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Ex-Surgeon General: "Uncomfortable" With Vaccine Incentives; Fan Keeps Displaying "Trump Won" Banner At Baseball Games; High School Forced To Halt Sales Over Complaints Of BLM Pages; "Ring Of Fire" Solar Eclipse Lightning Up Skies Across U.S. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 10, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:32:30]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So less than a month ago before the July 4th holiday, which is the Biden administration's target date to get at least one vaccine shot the 70% of the adult population. And right now the pace is lagging a bit behind. So federal and state governments are offering incentives that range from free beer to marijuana joints. Are there any other kind?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I don't think so.

BERMAN: I'm going to revise that free beer, two joints to a million bucks just to get people to sign up for the shot.

But joining me now is the former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams. Thanks so much for being with us. Beer, joints, how do you feel about those incentives?

JEROME ADAMS, FMR U.S. SURGEON GENERAL, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Well, first of all, I want to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge that the Biden administration took the baton of three safe and effective vaccines handed to them and got us to the point where most people in the U.S. who are eager to get a vaccine have gotten one and that's a good thing. But we're in the last leg of the relay. And it's proving more difficult than many imagined. Governments and businesses are contemplating an array of enticements.

And John, here's the thing. Enticements have always been an ethical dilemma and public health policy. COVID is no exception. You've got a public health community on one hand is arguing for safer gun ownership, prevention of youth drug use, and a national plan to address the perils of epidemic alcohol over consumption. And we have governments endorsing gun giveaways, marijuana joints for jabs, and the President of the United States essentially participating in a giant beer commercial.

I'm all for doing what we can to get people vaccinated. But we have to ask ourselves if we're really getting a benefit that's commensurate with the known harm, the known public health harm of normalizing these behaviors. BERMAN: The challenge and I hear what you're saying, and that's a value judgment. It's a value judgment that they have to make. What's --

ADAMS: Well, it's a scientific judgment too, what's the harm, what's the benefit?

BERMAN: Fair point. What they are up against in terms of getting people vaccinated. I'm not saying this justifies the beer or in the joints, which isn't a federal program. It's a state program. They're up against just this wave of misinformation, this misinformation in some cases, that's been normalized, shocking misinformation that's been normalized in some places almost sanctioned by state federal officials. Right?

You have this Ohio testimony, where Republican lawmakers called in a so-called doctor who made claims about people being magnetized if they take the vaccine. Just listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRI TENPENNY, ANTI-VACCINATION ACTIVIST: What is it that's actually being transmitted that's causing all of these things is a combination of the protein which now we're finding has a metal attached to it. I'm sure you've seen the pictures all over the internet of people who've had these shots and now they're magnetized and put a key on their forehead, it sticks. They can put spoons and forks all over them and they can stick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:35:15]

BERMAN: I mean, you know, what do you do with that, when people in sworn testimony are seeing things like that?

ADAMS: Well, I agree with you. I'm deeply bothered by the misinformation that's out there. But here's what we know from the science. We know that the way that you get people to change their behaviors is by engaging them. And what I've been pleading for. What I really want, the federal and state and local officials to do is to sit down and engage these communities with trusted stakeholders get shots in doctors offices. We aren't quite there yet.

Work with worksites. You're hearing about J&J, about J&J vaccines about to be thrown away. I'm working with ACTIV, which is a company down on the border in Texas, to see if we can get some of these vaccines available for people who are coming back and forth across the border. There are ways that we can get more people vaccinated. And we need to continue to combat this misinformation, as you mentioned.

BERMAN: The Johnson & Johnson issue where there could be thousands, if not millions of doses just thrown out because they expired. That's a real shame. I mean, how -- could that have been avoided?

ADAMS: Well, it's absolutely a shame. But again, we don't have to give up on these vaccines yet. There are people who were eager to get them. California, Texas, again, working with worksites, to make sure people who come back and forth across the border from Mexico have these vaccines available, we knew we were going to get to this point, now comes the hard part. And they've got to double down on engagement, and really looking at people. You know, the Latino community has their causes for hesitancy, the African-American community has their causes for hesitancy, the black community has unique causes for hesitancy. And we've got to work with trusted stakeholders to get people the information and the access that will help them make the right choice.

BERMAN: I had a chance to talk to Lawrence Wright, who's got a new book about the pandemic are called The Plague Year. And one of the things he talked about with me was that the sense of almost despair, he has that wives were lost that didn't need to be lost. Listen to what he said to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE WRIGHT, AUTHOR: I think about it a lot. And it's very disturbing to consider that that hundreds of thousands of lives might have been spared if the -- if there had been a higher standard of leadership in charge of this effort.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Is that something that haunts you?

ADAMS: Well, I absolutely as a doctor, I'm haunted by any single desk that occurs. Important perspective here. I believe the person you're talking about, if a journalist is a writer who is trying to sell a book, you should talk to Scott Gottlieb, you should talk to a doctor, a scientist, you should have me back on when my book comes out. And we'll break down the real problems, because here's the thing. If you blame everything on Trump, you ignore the problems that the CDC, you ignore the chronic underfunding of public health, you ignore the culture wars that led us to where we are right now that predated Trump. And if you ignore the fact that France, Spain, Italy, the UK, Belgium, all had per capita death rates that were very similar to ours based on this populism that exists beyond Trump and beyond the United States.

So again, let's look at leadership. But let's also look at the other ingredients that help lead to this deadly pandemic.

BERMAN: Dr. Jerome Adams, you just booked yourself back on our show for when your book comes out. So, thank you for being with us this morning. We look forward to speaking to you again in the future.

ADAMS: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Florida High School halts distribution of its yearbook after complaints over pages about the Black Lives Matter of movement, the controversy and how it was resolved, next.

KEILAR: Plus, a dramatic sky show that would make Johnny Cash proud. It's a ring of fire solar eclipse, it's beautiful. Neil deGrasse Tyson is here to talk about this rare celestial event.

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[07:43:27]

KEILAR: A strange sight at several major league ballparks this season the same fan unfurling Trump won banners he has been ejected from each stadium including Yankee Stadium where you see him here.

That is where CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is live for us this morning.

OK, Shimon, he is -- we've taken notice what's happening here.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's the same individual according to online posts, his own admissions, that he's getting inside stadiums buying tickets, and then seating himself in strategic locations where he can unfurl these banners over the -- whether it's an upper deck or center field somewhere where he could place it on furloughed and then security moving in fairly quickly and removing him.

As you said, now, there have been three incidents, the latest happening at Fenway Park during a Boston Red Sox game on Monday, the security there ejecting him out of the stadium and behind me here at Yankee Stadium. About two weeks ago, he did the same thing. And then just two days before coming to Yankee Stadium, he did the same thing at Citi Field where the Mets play here in New York, in Queens.

Security, obviously across all of Major League Baseball is taking this seriously, when they see him, they throw him out of the stadium. So far we have no indication that he's doing anything illegal, but certainly there is concern at stadiums because you're not supposed to post anything put any kind of banners, certainly any kind of walls or fencing at the stadium. So security is throwing him out.

[07:44:59]

He's admitting that he's doing all of this in online posts, Brianna. Certainly you can expect that stadiums in the future, security at stadiums going on going forward here are going to be on the lookout for this and to try and prevent him from entering the stadium. Brianna?

KEILAR: So, you can see how it's hard for them to do that until actually this happened. So we'll see what goes on. Shimon, thank you so much. Live for us from Yankee Stadium.

A Florida high school yearbook club was forced to temporarily halt distribution and sales of the yearbook after some parents and teachers complained about the coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement in the yearbook. They say that this two-page spread dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement should have included the all lives matter opposing side. Now the yearbook has since resumed sales. But now it includes a printed message from the school that says, views expressed in the yearbook are not sponsored by the district. Joining us now is David Fleischer. He is the yearbook advisor and an English teacher at West Broward High School and with him is Kennedy Messado, who is co-editor in chief of the Edge that is the yearbook. She's also a senior who is graduating today. So congratulations very much on that Kennedy. It's a big day for you.

But Mr. Fleischer, to you first. So, tell us what your reaction is -- what it was when the school first told you to stop the distribution of the sales and what it was when you learned why they were doing that.

DAVID FLEISCHER, TEACHER, WEST BROWARD HIGH SCHOOL: I was absolutely shocked. I couldn't believe that our book would have its sales stopped for any reason, let alone Black Lives Matter and when they called it a political movement. When I read that, for the first time in the letter, it was probably one of the most disheartening things that I've ever read. My students, I care about them so much I care about them. I love them. I love what they stand for. And to know that the district doesn't necessarily feel the same way by taking this stance, it's really hard.

KEILAR: Kennedy, what was your reaction? How do you feel about what happened?

KENNEDY MESSADO, YEARBOOK CO-EDITOR, WEST BROWARD HIGH SCHOOL: I was hurt. I was shocked. I'm very confused when the school or what the district decided take the position to say it was a political movement when it's not. It's a human's right movement. I was even more disheartened and offended. It was rough.

KEILAR: What did you -- what Mr. Fleischer do you think they meant by opposing side? What is the -- what was the opposing side that would be included in this yearbook page?

FLEISCHER: I think they would have expected us to include some kind of statement about all eyes matter, or specifically about blue lives matter. But we didn't think that that was appropriate as that would take away from the message and the purpose of the BLM page, which is to talk about the facts of what's happening with racism and what's happening to people of color in this country.

KEILAR: And Kennedy, your school, there are many students of color at your school, right?

MESSADO: Yes, we have a large majority of students at color at my school.

KEILAR: And so, what have you heard from them about what has gone on about the pausing of yearbook? Certainly they noticed, I know a lot of them already had their yearbooks, but I'm sure as every student does at the end of the year, they're waiting to get their yearbook. And then there was a positive they know what happened. What are they saying?

MESSADO: They were disappointed in the school for doing that in the first place. And when they found out what it was about, they were offended, and they were also disappointed in the school for taking the approach. They think West Boward should have done better and the county should have done better.

KEILAR: All right, let's look at what Broward County Public Schools has said in response here. They say, they support and encourage students freedom of expression. They say after these issues were raised, they pause distribution on Friday afternoon while the concerns were carefully reviewed. And they do say that as the yearbook is intended to highlight notable and newsworthy events from that year, student journalists exercise their freedom of speech in documenting the movement. And they acknowledge this insert noting that the views expressed were not sponsored by the district.

Mr. Fleischer, what do you think about that? They're saying -- they're acknowledging students freedom of speech. But they're defending the fact that they paused the yearbook?

FLEISCHER: Yes, I really don't understand how they can take that stance. We have a lot of spreads in that yearbook, all written by the students about things they care about. This is a student publication. And this is a first like, this is a really important thing for them. And we have things about COVID, we have things about the election, we have things about pride, and to see that they take a stance calling BLM and racism a political issue is it's really offensive. And I just don't understand how the district can say that.

KEILAR: Well, Mr. Fleischer and Kennedy, we thank you both so much for joining us to talk about what has really been a controversy at your school. And Kennedy, a huge congratulations to you, this is a very big day and good luck in the future.

MESSADO: Thank you so much.

[07:50:02]

KEILAR: Sky gazers have been up early. They're trying to catch this first solar eclipse of the year. This is the Ring of Fire. We're going to show you some incredible images like this beautiful one.

BERMAN: Plus, a black Republican congressman that claim the Congressional Black Caucus is giving him the cold shoulder. He'll join us to discuss why he believes he's being blocked from joining.

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BERMAN: Love is a burning thing and it makes a fiery ring. You're looking at live pictures of a ring of fire a real one, not the June Carter cash version right there. This is a solar eclipse. People in the northeastern United States could see a partial eclipse earlier this morning.

Do you really want to be in Siberia, words you don't hear too often, as well as Greenland and northern Canada they get the most dramatic show. This kind of an eclipse happens when the moon crosses between the Sun and the Earth as I was just explaining to my next guest. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, he's the author of the new Book Cosmic Queries, Star Talks Guide To Who We Are, How We Got Here, And Where We're Going. [07:55:09]

So this eclipse that we've been watching all morning long explain exactly what we're seeing why it's happening in the larger cosmic significance.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, ASTROPHYSICIST: Well, I wore my eclipse tie just for you this morning. There we go. As the moon going in front of the sun. I was on the Brooklyn Bridge this morning. I'm a resident of New York City, and there were hundreds of people there at 5 o'clock in the morning, children, all people, people on scooters. And just to bear witness to this occasion, where the moon in its orbit around the Earth comes between us and the sun. And as that happens, it takes bites out of the sun. And you have a crescent sun, which is very unfamiliar. Typically, we only think of a crescent moon.

So a crescent sun can be quite striking, especially as it rises over the horizon. So I caught bits of it. But then we got clouded out. And so, it was sad. But I held an impromptu astronomy lesson on the bridge for anyone who wanted to listen.

BERMAN: That's cool and look, it's because I'm a maturity cynic that I was joking about the larger cosmic significance. But the larger cosmic significance is, we look up and we gaze at the sky and that insignificant because that is, you know, the essence of what it means to be human to ask questions about why we're here?

TYSON: You want me to geek out on you, I will. So, while you're here, here, we have the moon in its orbit around the Earth, blocking sunlight, while the sun and the moon rise from Earth's rotation. And you have weather conditions such as clouds, which make for an interesting photo. All of this is kind of a cosmic ballet choreographed by the forces of gravity. And if you don't look up, you'll miss it all.

BERMAN: I feel like I need to take a cold shower now (INAUDIBLE). With --

TYSON: I just want to add to that, that we as human, we were all born curious. And we -- and some of us stay curious our entire lives. And the deep questions we ask about how did it all begin? What's it made of? Are we alone in the universe? How will it all end? And so, I think clips are just one of the things that celebrate human curiosity, and what it took to figure out what the -- what's going on when you look up.

BERMAN: So, one of the questions that's being asked right now, related to this is who else might be out there, and there's been so much focus on UFOs, because of the reports on 60 Minutes for us from the Navy pilots, things that we're seeing objects that can't be identified. You have a unique perspective on this as someone who has been looking for signs of alien life for a long time.

TYSON: Yes, so there's a whole chapter in the book, Are We Alone? And we address what kinds of ways you would ask and answer those questions. And I just kind of -- I wish we had better evidence, then monochromatic, fuzzy Navy video. You know, if we're being visited by aliens, you know, we upload 6 billion high resolution color photos and videos to the internet every day. We have unwittingly crowd sourcing, the observation of the planet. And I just -- I want better evidence than that. And just because you don't know what it is, doesn't mean you then know what it is.

I'm content saying that's mysterious. I don't know. Maybe it's a glitch in the hardware? And if you're going to say, no, it's not a glitch in the hardware? Are you really sure? Are you so sure that you're ready to believe that intelligent aliens are coming to visit us and showing up on F/17 fighter pilot video? Is that more likely to you that maybe you missed something in your hardware?

So I just -- go keep looking for the aliens, by the way, and I'm glad the Pentagon had a program to look for lights in the sky that could harm us. Yes. OK, $700 billion, put a fraction of that to protect us in case any of that is an enemy craft, or even if it's alien, but I'm just saying, I -- my big fear is that the aliens already landed, but they landed during Comic Con. And then no one noticed them because everybody was dressed.

BERMAN: It would have been easy to miss.

TYSON: (INAUDIBLE) just like us.

BERMAN: Speaking of Comic Con, I want to ask you about comments and questions asked by Congressman Louie Gohmert during a hearing yesterday, I want to play it for you. He was asking you about, well, this listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LOUIE GOHMERT (R-TX): I was informed by the past director of NASA that they've found that the moon's orbit is changing slightly. And so as the Earth's orbit around the sun. And we know there's been significant solar flare activity.

And so, is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moon's orbit or the Earth's orbit around the sun? Obviously, they would have profound effects on our climate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, he was asking that question before, its official, and I don't have the magical superpower to get in Louie Gohmert's head. So I don't know if he was trying to make some point that we can't move the moon so we can't affect climate change somehow, but what's your takeaway?