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Get Vaccinated or Get Out, Corporate America Mandating Shots; Biden on Verge of Potentially Historic Infrastructure Deal. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired July 29, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:01]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEW DAY: She'll join us live.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Thursday, July 29th.

Take the shot or take a hike, Corporate America threatening to crackdown on unvaccinated workers. This morning, many companies not just recommending that employees get the vaccine, they're mandating it because it's becoming increasingly clear that the unvaccinated are what is threatening to derail the recovery.

Later today, President Biden plans to announce that all federal workers must get vaccinated or face strict protocols including regular testing and masking.

KEILAR: As of this morning, 71 percent of Americans are living in counties with high or substantial COVID transmission. Overnight, Disney announced that starting tomorrow, all guests, regardless of vaccination status, will have to wear masks indoors, Apple returning to its mask mandate for customers and staff at most U.S. stores. And overnight, Twitter announced it is closing its San Francisco and New York offices just two weeks after reopening them.

BERMAN: All right. Laura Jarrett joins us now to break down these new requirements that we're seeing across the corporate landscape. Laura?

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, guys. The tide is turning on how best to keep people safe at work and Silicon Valley is leading the way. Facebook and Google both announcing a vaccine requirement for all employees returning to offices in the U.S. and Google said it would rollout the policy in other countries as vaccines become more available.

Streaming giant Netflix also mandating vaccines for all actors on U.S. production sets and for the people who come in close contact with them, becoming the first major studio to do so. The finance industry also taking a stand here with BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, announcing only vaccinated employees can return to the office. BlackRock says the new policy was actually based off employee feedback, and Morgan Stanley following suit here as well, banning all unvaccinated staff and even clients from entering its headquarters.

Other companies, like Saks Fifth Avenue, the Washington Post and Ascension Health will also require vaccines. And as of next week, anyone working in Lyft's offices must be vaccinated.

But not every company is going the mandate route. Casino giant MGM only urging his employees to get vaccinated. The company's CEO wrote a letter to employees Wednesday begging them to get their shots if they haven't already. He says he fears more restrictions could be coming if the rate of cases remains this high. The company has gone so far as to set up popup vaccination clinics at all of their biggest properties and any unvaccinated employee must submit to regular testing.

Now, from a legal standpoint, guys, this shouldn't be a hard call. We know that companies can mandate vaccines. But two big exemptions most employers are going to have to look out for. One, religious exemptions, somebody who says, my religion doesn't allow he to get a vaccine, and also someone who says perhaps I have a healthcare issue where they can't get the vaccine, it isn't safe for them. Even though that's rare, those are the two big exemptions to look out for here guys. But, otherwise, companies can do this.

BERMAN: Yes. Beyond those two exemptions, there is precedent for this, Supreme Court cases, in fact. Look, Laura Jarrett, thank you very much for this.

JARRETT: Sure.

KEILAR: The Lollapalooza Music Festival kicks off today and it's kicking off at full capacity despite a sharp rise in cases in Illinois and all across the country.

Adrienne Broaddus is live in Chicago following all of this. And, Adrienne, Berman here wants to know if this is going to be safe-a- palooza or not.

BERMAN: That was my literal word.

KEILAR: That's what he said. Is it?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what, I had one friend tell me, hey, I normally go every year. Obviously, they didn't go last year. She called it COVID-palooza this year. She said she is staying far away, she will watch it from the comfort of her own home.

But if you're planning to travel to the windy city to see some of your favorite artists take the stage behind us here at Grant Park, there's something you need to provide before you will allowed entry. Let's let you know what you need to have in order to get into the festival.

First of all, if you're showing up to attend the festival, you need to provide a negative COVID test within 72 hours, or proof of a COVID-19 vaccination. For example, bring a printed copy of your vaccination record. Unvaccinated attendees have been asked to wear a mask during this four-day festival. Some people are concerned that this will be a super-spreader event because of the rise in cases that we've not only seen here in Chicago but around the country.

[07:05:01]

The state's top doctor said she feels comfortable with the festival moving forward simply because it's an outdoor event and she said she is happy with the safety measures festival organizers and the city have put in place. For example, folks who will work back stage here at the festival were required to have a COVID-19 vaccine.

But the festival kicks off in just a few hours and this is all happening a day after the Illinois Health Department reported more than 2,000 new cases. That's the highest number since May. Brianna?

KEILAR: That's the thing about these festivals, these gatherings. We're just going to wait and see. We have to wait and see how this stands up against the delta variant. So we will do that along with you. Adrienne Broaddus, thanks.

BERMAN: So, as President Biden prepares to announce a vaccination requirement across the federal government in another step to get Americans inoculated, we want to introduce you to two people who were once hesitant about the vaccine but have since changed their minds and gotten the shots.

Elizabeth Greenway and Kim Simmons join me now. Thank you both so much for being with us.

Elizabeth, I want to start with you. First, just tell me why you're skeptical and what changed your mind.

ELIZABETH GREENWAY, FORMER COVID-19 VACCINE SKEPTIC: Sure. So, I was really concerned initially with just the short and long-term effects of the vaccine. Of course, I'm familiar with the fact that trials are done for vaccines, but they are limited in number, limited in scope. And so I was concerned about just the newness of it all.

And so I credit a few different things with the change in my decision. The first is prayer. So, I think that's really important to mention because the statistics show that the group that seems to be hesitant is a lot of evangelical conservatives. And so, I think prayer is really important. And, for me, that's sort of what tied it all together.

I had seen Dr. Paul Offit on a few different news programs and really thought highly of him. I had done some research on his level of expertise and it's really impressive, not just in being a pediatrician, but he's also an expert in epidemiology but also in vaccinations.

And so, I had seen him on several things. He actually has a video on the children's hospital website that mentions pretty astounding fact that in all of vaccine history, there has never been a long-term side effect that has not showed up within the six weeks after you get a dose.

And so, to me, that was really compelling. And as of today, we have over 163 million people vaccinated in the United States and it's been over 30 weeks since the first person got their vaccination. So I feel like that statistic just keeps getting more compelling as we have more and more people who are getting vaccinated.

And so in addition to that, I really have thought about -- my daughter has a rare health condition, and in addition to mom, I am a care giver to her during the day. And so I just started to think a little bit outside of myself, you know, just started to think about what does that look like for herd immunity, what does that look for everybody else, and I think that's really important.

BERMAN: I think that's one of the most important things. I think we all have to start thinking about others, just beside ourselves when it comes to getting vaccinated in this country.

Kim, we had a chance to talk to you in the spring, and you had a little bit of a similar experience, where it was hearing from experts, the likes of Paul Offit, who is wonderful, who helped make you feel more comfortable about this.

Back in the spring when we talked to you after you had been vaccinated, you said you weren't quite sure that requiring vaccines for people would help. But I understand now you feel differently.

KIM SIMMONS, FORMER COVID-19 SKEPTIC: Yes, I have changed my mind because of the delta variant, it is much more deadly, it is much -- it transmits much faster. From what I understand, there is a thousand times more of the virus in your nasal passages, so it is just spreading so fast.

And I think the only way to stop it is to try and force people to take it or to get tested if they want to do things, like go to the movies, go to restaurants. I just don't see how we're going to get out of it if people aren't vaccinated.

BERMAN: Kim, how do you think you can convince people of that?

SIMMONS: I'm not exactly sure, because I suspect that people are currently hearing from their families and friend that they should be vaccinated.

[07:10:02]

I really don't know. I think it's going to be their own self protection. Maybe they're going to start seeing people die around them that are closer to them and make them see that it's real because it's no joke.

BERMAN: Elizabeth, you know, it's interesting because you actually say that you've had resistance or pushback on vaccines from a really unusual, in my mind, troubling source, which is doctors in some cases.

GREENWAY: Yes. So, I live kind of in middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, and we do have a few vocal healthcare professionals here in our area who are not all of them completely against the vaccine but are not encouraging it for those who are not at risk or over the age of 65.

And so, when you're talking to our family doctor and that's one of the messages obviously that has been coming from a variety of places, you know, it's good to talk to your family doctor about these decisions, the hope is that the family doctor and the nurses in that office will be supportive of the vaccine.

And so it's interesting that in some places that's not the case. And so I think it's even more important that everyone just do their own research. I think that's really important. We have the internet. That's something we didn't have with the polio vaccine or there wasn't all these resources available.

And so I think it's really important that people do their homework and not settle for what your neighbor does, what your family members do, what your doctor says or what's on the news and most importantly what you're scrolling through on social media. I just think we all need to put on our critical thinking caps and think about other people.

BERMAN: Five seconds or less, Elizabeth, your message to hesitant Americans about getting the vaccine.

GREENWAY: Yes. So it all comes down to this, if you have the chance to reduce the risk of something terrible happening to you, your child, your spouse, your neighbor, are you going to do it? I did.

BERMAN: Kim, your five-second message to people who might be reluctant.

SIMMONS: Don't be one of the people in the hospital very sick asking for the vaccine when it's too late. Get it now.

BERMAN: I wish all of America could listen to you. I hope people get this message that you're delivering. Kim Simmons, Elizabeth Greenway, thank you so much for being with us.

SIMMONS: Thank you for having us. And hi, Elizabeth.

GREENWAY: Thank you, John. Hi, Kim.

BERMAN: You guys can go and have fully safe vaccinated gatherings now, in-person. Listen, thank you to both of you.

It's really interesting.

KEILAR: Amazing. That was fascinating to hear from them and just how they sort of worked through that and also their messages to other people.

BERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: It's so compelling.

BERMAN: First of all, don't be the one in the hospital. Look, if you want to help, if you want to help protect your children, if you want to help protect your parents, go get it, go get the shot.

The Senate moving forward with a historic bipartisan infrastructure deal, but can the president get progressives on board?

KEILAR: Plus, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voting to move forward with the bill as Donald Trump tries to sabotage it, threatening to primary Republicans over it. Will the former president's opinion now have an impact?

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[07:15:00]

KEILAR: Developing overnight, a major step forward for President Biden's agenda. The Senate voting to take up a historic $1 trillion infrastructure deal that would make far-reaching investments in the nation's public works system. This is a bill that includes $110 billion for roads and bridges, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail, $65 billion for high speed internet as well as other projects. And, ultimately, 17 Republicans joined with Democrats to vote in favor of moving forward with this bill.

Joining us now, CNN's Political Director David Chalian and CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

David, this is sometimes referred to as a test vote, but this is a vote for this. This is huge.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I mean, when is the last time on a signature goal that a president had that you saw 17 people from the other party come on board to help advance that goal to success? It's been a while. Mitch McConnell, he voted for it. He voted to move forward on it.

I mean, Republican leadership in the Senate was split on this. Mitch McConnell, the leader, voted for it. His number two, John Thune, voted against it. Roy Blunt voted for it. So, there's a whole mix of folks if you look at the 17 Republicans, but it's a big number. And this was a big affirmation of a major Biden goal, which is to prove to the country that Congress can govern and govern in a bipartisan manner.

I mean, I believe Biden said in his statement that forging consensus is the very heart of our democracy. And that is why -- so on the substance, it was an important policy goal and we're not there yet. We'll get to the complications ahead, but also just on the politics of this, the rationale, the mission statement of the Biden presidency that the parties can work together, that's a huge accomplishment for the president.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think he feels validated because this is what he's been saying for the whole time, that we can get consensus on big policies like this, big ideas that people do agree on, and there were a lot of people who did not think this was going to happen and urged the White House to drop out of these bipartisan talks. And so the thing is to consider here though, of course, there are many, many hurdles ahead. This is just a test vote. There is a lot of delicate dancing in our futures when it comes to whether or not this is actually going to get through the Senate, what it will look like when it goes through the House and how they feel about it since House Speaker Pelosi has said she does want to change it.

[07:20:10]

So, I think the White House is aware of that but they feel pretty good about how last night went with this vote.

BERMAN: Look, as of this morning; you have Mitch McConnell and Elizabeth Warren on board, for instance, right?

CHALIAN: You do.

BERMAN: Okay, so that's something. I mean, that's a different place than we've been for a long time on anything. The problem for the White House now may be with members of the Democratic Party. You know, you have -- where is this statement from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez here? She put out a tweet here. She is upset with Kyrsten Sinema, who has basically said, even though she's going to support the reconciliation process right now, she doesn't support the other big bill that's going through. And Cortez says, good luck tanking your own party's investment on child care, climate action, infrastructure while presuming you'll survive with a three-vote House margin, especially after choosing to exclude members of color from negotiations and calling that a bipartisan accomplishment.

I guess my question, Kaitlan, is, what are the White House plans to keep Democrats together on this?

COLLINS: So, Sinema is someone that the president has spoken with multiple times this week, actually met one-on-one at the White House before this vote happened. They spoke on Wednesday. President Biden said, yes, I have my endorsement of what they voted on last night.

I think the White House is well aware that there are moderates in their party who do not want a giant package coming alongside this bipartisan bill. 3.5 trillion is already a lot smaller than what the progressives wanted it be. And so seeing what AOC is saying there, pushing back on this, you're going to see this fight play out.

Bernie Sanders did sound confident though that they are going to have all 50 Democrats on board. He said we are -- I feel pretty good about this and I think we are going to get there. So that is optimism coming from Bernie Sanders. I think he knows pretty well how this is going to go --

CHALIAN: And that's still being negotiated too, that bill, right? I mean, 3.5 trillion for the reconciliation piece may not be the final price tag. It comes down a little bit. Perhaps Kyrsten Sinema is on board with it because she was concerned about the overall final price tag. So, what Bernie Sanders seems totally confident, all 50 Democrats are willing to move forward on that process and, clearly, Sinema left open the possibility that she will be on board at the end of the day.

KEILAR: On the bipartisan agreement, former President Trump is trying to sabotage things. He's threatening to primary Republicans who support Biden's infrastructure agenda here. But, you know, talking to a lot of Republicans who are not for President Trump, so they kind of want this to be true, they say they see his influence waning. They look at the Texas special election where the candidate that he endorsed didn't succeed. They look at 17 Republicans rebuffing him. Is his influence waning?

CHALIAN: I don't think we know the answer to that yet but we certainly do see what has been a rough week for Donald Trump. Because he's clearly being ignored by a majority of voters in that Texas congressional election in terms of his endorsement, ignored by these 17 Republicans because he was putting out statements in advance that he did not think this was smart for them to move forward. That's new, you know, so even if it's in these small slices.

And then, of course, the January 6th hearings this week, which, once again, put sort of truth, first and foremost, for all to see instead of sort of the January 6th denial and re-crafting of a false narrative that Trump and his supporters had put out there, this was not a week for Donald Trump to sort of in any way say, hey, look, my power is as strong as it's ever been. There's a special election in Ohio next week. We'll see what happens there, he's endorsed.

I think can't overread this stuff. I think we need to watch this stuff. I mean, this is the biggest question in American politics, will Donald Trump's power in the Republican Party slide as time goes out with him out of office? Some data points this week suggests perhaps it is.

BERMAN: Yes. I mean, one of the things you've always taught me, David, is you have to ask the simplest question, which is, has Donald Trump grown in his support since he left office? And this week, the evidence this week is no, no. I mean, that's what we see this week. Whether or not that changes, we'll see.

Kaitlan, a huge week in the United States in terms of the battle against COVID, right? The CDC coming forward instituting -- reinstituting mask mandates. There's concern with cases rising. The Biden White House has always said they're going to follow the science on this. What does the White House now think their biggest challenge is? Is this going the way they were hoping?

COLLINS: This is the first time since Biden has taken office where they face a real backslide in progress. And I think it is something that they are trying to confront. It's kind of a reality that they have been worried about the delta variant, and now the way they've seen the way it's snuck up on them, with these vaccinations completely dropping, and that's a big concern for them.

So we're going to see the speech from President Biden today. And I was talking to people who have been meeting with him and advising him on this and working with him, he essentially feels like the nation has hit a brick wall when it comes to vaccinations, and that is the concern.

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And he's baffled by it. He's asking advisers, what is the problem? Why do people not want to get vaccinated? Why do we have over 100 million people in this country who just don't want to get a life-saving vaccine that is proven to be safe and effective?

And so I think that's playing a role in what you're going to see today, this federal requirement for the federal workers to get vaccinated or face a lot of testing. We're still waiting on what the details that's actually going to look like in practice.

I think what they're hoping is that this could be a domino effect because you saw earlier this week the V.A. said healthcare workers had to get vaccinated. There was very little pushback to that. That is a promising sign to the White House. And so they're essentially just trying to confront the fact that people don't want to get vaccinated. That's their biggest problem.

KEILAR: Are they being proactive enough, the Biden administration? Because you have this change of guidance on masking, and yet I think there are a lot of Americans out there who are already doing this. They're looking at the delta variant saying I don't want to do this but I'm vaccinated, I'm going indoors, I'm going to wear a mask. You know, this issue of the third dose, and if that's going to be coming.

Some people, I mean, if you told me a couple years ago that people might put more stock in what a pharmaceutical company says than what the government of a party of their choosing would, I would say, that's interesting, I wouldn't expect that. But here you have it.

CHALIAN: Yes. I mean, well, this gets to John's question earlier as well, about just sort of following the science. So you said, are they being proactive enough? They're in this bind because they have been so adamant to make sure that they follow the science from Joe Biden's first op-ed on the coronavirus in January of 2020 all the way through his campaign, into the first six months of this administration.

But your question raises their exact conundrum, which is the politics in this moment may demand a little more caution than they would like, right, because they are a little concerned, as Kaitlan was saying, what the backlash may be with returning to mandates, vaccine mandates, returning to mask mandates. They want to make sure they understand what the blowback of that may be.

And the science has been a little slow, right, as the data collection is happening. So I don't know that they've been as proactive as they necessarily would want to be but I think you saw a big shift this week where they started moving a lot more quickly on this stuff than we had seen previously.

COLLINS: Can I also just say they've also had an issue communicating the science. That has been one of their biggest pitfalls when it comes to the CDC, when it comes to what they are doing, when it comes to following the science. This mask new changes, that was not a surprise. We've been hearing it about a week ago. They were meeting on it. They refuse to confirm that they're talking about for a few days. We knew it was coming.

But when the CDC comes out and they explains, we have got new science with the delta variant. This is why even if you're vaccinated, you need to wear a mask. They have yet to publish that data. We know they have the data. They're not just making this up out of thin air, but I think that is helpful for people who are asking why do I need to wear a mask again if they also publish the science and people can look at it outside the CDC.

KEILAR: And there are a lot of scientists who are certainly in favor of the way the Biden administration is approaching this compared to the Trump administration and they're frustrated with the messaging. So that really is telling us a lot.

BERMAN: There's also this dancing around, being directly honest and critical of the unvaccinated, saying, hey, you're doing this to us. I think they want to be careful with that, yes?

COLLINS: I think they do want to be careful, because, A, they're just as frustrated with the unvaccinated people as the rest of the vaccinated people are but they feel like what is the best tactic here. Just because it's easy to say, yes, you need to get vaccinated, they don't know that that is the way to actually help get those people vaccinated.

KEILAR: Yes, there you go, right? That's where it diverges, the science and maybe the best way forward. It's frustrating to watch for a lot of people. Kaitlan and David, it's great to be here with you this morning chatting about this.

Coming up here in a few minutes, Cedric Richmond, who is a senior adviser to President Biden, is going to join us live here on New Day to talk more about this huge infrastructure deal.

And we're also going to speak with a Republican oil rig worker who Matt Damon shadowed for his new movie. Hear why Damon says the experience was eye-opening.

BERMAN: And the Alabama City councilwoman targeted by a colleague's racial slur during a public meeting. She will join us live, next.

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