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Trump Ends Stimulus Talks; Pentagon Quarantined; Biden Calls for Unity at Gettysburg; Stocks Rebound after Dive; Front Line Workers Feeling More Strain as COVID-19 Cases Spike; Hurricane Delta Batters Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula; Biden Vows to Raise Hope, Not Fear; Half U.S. States See Uptick in New COVID-19 Cases; New FDA Guidelines Make Pre-Election Vaccine Unlikely. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired October 07, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: The White House has turned into the epicenter of what is clearly a major outbreak.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): This hour dozens of top White House and Pentagon officials now in quarantine, alongside a new warning that
400,000 Americans could be killed by the virus by the end of the year.
Then --
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There will not be a stimulus deal before the November elections.
ANDERSON (voice-over): The president presses pause on a financial lifeline for hundreds of thousands of U.S. families.
And --
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're really starting to feel the effects of this hurricane.
ANDERSON: CNN takes you into the eye of a hurricane. We are live in Mexico, Delta currently on track to smash the U.S.
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ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson, hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD. You will have heard the expression "the lights are on but nobody is home" and
that's pretty much how it is right now at the White House. It is bang on 10:00 in the morning midweek on a Wednesday and it is basically a ghost
town and it is all of its own making.
Fully at least 21 people who work in the direct orbit of the American president have now been infected by COVID-19. The most recent victim, Mr.
Trump's senior advisor and speech writer, Stephen Miller.
This image just those in the direct orbit, all this in addition to four members of the White House press team. And that's in addition to a service
member, closely -- assigned to closely work alongside the president.
And that is in addition to several housekeepers. And that is in addition to a White House journalist based there for "The New York Times." And that is
in addition to others we just do not know and perhaps won't know about.
And every one of those people has taken the virus home to their friends and their families. That is the reality of this plague. It spreads far and
fast. It doesn't care who you are, what your job is or what your address is. Here is Dr. Fauci to explain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Take a look at what happened this week at the White House. That is a
reality right there. And every day that goes by, more people are popping up that are infected.
It's not a hoax. It's an unfortunate situation when you see something like that because that could have been prevented.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: "Could have been prevented" and it's clear to see what the doctor means by that when you have a look at these scenes.
The White House has been alarmingly lax consistently. There were few masks in sight, no real social distancing going on at this get-together in the
Rose Garden a few weeks back.
Many of those high-level folks who work there, who are now infected, were in attendance, among them Mr. Trump's press secretary herself, now
infected, who is nevertheless defending that gathering.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: There is no way to say exactly where this originated. Certainly several of the people who tested
positive were at that event. But so many of these individuals interact routinely on a daily basis, certainly when it comes to White House staff.
So there is no way to put a pinpoint on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: I wonder whether you agree with that, it's clearly your decision to make but these are the facts. The facts though don't end there, it's not
just White House staffers, CNN learning that the vice commandant of the Coast Guard recently went to an event at the White House.
And now, yes, he is testing positive, too. So this hour, the people running the most powerful military to the world working from home, the Joint Chiefs
of Staff chairman working from home. The chief of staff for the Army working from home, the chief of the National Guard working from home, the
chief of staffing for the Air Force working from home, the guy heading up Space Force, yep, working from home. I could go on but that is just half of
this list.
But you get the point, don't you?
Connecting all of this for us tonight, Bakari Sellers a former state representative in North Carolina, who now gives us his expert insights as a
U.S. CNN political commentator.
Good to have you on. Clearly the news that most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are quarantining, plus, plus, plus at the Pentagon, has raised
concerns about U.S. national security.
[10:05:00]
ANDERSON: Are those concerns warranted?
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Very much so, the reason being is that the president of the United States is a superspreader. We haven't
taken this virus seriously, the president has been one who has steered away from wearing masks, who has not followed the CDC or his own CDC's
guidelines.
We are still a couple months away from a vaccine; cases are rising. Compound that with the flu, which is now becoming more prevalent throughout
society. Without leadership you see what's happening.
It's not just the Joint Chiefs of Staff; it's United States senators on the Judiciary Committee, as you flashed up; it's his own Coast Guard valets.
It's everywhere. Unfortunately, this is going to be quite severe for many and leave lasting illness and scars for others.
ANDERSON: Yes. These new cases in Washington coming on a day amid fears of a fall and winter spike in the COVID-19 disease. Here is Dr. Anthony Fauci.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: The models tell us that, if we do not do the kinds of things that we're talking about in the cold of the fall and the winter, we could have
from 300,000 to 400,000 deaths. That would be just so tragic if that happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: With half of U.S. states reporting an uptick in cases and a dozen recording a 50 percent increase in deaths already at this point, just
how dire is the current situation, Bakari?
SELLERS: It is and it's twofold. So it's a public health crisis that we know disproportionately affects not just those with preexisting conditions
but also people of color. You take that into account first. It's a dire, dire situation.
In fact, in my household we say WWFD, what would Fauci do?
No one is really listening to the president of the United States for direction but we are listening to Anthony Fauci. He has the most
credibility of anybody in, near or around that White House.
The other thing that we haven't paid much attention to, which I encourage our viewers to, is the economy. We do know e can't afford to halt our
economy again. The president just yesterday, via Twitter, which is the way he communicates, said that he would not have another stimulus bill.
He withdrew from negotiations, which means that our economy will continue to sputter. So from a public health crisis standpoint and an economic
standpoint, this is devastating and this is dire.
And as Joe Biden, who is running against Donald Trump, said, one of the first things he's going to do is issue a national mask mandate, so that
people can wear a mask. I mean, that's all we're asking individuals to do. This isn't about Democrat or Republican, this isn't about conservative or
liberal.
This is about wearing a mask, not just for yourself but for everyone else. If you want to watch football or if you want to watch soccer or you want to
go to a concert or go out to eat with your family, wear a mask so we can get back to normal sooner rather than later.
ANDERSON: It is more likely than not that Joe Biden asks WWFD as well, what would Fauci do.
Latest CNN polling, of course, putting Joe Biden ahead in the presidential race by 16 points. The presidential candidate himself, though, warning that
nothing should be taken for granted. And he tweeted that out specifically today.
Last night at a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Bakari, Biden warned of the cost of division. Let's just have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As I look across America today, I'm concerned. The country is in a dangerous place. Our trust in each other is
ebbing. Hope seems elusive.
Too many Americans see our public life not as an arena for mediation of our differences but rather they see it as an occasion for total, unrelenting
partisan warfare. Instead of treating each other's party as the opposition, we treat them as the enemy.
This must end. We need to revive the spirit of bipartisanship in this country, a spirit of being able to work with one another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And lest we forget, there is an election less than a month from now.
Is Joe Biden taking the right tone in order to swing Donald Trump's supporters?
Can he swing Donald Trump's supporters at this point?
SELLERS: Well, first of all, nobody is taking Donald Trump's supporters, I think Donald Trump has said one true thing in his life which is that he can
go onto Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and he will still have support in this country. It's a sad testament to where we are.
[10:10:00]
SELLERS: Thirty-five percent of country is going to always support Donald Trump and we just have to deal with that.
But he's ending on a great note. If you would have closed your eyes, you would have heard Barack Obama, that message of unity, bipartisanship, that
message of not a Black or white America, blue or red, but the United States of America. He is ending on a high note.
But you had me on this show on an amazing day in history because this is a day four years ago where Hillary Clinton was still up 12 points. And we had
the "Access Hollywood" tapes that were released. We remember those tapes, where the president said that you can grab them by the you know what.
And subsequently, mysteriously, we all know what happened, came those Russia WikiLeaks news dumps and email dumps. And this race got closer and
closer. It was driven into chaos due to Russian interference.
So I tell you that so that people understand, when we say that we don't pay attention to polls, that polls don't vote, Hillary Clinton was in a very
similar situation. And today as the four-year anniversary of the "Access Hollywood" tapes so we know that things can change quickly.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. You make a very, very good point. It's a pleasure having you on. Come back. Thank you.
SELLERS: I will. Thank you.
ANDERSON: Thank you.
ANDERSON: If you are outside the U.S. you may want to stay up late for the vice presidential debate between Senator Kamala Harris and vice president
Mike Pence. Look, I mean, couldn't be more important, could it, this debate, this year more than any other.
Our special coverage starts midnight London time, 3:00 am in Abu Dhabi, 7:00 am in Hong Kong.
Clearly American politics are pretty messy right now so there will be a lot to get stuck into. You would think that Mr. Trump wouldn't mess around with
what is, some might argue, his one leg left to stand on, the economy.
But the president, as Bakari specifically mentioned just then, giving all of us Twitter whiplash over this. First, he killed stimulus talks in a
single tweet; that affects not only millions of Americans but because the American economy is so huge, it affects all of us, no matter where you are,
from Addis Ababa to Zagreb, for example.
And then Mr. Trump changed his mind a little, just hours later, tweeting that he would be interested in a deal that would help small businesses and
airlines specifically, one which would put cash directly in the pockets of Americans.
We'll connect, looking at everything that is going on from the pennies to the pounds to the trillions of pounds. Let's bring in a good friend of this
show, good friend of mine, Richard Quest, our business editor at large.
Speaking on FOX, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, says the president has spoke with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin this morning.
Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: The president has already been on the phone this morning, talking to secretary Mnuchin, the secretary and
I have been talking about what we could do with stand alone bills to help airlines, small businesses and the American people with stimulus checks.
So hopefully we can convince Speaker Pelosi to do something on a stand- alone basis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Why a stand-alone basis, Richard?
What's going on?
RICHARD QUEST, CNNMONEY EDITOR AT LARGE: Oh, it makes no sense. Let's just call it for what it is, Becky. It makes no sense that you get a tweet,
saying earlier in the day, I'm stopping negotiations, asking my representatives to stop negotiations.
But then you're going to put together a series of stand-alone measures. Now if they had said a stand-alone measure just for the airline industry, I
could have understood that because 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 jobs are going to go in very short order once the furloughs -- well, the furloughs have
already started -- from the major carriers.
And those job losses will become permanent the longer it lasts. But to then throw in one of the most expensive parts of the stimulus, which is the
$1,200 check to every American, now you're not talking about stand-alone; now you're talking about, once again, a large stimulus package.
And the only thing that's missing in all of this, by the way, is what we might describe as a PPP, the payroll protection plan, which is for small
businesses, which is why, Becky, without getting too deep into this, you saw airline stocks yesterday go down very sharply after that first tweet.
They go along the bottom and then they come back up again with the later tweets. As they used to say, Becky, this is no way to run a railroad.
ANDERSON: Absolutely. Markets are open; they opened a short time ago. I'm looking at the Dow Jones industrial average, up about -- just shy of 330
points, up over 28,000.
How do you explain what is going on with these markets at present?
[10:15:00]
QUEST: I explain it in two ways. Firstly, as long as there's this executive paralysis, then the Fed can't do anything but to continue to pump
money into the economy. The Fed remains the only -- the only game in town.
And secondly, there will be some sort of stimulus. Some sort of activity will take place. Having seen -- you know, at the end of the day, the
president is going to get the message that unless he puts something into the economy his loss will be greater or than it might otherwise have been.
That's the only reason. The markets are enjoying the smorgasbord of Fed accommodation topped up with the potential for more stimulus.
ANDERSON: The chairman of the Federal Reserve is warning of economic tragedy if America can't control this coronavirus. Let's just have a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: The expansion is still far from complete. At this early stage, I would argue that the risks of policy
intervention are still asymmetric.
Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses. Over time, household insolvencies
and business bankruptcies would rise, harming the productive capacity of the economy and holding back wage growth. By contrast, the risks of
overdoing it seem for now to be smaller.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The risks of overdoing it are relatively small.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: You know --
ANDERSON: Yes, go on.
QUEST: On the one hand we could do this; on the other hand we could do that. But the risk of doing this, well, it's much greater. So the message
from the Fed is abundantly clear: more stimulus now or there will be serious, long-lasting, possibly permanent damage.
That means if we don't get the stimulus, we will continue to have to do even more and that is why the stock market is higher today. It is a true
perversion of the way markets are thinking at the moment, that the bad news is actually good news for the market because it means the lender of last
resort will continue to play its role.
ANDERSON: Amazing times and you and I have been around to see some pretty amazing times in these markets. Keep an eye on it for us, Mr. Quest. Thank
you.
There are countless people around the world out of work or struggling to get by because of the pandemic, of course. But many of the world's
billionaires have never been richer. And I am talking getting richer by the trillions. Yep, trillions.
That is making the divide between rich and poor, the haves and the have- nots way worse. For all of that and more, do head over to CNN Digital. That's cnn.com/business. A good write on where things stand.
Let's zoom in on just how hard things can be for people right now. For front line workers and their families, a spike in COVID cases means having
to cope with even more pressure. And some say the president's cavalier attitudes towards the virus and its financial fallout making a tough
situation feel almost impossible, certainly in the U.S.
CNN's Miguel Marquez brings us that side of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Julia Jimenez, a front line worker in the fight against the coronavirus.
JULIA JIMENEZ, FRONT LINE WORKER: Sometimes I do go to the breakroom and I take everything off and I just -- I break down and I start crying. I do
that a lot.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Jimenez is part of a family of health care workers. Her mother, cousins, aunts, all working as nurses or in hospital
administration. She's lived mainly in a hotel since March, isolated from her parents and son, worried about their health and economic well-being.
MARQUEZ: What is the level of stress in your life?
JIMENEZ: I don't know. I don't sleep very well. I'm very, very stressed. It's not an easy time.
MARQUEZ: On a scale of 1 to 10, if 10 is the worst?
JIMENEZ: I'm an 11.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Stressed at work, stressed at home, stressed seeing others not taking the pandemic seriously, hoping now, that the president
has it.
JIMENEZ: But I hope that he will change his message to, people saying that they really do need to take it seriously and not make so many jokes about
not wearing the masks. Like now you see firsthand how serious it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's going to disappear, one day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The president --
TRUMP: I don't wear masks like him, every time you see him he has got a mask, he could be speaking 200 feet away from it and he shows up with the
biggest mask I have ever seen.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): -- the number one driver of misinformation about the pandemic, says a new study from Cornell University. In the report, mentions
of Donald Trump made up nearly 38 percent of the misinformation conversation, what researchers call an infodemic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is this country right now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we are in big trouble and it's going to get worse, a lot worse before it gets better.
[10:20:00]
MARQUEZ (voice-over): She knows too well, part of a large Mexican American family, living across several states, 17 members of her own family have
been sickened with the virus. Her Aunt Lolly (ph), once the life of the party, she says, is on a ventilator for more than a month now.
JIMENEZ: I look at my patients every day, like, you know, I would hate if that was my family member. And now it is.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The coronavirus does not discriminate from a Mexican American family to the first family.
JIMENEZ: I think our country is in bad shape right now and they're getting really bad advice.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): This front line worker's hope: all Americans will now understand. COVID-19 is a killer and isn't going anywhere anytime soon
-- Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: It's not going anywhere anytime soon and you can see that half of the United States reporting an uptick in the number of new cases. Still
more and more Americans say they will not get a COVID-19 vaccine. More on that coming up.
Plus a Mexican tourist hot spot getting battered by Hurricane Delta this hour. We are on the ground for you and we look at where the storm is headed
next.
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ANDERSON: Right now Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula taking a direct hit from the awesome power of Hurricane Delta. The storm made landfall just hours
ago, a strong category 2 storm near Cancun and Playa del Carmen, both of which are tourist hot spots. Matt Rivers is here with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RIVERS: Julia, as you can see, the situation here along the Yucatan Peninsula is extremely serious. And a little bit earlier we know that
Hurricane Delta officially made landfall here in Mexico. It crossed onto land in a town called Puerto Morelos (ph), which is about 20 miles north of
where we are right now.
So we're quite close to, you know, the center of this storm and we can certainly feel it. This is a storm that intensified so rapidly, we were
watching what was a tropical depression as recently as Monday. We were monitoring it in our Mexico City bureau.
And we woke up Tuesday morning and found that it had quickly strengthened into the hurricane that it is now.
The main concern with this particular storm is not flooding, because it's moving quite quickly; it's not going to be a huge rainmaker. It is the
wind. It is a relatively small storm, geographically speaking.
[10:25:00]
RIVERS: But what that does is it puts an increased concentration on the winds that are centering on where this hurricane made its landfall.
So as the sun comes up today, as the day goes on, as the storm moves across the Yucatan Peninsula, we're going to be looking at the damage, perhaps in
Puerto Morelos. That town is right between where we are in Playa del Carmen and also north of it in Cancun.
These are obviously internationally famous tourist destinations. We know some tourists were stranded because of this storm. But the bigger concern
right now will be localized damage in the Yucatan.
This storm is going to continue on to the United States. What happened here in the Yucatan might be a preview of what we will see in the southern part
of the United States in the next few days.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Right. That was recorded just earlier, when Matt was speaking to my colleague, Julia Chatterley. The communications with Matt for this show
pretty bad, given what is going on there; understandable, perhaps.
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ANDERSON: These relentless storms are a product, of course, of our growing climate crisis. Now China, the world's biggest polluter, says it has a
solution. But it faces some very big obstacles. More on that and China's ambitious plans on CNN Digital.
Well, it started in China and has infected more than 35 million around the world and counting. In the U.S., coronavirus cases are rising in half of
the U.S. states. Ahead, why health officials fear the worst is yesterday to come this winter.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: As I look across America today, I'm concerned. The country is in a dangerous place. Our trust in each other is ebbing. Hope seems elusive.
Too many Americans see our public life not as an arena for mediation of our differences but rather they see it as an occasion for total, unrelenting
partisan warfare. Instead of treating each other's party as the opposition, we treat them as the enemy.
This must end. We need to revive the spirit of bipartisanship in this country, a spirit of being able to work with one another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: It's not only what you heard Joe Biden say there, calling for unity, but where he said it. His background, the site of the Gettysburg
Civil War battlefield. That is where former president Abraham Lincoln delivered his iconic Gettysburg Address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): You can see him here in this photo, way back in 1863, right as he implored Americans to unify as a single nation. To jog
your memory, it's that "Fourscore and seven years ago" speech.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that was then and this is now. We are just four weeks out from the American election. The White House, the coronavirus cluster, keeps
exploding in size. There are now at least 21 infections in the president's inner circle and that is so far.
The White House may be the most notorious coronavirus hot spot in America. But millions more are at risk across the country, the death toll there now
topping 210,000. Health officials warn that going into the winter flu season could mean more infections and more hospitalizations.
Half of U.S. states are reporting an increase in cases and governors are scrambling to bring those numbers down. More than a dozen states reporting
a 50 percent increase in deaths.
I want to discuss all of this with CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is live for you in Atlanta today.
Sanjay, just how concerning with these upticks?
What is the current trajectory for the U.S. at this point?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the current trajectory is pointing in the wrong direction, Becky. As you point out
there's all sorts of different ways of looking at this data. But the graphic which you showed which is basically the per capita number of
infections happening in any given state show that the numbers are elevated.
They are higher than what we consider any kind of, you know, significant containment of the virus. And we are going into the winter season. So it's
a really concerning time.
We don't have the virus under any kind of control here. So if you already have a lot of virus spreading and you're going into a season where people
are more likely to be indoors, more likely to be clustering together, that's the concern.
You see that with other respiratory virus as well, whether it be seasonal flu or even the flu pandemic of 1918. The fall was a particularly tough
time.
ANDERSON: Dr. Fauci says that the White House cluster could have been prevented. I just want our viewers to have a listen to this, Sanjay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: Take a look at what happened this week at the White House.
[10:35:00]
FAUCI: That is a reality right there. And every day that goes by, more people are popping up that are infected.
It's not a hoax. It's an unfortunate situation when you see something like that because that could have been prevented.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And 21 people in Donald Trump's orbit have now tested positive; all of those people would have been in contact, of course, with others.
Has the White House become a super spreader?
GUPTA: It certainly looks like it, Becky. There are a couple different things that have happened at the White House. There was a ceremony back a
weekend ago and then there were these debate prep meetings that took place inside.
You know, I think the point that Dr. Fauci is making -- and I think hopefully this is -- will actually help people to allay their fears a
little bit -- is that, when he says it could have been preventable, you know, it's worth reminding that, as scary as this virus is, Becky,
ultimately it's just a small strand of genetic material.
It doesn't particularly like to be outside, it can't jump very far, it's fairly easily contained by a mask. I think that's what he's saying. If
indoors, in particular, if you are wearing masks, you know, it's not going to completely obviate the problem.
But it could tremendously reduce the problem and prevent a super spreader event like what we're starting to see unfold here. These are some of the
people at the highest levels of government, who have now been infected because of an event and the meetings around that event.
ANDERSON: Well, there is an event tonight; it's the vice presidential debate.
What safety protocols are they or should they be implementing, Sanjay?
GUPTA: Yes, I mean, look, Becky, it's one of these things where, you know, you're sort of asking somebody -- and I don't mean to be glib here -- but
it's sort of asking how does someone smoke safely?
Smoking is not good for you. Aggregating people together in the middle of a pandemic is not a good idea. I mean, I understand that, for some things it
is necessary. And I think a presidential discourse or vice presidential discourse is important.
Safest, as you might guess, would be to do it remotely in some way. After that it would be to do it outside. One of the big concerns here, as you can
see on the screen, Becky, is not just the respiratory droplets, where people may cause or sneeze or even talk and those can travel 6 feet.
It's the airborne, small particles forming, drying quickly and lingering in the airstream for longer, hours, traveling further than 6 feet. I mean,
that's the concern.
So what would you do as safely as possible tonight?
First of all, obviously keeping distance but also recognizing there can be airborne transmission; making sure there is significant ventilation in the
room, that the air is constantly exchanging or very frequently.
There should be no audience there. One could even make the argument that the candidates should be wearing masks or at least wearing masks as often
as possible.
I realize some of this sounds ridiculous. But we are in the middle of a pandemic. And everyone is trying to navigate their lives. But to say can we
do something like this safely, if you can't do it safely, you can try to make it as safe as possible, I guess.
ANDERSON: Meantime, much talk of a vaccine, of course. Certainly it seems the U.S. president was hoping for a vaccine miracle ahead of the election.
That seems to have been diminished, the FDA setting out new guidelines.
Can you just explain what they are?
GUPTA: Yes, no, this is very interesting. We've been following this along -- and I have done a lot of reporting with Dr. Hahn, who is the
commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
It's basically this: that most adverse effects after vaccination, if they are going to occur at all, occur within the first two months. And that's
why the FDA basically said we should wait two months after the completion of the -- after people have received their vaccine, after they get their
shots.
That's where that came from. It was a widely accepted sort of guideline by the manufacturers of the vaccines, by the various committees who oversee
this and certainly by the FDA itself.
The reason it became an issue, Becky, is because the president said, look, I may not approve those guidelines and, in fact, the West Wing did try to
stop those guidelines from being implemented. The FDA has sort of stuck to their guns on this.
So it's good. I think it does give a much better sort of sense of safety around this. And I should point out as well, Becky, what we're still seeing
here is a remarkably fast process with the vaccine.
I mean, typically it takes years to create a vaccine. Some diseases, like HIV, still don't have a vaccine. So the fact that they've been able to do
this within a year, if it gets authorized, is super fast.
ANDERSON: Yes, amazing.
[10:40:00]
ANDERSON: Well, we know safety and effectiveness clearly a concern to people with regard this vaccine. Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
America's trust in vaccines at an all time low, only 51 percent would take it, according to a new CNN poll.
I'm sure Sanjay would agree, that is very, very concerning.
We're going to take a very short break. Back after this.
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