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New Day

Israel Offers Fourth Covid Shot; Dr. Jason H. Maley is Interviewed about Long Covid; Twitter Bans Taylor Greene; Antonio Brown Left Field Midgame. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 03, 2022 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:33:44]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, starting today, in Israel, they are rolling out a fourth Covid shot. This is a booster on top of the booster for people older than the age of 60, as well as health care workers. It comes as omicron-fueled infections are rising to levels not seen in months and as officials lift some of the quarantine restrictions there.

CNN's Elliott Gotkine live in Jerusalem with the details.

The world watching Israel this morning, Elliott.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Very much so, John. Again, as Israel becomes the first country in the world to roll out this fourth shot, or this second booster shot for high-risk groups, people around the world who are -- countries around the world grappling with unprecedented levels of Covid infections will be looking to see what happens here, to see if it is something that they also want to emulate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOTKINE (voice over): Fourth time's the charm? Israel's immunosuppressed began receiving their second booster shot on New Year's Eve. On Sunday evening, almost two weeks after trumpeting the plan, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said they'd now be joined by those over 60 and health care workers.

NAFTALI BENNETT, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Israel will, once again, be pioneering the global vaccination effort. Omicron is not delta. It's a different ball game altogether. We must keep our eye on the ball, act swiftly and decisively if we want to continue, engaging and working with an open country as much as possible throughout this pandemic.

[06:35:07]

GOTKINE: To that end, Bennett also announced that quarantine requirements would be lifted completely on people exposed to an omicron carrier, so long as they test negative and their vaccinations are up to date. Yet with long lines outside testing centers and cases doubling every

few days, Israel is bracing itself for the full force of its fifth Covid wave. The only bright spot, it may not last.

Eran Segal, PROFESSOR, WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE: Our projection is that this wave is going to be rather quick and that within about three weeks I estimate that at least 2 million people hear in Israel, which is about one-fourth of the population, is going to -- is going to be infected. And -- and that may lead to a sort of herd immunity after which we may see a slowdown.

GOTKINE: For now, though, Israel is hoping omicron's possibly lower level of severity, together with the rollout of the second booster, will help keep the number of serious cases down, and that like other Covid waves before it, this one, too, shall pass.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOTKINE: And another piece of news. Israel, which bought itself a bit of time by pretty much closing its borders to foreigners, is now relaxing those closures. So people coming from orange-rated countries who are vaccinated or recovered will be allowed in. They'll only have to quarantine for a maximum of an hour. Those who are unvaccinated will have to do at least a week of quarantine. Though I should say, the countries remaining on the red list, the no-fly list, will -- are the United States, the U.K., and the UAE, among others.

John.

BERMAN: That is interesting.

Elliott, as I said, the world watching what is happening in Israel today. Thanks so much for being with us.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: As more people are experiencing a Covid infection, there are new questions about long-term Covid or long Covid and what we know.

Dr. Jason Maley is an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is the director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Critical Illness and Covid-19 Survivorship Program.

Doctor, thank you so much for being with us.

When we talk about long Covid, and I think a lot of people have heard about this by now, we're talking about things like debilitating brain fog and fatigue and other symptoms that can last for months on end.

What are doctors seeing?

DR. JASON H. MALEY, INSTRUCTOR IN MEDICINE, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: Yes, that's right. Exactly that. We're seeing patients who mainly had mild Covid initially. And as they recover, they either have continuation of those symptoms, like shortness of breath or debilitating fatigue, or they may feel improvement for some period of time. And then over the coming weeks and months, after recovering, they start to notice that their thinking is different, their memory is not as sharp as it used to be. They have difficulty breathing. Their heart races when they move around. They have unexplained pains and really many symptoms head to toe that are affecting people and, in some cases, persisted.

KEILAR: I think that's one of the toughest things about long Covid is the risk factors for actual Covid, like diabetes, like obesity, those are not the risk factors for long Covid. As you said, there are people who are very healthy who are suffering this.

What do you say to patients who need to advocate for themselves about long Covid, when there's so little information and even doctors don't know a lot about it?

MALEY: Yes, we see many patients who, because these symptoms are not necessarily manifesting externally in the way that say a broken leg would, they are overlooked even by medical professionals, they're overlooked by family and employers and people feel discounted. So, part of what we're doing is trying to raise awareness. This is a very clear, real injury that's happening after the virus. And this has happened after viruses in the past, and has been described for a long time but just not gained this recognition that it's getting now with long Covid.

KEILAR: Dr. Maley, do vaccinations help protect against long Covid?

MALEY: There's some limited data, at least from prior, around the delta strain and prior to that that people who had been vaccinated and had a breakthrough infection were less likely to develop long Covid than people who were unvaccinated and infected with mild illness. And hopefully by preventing infection altogether, we would prevent long Covid.

KEILAR: Yes. No Covid, no long Covid. A very good point there.

Dr. Maley, thanks for being with us this morning.

MALEY: Thank you.

KEILAR: So Twitter is saying enough is enough to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. How they're finally cracking down on her spread of misinformation.

BERMAN: Five strikes and you're out.

Plus, asking for a friend. Circle back. No worries. The top phrases that should be banished in 2022. We wouldn't have anything to say on the news. There would be like zero copy if we could say this stuff.

KEILAR: No worries.

BERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: No worries is what I always say. So, what am I going to do? I don't know.

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[06:44:01]

BERMAN: New this morning, Twitter has permanently banned the personal account of Georgia.

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The company confirmed to CNN that Taylor Greene was banned for, quote, repeated violations of our Covid misinformation policy. However, her congressional account remains online.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty live on Capitol Hill this morning.

Sunlen, explain what happened here.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the congresswoman, of course, has a very long history of tweeting out conspiracy theories and misinformation. And she has been suspended temporarily by Twitter in the past. But this time, for one of her accounts, it is a permanent suspension by Twitter. Twitter citing their five strikes and you're out policy, saying, quote, she -- her account has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of our Covid-19 misinformation policy.

Now, the tweet that the congresswoman sent out that prompted this permanent suspension included a misleading graph that purportedly showed deaths related to the Covid-19 vaccine.

[06:45:05]

The congresswoman, in that tweet, claiming that those deaths due to the vaccine has been ignored, which notably is misleading.

The congresswoman responding to this Twitter suspension by blasting big tech. She said in part in a statement last night, quote, social media platforms can't stop the truth from being spread far and wide. Big tech can't stop the truth coming as Democrats can't stop the truth. I stand with the truth and the people. We will overcome.

Now, notably, this just affects her personal account, the account that she tweeted through the most. But her official Twitter account, related to her government officer, her congressional account, John, that is still up and running.

BERMAN: Marjorie Taylor Greene says the truth. I'm not sure that word means what she thinks it means based on how she uses it and what she keeps saying. And it only took, what, like five, six, seven, dozens of times for Twitter to finally ban her?

Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

SERFATY: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: All right, I have never seen anything like this before. Just this stunning display, in many ways a tragic and disturbing display from now former Tampa Bay Bucs receiver Antonio Brown in the middle of a game. Just walked off the field. What do we know about his condition? Where does this go from here?

KEILAR: And what led Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to call Republicans a bunch of creepy weirdos? Hint, it has something to do with men wearing sandals.

BERMAN: Well.

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[06:50:52]

KEILAR: Wide receiver Antonio Brown's days as a Buccaneer are over after he left the field in the middle of the game in a way that we have never seen before.

Andy Scholes with this morning's "Bleacher Report."

I mean, wow, this was something to see.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Brianna, this was pretty wild. You know, I'm not sure we've seen a pretty good player leave the team -- game mid-game and quit on his team and likely, in the process, end your career. But that's what Antonio Brown did yesterday.

It happened in the third quarter against the Jets. Brown's teammates were seen kind of pleading with him. He was very frustrated. And then he just started taking off her jersey, his pads, took off his shirt and gloves, threw those into the stands before waving to the crowd on his way to the tunnel.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians told Fox Sports' Jay Glazer he was trying to get Brown to go into the game but Brown refused twice. So Arians told him to get out. And after the game Arians said Browns -- Brown has been dismissed from the team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE ARIANS, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS HEAD COACH: He is no longer a Buc. All right, that's the end of the story. Let's all talk about the guys who went out there and won the game.

TOM BRADY, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS QUARTERBACK: We all love him. We care about him deeply. You know, we want to see him be at his best. And, you know, unfortunately, it won't be with our team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, Brown did not fly home with the team but he did post on Instagram multiple times. One time saying, thanks for the opportunity.

Now, elsewhere, a scary scene after the Eagles beat Washington at FedEx Field in D.C., yesterday. Watch the left side of the screen. Philly quarterback Jalen Hurts walking off the field. Fans trying to get a high-five when the railing gives way. Several fans fall onto the ground. Hurts helped the fans up and even took some pics with them. Said afterwards, it was a really dangerous situation but luckily everyone seemed to be OK. And Hurts said he loved the passion from the Eagles fans.

But, Brianna, you know, the season started there in Washington with a pipe bursting and water gushing all over the fans. And now it ends there at FedEx Field with a railing falling over. I know a lot of those fans want a new stadium and it appears that they need it.

KEILAR: Yes. Look, thank God they didn't have far to fall, right? I mean that's the real story.

But just going back to the Antonio Brown thing, Andy.

SCHOLES: Yes.

KEILAR: Berman brings up this really interesting point where you question, right, Berman, is he well?

BERMAN: I don't. I'm pretty sure he's unwell, I mean based on what I've seen and based on what you've seen from him over -- over the years. It seems to be a cry for help. I know there's a lot of concern for him. And there are questions about whether the NFL has put winning in front of the well-being of its players.

SCHOLES: Yes, Berman, you know, Brown took a lot of hard hits over the middle, especially when he was on the Steelers. A lot of fans pointing to that one big hit he took, I believe from Bontez Berfet (ph), that was really bad. And so, you know, it's hard to tell with these things. You know, you never know if a player has CTE until he's -- until he's passed away.

BERMAN: Yes.

SCHOLES: So, it's just one of those things you don't know.

KEILAR: Yes.

BERMAN: And, look, he's made a bunch of bad decisions, too, with faking the Covid vaccines, there are allegations of assault over the years. I mean there's all kinds of bad stuff here. But, you know, this year it really just does seem there's something going on there.

KEILAR: Yes, it raises some serious, serious questions about health and mental health and the league.

So the first major snowstorm of the season, there are more than 25 million people who are under winter storm watches and advisories this morning. Where this is headed, next.

BERMAN: And say no more. Seriously, no more. The top 10 phrases that should be banished from our vocabularies in 2022.

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[06:58:23] BERMAN: Irritating or not? You make the call. Nope, we're not talking about me, but Lake Superior State University has just released its annual list of phrases that they say should be banished from our vocabulary. A list they've released every year since 1976 highlighting words or expressions they say are overused to the point of uselessness.

Number one on that list this year, wait, what?

Number two, no worries.

Number three, at the end of the day.

Number four, that being said.

Number five, asking for a friend.

KEILAR: Number six is, circle back.

Number seven, deep dive.

Eight, new normal.

Nine, you're on mute.

And, ten, supply chain.

Which, I'll point out, the supply chain's a real thing, John Berman, but I guess their point is that it's being overused.

But I'm taking a major issue with the no worries, because, you know, that is an Australian slang term and I think this is, therefore, an anti-Australian list.

BERMAN: Oh. You know, kangaroos not on the list.

KEILAR: Right.

BERMAN: Koala bear is not on the list. Yet, no worries?

KEILAR: That is what every Australian says. And I -- you know, growing up in an Australian household, I say it constantly. I'm going to have nothing to say if that's banned.

BERMAN: You have a vegemite sandwich and then you say, no worries.

KEILAR: No -- you say no worries like, it will be all right, which is a very Australian -- she'll be right is actually what Australians say. But they also say, no worries. And not just after eating a vegemite sandwich.

BERMAN: Men at Work have a whole song. Isn't one of their albums titled "No Worries"?

KEILAR: I don't know. You tell me.

BERMAN: I know you and I know Men at Work. That's my like full knowledge of Australia right there.

KEILAR: There you go.

BERMAN: So, I've hit the -- hit the ceiling.

KEILAR: It covers a lot.

BERMAN: Yes. No, no, I mean, I think the Bee Gees lived there for a little while, too, but.

[07:00:02]

All right, NEW DAY continues right now.

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