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U.S. Secretary of State on Tour to Shore Up Middle East Cease-Fire; Outrage over Flight Diversion, Arrest in Belarus; Malian Interim President and Prime Minister Arrested; Remembering George Floyd; U.K. Black Lives Matter Activist in Critical Condition; China Refutes Report on Hospitalization of COVID-19 Researchers; South Africa Vaccine Rollout Called "Dismal Failure"; Thierry Henry on George Floyd's Impact. Aired 10- 11a ET
Aired May 25, 2021 - 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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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): It is 10:00 in the morning in D.C., it's 5:00 pm in Ramallah and 6:00 pm here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson.
Welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
We begin with delicate diplomacy in the Middle East. U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived in the West Bank a short time ago. Right now
he's scheduled to be meeting with the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and we should hear from them any time now.
It is the latest leg of Blinken's visit, aimed at shoring up what is a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza. He's
hoping to keep tensions from bubbling back up after what's been a bloody conflict. Standing alongside the Israeli prime minister earlier, Blinken
acknowledged that it is a tall order.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There's a lot of hard work ahead to restore hope, respect and some trust across communities. But we have
seen the alternative and I think that should cause all of us to redouble our efforts to preserve the peace and improve the lives of Israelis and
Palestinians alike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Those trust issues run deep. Benjamin Netanyahu had a warning for militants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: We, too, will give meaning to our commitment to our self-defense if Hamas breaks the calm and attacks
Israel. Our response will be very powerful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Recent fighting caused enormous damage in Gaza. Blinken promised, quote, "significant U.S. help" toward rebuilding.
CNN's Nic Robertson is in Ramallah, where the latest talks are taking place.
Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem, where Antony Blinken spoke earlier.
Nic, what is Blinken looking to achieve on this trip?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: He's looking to re- engage with the Palestinian Authority.
He's looking to try to help them assert greater influence among Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, to sort of give the Palestinian
Authority some advantage over Hamas because, if this money that is going to be given, this significant amount of money given by the United States and
other international governments to support the rebuilding in Gaza, there's a real concern that it will end up in the hands of Hamas. So that's one
part of the agenda here.
But it's the re-engagement after, you know, the years of the Trump White House, where Palestinians disengaged with the Trump administration because
it recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
And I think as well is to try to give the Palestinians a sense that, while the United States isn't committed at the moment to getting deeply
diplomatically engaged to push for a two-state solution, principally because they don't have a lot of faith in the Palestinian Authority leaders
at the moment, that that hope is still out there in the future, that that diplomatic horizon and peace horizon still potentially exists.
I think those are the main points, Becky.
ANDERSON: Hadas, Israel's prime minister speaking about the cease-fire. He said, if Hamas breaks the calm, Israel's response will be, quote,
"powerful." There is a sense of deja vu, of course, as we talk about this conflict and we talk about the cycles.
Just how fragile is this cease-fire at this point?
Is it clear?
HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the cease-fire is holding and that's an important and the major headline of all of this, even
as we've seen tensions in East Jerusalem, we saw on Friday some clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa compound,
that the cease-fire has continued to hold.
And that is, I think, the top headline here. You did hear from Netanyahu, pretty much saying that, if there is any sort of more rockets or engagement
or anything like that, then Israel will respond.
He said that alongside Tony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, while also thanking the United States for what he said was their steadfast
support of Israel's right to defend itself.
He mentioned that the U.S. will be helping Israel replenish its Iron Dome missile defense system, mentioning how they did so in 2014. Again, as you
mentioned, that sort of feeling of deja vu. We've been here before. We went through this in 2014.
[10:05:00]
GOLD: And the U.S., once again, is telling Israel they will help them replenish the missile defense system.
What I did think was interesting from Netanyahu's comments was when he said -- when he talked about any sort of chance of a long-lasting peace. As Nick
noted, the American administration right now is not planning to engage very deeply in trying to start a long peace process or toward a two-state
solution.
That is their goal, is a two-state solution. That's what they say. But right now this trip is solely focused on the cease-fire, maintaining it and
talking about rebuilding Gaza. But Netanyahu, standing alongside the secretary of state, said that any path to peace has to include the
recognition from others of Israel as an independent Jewish state.
I do think that is notable and Netanyahu seemed quite happy appearing alongside the secretary of state, seemed quite pleased with the comments
from the American secretary -- from the secretary of state.
And he did mention, I think, it's important to note, the Israelis who are still in Gaza, this could be -- we've heard from Israeli officials that
this could be part of a longer term cease-fire.
There are still Israelis, Netanyahu said, within Gaza, to the -- the remains possibly of two soldiers as well as potentially two other Israelis.
He did mention them, discussing that with the secretary of state. But there is -- I do think that the relationship that you can see between Netanyahu
and Blinken, Netanyahu seemed quite pleased with how it went.
ANDERSON: This conflict, Nic, and Antony Blinken's stop in Ramallah, puts the PA, the Palestinian Authority, squarely back in focus with a seat at
the table, for all intents and purposes. And that's a very different situation from which they had with the Trump administration.
This is a leadership that is a disappointment to so many Palestinians we have spoken to over the last 11 days. Many will say that its inefficiency,
the way it runs itself, the fact so many say it's inept, has given Hamas an opportunity to kind of act for or speak for more Palestinians than it might
have done in the past.
And what is the sense from the PA at this point, as to what happens next?
I mean, it postponed its own elections recently.
How will it be involved in any reconstruction going forward and in any talks about peace in the future.
ROBERTSON: It's really not clear, Becky. I think it's been interesting that the Egyptian foreign minister was here yesterday, meeting with
Palestinian Authority officials; the Jordanian foreign minister was here this morning, meeting again with those same officials, the Palestinian
Authority president and the prime minister.
So there's clearly a lot to be worked out. But the underlying factor is -- and some would be more critical of this Palestinian Authority leadership
and go beyond the terms you used and say that it's corrupt and that it's politically ossified and that it cannot be a leadership that can change the
current situation environment, that they've missed many opportunities. Those criticisms will be leveled at them.
It's very interesting here today. Before the secretary of state arrived, there was a vehicle going around, playing quite nationalist songs, you
know, raising people's spirits. And there was also audio from the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, being played and there was
a sort of street-level effort.
But when you read street level effort here, you know it's sanctioned by the Palestinian Authority to have something of a protest, a protest the United
States has not seen as an independent arbiter in relations, in building peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
And that really was only a handful of people turned up to that protest. So I think when you look at that, you can see how little the Palestinian
Authority leadership today conjures imagination, faith, support, inspiration for the people on the streets here.
They barely came out to protest, ostensibly not at the request of the Palestinian Authority. But that shows you where the mood is. Even the mood
on the street doesn't feel that this leadership has much to offer in this - - getting them to this durable peace, Becky.
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson is in Ramallah, where we are waiting to hear from the U.S. secretary of state and the Palestinian Authority president,
Mahmoud Abbas, who will be giving a statement, as we understand it, shortly.
Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem.
To both of you, thank you.
For the first time, the world is hearing from a dissident Belarusian journalist arrested after what was a startling midflight diversion of a
commercial jet to Minsk that's being called a state-sponsored kidnapping.
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ANDERSON: Roman Protasevich speaking in a video that his supporters believe was made under duress. The flight diversion sparking global
condemnation and the promise of new E.U. sanctions on Belarusian individuals and businesses.
As more airlines from E.U. nations suspend flights into Belarusian airspace, Roman Protasevich has been living in exile before his arrest on
Sunday. Matthew Chance tells us why the Belarus regime will go to unprecedented lengths to detain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is why the Belarusian authorities see this dissident journalist as such a
threat. A social media channel founded by Roman Protasevich, who's just 26, was instrumental in organizing these mass protests against flawed
presidential elections last year.
And, of course, in exposing the brutal tactics used by Belarusian police to crack down.
Tactics his father, who spoke to CNN from exile in Poland, says he fears will now be used on his son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DMITRY PROTASEVICH, ROMAN PROTASEVICH'S FATHER (through translator): We are very worried, as we expect torture and physical abuse. Although we hope
that won't happen. But knowing the KGB methods, we hope he will be strong enough and have enough willpower to endure all that awaits him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE (voice-over): But for the first time since his extraordinary arrest at the weekend, the dissident journalist and campaigner has appeared from
Belarusian jail on Telegram. Critics say he seemed under pressure.
"I'm now in jail number one in the city of Minsk. I can declare that I have no health problems, including with the heart or any other organs," he says.
"Now I will continue to cooperate with the investigation and I am confessing to organizing mass riots in Minsk."
That confession, say critics, is likely to have been made under duress.
This was the scene at Minsk airport at the weekend, where Protasevich was taken off this airliner after it was forced to land because of what the
Belarusian authority said was "a midair bomb threat."
They even employed a fighter jet to intercept the passenger plane. The airliner with Protasevich on board had been en route from Athens to
Vilnius, Lithuania, when it was ordered to abruptly change course by Belarusian air traffic control.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
CHANCE (voice-over): But Roman's father told CNN he believes the whole emergency was manufactured to capture his son, revenge for standing up to
the Belarusian regime.
PROTASEVICH (through translator): I think that my son is a hero and I am very proud of him. I hope he'll be an example to many young people, that
they should never give up. If a person wants to live in a free, democratic country, they need to do everything possible for it.
CHANCE (voice-over): But amid widescale accusations of torture and abuse of prisoners in Belarus, this may detour as many as it inspires -- Matthew
Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Over this year, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh gave us a harrowing look at the police brutality in Belarus. That is the big focus of the anti-
government movement. You can revisit his report and learn more about what's happening in the country on cnn.com or through the CNN app on your
smartphone.
Just in to CNN, words from the White House within the last few minutes, confirming that U.S. President Joe Biden will meet his Russian counterpart,
Vladimir Putin, in Geneva in June.
The White House saying the leaders will discuss a full range of issues, with the U.S. seeking to restore predictability and stability to U.S.-
Russian relations. That just in to CNN.
Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories on our radar right now.
And the Red Cross says it's taking care of some 300 children, who need urgent assistance and protection in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They
were separated from their families as people fled to volcanic eruptions on Saturday. Aid workers are trying to reunite the families. About 30,000
people have been displaced.
An American journalist working for a news site in Myanmar has been detained by authorities. Danny Fenster, a U.S. citizen living in Yangon,
was stopped at the airport as he tried to board a flight out of the country. The site he works for, Frontier Myanmar, say they don't know why
he was detained and are calling for his release.
Bali's military has taken control of the country for the second time in a year.
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ANDERSON: The interim president, prime minister and defense minister are all being held at a base near the capital. A military coup ousted the last
president in August.
While many will be looking back at the life of George Floyd, others are looking to the future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's what matters and we all got children. We all got younger people out here. And it's even 7-, 8-year olds who's afraid when
they see police.
ANDERSON (voice-over): We'll look at how the legacy of George Floyd has an impact on the future of justice and equality around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Then a British Black Lives Matter activist tells CNN why she feels so unsafe. That is just ahead.
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ANDERSON: It was a year ago this very day the world heard the name George Floyd. The world also saw the brutal video of him, taking his last breaths
under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. George Floyd's death sparked calls for social justice not only in the U.S. but around the world.
Protests across Europe, Australia and the Americas demanded change, with the chant, "Black Lives Matter." President Biden and Vice President Kamala
Harris will meet privately today with members of Floyd's family.
George Floyd's brother tells CNN there's been progress in the last year but that it has been slow. Mr. Biden had hoped to sign a police reform bill
today but lawmakers are still ironing out several sticking points.
It was at those protests last year that our own Omar Jimenez was arrested live, on air. He joins us now from Minneapolis.
And how are people remembering George Floyd today, Omar?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, a little later today, it's going to kick off with a celebration of the life and legacy of George
Floyd. That's going to kick off a day of remembrance and reflection here in Minneapolis. The protests from May of 2020 here, of course, have long
subsided, for what leaders hope can now lead to meaningful policy.
The issue is there's no perfect solution. There's disagreement on how to move forward. And many of the same issues that are being dealt with now
have been points of contention for decades.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PROTESTERS: George Floyd.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): They were unforgettable images.
GEORGE FLOYD, POLICE MURDER VICTIM: Man, I can't breathe.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Borne from an unforgettable video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We put that before us at this time.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Now a year later, activists meet in the basement of this Minneapolis church with a singular mission.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief Arradondo's vision, reform.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The Unity Community Mediation Team, as they're known, has been working directly with the Minneapolis Police Department in
hopes of turning it into a better one.
[10:20:00]
JIMENEZ: What is different here in Minneapolis and what is different in the fight that you all are trying to wage?
IAN D. BETHEL, UNITY COMMUNITY MEDIATION TEAM: The difference now is that there's more awareness of the atrocities that the Minneapolis Police
Department has been getting away with for decades. That's the difference.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Back in 2003, this group negotiated a federally mediated memorandum of agreement, detailing concerns over use of force,
police community relations and more, the document then Sergeant Medaria Arradondo helped negotiate.
AJ FLOWERS JR., YOUNG PEOPLE'S TASK FORCE: The future is what matters and we all got children. We all got younger people out here. And it's even 7-,
8-year olds who's afraid when they see police.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): But strategies over how to proceed with police have been divided at times. City council president Lisa Bender and others have
led attempts to dismantle the police department in favor of a wider encompassing community safety department.
LISA BENDER, MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT: We have investigated, like so many cities, for years, for decades in policing as basically the
only way we're investing in keeping people safe. So people think of policing as synonymous with safety. But it isn't working.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The mayor of Minneapolis sees it differently.
MAYOR JACOB FREY (D-MN), MINNEAPOLIS: These programs need to operate as supplemental to the work that is underway already in our police department.
You need law enforcement and you need the community-driven approach, working simultaneously to see safety.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Frey pointed to changes they've made in the past year, bans on chokeholds, requiring intervention on unreasonable uses of
force by officers and more. But overall, it's been a process that's been ongoing for decades.
Meanwhile, names: #JamarClark #BreonnaTaylor #PhilandoCastile, Black faces begin to run together.
JOHN THOMPSON, MINNESOTA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: (INAUDIBLE), Mr. Thompson, Mr. Thompson, they just killed someone in Brooklyn Center.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): State representative John Thompson's friend, Philando Castile, was shot and killed by a Minnesota police officer in
2016. That officer was never convicted on any charges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We could have saved George Floyd's life in 2016, when Philando was murdered. We could have saved Daunte Wright's life when George
Floyd was murdered had we just like looked at police accountability pieces seriously and said, we're going to put an end to this right now.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Mistakes, after decades of attempts, are as high as human life.
BETHEL: We have to be serious about being at the table and make some concrete decisions about reform that will last generationally.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): A year after one video shook the world, the effort to bring about long-term change continues so future generations won't have
to watch new ones.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: That community group tells us they've met with the United States Department of Justice, who is conducting a probe right now into the long-
standing patterns and practices at the Minneapolis Police Department.
But amid calls to reform the police, we've seen calls for more police. There's been an increase in violence in Minneapolis over this past year and
it's prompted the mayor to have to reach out to state and federal agencies to bring in more officers, because they have seen shortages of available
officers at the local Minneapolis police level, going from 2019 into early this year, a drop of more than 20 percent of their total police force
available to work.
So ongoing challenges in the current state but also trying to reform police in the long term -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes. Fascinating. Omar, thank you.
George Floyd has become a symbol of solidarity, uniting people here in the Middle East against racism and injustice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Murals of Floyd like this one in Gaza sprang up as a form of protest. Similar images were painted in the West Bank as
Palestinians rallied against Israeli occupation.
And he was memorialized on this wall, surrounded by rubble in the Syrian province of Idlib. It shows scenes of Floyd's last moment as he pleaded, "I
can't breathe," a parallel to the poisonous gas attacks that have taken the lives of so many during Syria's decade-long civil war.
British Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson is in critical condition after being shot in the head in London on Sunday. That is according to her
taking the initiative political party. They said the attack happened, quote, "following numerous death threats as a result of her activism."
But London Metropolitan Police say, at this early stage of the investigation, there's no evidence to suggest that a targeted attack or
that Johnson, quoting now, "had received any credible threats" against her prior to this incident.
[10:25:00]
ANDERSON: Earlier this month, CNN's Salma Abdelaziz spent time with another Black Lives Matter activist, who said she's also facing death
threats on social media and feels targeted by the police. And a note for you: this report was filmed weeks before Johnson was shot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what democracy looks like.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Aima is one of Britain's most prominent anti-racism activists. But this is the only way she feels safe to
demonstrate. With two white allies by her side that she says deflect attention from the authorities plus minders to watch her back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are absolutely in safe hands. All of us are going to be following you behind, right.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): We followed the 19-year-old student during a protest in London. She said she has never felt more afraid as a Black woman
in Britain.
AIMA, BLM ACTIVIST: I'm getting quite a lot of threats, other Black activists and it is quite terrifying. I don't feel safe anymore.
ABDELAZIZ: Why don't you feel safe anymore?
AIMA: If you're constantly getting people telling you that they want to kill you and they want you dead, you don't feel safe at all.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): After George Floyd's murder, Aima co organized protests in the U.K. Campaigners were first met with curiosity and sympathy
but that quickly turned into resistance and outright denial from Britain's ruling class.
ABDELAZIZ: Activists here tell us there is a backlash, a defensiveness against BLM in the U.K. and it starts at the top. Everything in our report
found no evidence of institutional racism in the U.K., the United Nations condemned the report and says it rationalizes white supremacist thought.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The prime minister's office rejected the U.N.'s criticism and said the commission's findings were misrepresented. But MP
David Lammy from the opposition Labour Party told us there are widespread attempts to silence the cries for racial equality.
DAVID LAMMY, BRITISH LABOUR MP: If you want to understand what is happening in the U.K. then simply dial back a year or so to the United
States under Donald Trump.
ABDELAZIZ: Is Britain taking steps backwards?
LAMMY: I'm afraid Britain is taking massive steps backwards, because it is dialing up the populist rhetoric. It is dialing down the progressive need
for change.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Aima has words for what is happening: gaslighting.
ABDELAZIZ: What happens next?
AIMA: I think right now just keep coming on the streets. Keep speaking for us. Keep fighting actively against the government. The government refuses
to listen to us so we will make them listen to us.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): For those seeking institutional change, it starts with acknowledging Britain has a problem -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Investigators looking into the origins of COVID-19 may have a new lead. We'll explain why the timing of some animal testing in China is
raising eyebrows. That is up next.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHABIR MADHI, WITS UNIVERSITY: If you provide some sort of scoring as to how well South Africa performed when it comes to COVID-19, it seems it
would be probably about 2 out of 10. So it's been a dismal failure.
ANDERSON (voice-over): How South Africa's COVID response went from celebrated to dangerously lacking. That is coming up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson.
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ANDERSON: There are new details today relating to the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Previously overlooked data on China's screening of
animals for COVID is getting new scrutiny from the World Health Organization. Nick Paton Walsh is with us from London.
Nick, what do we know about this data and why is it significant?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Well, it comes as part of the nearly 200-page annex to the World Health Organization's report
into the origins of the coronavirus released in March, mostly overlooked at the time.
But according to a source close to the investigation panel, there were some things in there that caused investigators to take a second look, frankly,
to be surprised. One of them was in early December 2019, 69 or so animals in Hubei province, where the virus originated, were screened to see if they
had coronavirus.
Now that was before, in fact, any humans had been diagnosed with the virus by China. This animal screening was done on samples that had been taken.
The screening occurred a few months later.
China said to us this was perfectly normal part of their routine screening. But the coincidence of the timing of those particular samples led WHO
investigators to take a double take, to pause and wonder what's happening.
Also, too, those animal samples have been stored. There may be quite a lot of them. And the investigators would like to look at those to find possible
clues that may give them a help as understanding where the virus spread.
Conversely, the same annex talks about a hospital in Hubei that, in fact, destroyed all of its samples in early 2020 from humans, a strange disparity
between what China kept and what it was eager to get rid of.
Investigators want to go back, certainly. They want to continue their investigations, maybe first in a smaller group.
But there was one other thing in this annex which was interesting. It comes down to the first person that China said was infected, who had an onset of
December 8th, 2019. The annex described this as an accountant who worked for his family company.
But so much the talk about the origins of the virus revolved around the seafood market in Wuhan. So many of the initial cases of coronavirus in
China did not have any contact with that market. In fact, they had a contact with 28 different markets in total.
So many questions as to exactly how central the Hunan seafood market was, in the end -- and when it comes to that first patient, he didn't go near
any of these exotic seafood wet markets at all.
In fact, he went to the equivalent of a Walmart in China. So this annex, sprawling as it is, contains lots of small things that essentially mean
there's a lot more data in China for investigators to look at. And they want to do that fast.
ANDERSON: Which obviously begs the question, what impact this could all have.
Is it clear at this point?
WALSH: Well, yes, essentially, if there is a point where China becomes entirely transparent and lets the WHO investigators go through the raw data
they have there, the that could be transformative in the understanding that we have as to where this came from.
But that seems entirely unlikely at this point, given the slow rolling of allowing investigators in the first pace, given the broad understanding,
even amongst that team itself. They are dealing with the things China will let them have. So there are many other questions.
But there's one seminal thing you can take away from all of this. You can read more of it on our website, too. But there's one thing I think you can
take away. All this data points to the likelihood of the first cases being at some point in November of 2019, if not earlier, which means essentially
the trail starts a bit sooner.
And that is something the world needs to get to the bottom of, to work through how this happened. You've heard the theory about the lab leak. No
clear evidence at this point that conclusively says that has a leg to stand on. It's likely come from nature into humans.
But until we work out how that massively important moment of what's called zoonotic transfer happens, it's hard to say this won't happen again. And we
will be dealing with another pandemic, particularly as mankind moves more and more into areas of the planet that were normally just inhabited to
animals.
ANDERSON: Yes, yes, absolutely. Thank you, Nick.
[10:35:00]
ANDERSON: Many countries don't have the luxury of worrying about the origins of the virus right now. Wherever it came from, South Africa dealing
with the hard realities of COVID-19 and its own failures to get people vaccinated. David McKenzie with this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a year since Peggy Kgogong started to dread her phone ringing, afraid the calls would
bring terrible news again.
PEGGY KGOGONG, VACCINE RECIPIENT: We are already afraid they will tell you that someone so is no longer there. It's so painful because we know each
other.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Painful, because many other friends and neighbors didn't make it to this lifesaving moment. She is one of the very first
South Africans in line for a COVID-19 shot in a much delayed vaccine rollout.
MCKENZIE: Are you worried about a third wave in South Africa?
KGOGONG: Yes, I'm very worried. That's why I came. I'm very worried.
MADHI: If you were to choose to provide some sort of scoring as to how well South Africa performed when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines, probably,
you'd be looking at about two out of 10. It's been a dismal failure.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): For a country once praised for its initial COVID-19 response, its swift lockdowns and innovative treatment techniques, that is
a bitter pill. Many scientists believe it is too late for vaccines to lessen a third wave.
MADHI: It caused people to die. That is the reality.
BARRY SCHOUB, VACCINE MINISTERIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE: We are left behind by the vaccine rush of the 2020s when the high income countries rushed to
get a supply of vaccine.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): The South African president, blaming what he calls vaccine apartheid for the short fall. Rich countries were hoarding vaccines
and undercut the global vaccine alliance, COVAX. As a result, many low and middle income countries started direct, early negotiations with vaccine
manufacturers. But not South Africa.
MCKENZIE: Why the many months delay in this?
SCHOUB: I think if you look at many of those, if not most of those, middle income countries, they settled for vaccines which don't have international
approval.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): But a CNN review of vaccine tracking data, compiled by Duke University, shows that more than 20 low and middle income countries
placed orders for vaccines, now WHO approved, before South Africa.
When South Africa's first batch of AstraZeneca finally arrived in February, scientists discovered it wasn't effective against the COVID-19 strain
dominating here. So authorities quickly switched to Johnson & Johnson, vaccinating health workers first, as part of a large-scale trial and
ordering Pfizer vaccines, now arriving in the hundreds of thousands of doses, each week.
MCKENZIE: Millions of people needing to be vaccinated.
Is it a daunting prospect, logistically?
ANTHONY DIACK, DSV HEALTHCARE: It is. While we have the capabilities, we have the infrastructure, we have the nature of what we're trying to do here
in South Africa and does make it hard.
MCKENZIE: So 30 seconds is all they have, there is a kitchen timer because their fridge will drop in temperature and that minus 70 is critical.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): The vaccines, so precious, every member of the team is vetted by the police; the temperature, constantly checked. More than 500
vaccine vials in this shipment given an armed escort. It's South Africa's best chance of ending its COVID-19 crisis.
MCKENZIE: It looks like you got dressed up today.
(LAUGHTER)
KGOGONG: I'm excited because I want this pandemic to be under control. We don't know whether we're going or what were planning but as long as it can
be under control or get finished, because we are really tired.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Tired, like all of us, waiting for the nightmare to end, waiting for the past failures to turn into hope -- David McKenzie,
CNN, outside Johannesburg, South Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Coming up next, from the streets to the world of sports, hear what French football coach Thierry Henry is saying about the impact that
George Floyd's death has had on athletes who are trying to use their voice for change.
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[10:40:00]
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ANDERSON: Preparations are underway in Minneapolis for the George Floyd memorial, which will happen in the coming hours. A year ago today, his
killing sparked mass protests, which spilled over from the streets into the sports world.
CNN's "WORLD SPORT" spoke with the French footballing legend Thierry Henry about how athletes are now using their voices to help confront racism on
and off the pitch. Andy Scholes is with me.
This date last year, it changed the world in so many ways.
And it changed how a number of athletes used their platform, didn't it?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it certainly did. We've seen a number of athletes use their platform to speak up for social justice and
racial equality issues over the years.
But after what happened to George Floyd, it really was a turning point, where just many other athletes decided it was time for them to speak up.
And in "WORLD SPORT" we've been speaking with Thierry Henry about this.
He said athletes have such a powerful voice, they need to use it. We'll have much more of our interview with Henry coming up next.
(WORLD SPORTS)
ANDERSON: You have "WORLD SPORT" after this. We'll be back with CONNECT THE WORLD at the top of this hour.
END
