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Moderna Begins Next Phase Of Omicron-Specific Booster Trial; Florida Surgeon General Refuses To Say That COVID Vaccines Works; Police Plead For Help In Murder Of Black Teen Found On Highway. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 27, 2022 - 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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[07:32:34]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, Moderna has announced it is entering the next phase of its Omicron-specific booster trial. And this comes as new research reveals that the current Moderna booster shot remains durable against the Omicron variant but did show signs of waning antibody protection.

Joining us now is the chief medical officer of Moderna, Dr. Paul Burton. Doctor Burton, thanks for being with us.

What does that mean, waning antibody protection after six months?

DR. PAUL BURTON, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, MODERNA (via Skype): John, good morning. Thanks for having me.

Look, the data that was produced last night in the "New England Journal of Medicine" shows that if you get vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine and then you get boosted, you get a nice, good level of protection with antibodies against the original COVID virus strain and also against the Omicron strain.

But what we see by six months is that those levels begin to fall. And if you project that out and you make the conclusion that they will continue to fall, we know that probably by the autumn of this coming year in 2022 that those levels will be down to an area where people may not have protection.

So, I think it's good news now. People who have been vaccinated and boosted are protected. But we have to keep watching it.

BERMAN: You may not have antibody protection. Does that mean that T cells and other protections won't exist? BURTON: No. I think -- you know, we're still looking at those data. The immune system is a remarkable thing. People's bodies will continue to make antibodies, and T cells, and memory B cells will be there. So when people get infected with the COVID virus they will be able to respond to it.

But in order to be kept out of hospital, to be protected against death, we know that you need to have high levels of antibody as the first line of defense. And so, that's what's so important about this data.

BERMAN: The margins here matter a little bit though. And I don't know specifically what the percentages are but one of the things we've seen in some cases is you are 98 percent protected against hospitalization if you're fully boosted versus 92 percent protected if you're not fully boosted against hospitalization.

Is that what you're talking here? Do you still have a great deal of protection but it's not perfect?

BURTON: Yes. I think as long as you've been vaccinated we know that you have great protection. Our vaccine and the other vaccines, all highly effective at keeping people out of hospital and preventing them from dying.

07:35:05]

But Omicron was a curveball. It's done as exactly as we all predicted late last year. It exploded around the world. There's now a subvariant of that. Cases of hospitalization in this country are perhaps the highest we've ever seen and deaths of 3,500 people a day. So, to protect against that, I think you need the maximum level of protection --

BERMAN: Yes.

BURTON: -- and you need that for durability.

BERMAN: Gotcha. I mean, first of all, people need to take a vaccine, period, because so many of the deaths and hospitalizations are people who don't even take one single dose.

I do want to ask because you are testing this Omicron-specific vaccine, when do you have to decide -- if we're talking about vaccinations for next fall, when do you have to have it all set for the vaccine that you're going to make available to the public next fall? Do you have to have that all wrapped up within weeks, days, months?

BURTON: So, John, the study that we announced yesterday, which is a big important milestone -- and now remember, it's just two months from when we all heard about Omicron we're now starting this trial. It's important. So it will probably take about two months to really get the data from it. And so, by the middle of the year we should be in a position to be going into full-blown manufacturing in preparation to supply people. BERMAN: All right, and the last question here.

As you see the numbers starting to come down in the cities that were hit first and worst from Omicron, where do you think the country will be by spring here? Do you think the United States will be in a much better place in terms of this pandemic?

BURTON: I think the end is in sight of this wave -- the Omicron wave. But as you said, people who are unvaccinated are still a huge risk. Vaccination and boosting almost obliterates that risk. But 40 percent of this country are still not fully vaccinated and certainly not boosted.

So I think the end is in sight of Omicron. We have to keep our eye on this substrain BA.2. You know, that's certainly taken off in Denmark. We want to make sure that doesn't happen here. And think I think hopefully, we'll get into spring and into summer and have a period of stability.

But we have to be prepared and as Moderna and leaders in this field, we're committed to being prepared to protect Americans and people around the world with that new vaccine if we need it for the fall.

BERMAN: Doctor Paul Burton, thanks for being with us this morning.

BURTON: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: So, this is a pretty simple question.

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LAUREN BOOK, (D) FLORIDA STATE SENATOR: Do vaccines work in fighting against COVID-19, yes or no?

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BERMAN: So why the response from Florida's surgeon general forced Democrats to walk out. The lawmaker who asked that question joins us next.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And a Tennessee school board banning a Pulitzer-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, calling the contempt objectional. Why?

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[07:42:04]

KEILAR: Frustration boiling over at a confirmation hearing for Florida's top doctor after he refused to answer simple questions about COVID vaccines.

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DR. JOSEPH LADAPO, FLORIDA SURGEON GENERAL: The question is a scientific one and it's one that is answered with data. BOOK: Just a yes or no, do vaccines work?

LADAPO: As a scientist, you know, I'm compelled to answer the scientific question.

BOOK: Scientifically, do vaccines -- does the -- do the vaccines work?

LADAPO: Yes or no questions are not that easy to find in science. So I will -- I understand. I think I have better clarity about your question at this point. So what I would say is that the most commonly used vaccines in the United States, which would be the Pfizer product and the product that was developed by Moderna, have been shown to have relatively high effectiveness for the prevention of hospitalization and death -- and over time, relatively low protection from infection.

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KEILAR: So that answer -- or in many cases for those questions, lack thereof -- actually prompted Democrats to leave the hearing.

Joining us now is that Florida State Sen. Lauren Book, who you were listening to in that clip. Thank you so much for being with us.

You know, he says that yes or no questions are hard to find in science. Harder to find in politics I will say, for sure. It's not actually a hard question to answer with this vaccine.

Tell us what the tipping point was for you walking out.

BOOK (via Skype): Thank you so much for having me this morning.

And yes, it was very frustrating. My Senate colleagues and I were very looking forward to having a confirmation hearing to ask some really tough questions about Gov. DeSantis' pick for the surgeon general. This is an individual we have not had an opportunity to seek questions for. And as you could see, there was a lot of verbal jujitsu and not a lot of straight answers.

And we asked a lot of questions not just relating to the COVID-19 pandemic but other pandemics that our state is facing -- other health challenges -- and he was not able to answer any of them when it came to vaccines and mask-wearing or regrets that he made when really putting one of our colleague's health in jeopardy. And I believe and my colleagues believe that 21 million Floridians deserve better in their top health official in our state.

This is a man who said wearing masks was an extreme measure, and falsely claimed to take care of COVID patients at UCLA. We wanted to point those things out. We tried to do so. We got a lot of runaround, a lot of rigmarole.

But at the end of the day, decided that we had work. Our constituents brought us here to do the work of the people of the great state of Florida and our constituents back home. And this was a waste of our time. He disrespected the Senate

confirmation process and the Senate as a whole. And we believe that it was beneath the dignity of the Florida Senate and so decided to walk out so that the business of the Senate could continue to go on.

[07:45:08]

KEILAR: In the end, he said the vaccines are effective for preventing hospitalization and death; not necessarily for not catching COVID, which we've certainly seen with the Omicron variant.

Why was that not enough?

BOOK: Well, at the end of the day -- again, I asked a follow-up question about mask-wearing and talking about mitigation measures. It should be very clear. Again, we also believe that this surgeon general pick is a -- is -- should be the top doctor to give real information about how to keep Floridians healthy and safe. And this has really become a political pick by the governor.

And it is a very straight question. Does the vaccine work to prevent hospitalizations for COVID-19? Is and does mask-wearing prevent the spread of COVID-19? Those are very simple questions that we simply were not getting answers to.

We asked other questions about the COVID-19 dashboard. Why COVID-19 numbers weren't being posted any longer at the Department of Health website. Those answers were not given and we continued to grow frustrated at the lack of answers and zeroing in on what we were working on trying to get to the bottom of some of the issues facing Floridians.

KEILAR: I want to -- I want to talk more broadly about policy and politics when it comes to COVID because policy, of course, is a balance. It is a balance between the science, which I think clearly Democrats writ large have been guided by much more than Republicans.

But at the same time, it's a consideration of what are people going to accept, right? What are they going to accept when it comes to changing their day in-day out lives?

Democrats have favored more restrictions. You've seen that, at times, it's been unpopular.

Has that, in your opinion, actually contributed to people being frustrated and actually accepting some of this crack stuff?

BOOK: You know, I think that it's important to be guided by science and data. And so, it was sort of interesting to hear the surgeon general say that he's being guided by science but then, at the same time, says that mask-wearing is an extreme measure and refused to wear a mask when we had a colleague of ours who was suffering with cancer.

I do think that it is a balance. And again, the top doctor in the state of Florida should be able to answer very simple questions about mitigation. This wasn't about lockdowns. This wasn't about politics. This was about very straight, pointed questions.

Do vaccines help prevent the spread -- or actually, let me say it this way. Do vaccines help prevent individuals from becoming much more sick and requiring hospital stays? Does mask-wearing prevent the spread of COVID-19? Very simple questions, very simple answers. He refused to give them to us.

This wasn't about, again, those larger political conversations about lockdowns and where we're going and where we've been. It was how do we go forward. And he simply would not answer those questions.

KEILAR: Yes, sure. Look, and I hear you. We certainly saw his answers and they were baffling. We've seen some of his positions. They've been baffling.

But I wonder have Democrats, at all, miscalculated what people will accept versus, say, what they should accept? If people just want to look at the science then yes, they should accept a lot of these policies. But as we said, it's -- a lot of time it's about will people be OK? Do they want to put up with this? Have Democrats miscalculated it all?

BOOK: You know, I think that it's about strong leadership and talking to the people and creating a balance, and allowing people to have some of that freedom, right? We want people to have freedom to make decisions for themselves but also respecting science and being guided by real data.

And so, I think that we've come to a balancing point but we also need to really look at where we are and where we're going. Again, what is the next six months going to bring? Look at real data as it relates to treatments for the different variants that exist.

It's not about one-size-fits-all policy. And certainly, Florida is a great example of that. We're the third-largest state in the country and it is very different from -- Miami is different than Palatka, than Orlando and Tallahassee. It's a very different state and not one-size- fits-all.

And I think that we've come to that place. But it seems to be in this political climate that we live in much easier to say one thing over here and one thing over there. And that's OK for politics, right -- I guess, sometimes.

But at the end of the day, this is the surgeon general. He cannot be driven by politics and politicking and verbal jujitsu. He needs to be guided by science and data and making decisions that fit and suit Floridians and make sure that their health, safety, and well-being are being taken care of.

KEILAR: Yes. And look, I just want to let our viewers know none of this is going to get in the way of him progressing -- certainly, in this process -- just to be clear for folks who maybe aren't as attuned to what's going on in Florida.

State Sen. Lauren Book, I really appreciate you being with us. BOOK: Thank you. Have a great day.

KEILAR: And, of course, we did ask for the surgeon general to join us but he did decline.

[07:50:04]

Coming up, how did a man manage to sneak into a hospital and bottle- feed a baby -- a baby that is not his? We have some details on this bizarre story.

BERMAN: And a seat about to open up on the country's highest court. Who will President Biden pick to fill it, and will all Democrats be on board? We're going to talk about the short list for nominees, ahead.

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KEILAR: A search is underway in Iowa this morning for a man who police say slipped into a Des Moines area hospital and bottle-fed a baby that was not his. Authorities say the man snuck past a nurse and misrepresented himself in the NICU as the father. He then fed the baby and left the hospital.

Officials are questioning what his motives were.

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SGT. PAUL PARIZEK, DES MOINES POLICE: The family obviously very frightened. I mean, this is something that would startle any parent. This is definitely something new to all of us. When we think about child-stealing or predators this is not how they behave. We don't know what his true intent was or what he was planning on doing further down the road.

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[07:55:15]

KEILAR: Now, police say the infant was not harmed in the incident and the hospital is now updating its security protocols.

BERMAN: That's just chilling. It's just chilling.

KEILAR: I just wonder how it even happens. I just remember being in the hospital having a baby and how careful they are. It's sort of like it is just drilled in, I think, to the staff about keeping a secure area. I can't believe it happened.

BERMAN: Yes. I don't remember anything, practically, from then because it was all such a daze.

KEILAR: Yes.

BERMAN: It happens with multiples.

All right, we have another troubling story this morning. Police begging the public for help nearly three weeks after the body of 16- year-old Tioni Theus was found dumped on a freeway in Los Angeles. Local leaders are now offering $110,000 for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

CNN's Stephanie Elam joins us now from Los Angeles. Stephanie, what's the latest here?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's just a shocking murder. This is a 16-year-old girl, Tioni Theus, who was -- her body found just along the 110 Freeway in Los Angeles in the early hours of January eighth. And what we know at this point, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiners that this young child died from a gunshot wound to the neck.

They're saying that they want to find anyone who has information about what happened to her. And so, that is why you're seeing state, county, and city officials banding together to offer up this $110,000 for anyone who has information that leads to the arrest and conviction of who is responsible for this.

Obviously, this has people very upset here in the area, especially since we've had some high-profile murders already this year, including 24-year-old Brianna Kupfer who was killed inside of a store -- a furniture store. The reward for her -- finding the murderer in her case was $250,000.

So when you take a listen to some of the local officials -- take a listen to how they are speaking about what happened here in the Theus case.

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HOLLY MITCHELL, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERVISOR: It is imperative that we not allow implicit bias or the adultification of Black girls to continue to influence the lack of media coverage or public outrage over their murders.

MIKE GIPSON, CALIFORNIA STATE ATTORNEY MEMBER: A 16-year-old child -- a 16-year-old child -- she's someone's daughter that was taken away from us senselessly. And for the cowards who did this, we're going to muster the resources that's necessary to bring you to justice.

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ELAM: Now, in an unprecedented move, the Los Angeles County district attorney George Gascon has already gotten involved, considering there's no suspect and there are no charges. But he is saying that there is evidence that this child could have been human trafficked and according to court documents, that she may have been a child victim of sexual exploitation.

All of this, though, they're saying does not make her life any less valuable and they want to know who did this to young 16-year-old Tioni Theus -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, they do. A gunshot wound to the neck, Stephanie. And again, with this reward out there, any sense that there are leads coming in, or is it just too early to know?

ELAM: Too early. It's not firm. And just think about this, too. January eighth -- it's been almost three weeks at this point. So they are looking to the public to give them any tips and hopefully, more people hearing about this case maybe something -- somebody will say something -- that they did see something that night.

BERMAN: Hopefully, it makes a difference.

Stephanie Elam, thank you very much for that.

NEW DAY continues right now.

Good morning to viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Thursday, January 27th. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar.

And we begin with a signature moment in Joe Biden's presidency -- a moment that in some ways could breathe new life into the Democratic Party and make history all at once.

KEILAR: Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is set to announce his retirement at the White House today, giving President Biden a chance to deliver on a campaign promise to nominate the first African- American female justice to the bench.

BERMAN: All right, let's talk about the timing of this, the short list of potential nominees, and possible Republican plans to muck up the process. Joining us, NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, who knows as much or more about the court than anyone on earth. Nina, thanks so much for being with us.

President Biden has promised to nominate a Black woman to the bench. This would be a first. How important is that, and who do you see as the leading contender?

NINA TOTENBERG, LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, NPR (via Webex by Cisco): Well, this is -- strikes me as very similar to what President Ronald Reagan did. He promised during the campaign that he would name the first woman to the bench. And now, President Biden has pledged during his campaign that he would name a Black woman to the bench.

The leading --