SAHIN: Yes, it is important. So every individual who receives the

vaccine will most likely have a benefit. We have demonstrated for our vaccine 95 percent protection from disease. And so it will be benefit for everyone getting this vaccine, including those who are at risk to have a severe disease. To ensure that we are able to stop this pandemic, we need to reach a high vaccination rate and expert -- experts give different numbers.

[08:35:08]

Sixty to 70 percent is a -- is a number proportion of people having an immune response which could enable stopping of the vaccine. And I believe -- I personally believe there's a number of companies now reaching, reaching, reaching the approval in the next few months. We might be able to deliver sufficient number of doses until end of summer 2021 to reach the 70 -- 60 to 70 percent coverage, which could give us the relief to have a normal (INAUDIBLE) in 2021.

PLEITGEN: Ugur Sahin, thank you very much for speaking with us.

So there you have it, John, believing this could be the beginning of the end of the pandemic, certainly a big milestone in the fight against the novel coronavirus, first in the U.K. and then coming to the rest of the world probably pretty soon as well, John.

BERMAN: And the start of the end of the pandemic. He said it right there. An interview you will only see on CNN.

Fred, terrific work getting there. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

So as we wait for the vaccine, millions of Americans are desperate for economic relief. What is happening on Capitol Hill to help? That's next.

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[08:40:55]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Pressure is growing on lawmakers to pass a new bipartisan stimulus deal to help the millions of struggling Americans.

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joining us now with more.

Pressure that we should point out, Christine, has been there from Americans for a long time.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. You know, and can they break this stalemate? That's the question because millions of families depend on a solution here. So the players are dusting off their playbooks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell now wants this narrower deal, roughly $332 billion, to help small businesses, including another round of paycheck protection program loans, a one month extension of the pandemic emergency unemployment assistance program. Now, McConnell's move here is seen as a rejection of that $908 billion

bipartisan plan. That had unemployment insurance and money for state and local governments. That, of course, the state aid a nonstarter for GOP leadership.

In another sign of urgency here, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, they spoke yesterday on the phone about stimulus for the first time since October. You know it's really unclear if any proposal stands any chance of becoming law before President Trump leaves office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I think the one thing we all agree on is that we don't have time for messaging games, we don't have time for lengthy negotiations. The issue is, do we want to get a result? And I'd like to remind everybody, the way you get a result is you have to have a presidential signature.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So we know that Pelosi and the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, have made some private offers to McConnell, details secret there. And the president-elect, Joe Biden, has said any lame duck deal would be only the beginning.

There is no more time here, you guys. The pandemic jobless program expires the day after Christmas. That's 12 million people who will stop getting their jobless check. Rent protections are expiring. Deferred student loan payments come due soon. Food banks are strained. Ten million jobs lost since the crisis began. We are still in a jobs hole of 10 million.

HILL: It is just -- it's amazing, you know, when you lay it out and yet here we are, Christine.

ROMANS: They go round and round and round and round. And at the kitchen table, there's no more -- no more that can be tolerated.

HILL: No. I mean that could be tolerated months ago, right, and yet here we are.

Christine, thank you.

All right, here's what else to watch today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ON SCREEN TEXT: 10:00 a.m. ET, House hearing on COVID relief.

11:00 a.m. ET, CDC director speaks.

12:00 p.m. ET, Mark Kelly sworn-in as U.S. senator.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: Coming up, elections officials, many of them Republicans, are facing extreme pressure and threats for refusing to consider bogus fraud claims. Some now require security as their families face threats as well. And now they're speaking out.

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[08:48:08]

BERMAN: Developing this morning, a top election official in Georgia pleading with President Trump to stop inspiring people to commit violence. Gabriel Sterling, a Republican, blasted the president for failing to condemn threats against election workers and officials in his state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABRIEL STERLING, GEORGIA VOTING SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER: A 20 something tech in Gwinnett County today has death threats and a noose put out saying he should be hung for treason because he was transferring a report on batches from an EMS to a county computer so he could read it. It has to stop.

Stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone's going to get hurt. Someone's going to get shot. Someone's going to get killed.

Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. All of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this. Passion, no doubt, from Gabriel Sterling there.

Joining me now, political reporters for "The Atlanta Journal- Constitution," who have been covering this closely, Greg Bluestein and Patricia Murphy.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Patricia, you spent time with the Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and his wife. They've been receiving threats. You got a taste of what they've been through. Explain.

PATRICIA MURPHY, POLITICAL REPORTER, "ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION": Yes, I was with Secretary of State Raffensperger last week in his home. He does have 24-hour protection. He and his wife especially have been subjected to violent threats, sexualized threats, very invasive threats. It's something that they have been going through actually for a number of weeks. It hasn't just started. This has been going on for quite some time. They were not only worried that this is going on, but also that Republican officials in the state had not been stepping up to do anything about it or to even say anything about it.

[08:50:03]

They themselves, I think, felt confident in the process that the secretary of state is following. He certainly does not seem like he's going to change what he's doing. But certainly these threats are very real and it's -- it's a situation where there were activists in his neighborhood over the weekend searching for him. They had gotten his address, looking for him in a caravan. This is a situation where his safety is certainly of concern and it's not just him it's his staff as well.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting, Greg, because what we heard in Sterling's voice there wasn't just, I think, moral indignation and personal indignation, also political indignation as well, which is something I've begun to pick up from Georgia officials that we've spoken with. Geoff Duncan was on NEW DAY, the lieutenant governor, yesterday, and we -- you know, you hear from Brian Kemp. They have had enough of this politically, too, to the point where they're willing to say to the president, who's very popular in Georgia, no, enough, enough. We're through with you. So talk to me about that shifting political dynamic.

GREG BLUESTEIN, POLITICAL REPORTER, "ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION": Yes, what you heard from Gabriel Sterling was fury. It was unscripted fury. He was fed up with all this rhetoric, with all these baseless claims, with all this false narrative of a stolen election and it's starting to trickle down into the Republican base and it's starting to lead to those threats that Patricia was just talking about.

And, yes, Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan was been one of the few Republicans who have called that out and who have said that this is unacceptable and it's time for Republicans to move on. And this morning about 18 former Republican Georgia officials said essentially the same thing, that Republicans need to focus on the January 5th runoffs for control of the Senate and stop looking behind them at fights over the election.

BERMAN: And, again, believe me, I think the personal and moral indignation is enough. I think what's going on is grotesque. But I do think there's a political element as well. And I wonder if you think, Patricia, that Republicans there are beginning to think this is hurting Republican chances to win those two Senate seats in the runoff on January 5th.

MURPHY: Yes, there is significant concern that Republicans are not going to be able to come together, particularly for Senator Loeffler. She has just come through what was essentially a Republican primary. Her primary opponent, Doug Collins, is leading the charge about -- for the Trump campaign about the legality of this election and it's a situation where Republican base members are not just having suspicions about the process, Republicans themselves are having suspicions about each other. And that is a huge problem going into a runoff when you need a united Republican base and a few more other voters to come into the process and vote for them. And I think also the concern is that as these two Republican senators need to stay so close to the president, it could damage their own credibility as leaders here in the state.

So it's creating an enormous problem that they don't need to have were it not for the president doing this.

BERMAN: After Sterling put out that statement or made that statement, you did get these releases from the two senators in Georgia saying, oh, of course we abhor violence. What are we supposed to make of the timing of those statements and the effort that went into them, Greg?

BLUESTEIN: Yes, I mean, they had to say something at that point because this has gone viral. It's gotten millions and millions of views. But what -- what Republicans know here in Georgia is that they didn't say that before. They didn't say that when there was threats to Secretary of State Raffensperger's life and the security detail that Patricia outlined. That was known in Georgia for weeks now.

And even before that, low level county elections workers, just people doing their jobs, have been threatened on social media and elsewhere. People have been driven into hiding because people were taking video clips of them out of context. And it's gotten to be, as Gabriel Sterling said, a really concerned, dangerous threat that violent action could take place.

BERMAN: And, you know, and Sterling wasn't making that statement just about Georgia, I think. Mitch McConnell still has sat and watched this to an extent. How far do you think, Patricia, he wanted that statement to go?

MURPHY: I think he wanted it to go to the president. I think he spoke directly to the president and said, Mr. President, you need to step up, you need to say that this type of violence, this type of action and these threats are not OK. We did see the president's campaign say that they certainly don't condone any kinds of violence, but then the president, last night, was tweeting that this is a rigged election.

And that's the problem. It's not only questioning the election of which there has been no significant fraud found, but it's also continuing to push this message that people in the state cannot trust their leaders and can't trust the election that's just taken place, and that's what creates the threats of violence in the first place.

BERMAN: The president is coming to Georgia Saturday. It will be interesting, Geoff Duncan told us he's not going. All of a sudden his schedule's too busy to appear with the president on Saturday. I don't know if Governor Brian Kemp will be there. But what dynamic do you think that will create in the state?

[08:55:02]

BLUESTEIN: This is why there's so much hand wringing among Republicans in Georgia right now about what that effect of President Trump's visit here on Saturday will bring. Will he talk more about his own grievances, about his own fight for, you know, his own false narrative that he won the election, or will he focus on the two senators running to -- for control of the U.S. Senate? We don't know yet. And we also don't know what Republicans will show up with him. Will Governor Kemp show up with him after he's been attacked by President Trump for so long over refusing his demands to overturn the election.

BERMAN: Very interesting to watch.

Thank you both for your reporting on this, this morning. Thanks so much for being with us.

BLUESTEIN: Thank you.

MURPHY: Thanks.

BERMAN: All right, there is a Georgia Senate debate that you can watch right here on CNN between Senator Kelly Loeffler and Reverend Raphael Warnock. That's Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. Eastern live on CNN.

All right, we woke up to the breaking news on the coronavirus vaccine. The United Kingdom has approved for emergency use the Pfizer vaccine. What does that mean for the rest of us? Our coverage continues right after this.

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