Return to Transcripts main page
Connect the World
BioNTech CEO Speaks Exclusively To CNN; Frontline Healthcare Workers Open Up About Struggles; GA Election Official To Trump: Stop Inspiring Violence; Israel Moves Towards Fourth Election In Two Years; Top Adviser On UK's Vaccine Committee Speaks To CNN; U.K. Approves Both Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine For Emergency Use. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired December 02, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Tonight, the beginning of the end? Well, it is complicated; more now on what could be the biggest shot so far
in the war against the Coronavirus and a possible giant first step towards ending the pandemic.
United Kingdom today becoming the first western country to approve a vaccine for emergency use, British regulators approving the vaccine by
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech just hours ago now the companies say the vaccine protected 95 percent of volunteers in clinical trials.
The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the first batch in the UK will vaccinate 400,000 people and will be rolled out soon. He calls the
vaccine authorization a step towards ultimately reclaiming our lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I know that the whole house will want to join me in welcoming the fantastic news that the NHRA has formally
authorized the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19. The vaccine will begin to be made available across the UK from next week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, with more than 64 million Coronavirus cases worldwide, nearly 1.5 million people dead, vaccines can't get here soon enough. CNN's
Salma Abdel Aziz looks at how Britain plans to distribute the vaccine and who will be first in line.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One big step for the UK and a giant leap for humankind. The first western nation to approve a Coronavirus
vaccine will be rolling it out starting early next week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: 2020 has been just awful, and 2021 is going to be better, and help it on its way. Help it on its way with this
vaccine.
ABDELAZIZ (voice over): The super quick authorization came in part because Britain's regulators engaged constantly with Pfizer and BioNTech according
to experts. An initial batch of 800,000 doses will soon arrive from Belgium, that's enough for half as many people given they need two doses 21
days apart.
Governments release today say residents in nursing homes and their care givers should be given priority and then next frontline health workers and
those over 80. The real challenge will be immunizing the wider population.
Health experts say two-thirds of people need to have immunity in order for the epidemic to be stopped. That means winning hearts and minds and
persuading as many people as possible that the vaccine is safe and effective. Regulators were quick to assure the public.
DR. JUNE RAINE, UK MEDICINES & HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS REGULATORY AGENCY: Everyone can be absolutely confident that no corners whatsoever have been
cut.
ABDELAZIZ (voice over): On the streets of London, elation and relief.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Having been through this year and a lot of people to this horrendous illness that has taken a lot of people, family, friends,
co-workers, I think it's been quite a shocking situation, and we're very grateful to see the news today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perhaps we are finally turning the corner. So it's wonderful.
ABDELAZIZ (voice over): I see there's a big smile on your face.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess it would be nice to see how - you know, how people receive this and whether it is safe, but, yes, I have reasonable
confidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everyone has slight doubts, you know. It's been quite quick in the making and then, you know, they are going to inject
something alien into your body so, yes, I'm a bit skeptical, but things need to go back to some kind of normal.
ABDELAZIZ (voice over): The end of the pandemic is in sight. The final hurdle will be gaining the public's trust in the cure. Salma Abdelaziz,
CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And in just a short while I'll bring Anthony Harnden on to the show, he is one of the leaders of the group in the UK that will be making
the decision on who gets the vaccine and when, important stuff. Do stay with us for that.
Well, the world the whole world has been waiting to hear spoken moments ago to CNN and they were uttered by none other - or two none other than CNN's
Fred Pleitgen. Fred, who have you been speaking to and what did he tell you?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Becky. Well, I've been speaking to the CEO of BioNTech Ugur Sahin and, of course,
the BioNTech vaccine, BNT1662B-2, the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine was developed in the labs that you see right behind me here in Mainz in
Germany.
They were developed by BioNTech and Ugur Sahin the CEO of BioNTech he is sort of known as somewhat of the father of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine even
though he'll be the one, the first one to point out that it's a whole team of people here who are behind developing this vaccine so quickly and also
making it so safe as well.
[11:05:00]
And earlier today when I interviewed him, he told me that yes, indeed, he had been constantly in touch with those regulators in the United Kingdom
also in touch quite frankly with regulators from other countries as well, for instance, with the EMA from Europe and also with the FDA as well.
But he made a point to say that absolutely no corners in safety were cut and that the British regulator was quite rigorous and the question that it
was asking and absolutely as professional as can be. He also made clear that the logistics of the vaccine begin immediately.
The shipping will start very, very soon and indeed people will get jabs in their arms most probably in the UK at the beginning of next week, and he
did indeed say that this could very well be the beginning of the end of the pandemic. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UGUR SAHIN, CEO, BIONTECH: It will be the first time that people outside of clinical trials will get access to our vaccine, and we believe that it is
really the start of the end of the pandemic if we can ensure now about or out of our vaccine.
Of course, it's the first country to enable an authorization and others will probably follow but it's a good start so request if everything goes
well I expect that first people could get the first vaccinations beginning next week.
I personally believe there are a number of companies now reaching, reaching and reaching the approval in the next few months. We might be able to
deliver sufficient number of doses until end of summer of 2020, 2021 to reach the 60 percent to 70 percent coverage which could give us the relief
to have a normal 2021.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: And, of course, before that happens, Becky, they're going to have to get regulatory approval in the European Union from the EMA. They believe
that could happen towards the end of this year in the next couple of weeks, and then also of course very key and very important the FDA as well.
And there, of course, is a key meeting going on next week, and they believe that they could get regulatory approval for an Emergency Use Authorization
in the United States, also only a couple of days after that so that could be on their horizon very quickly as well.
And finally, Becky, of course one of the things that we've been talking about so much is the logistics of this vaccine, a vaccine that needs to be
stored and shipped about minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit. They say here and the CEO says, Ugur Sahin says they are already working on a new formulation
of the vaccine that could allow it to be shipped at better temperatures and maybe even in the future at room temperature as well. Becky?
ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen on the story for us, appreciate it. Thank you for that important stuff. Not everyone on board with the UK's fast-paced
approach then to getting this vaccine approval, an as with so much that happens with the UK, it might be fair to suggest there's a bit of a Brexit
subplot here.
Let me just take you through this. A health policy spokesman for the EPP, which the largest political grouping in the European parliament calling
today's vaccine authorization problematic and perhaps even more jarringly he says it's, "An attempt to distract attention from the failure of Boris
Johnson's government in the Coronavirus crisis".
To be clear, the EPP describes itself as the center right pro-European political party which gathers 70 national parties from 40 countries. CNN's
Melissa Bell has more for us now from Paris. The UK's approach described as problematic, that is an unusually blunt statement by one EU lawmaker by
which he means what, Melissa? Is it clear?
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think there is this sense, of course, that clearly decision-making procedures are going to be slower
in Europe for the 27. Just look ahead at all the steps that have to be taken that have to be seen through Becky before Europeans, Continental
Europeans, those within the EU, can get that vaccine.
So first the EMA looks at - begins that process. It's accelerated. We know it had begun with some rolling review before and that they expect a
decision to be as fast as it can be, faster than it would be otherwise and then goes to the European Commission.
There, too, we're told that the process has been simultaneous in order that the decision can be made fast and vaccines can be rolled out quickly. Then
the 27 also have to make sure that their health authorities nationally agree with this. So there's some incompressible time there which really
takes you to the end of December at this stage.
So clearly, all eyes very much on what the UK manages to do with more speed. And remember this isn't the first time when it comes to this
particular story Becky. Back in June when it was all about vaccine procurement for these vaccines, none of which we knew might work and the
question was how many governments could secure from different suppliers in order to make sure they had at least some of the correct ones?
[11:10:00]
BELL: The UK managed to get their first vaccines before the EU because it had such trouble coordinating that question of vaccine procurement. So once
again the UK is proving that it's more efficient with these kinds of decisions, but that question really from the MEP is, is it being as safe as
it should be?
ANDERSON: Yes. Well, let's be quite clear. No corners on safety have been cut according to BioNTech's CEO speaking specifically to our colleague Fred
Pleitgen so that begs the question is it fair to suggest a Brexit subplot here?
BELL: I think in almost every decision at this stage that's going to be taken. And remember that we're still within this whole debate they are
still look for solution that will allow the United Kingdom to leave with a deal.
And of course that clock is ticking and that will be the sub plot for almost anything and with the question like that is all about bringing the
economy back that is allowing people to go back to work and allowing the world to turn the corner from this particular pandemic, the questions pose
themselves, of course, Becky with all the more urgency.
But I think, of course, that's what was behind the MEP's words. There are slower decision-making procedures within the EU and one would imagine some
frustration at the slowness of the decision-making procedures. So of course, it is with an eye on those changes, the fact that the United
Kingdom has decided ahead of time to make these sorts of decisions itself.
That's what is it did in June when it decided not to join the European vaccination strategy - it would go it alone as a fore taste of what proper
freedom outside the EU would be. Once again it's showing that it's managed to do things slightly faster.
ANDERSON: Yes, and you could argue that this - that if this was a somewhat churlish statement from a member of the European parliament, that's quite
dangerous really because there is so much sort of anti-vac conspiracy theory out there, that there's no substance to what this MEP is saying, and
that - that - then perhaps he should be keeping these comments to himself.
Anyway, Melissa, thank you for that. Should this vaccine become available in the United States, which it should be deciding on this week, a committee
of vaccine advisers to the CDC decided that health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities should be the first to get it that
is similar to the sort of phasing of this vaccine rollout in Britain they are high-risk groups, of course.
Still, America just set yet another record for the number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, nearly 99,000 sick as of Tuesday.
CNN's Lucy Kafanov went to hard-hit Colorado and found doctors and nurses there struggling to cope.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DR. SHANNON TAPIA, GERIATRICIAN: We might not show it if we're interacting with you, but it's so hard.
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The words of a Colorado physician who has had enough. Dr. Shannon Tapia is one of thousands of health care workers on
the frontline of the Coronavirus pandemic.
DR. TAPIA: Sleep is on short supply right now.
KAFANOV (voice over): A Geriatrician and a single mom who works with the elderly, she switched to Telehealth to keep her patients and herself safe.
What do you want people to know about the experience of these frontline health care workers including yourself under COVID?
DR. TAPIA: We might not talk about it because we know people don't want to hear it. We know everyone is struggling. We know COVID changed everybody's
lives. It's just - it's so hard, and I don't want to say it's been harder for us than it has for everybody else, but the truth is it has. It has.
It's - it's not the same, and it's not the same when you feel responsible for people - whether it be their life or their quality of life because you
care.
KAFANOV (voice over): Colorado is in the midst of its third pandemic surge. Cases and hospitalizations have been breaking records.
JARED POLIS, COLORADO GOVERNOR: What matters now is in Colorado 1 out of 41 people are contagious so it could be anywhere.
KAFANOV (voice over): More than 14,000 Coloradoans have been hospitalized since the pandemic began among those facing the brunt, doctors and nurses
like Alison Burner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As an ER nurse I haven't cried a lot on the job. You hold that back in you, you know you want to say tough for the family - and
there has been a lot of tears shed in ER rooms during COVID because we're treating that person dying like our loved one dying because they don't have
anyone else and they need that grace and they need that human touch and they need someone to be there when they are taking their last breath.
KAFANOV (voice over): Before the pandemic, she said, work had never caused her to lose sleep. Now she regularly has nightmares.
How has the COVID crisis impacted nurses and yourself on a personal level? I mean, you're seeing this day in and day out?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, on a personal level it's hard. You know, we lean on each other.
[11:15:00]
The holidays have been rough for a lot of us. We're not seeing our families. We're doing everything we can to keep the public safe and so it's
extremely frustrating for us when people are not doing that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here on the front lines, this virus is incredibly real.
KAFANOV (voice over): With cases climbing her employer Sentura Health (ph) released this PSA.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, let's have each other's backs.
KAFANOV (voice over): A message Dr. Tapia shares. She's seen firsthand the devastating toll on residents of long-term care facilities who account for
40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the country many die alone.
DR. TAPIA: It's so hard on their loved ones and their families because they can't grieve it the way they should be able to?
KAFANOV (voice over): She's found a new way to cope, a puppy, therapy and anti-depressants, but with the virus raging unabated she worries how much
more she and other frontline workers can take.
DR. TAPIA: And I think there's going to be a huge reckoning when things calm down and people get to really process what's happened to them.
KAFANOV (voice over): Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, as we report on the impact of COVID-19 and indeed on the quest for a vaccine around the world, a quick update from Russia for you.
Its President Vladimir Putin is ordering vaccinations to be stepped up in his country next week. Russia, of course, has authorized its controversial
vaccine known as Sputnik while still awaiting concrete clinical data.
Well, coming up, a source tells us some Trump allies are lining up for pardons before he leaves the office, but can a president pardon anyone
before allegations of wrongdoing are made? We'll take a look at that coming up.
Plus, Mr. Trump's friend and ally Israeli Leader Benjamin Netanyahu facing some heavy criticism from his Defense Minister. Why that could mean a new
round of elections for Israel.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: As we sit at the twilight of the Trump era, a source speaking to CNN tells us that some of the president's closest associates are lining up
for pre-emptive pardons before he leaves the oval office. That includes his three eldest kids, Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka as well as her husband Jared
Kushner, and that might bring up a question can the president pardon himself. To answer that here is the president himself speaking in 2018.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I do have an absolute right to pardon myself, but I'll never have to do it because I didn't do
anything wrong and everybody knows it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, my next guest is a Staff Writer with "The New Yorker" and says, "Trump is trying to use pardons as his latest cliff hanger to gin up
attention and outrage but the suffering of Americans on his watch is the real crisis, not the inevitable sweet stakes for his associates."
[11:20:00]
ANDERSON: He's also the author of a new Joe Biden Biography called "Joe Biden: The life, the run and what matters now". Evan Osnos is joining us
from Washington. You heard from Donald Trump himself there. He says he wouldn't need to pardon himself because he's done nothing wrong.
Be that as it may and we can argue the toss on that one for hours, days if not weeks, what's the likelihood here that Donald Trump were to actually
provide preemptive pardons for his family members, people who effectively haven't done anything wrong yet which is normally what a sparred about,
right?
Pardoning somebody who has committed a crime and has shown good conduct in the period afterwards, is there a precedent for all of this?
EVAN OSNOS, AUTHOR, "JOE BIDEN: THE LIFE, THE RUN, AND WHAT MATTERS NOW": No. This is totally unprecedented, Becky, as things often are in this
administration. It is puzzling because there are not cases in which we know that those three children or Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner have been
charged with crimes.
What we do know is that they have been in some cases under investigation, Don Jr., for instance, was investigated by Former Special Counsel Robert
Mueller for his contacts with Russian officials. Ivanka Trump has been named in an investigation, has said, by the Manhattan District Attorney
looking into the tax procedures of the Trump Organization which may have benefited her with tax write-offs.
So there are reasons why Trump may be thinking about the consequences of prosecution, but it's very unusual, frankly never happened before, that a
president would be talking about pardoning his children in advance.
ANDERSON: What about pardoning himself, possible, likely, realistic?
OSNOS: Well, you know, I think we've all been waiting for that moment when Donald Trump would begin to use the pardon power as a piece of his
dwindling political arts fall, and that moment has now arrived.
He's, of course, pardoned Michael Flynn. The question of whether he can pardon himself is disputed. Legal scholars will tell you this has never
been tested in court. There's never been a president who tried to do it before, and you can expect there would be a lot of resistance to the idea
but it's possible, certainly possible, that Trump will try.
ANDERSON: You've written a book about Joe Biden. You know, you've - you've probably forgotten more about Joe Biden than many people will know although
he is a very, very, very well-known character individually.
He's been around in the Senate for 47 years, so Americans should have a measure of this. Is it likely that his administration would go after Donald
Trump and indeed his family, and is this what the Trump sort of organization, as it were, it fearful of at this point?
OSNOS: Well, Biden has said something very clear actually. He is drawing a distinction between what he thinks of as at kind of personal politics of
justice which he thinks Donald Trump has used, essentially enlisting the prosecution authority in service of his political agenda and when Biden
believes is the appropriate use of the presidency which is to stay out of the matters of prosecution.
Look, as a president traditionally, you set priorities. You give your Justice Department a sense of what you care about, but you don't get
involved in individual cases. And Biden has been quite clear about the fact that he doesn't want to do that. He thinks that will in fact undermine what
credibility he's trying to restore to the presidency.
Now, he's also, of course, aware of the fact that he knows that there are many Americans who believe that the Trump Administration, the Trump family
has broken the law and that he has to hold them accountable or it will undermine confidence in public service, in government and in its ability to
treat people equally.
So what he's aiming for is a middle line which it would allow the prosecution authorities and particularly, I should say, Inspector Generals
to go after, to look for corruption, to find examples if they exist of people self-dealing, including members of the Trump family, but Biden
himself, as President-Elect and as President, wants to stay out of it.
ANDERSON: Of course. This is all happening against the backdrop of a president who continues to call this election fraudulent, dispute by the
way by his very own Attorney General William Barr now last night.
Still, a Republican election official in Georgia pleading with the president to stop inspiring potential violence against election workers
Evan after a contractor was accused of treason for wild claims spread online that he'd tampered with votes. Just have a listen to this.
[11:25:00]
ANDERSON: This is for benefit of the viewers, by with the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIEL STERLING, SENIOR GEORGIA ELECTION OFFICIAL: Stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone is going to get hurt. Someone
is going to get shot. Someone is going to get killed. Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language.
Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. All of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well Evan, it doesn't get much clearer than that, does it?
OSNOS: No. I mean, this is really an extraordinary set of circumstances. This is a Republican official in Georgia, a senior high-ranking election
official, who is pleading desperately with the president and with senior Republican officials in Washington to put a stop to this.
To say what Attorney General Bill Barr has now said which is that there is no evidence of what the president is talking about, the fantasy of a
conspiracy to subvert the election. And what that election official in Georgia is saying, that Republican is saying that this is putting people's
lives at risk.
And what's notable to me, Becky, is that you hear these days that it is in fact Republican officials at the local and state level who are the ones who
are standing up against President Trump who are saying, no. This election is legitimate. This result is valid and legal, and it's time to respect it.
The Biden Campaign themselves, the Biden transition, I should say, is saying we're getting on with the matters of state here. We're beginning the
process of transition. We're focusing on things like the economy, things like COVID.
We're going to let the president and his call it what it is, his delusion play out, but within the Republican Party they are beginning to hear a lot
of turbulence from the local level.
ANDERSON: Yes, and it was Andrew Yang just pointing out on Twitter just moments ago. There are over 500,000 elected officials in the United States
who deserve more attention. Only 537 of who actually serve at the federal level to your point, an awful lot of people trying to do their jobs on the
ground.
There are though still many people who are buying this whole election fraud thing. Stop the steal; we saw those - those posters being held up while you
were just talking to me. My colleague Gary Tuchman spoke to some Trump supporters who are still holding on to hope that the president can somehow
overturn the election results. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIE DARNELL, TRUMP VOTER: I think he's going to come through.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What he is going to come through?
DARNELL: I think he's going to turn it around. I think we got cheated out of the election, and I'm - I'm sticking with him.
J.D. ORTEGA, TRUMP VOTER: I'm hoping that something is going to come out of these investigations. I'm hoping that something will turn the tide, and I'm
just - I'm a big supporter.
TUCHMAN: And that Donald Trump can still be president.
ORTEGA: I'm hoping that he can still be president, yes, I absolute am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Attorney General William Barr as you and I've been discussing said Tuesday to date we've not seen fraud on a scale that could
have affected a different outcome in this election. Evan, is this it the end of the road for Mr. Trump?
OSNOS: Legally it is quite clearly the end of the road. There is no other way that you can - you can state it more emphatically than what Bill Barr
has said. Bill Barr, of course, being one of the president's closest allies, and I think what's happening, Becky, is you see the president
beginning to lay the foundation for what is basically a public relations strategy.
That's what's going on here. He is beginning to look over the horizon at the life that will meet him after January 20th when he's a private citizen
he'll be facing legal bills. He's continuing to raise money these days, partly by talking about this fantasy is an election subverted.
And his supporters, and there are tens of millions of them after all, are sticking with him in many cases, and that's what this - that's what this is
about. This is not about the law. This is not going to change the result of the election.
This is about creating an environment in which he as a private citizen can begin to try to make a world for himself with his supporters and, of
course, with their financial support to contend with what we know are investigations in multiple jurisdictions in this country.
ANDERSON: Of course, it ain't over until the Electoral College casts its vote, but as you rightly say, I mean, you know, to all intents and purposes
this is the end of the road for Mr. Trump, but as you rightly point out there are tens of millions of people in America who do not buy this. Evan,
it's a pleasure. Thank you, sir.
OSNOS: My pleasure.
ANDERSON: Probably at the top in Israel the country's prime minister and alternate P.M. are at odds why Israel's fragile coalition government is
inching towards its end? Our live report is next.
[11:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Israeli voters may be feeling a strong sense of deja vu right now. That's because Israel's dysfunctional unity government is drawing
closer to its end and possibly on its way to a fourth election in two years.
A short time ago Israeli lawmakers voted in favor of new began elections. That though is the first step. Behind it though appears to be a power
struggle at the top between the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the alternate P.M. Benny Gantz who has had nothing good to say about
the Israeli leader.
I want to get you to CNN's Oren Lieberman who is connecting us to all the angles here and, boy, are there many angles to this story. Benny Gantz
Oren, accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of a whole host of things to keep himself in power longer saying and I quote here, I had no illusions about
Netanyahu. I knew his record as a serial breaker of promises, but I thought that the citizens of Israel are more important than any leader and that
Netanyahu would rise to the occasion. It did not happen. Wow, response, sir?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, incredibly harsh words from Benny Gantz who has generally tried to moderate his language but it seems no
more. Dysfunctional is a very good word to describe what is supposed to be a unity government, but in reality it was a government in which Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had the vast majority of the power and made the majority of power from the very beginning.
Ostensibly it was a government and this is an example that was meant to handle the Coronavirus and yet less than six month after this government
was formed and the coalition agreements were signed Israel went into a second lockdown, came out of that lockdown and is now perhaps on its way to
a third lockdown as numbers are rising again.
And that's just the issue it was supposed to deal with and utterly failed at handling. The politics behind all of this were even worse with a
relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz growing worse and worse.
There were few who expect that Netanyahu would hand over power to Gantz as per the coalition agreement next November. The expectation was that always
that Netanyahu would use the budget as an excuse to trigger new elections without handing over power that budget now due in three weeks exactly from
today.
This is Gantz trying to lay his cards out and say look, if you want to put a budget forward now is the time to show all citizens of Israel that you
want to do that. If not, this government is at its end.
[11:35:00]
LIEBERMANN: Now it is important to note that this is only a preliminary vote. It now has to go through an entirely different legislative process
into a committee passed at first, second and third votes. So Gantz could just be passing this preliminary vote to put pressure on Netanyahu to pass
a budget or the greater expectation now is that this government is well on its way to ending which means elections probably in March.
ANDERSON: Well, you and I shared the "Connect the World" stage as it were for the last three elections. We traveled the show to Jerusalem and at the
time it was sort of difficult to work out exactly what would happen with these elections.
I mean, it was sort of neck and neck all the way through. If we're going to have another election in March, what's likely to happen? What has changed
as far as Israeli people are concerned that would mean that this process would be anything different to - to the last three?
LIEBERMANN: It's possible. It's different in a number of ways. But the key is first that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party have
held the lead in just about every poll held over the last few months and it were done pretty routinely as elections became more and more obvious.
The big difference is that Gantz and his blue and white party have pretty much collapsed in the polls, many of them show him somewhere in the single
digits there. The great beneficiary of these has been the Naftali Ben Former Defense Minister who is in some polls very close to Netanyahu there.
He has spent his time in the opposition essentially putting forward how he would handle Coronavirus, trying to run a sort of shadow government of his
own and it's suited him very well as his numbers have soared.
The question is what's his goal, simply to go in with Netanyahu and try to get leverage in the government or is it really to form a government without
Netanyahu and end the reign of Israel's longest serving Prime Minister? That's the key question heading into these elections.
ANDERSON: How much credit does Netanyahu have in the Israeli people's bank, as it whether, with the normalization, with Bahrain, UAE and Sudan?
LIEBERMANN: It seems having gone through three normalization agreements now with the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan and everything that we've seen, the gifts
from the Trump Administration, Netanyahu has his base, a very strong base here, about 25 percent of the electorate and yet that base hasn't really
shifted, not up and not down, not with the normalization agreements.
The recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Golan Heights Netanyahu has his base and at least what we saw in two out of three
elections was that there's an anti-Netanyahu vote and a strong one out there. Gantz was almost able to harness it twice but as Netanyahu knows
very well almost isn't going to cut it.
Netanyahu's base is strong enough; his politics is strong enough to survive these last three elections. We'll see if that base holds for a fourth
election and if he's able to expand it or if Bennett or somebody else can chip away.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. All right, thank you Oren, Oren Liebermann on the story for you. Just ahead for on "Connect the World" we'll speak with one
of the experts with the power to decide who will be first to get the Coronavirus vaccine in the UK and just how soon that might be.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:00]
ANDERSON: Health officials are finally able to say when a COVID-19 vaccine will be available, not if. As we've been discussing this hour, the UK has
just become the first western nation to approve emergency use of a Coronavirus vaccine.
The vaccine itself is designed by Pfizer and BioNTech. They say it offers up to 95 percent protection, and while there are still enormous challenges
for manufacture, for storage and for distribution of this specific vaccine, there is also some sense of relief a year into what is this global plague.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel here. Who gets the vaccine and when. Professor Anthony Harnden is one of the leaders of the Committee in
the UK who will make those decisions and joins us now. First up, who is first and when do you start the rollout, sir?
ANTHONY HARNDEN, DEPUTY CHAIR, UK JOINT COMMITTEE ON VACCINATION AND IMMUNIZATION: Well, we're very, very excited about this, Becky, in the UK.
This is a tremendous period of time actually. We've decided on the committee. We've looked very careful at all the data, all the
epidemiological data about risk and we've decided that the first people to receive the vaccine in the UK will be residents of care homes and their
cares followed by the over 80s and frontline health care and social workers, and then we will work down the age cohorts.
The clinically extremely vulnerable patients will be in cohort four. Now, this has all been very, very carefully worked out over many, many months by
reference to papers being published in "Nature," "Lancet," "BMJ" and we've come to the conclusion that in the UK we want to protect those that are
most vulnerable first and those that are potentially could transmit the most vulnerable and we think that's the best and fairest way of doing it.
We're blessed in the UK. We have a nationalized health service and they are very, very well structured immunization program which has delivered
nationally free at the point of delivery, and we feel that we have a lot of the infrastructure in place to be able to deliver this program well.
It will probably start on Monday, and it will start initially slowly within hospital hubs. This is partly because of storage and logistic problems of
this Pfizer vaccine which has to be stored at minus 70 degrees.
But we hope that we'll be able to overcome those issues within a few weeks, and we've got in place an infrastructure in primary care where we'll be
developing it in local centers as well as other centers throughout the UK.
ANDERSON: What will happen at the beginning of the year with regard Brexit? So are you quite convinced, are you sure that the distribution of that
vaccine will be seamless as it were, that there will be no holdups as we move into the process for the UK which will be the UK outside of the EU?
HARNDEN: You cannot be sure of anything, Becky, and, of course, this - this vaccine is manufactured in Belgium, but as a committee member it is not my
role or place to sort out the logistics. We on the committee decide on prioritization groups and we leave that to other people.
But do I believe that we're in advanced negotiations with our European partners and in terms of a trade deal and certainly if this goes ahead I
don't see any blockage to this vaccine supply. If there's not such a deal, you know, nobody can be confident of anything, but we have purchased this
vaccine in advance.
We have worked very closely with Pfizer, our colleagues in the pharmaceutical industry, and, you know, there's an awful lot of hard work
and goodwill that has gone into this, and I think that these hurdles will overcome Brexit, deal or not.
ANDERSON: Yes, and I can only imagine the hard work that's gone into it. My colleague Fred Pleitgen has spoken to the BioNTech CEO today who is
absolutely categorical about the sort of process that the UK has gone through in ensuring that this is safe and efficient.
[11:45:00]
ANDERSON: And ensuring every step of the way that they are in lockstep with the company and that they can get these vaccines into the UK. Look, an EU
lawmaker though has criticized the UK's decision to authorize the vaccine saying in a statement and I quote.
I consider this decision to be problematic and recommend that EU member states do not repeat the process in the same way. A few weeks of thorough
examination by the European Medicine's Agency, ENA, is better than a hasty emergency marketing authorization of a vaccine. I have to ask you, sir,
what do you make of that characterization?
HARNDEN: Well, I beg to differ. Our medicine health care regulation agency in the UK is one of the leading regulators in the world along with your
regulator in the states. We have been looking at the data, the MHRA have been looking at this data, for over the last six months.
It's not as though we've come from a standing start and this bull rush over a few weeks. All the data has been pored over extremely carefully. There
are a number of issues that we were very, very keen to look at, particularly the response in the elderly which is the group that we're
going to be delivering the vast majority of the vaccine to first, and there's a very good response in the elderly.
We've looked in detail at those who have already been exposed to Coronavirus and have positive antibodies. There's no evidence from the data
that there are any safety concerns in this group. Whatever our European colleagues have to say, it may be a different process and that may be one
of the reasons in fact that we're leaving the EU, that we actually find their process is a bit slow and unresponsive, so I - I - I've got every
confidence in our medicine's health care regulation authority.
ANDERSON: Let me just work through the timeline again here because I know our viewers will be absolutely fascinated. Everybody knows that the vaccine
is a Panacea, as it were, so let's assume that I'm sort of, you know, a 50- year-old relatively fit and healthy female and in the UK. When will I get the vaccine?
HARNDEN: Well, you fit into what is called our priority group nine which is all those age 50 and over. Now, when you'll get that vaccine will - I mean,
if you wanted me to give you an estimate, it will be sometime in the first three months of next year.
To start working through - I mean these are enormous numbers involved, as you can imagine, Becky. We have, are you know, 7070 million people that
live in the UK and we have to work through this in priority order so that people that are less at risk such as yourself, being in the 50-year-old
female age group if that's what you were referring to, and I can't see you.
So I don't - I hope - you know, you are much less at risk than your elderly parents or your parents-in-law, and, therefore, it seems much more
appropriate that we start with that age group first. It really depends.
The speed of this really depends on so many multiple factors that it's very difficult to predict. It depends on the flow of vaccine. It depends on the
logistical issues. It depends on, you know, how many in each group take up the vaccine.
What we're very clear in the UK is that we don't want any vaccine wastage, and we have within our joint committee and vaccination and immunization
statement and made it quite clear that these are the priority strata, but it doesn't have to necessarily be rigidly stuck to because local people can
deploy it in slightly different ways if they think - think that vaccines are being wasted.
So if you suddenly, for instance, immunized eight 80-year-olds and had two vaccines left over in your batch, this is - this is a hypothetical example
and you happened to have a couple of 70-year-old in the clinic and nobody else, then, of course, you would go ahead and immunize them.
But I think it will work through the order very carefully, and I full anticipate that these priority groups that we've - we've elected to
prioritize will be all immunized by - certainly by Easter next year.
[11:50:00]
ANDERSON: Which will mean what as far as the spread of the Coronavirus is concerned in the UK? I mean, what percentage of the population needs to be
vaccinated before you can genuinely say we've knocked this thing on the head?
HARNDEN: I mean, it's - that's a very, very interesting question, and quite an epidemiologically complex question because it depends to a certain
extent on how the vaccine - we know the vaccine prevents disease.
It depends on how the vaccine prevents transmission, but to put it another way around, if you immunize 50 percent of your population, you will break
that transmission cycle. So - so once you've immunized half your population, providing the vaccine does prevent transmission as we fully
expect it to do.
Then you are starting to get into a situation where the transmission levels will be - will be small enough to prevent rapid spread like we're seeing at
the moment. We've been very lucky in the UK.
ANDERSON: 60 percent, 70 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated, 70 percent, 75 percent, what's the sort of number?
HARNDEN: Well, I think - I think we - we don't know that figure. It's probably between 50 percent and 70 percent probably.
ANDERSON: The UK's Health Minister Matt Hancock says several million vaccine doses will be in the UK in December. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT HANCOCK, U.K. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH: We've spent months preparing for this day so that as soon as we got the green light we would
be ready to go. We were the first country in the world to pre-order supplies of this successful vaccine, and we have 40 million doses pre-
ordered for delivery over the coming months, enough for 20 million people because two jabs are required for each.
Following authorization, the next stage is to test each batch of the vaccine for safety, and I can confirm that batch testing has been completed
this morning for the first deployment of 800,000 doses of the vaccine. These doses are for the whole United Kingdom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Matt Hancock suggesting that we should be through this thing in the UK by the spring. Is that accurate, sir?
HARNDEN: I think it's - I think it's - it depends on what you mean by through it, Becky. I think this will be - you know, this may well become an
endemic disease. We don't know how long this vaccine is going to last for. It may be that you need annual booster doses.
It may be that it becomes a little bit like flu and that it's circulating every season and that you'll feed a vaccine for it, so we don't know. But I
think - I don't think he's far off, and I think that if - if we can get the logistics of this vaccine delivery, and, of course, bear in mind that this
isn't the only vaccine.
We have a very strong candidate vaccine that's been developed in Oxford and that is well along the clinical trial route to have a look at that with the
medicine regulator as well. So, you know, this isn't going to be the only vaccine that comes in the next month or two.
And I think we - you know, we - we've planned very carefully for this the in the UK and I think we are in a good position, and I think in all
probability given that, you know, after Easter we'll have the summer period, we'll all be outdoors more.
The vaccine program will continue. I think we will be looking at getting towards the end of this tunnel in the UK by the end of the - by the end of
the Easter period. I mean, we - you know, the UK has been pretty good at the lockdown as well.
I mean, if I - if I look to your own country and see how the problems that you've had in your own country in terms of the spread of the virus, I think
we've - you know, we've been hit hard, but I think, you know, the public are behind us with these lockdowns and - and we're doing well. So I don't
think we can release that yet, but I think - I think that in tandem with the rollout vaccine program will put us in a good position by the end of
Easter.
ANDERSON: This is what the British accent say, I work for an American Organization but it doesn't matter where I'm from.
HARNDEN: OK.
ANDERSON: The emergency approval process has been described as ultra fast. You are confident that it is squared off. There are others who are
criticizing it.
[11:55:00]
ANDERSON: I just wonder what sort of pressure you and your colleagues have felt under politically to get this vaccine into the UK and rolled out, and
what sort of challenges do you face ultimately? I mean, you've got a plan. It sounds very optimistic. We all applaud it. I'm - but what sort of
challenges do you foresee as you get on with this rollout?
HARNDEN: Well, I think the biggest challenges are the logistic challenges. The immediate challenge is the fact that this - this particular vaccine has
to be stored at minus 70 degrees, and we will be looking very carefully at stability of this vaccine once you thaw it and then push it out.
Because at the moment we're going to start it off within hospitals which, of course, has got deep freezes and can bring the vaccine out and can give
it straight away. So there are some - there are quite a lot of stability and logistical challenges.
And then, of course, there's the challenges of being able to call and recall people to have vaccine and then to have a second dose three weeks
after that. And, of course, once you've got, you know, tens and hundreds of people coming into any center there's going to be booking, rebooking
issues.
There's going to be data issues in terms of recording the type of vaccine that they got, the type that they got and the batch number that they got.
And I'm not being complacent. This is a huge logistical challenge, but I think it's one that we're up for, and I think as a country I think we can
do it. I feel - I feel confident.
ANDERSON: Well, we're glad that you're confident and it's good to have you on, sir. I've got to take a break. I've got to the pay for the show with an
advertising break, but we are not going anywhere, folks. We are back after this. So thank you for joining us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, right now we're waiting to hear from the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the UK prepares to distribute hundreds of
thousands of doses of the Coronavirus vaccine more on that just ahead. That's a wrap for CONNECT THE WORLD for the time being. We'll be back as
and when Boris Johnson speaks.
(COMMERCIL BREAK)
END
