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Inside Politics
First COVID-19 Vaccines Loading Now At Pfizer Facility; Interview With Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD); First Doses Of Vaccine Ship Out From Pfizer Facility. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired December 13, 2020 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:04]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm Abby Phillip, in this morning for John King.
Breaking news this morning, the first COVID-19 vaccine shipment in the U.S. is rolling out as we speak. Workers at Pfizer plant in Michigan are packing up the critical vials and loading them onto trucks, the first step in the journey that will bring nearly 3 million doses to medical facilities all across the country.
Inoculations are set to begin tomorrow, and it is a medical marvel coming just 326 days since the first case of the novel coronavirus was reported in the United States.
CNN's Pete Muntean is outside the Pfizer facility in Michigan.
Pete, what are you seeing out there this morning?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Abby, you mentioned the trucks. They are critical. We are outside the Pfizer facility. This is the loading base. We just saw this FedEx truck. FedEx and UPS that will be carrying these shipments, move out of the bay.
Now, we know all morning FedEx employees behind the scenes have been taking vials of vaccine from deep freezers, 60,000 vials in each freezer, 190 vials on a tray, putting them in a box filled with dry ice and loading them onto these trucks. This is a key spot in the vaccine distribution network, and things are just going here for this massive logistical movement.
Trucks here will likely go the airports, other distribution hubs and then from there, Operation Warp Speed says the vaccine deliveries will go to 600 locations across the country. Those are places like hospitals, pharmacies, CVS and Walgreens.
The deliveries will not begin until tomorrow morning. The bulk of the shipments starting on Tuesday. But you can't understate how incredible this is, less than a year since we first found out about the virus and now the vaccine shipments are on the move.
PHILLIP: It is an absolute medical miracle in so many ways. And, Pete, tell us, what do you know about where the doses of the
vaccine are headed first?
MUNTEAN: Well, we know it's the 600 locations across the country. Those are key, because that's when the vaccinations will be put into arms.
A lot of those places have already received the things physically needed to vaccinate folks beyond just the individual doses. Those are things like syringes and alcohol swabs. Operation Warp Speed says many of those things arrived on Friday.
The timing of this is interesting. Even though the FDA emergency use authorization came a couple days ago, now the shipments are going out today to arrive on Monday, because the folks at FedEx and at UPS agreed told be best to have these arrive on a Monday when the places will be more staffed up and ready do this is.
So, this is a massive logistical movement. FedEx and UPS have actually been practicing this, doing dry-runs. And they emphasize this in large cases is what they were created for. These time-sensitive shipments that we're seeing out right here from just outside of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
PHILLIP: And you can see the workers putting the very temperature sensitive vaccines into those boxes as they make their way on that journey.
Pete Muntean, thanks so much. We'll come back to you as the trucks start moving this morning.
And this is as we've said, all great, incredible news, but it can obscure the fact that these are the deadliest days of the pandemic thus far. Just yesterday, 2,020 new cases, a record 108, 487 hospitalized with COVID-19 and 2,368 people are dead.
Hospitals are now overrun with patients. Cities across the country are running out of ICU beds to put them in.
And joining me now with their expertise and excite are Dr. Leana Wen, the former Baltimore health commissioner, and Dr. Carlos del Rio of the Emory University School of Medicine. And he's also one of the researchers involved in the Moderna vaccine trials.
Dr. Del Rio, this is an incredible scientific achievement that we are seeing this morning, and you've spent your entire career studying and developing vaccines. Did you think that back in January as you were looking at this novel coronavirus or in march that we would be at this moment right now where we're seeing vaccines being shipped out and could be put into arms as soon as tomorrow?
DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Absolutely not. It simply would have been ridiculous to think that back in January, but I think this is the product of not only what started in January but years of research and years of investing in research that created two things. Number one, the technology to do the mRNA vaccines that were developed by investigators at the NIH and other places.
But number two, the investment in the clinical infrastructure in this country and around the world that really about -- I have been doing HIV research and clinical trials for many years, and we just rapidly pivoted to do vaccine trials.
[08:05:09]
And I think that incredible public/private partnership and collaboration of working closely with the community that have us where we are right now. Nobody would have been expected us to be here right now, and I'm really, really happy for that.
But I would say that I'm also pretty sad about where we are in this epidemic. So, it's a combination of hope and despair at the same time.
PHILLIP: And, Dr. Wen, what's your reaction to just the combination of things as Dr. Del Rio just mentioned. The vaccine going out, but it's coming at a time when the pandemic really seems to be at its peak, and things do not seem to be on a good path.
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: That's right. We are seeing, and we have been seeing explosive spread of coronavirus all over the country. Essentially we are having a mass casualty event all over the country, every single day.
And right now, I mean, we just added the million new cases in the last four days. One-third of our ICUs have reached capacity or are overcapacity, and the last thing I would want at this point is for people to be letting down their guard, thinking that a vaccine is here. And a vaccine is here, but it's only going to be reaching a few million people immediately.
By the time we reach the point of having 70 percent of Americans inoculated, which is what we estimate to reach this herd immunity in our population, we'll have thousands of people dying every single day. And that's just not acceptable.
And so I really hope that people will hunker down and realize we still need to do the masking, physical distancing and, really importantly, avoiding in indoor gatherings especially as we come into this holiday season ahead.
PHILLIP: Dr. Del Rio, you know, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are going to be available in the U.S. this month. And officials have been relying on a few different -- are hoping to rely on a few different vaccines. But some of these vaccines we're not sure about their efficacy yet, we're not sure if they will even be approved.
Are you confident that as we go down the road in this process, there will be enough doses of enough vaccines to get us to where we need to be in terms of vaccinations?
DEL RIO: I think there will be. I think Moderna and Pfizer, as you say, Moderna will probably get EUA this speak, and AstraZeneca vaccine has recently published preliminary data from its phase three trial is showing about, you know, 70 percent efficacy. And then the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is coming shortly thereafter. And there's other vaccines down the road.
I think we'll have enough vaccines. President-elect Biden has committed to vaccinate 100 million people in the first 100 days in office. That's 1 million people a day.
It's going to be a huge effort, but it's doable. We -- you know, it's going to be a massive public health undertaking, but public health takes big challenges and we do it.
But, you know, when is going to be -- when is 70 percent of the U.S. population going to be inoculated? I suspect not until the summer. I want to reinforce what was said. Please, this is a time to wear your mask, social distance, to hunker down, not go to crowded places, because the reality the vaccine is going to be of benefit but it's going to take a while for us to get there. It's going to be until the summer until we really start feeling -- reaping the benefits of the vaccine.
PHILLIP: That's such an important message for people to hear, especially today.
Dr. Wen, tomorrow, these vaccines will be arriving at the facilities that they're headed to. Walk us through what it might look like at hospitals across the country where first responders, ER doctors are being vaccinated.
How will the vaccines be carried out?
WEN: Yeah. So, it is an extremely complex operation as Dr. Del Rio was saying. I want to underscore how many resources are needed in this process. States are requested $8.4 billion to carry out the campaign. I believe they got $300 million of that.
So, we really need to get the funding to states, because otherwise the warp speed for development of the vaccines will not be translated into warp speed for distribution. Right now, we also don't have nearly enough vaccines.
And so many hospitals are going to be receiving this for health care workers. Some hospitals are not going to, and many nursing homes are not going to receive allotments -- the initial allotment in this particular shipment.
And then you have the hospitals themselves. The hospitals actually still don't exactly know how many doses they're going to be receiving. So, I know that hospitals all have a variety of contingency plans. They have plans for who they're going to vaccinate first, and that's going to include individual, the frontline health care workers, maybe ICU nurses and respiratory therapists, people taking care of COVID patients day after day.
But there are going to be many health care workers initially who are not even going to be able to receive the COVID vaccine yet. And so, just to underscore how many steps still are in the way between us now having this incredible scientific achievement and actually getting the vaccine into people's arms.
[08:10:09]
PHILLIP: And, Dr. Wen, there are some side effect associated with the vaccine, but I want to be clear with people. What should they be actually worried about, versus what is normal as a part of the vaccination?
In the trials, about 10 to 15 percent of people reported side effects like fatigue, severe muscle aches, fevers and chills and other things like that. But polls show that right now, 6 in 10 Americans, just 6 in 10, I would say are willing to get the vaccine.
If you are one of those people and you're worried about the side effects, what should they know this morning?
WEN: Such an important point, Abby, and I'm glad you're bringing it up, because people should know that side effects are normal. They are expected, and they actually show that the vaccine is working.
And so, there are two general types of side effects. One is pain, swelling, redness at the injection site. The other is flu-like symptoms, body aches, fevers, headache, fatigue. These are, again, they may be uncomfortable for a short time, but they show that the vaccine is working and they are normal.
And so, I think it's really important that people are told about these side effects in advance so they don't end up going to the ER and further strain our health care system. Really important that people know so they also get the second dose. I don't want people to get side effects after the first dose and then say well, I'm not going to get the second dose.
And I think it's just another reminder of how these are temporary, uncomfortable side effects, but they are treatable and they are nothing compared to the illness that you could get with coronavirus that could put you on a ventilator or you could possibly die from it.
PHILLIP: One of the beauties of the scientific process is that we try to do as much as we can to know who this vaccine is safe for, but there are some people, Dr. Del Rio, for whom we don't exactly know if the vaccine is safe for them because it hasn't been tested, including children, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and people with immune system problems, and perhaps people with certain severe allergies as well.
What do we know about those populations and what's your message for people who see themselves in those populations and want to know when if ever can I take this vaccine?
DEL RIO: Well, let me start by saying first that I agree with Dr. Wen that I don't like to call the fever and the chills, things you get after the vaccine, the pain, side effects. I like to call it reactogenicity, which means they are reacting to a vaccine, in a way you're reacting well. Your immune system is responding. When we did the clinical trials, clinical trials in the first phase
typically exclude pregnant women, they typically exclude lactating women, they typically exclude people with immuno-suppression or taking -- with cancer or something like that. So, we don't really have data on those individuals.
As far as children, we don't have data yet, but clinical trials on children are beginning now. We'll have some data. My take on it is I think it will probably be okay to vaccinate children, but we need to wait.
You know, children down to 16 is okay to vaccinate. Under 16, we need to wait for data.
As far as pregnant women, I think there needs -- it's important to have a discussion with the physician. It's important to have a discussion with the patient.
We don't know the vaccine is going to work. We don't know if there are going to be side effects, but we will have data and have data soon.
So, again, because everybody is not going to be vaccinated immediately, by time individuals like that are ready to be vaccinated, we'll probably have at least some preliminary data.
PHILLIP: You're looking at pictures of trucks waiting this vaccine that we've been discussing. They will be heading out to the rest of the country in the next few minutes.
In the meantime, Dr. Wen, I wanted to ask you about the order people get vaccines. We talked about hospitals as soon as tomorrow. But what happens next? Who is next in line to get this vaccine?
And are you confident that states have a plan and that they'll carry out the plan in a way that is -- the roll out of the vaccine is equitable?
WEN: So the initial allotment is going to go to hospitals and to nursing homes. It makes sense. You need the integrity of our health care system to take care of patients and also nursing homes are particularly hard hit. 40 percent of the deaths that have occurred are among residents and staffs who work at the nursing homes.
And so, after that, though, it is going to be tricky. The -- we won't be awaiting prioritize big the CDC, knowing that ultimately, the decision rests with the states. And I think that we as a society have some hard choices to make, because when you have a scarce resource that many people want, we are already seeing, for example, different groups participating in lobbying efforts.
They're saying, hey, my workers are essential. And then there are some conversations happening about inmates. Inmates who are in jails and prisons are in congregating settings where coronavirus spreads like wildfire. Some people are saying, why should inmates get the priority as opposed to elderly individuals with chronic medical illnesses or at higher risks? [08:15:04]
And so, I think we as a society are going to face some hard decisions, knowing that not everyone is going to be getting the vaccine quickly. Eventually we all will, but I really don't want this to be a free for all, because if you just have people who are wealthy being able to access a vaccine because they have connections, then those who are disadvantaged and have already been hit the hardest by the pandemic, people of color, people with low income, they're going to be left out once again.
PHILLIP: Yeah. I think that is a big concern for a lot of people as we go forward. We've already seen it seems some of the treatments for the coronavirus not necessarily being dolled out equitably. But Dr. Del Rio, you're working on the Moderna vaccine.
First of all, are you confident that will be approved next, and if you're one of the people at home and you're looking at the possibility there might be multiple vaccines, should people care at all which of the ones they end up getting to take? Will it matter whether or not you take the Moderna or, say, the Pfizer vaccine down the road?
DEL RIO: The Pfizer and Moderna vaccine are quite similar. The data we've seen with the Moderna vaccine is just as good or maybe a little bit better than the Pfizer, just because it doesn't need that minus 70 refrigeration. So, it may be easier to distribute.
I would say that between Pfizer and Moderna, I would take whatever comes first to my clinic to my facility. The reality, though, as Dr. Wen said, even within health care, right now if you look at just the priority CDC, there are about 20 million people between working in health care and people working or living in long-term care facilities. First rollout of the vaccine is about 2 or 3 million doses.
So, maybe 10 percent of those eligible are going to be getting the vaccine right away. So, even within health care, right now we're still making priorities, we're still saying, you know, NSD, critical care go before radiology, you know, and those kinds of decisions are the hard decisions that need to be taken right now because the reality is we still have a limited resource.
Now, once you get one vaccine, if you get the Pfizer vaccine, our recommendation and the relation of the experts is that your second dose is also with the Pfizer vaccine. If you get the Moderna, your second dose should be with Moderna vaccine. Once we get additional vaccines like the AstraZeneca or the Johnson & Johnson, which are adenovirus vaccines, it may matter more which vaccine actually you take.
PHILLIP: So, no mixing and matching of the first and second doses. That seems an important point.
You know, Dr. Wen, today, as early as today, we could see the death toll in the United States eclipse 300,000 people. People are also wondering when they can go back to normal lives, when they can see family again, when they have gatherings again. How soon can people expect the vaccine that this vaccine will start to
make a difference in their day-to-day lives?
WEN: It's such an important point, and I know that people are eager to see their families, especially with holidays coming up. It's a time when people are stressed and scared. We want to be with our loved ones.
Definitely not this winter. Probably it will be until late spring, early summer when we have enough of the population vaccinated that we can reach the herd immunity and we can really get back to normal. So, if you can plan for get-togethers over the late spring, early summer, and certainly by next winter, I fully expect we'll be back to some type of normal and we'll be able to see our family members again.
But I want to just remind everyone that this vaccine, again, really incredible marvel. What it does show is that it reduces severe illness and symptomatic illness. It has not yet been shown to reduce transmission and spread of coronavirus.
And so even those who have received the vaccine, they should be wearing masks and still be physical distancing because we don't know that it's preventing them from spreading the virus to other people. So it's just an important reminder that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but we still have to get through this tunnel and we really would implore everyone to hunker down in the meantime, because otherwise, thousands of people are going to die every single day on our way out of this very dark period.
PHILLIP: Help is quite literally on the way right now as we speak. And we're looking at pictures of these trucks preparing to leave a facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with the Pfizer vaccine that we've been discussing and waiting for.
This will be underway just in the next few minutes and heading out to facilities all across the country.
In the meantime, I think there are a lot of questions, Dr. Del Rio, about who will take this vaccine. There are some disturbing reports about, you know, our colleagues reporting from rallies of President Trump supporters, folks saying they don't want to take the vaccine. We know already that there's a lot of vaccine hesitancy in minority communities. What are you most worried about as this campaign begins.
[08:20:03]
And do you think enough has been done to get the American people on board with the vaccine as we head into this next phase?
DEL RIO: Well, you know, not enough has been done, because the vaccine has come, the results have come so quickly that we simply have not done enough. But I can tell you, there are two things.
I think I want to distinguish, you know, the anti-vax movement from what minorities have, which is the vaccination hesitancy has do with trust in the health care system. Minorities have been for years, there's been a history of abuse and history of mistreatment, and there's hesitancy in the health care system.
So, the key component is going to be trust. We need to communicate and work with community leaders to increase trust in the system and to increase trust in vaccines. I'm proud of my team. We were one of the sites in the Moderna trial to say and over 40 percent of the participants we enrolled on a study at my site were African American and close to 30 percent for Hispanics.
And we were able to do this because we have significant trust. My team has significant trust in the community. So, trust is going to be critically important. But we also need to communicate effectively.
I can tell you that this pandemic has been associated with a pandemic of disinformation and misinformation. And we're going to see the same thing with the vaccines. So I think we're going to have to work very, very clearly passing information, giving information, and ensuring people trust the information, because the reality is it's going to be a steep road ahead.
PHILLIP: We're seeing a little bit of movement at that Pfizer plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Some of these trucks seem to have been loaded up with the vaccine and are on just a few minutes away from heading out the door and on its way to various facilities all across the country.
We saw just a couple minutes ago two vehicles leaving the facility and these two trucks have been inching out just moments ago. And they appear to be preparing to head out any minute now.
We're going to -- we're going to keep our eye on these images here. And we will go to break and get more on what's happening in Kalamazoo, Michigan, at these Pfizer plants. As we await the vaccine heading out to the rest of the country any minute now, we will be back in a few minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:26:41]
PHILLIP: We're standing by waiting for the Pfizer vaccine to leave the facilities in Kalamazoo, Michigan, any moment now this morning.
And today will mark what historians may see as the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic. After getting a thumbs up from the FDA and CDC, these shipments of nearly 3 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine will head to hospitals across the country and we could see the first inoculations as soon as tomorrow.
But as we await that, and the public health officials are warning that the vaccine is not ending the pandemic right away, and another thing that won't end immediately, the economic crisis that is facing this country. There are 10 million fewer Americans working now than there were before the pandemic. More than 25 million Americans say they don't have enough to eat.
Twenty-seven million Americans say they're worried about paying the next month's rent or mortgage, and one of them is John Ayers, a Florida man who lost his job last spring.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN AYERS, LOST JOB AS AN INSURANCE AGENT: Every cent I had in savings is now gone. I have a couple bucks left. But probably going to spend that today or tomorrow bauds I'm running out of insulin.
I need help. It's the first time I've said it. I need help, because I'm about to be homeless.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: There are so many heartbreaking stories just like John Ayers. And Congress has spent months debating another economic rescue package to help people like Mr. Ayers, but will they pass anything before the holidays?
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is joining us now.
Majority Leader Hoyer, you just heard Mr. Ayers ask for -- beg for help. Can you promise him that Congress will pass an economic relief package by the end of this year, even if neither side gets exactly what they want?
REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Look, I think it's absolutely unacceptable that the Congress of the United States hasn't acted for the John Ayers of America, millions of people who are facing daunting financial challenges, daunting health challenges, daunting psychological challenges as we see.
I just feel for John Ayers and all the people similarly situated. So, the answer to your question is we must act. It is irresponsible that we have not acted to date. It is absolutely a failure of the Congress.
But I spent almost all day yesterday on the phone with Senate leaders, House leaders, people working on the compromise, the speaker and I spent a lot of time on the phone together, and I am very hopeful that next week, we will be able to act on substantial relief for John Ayers and the millions similarly situated whether they're small businesses or on unemployment or having trouble putting food on their table. It is essential that we act.
[08:29:46]
And I think that based upon my conversations yesterday, I think it is certainly possible and I'm going to be doing everything I can over the next 72 hours, 96 hours, this coming week to make sure that the House, the Senate pass legislation, send it to the president that gives help to the John Ayers of America.
PHILLIP: We'll be talking a lot more about that in just a few seconds.
I want to let everyone know what they're seeing here on their screen as the first trucks are leaving the Pfizer facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan with that vaccine that we've been waiting for, for more than 300 days. These UPS trucks are heading out the door, shipping this vaccine all across the country. You can see them -- you can see them rolling out here for the first time this morning.
CNN's Pete Muntean is on the ground in Kalamazoo this morning. Pete, tell us what we're seeing here this morning. What folks should expect for where this vaccine is heading.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What a relief, Abby, and what a release. Not just as a reporter but also as a person to see this vaccine finally hit the road. We know in these trucks 189 boxes of the Pfizer vaccine headed to all 50 states right now. We have seen them load up the trucks all morning here at Pfizer's facility just outside of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
These trucks are headed to distribution locations for FedEx and UPS. And then all of the vaccine will go to 600 locations across the country. Those are places like hospitals, pharmacies, CVS and Walgreens.
The deliveries start as early as tomorrow, according to Operation Warp Speed. The bulk of those deliveries really arriving on Tuesday.
But what a moment here, Abby. The Pfizer vaccine now hitting the road, and on the way to put shots into arms.
PHILLIP: And Pete, this is a logistical triumph in a lot of ways for both Operation Warp Speed, for Pfizer, for UPS, for FedEx.
You've talked a little bit about how these companies, FedEx and UPS, have been practicing this. They are built for this in some ways.
Explain to people about the logistical challenge of transporting this vaccine, the temperatures they need to be kept at and how it's going to get there safely so that the vaccines are ready to be go and be shot into people's arms tomorrow.
MUNTEAN: It is an incredible challenge, Abby. They call this cold chain storage -- cold chain logistics -- because we know Pfizer vaccine, it's critical to be at its required storage temperature of negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Each of those boxes that just went out in those trucks packed with 50 pounds of dry ice. That is critical to keeping things cool on the way to these locations, these hospitals and pharmacies.
UPS says it's producing all of the dry ice for this mission. It will ship out even extra dry ice to these facilities because those boxes can actually be used to store the vaccine vials after it has arrived at each one of those locations.
So this has been managed top to bottom. The head of Operation Warp Speed calls this the biggest public/private partnership in history.
PHILLIP: We're watching here the facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan where we just saw trucks leaving with the vials of this Pfizer vaccine. Dr. Leana Wen is still with us. Dr. Wen, as someone who has been watching this pandemic on the frontlines of this pandemic, how are you feeling this morning seeing this vaccine finally heading out the door?
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It's really incredible. I don't think that any of us could have predicted that we would be here right now, just months really after this pandemic has turned our world upside down to be able to have this.
I mean, it really means that the end is in sight. I think it's a huge turning point. Of course, keeping in mind that we're not going to be immediately turning the tide on this pandemic, but this is the beginning of the end. Or at least the end of a beginning in some ways.
I also think that getting a lot of people vaccinated initially is going to do so much good when it comes to turning the tide on vaccine hesitancy. I think a lot of people are hesitant about the vaccine not because they distrust science or are anti-vaccine, but because they are concerned that the process was rushed, maybe they have concerns about things being politicized after hearing comments about vaccines being tied to electoral prospects in some cases.
And I think seeing the vaccines go into arms and very critically because it's initially going to be going to health care workers and doctors and nurses and pharmacists and others are going to be the ones talking to patients about the vaccines.
For us as physicians to be able to say to the patients we got this vaccine. It was safe. We believe it is so effective, and every scientific safeguard was followed, I think that's going to make a huge difference, too.
[08:34:55]
PHILLIP: We still have House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer here with us. Majority Leader Hoyer, as you're watching these images of the vaccine heading out the door, when you think about the states that are receiving them, first of all, your reaction to this moment that we're in, but then are states ready to administer this on the scale that they need to? Do they have the resources that they need?
HOYER: Well, I'm not sure they have the resources they need, and that's what we've been talking about in the Congress -- giving states and local governments more resources to do the job that they have to do because this is going to be a state operation.
The logistics at the federal level and in the private sector as you just discussed are critically important, but we have to make sure the states have the resources to do their part of this job which is a huge undertaking, but we can get done.
And this is an exciting moment as Dr. Wen said, as you've said. It's an exciting moment that this is getting out something that will -- we hope and believe -- start the beginning of the defeat of this virus which has so devastated our health in America, 300,000 people have died. The economy has been savaged. So this is a big moment for the step in victory over this virus. And I think we ought to all be excited. And we ought to be confident that notwithstanding the fact that this has been an accelerated process, it clearly was a careful process.
We saw Pfizer and Moderna have some fits and starts to make sure that this virus was safe and effective. And let's all pray that that's the case. I think it is the case.
And it's a good start. And it's an amazingly rapid development of this vaccine for this virus which has not been done as rapidly before. One of the reasons I think we've gotten it so quickly is because we've had cooperation throughout the world of some of the best scientists and medical personnel in the world cooperating. And we've put up substantial federal dollars to make sure that the virus was not going to be a financial risk for companies to produce it.
So this is a -- this is a good day. Let's hope it turns out to be the day that we look to as the start of victory over this virus.
PHILLIP: You say that you are confident that the vaccine is safe, but a lot of people are watching this process and they perhaps have questions about that. There have been also reports as I'm sure you know of President Trump pushing the FDA and CDC to get this out and approved early, even before the election.
Are you confident that there was not undue political influence in this authorization process? Can you assure the American people that politics didn't infect (ph) the vaccine approval process that we're seeing roll out today?
HOYER: Clearly, Abby, we saw that the president did in fact try to exercise political influence. He did try to overrule some of the medical and scientific advice that was being given.
But the good news is in my view both Pfizer, Moderna and others developing a vaccine understood the consequences of acting upon political direction as opposed to scientific and medical direction.
When I say the consequences, the issue of loss, liability and the reputations of those producing these vaccines.
So the answer is I'm confident that they proceeded in a way that was consistent with science. And I think the FDA acted in a way consistent with science not pursuant to political directives by the president of the United States.
Clearly one of your previous guests had talked about the pandemic of misinformation which I thought was a wonderful phrase, and unfortunately, it characterized so much of the administration's approach to meeting this crisis.
The good news is, the companies, the medical community, the scientific community stayed focused on doing it the right way. And I think we can have confidence in this.
And I think that as I say, as you said, this may well be the beginning of getting victory over this virus.
PHILLIP: I do want to get back to the economic rescue package that's being deliberated on Capitol Hill. You said you've spoken to your Senate Republican counterparts. You all are working through the weekend.
We do know that Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader is suggesting a slimmed-down package that includes money for vaccine distributions, extending unemployment benefits, a moratorium on evictions and aid for small businesses.
[08:39:55]
PHILLIP: But it doesn't include a liability -- a business liability protection plan that Republicans really want or aid to states and local governments that Democrats really want. So is that good enough?
I mean is it good enough to get something where both sides leave behind something they may really want in order to get something in the pockets of American families and businesses going forward?
HOYER: I mean I think we need to get an agreement, and we need to get this bill passed. We need -- all of the things you mentioned that are included are critically important. We've got millions of people unemployed on December 26th. Their unemployment is going to run out. Not only for them but for nontraditional people covered by unemployment.
Money to handle this vaccine, money to make sure that people aren't starving in the richest nation on the face of the earth. Money to make sure that small businesses can survive. And that's what we're doing, surviving, not thriving by any stretch of the imagination.
So when you look at all these, the answer is in the legislative process, nobody ever gets everything they want. And, in fact, when you have a divided government and divided Congress, it's critically important that we deal with these very, very important objectives even if we don't get on either side everything we want.
So I'm hopeful that --
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PHILLIP: So, am I hearing you say that -- you will be willing to put aside state and local funding if Republicans leave aside the liability protections in the interest of getting to a deal?
HOYER: Abby, what I'm saying is the legislative process is a give and take and the items that I just mentioned are absolutely critical to get done. And although I think state and local assistance is critically important, the others are critically important too.
We have millions of people who are at high risk, extraordinarily health exposure, psychological exposure. We need to act, and if acting means that we are not going to get everything we want, we think state and local is important. And if we can get that, we want to get it, but we want to get aid out to the people who are really, really struggling and are at great risk as your initial guest pointed out, John was talking about -- he was asking for help.
He spoke for millions of Americans. We have a responsibility and a moral responsibility to respond and respond quickly.
So the answer to your question is life is a series of tradeoffs and gives and takes but we need to make sure that we get the very important health, unemployment, small business, vaccine delivery dollars, school dollars, child care dollars -- all of which are in the agreement that has forged -- the bipartisan agreement forged by the senators and by the problem solvers in our own House and by members in both the House and the Senate.
So we need to get the essential done and we'll have time to get stuff done that we didn't include because we couldn't get political agreement.
We'll have time to do that. We have a new president. We have a new congress. We're not going to leave anybody behind.
PHILLIP: Well, we'll be watching this very, very closely as you pointed out. So many Americans are waiting to see what happens on Capitol Hill over the next few days.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, thank you for joining me this morning.
And up next, live from the airport where the first U.S. vaccine doses are heading to hospitals.
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PHILLIP: This is the day that Americans have been waiting for for almost a year. You can see on your screen right now the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine are already on their way to hospitals and long-term care facilities all across the country.
The head of Operation Warp Speed says expect 145 sites to receive this vaccine on Monday with at least 500 more on Tuesday and Wednesday. The UPS and FedEx trucks left those Pfizer facilities at Kalamazoo, Michigan this morning.
And now, Dianne Gallagher joins us from the airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan where the first shipments of the Pfizer vaccine are going to be dispatched all across the U.S.
Dianne, you've been keeping track of these vaccines. And obviously keeping the vaccines at the right temperature, keeping track of exactly where they are, it's so critical to this process. How do they plan to do all of that when they're in transit? DIANNE NATIONAL GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And look, Abby,
this is a very intricate process that requires many steps and many people as well as a lot of technology. And so the plane that you can see behind me is actually being prepped right now. Once some of those vaccines that are currently en route arrive here at the airport in Grand Rapids to be loaded on there and then taken to different facilities.
Now look, a lot has gone into making sure that they are just keeping track of these. They are keeping track of them in real-time. FedEx says that it is using a technology called SenseAware, which is basically Bluetooth low-energy devices attached to those vaccine shipment packages that transmit real-time information every two seconds.
So they know not just where those shipments are so they can take into context that maybe there's some sort of delay due to weather or due to traffic patterns.
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GALLAGHER: And look, getting places -- getting these vaccines to places where they're needed quickly is important here. But also they can monitor the temperature and the humidity of those particular packages.
And temperature is so important because as we've said over and over again, part of what makes the transport of these vaccines so difficult is that they have to be kept at roughly negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit. There's a lot of dry ice packed around these vaccine packs as they are being shipped out.
And so basically, they're going to bring some of them here through this escorted route about 45 minutes from the Pfizer facility there near Kalamazoo. And they're going to load them into shipping containers that are especially equipped for these planes, bring it on to this plane here which they have been deicing this morning.
It's very cold here in Michigan. But they have been deicing this morning, prepping it. They have had people out here for hours making sure that everything is exactly perfect because there is very little room for error here before they put them on that plane.
Again, look, these are just the first deployment of these vaccines but there's a lot of excitement which, you know, this is a truck traveling up the road but that means so much more to the people here even at this airport, who have been preparing for about a month now after they got word that they may be the destination for these vaccines to then be deployed out to the rest of the country.
And so they have been sort of gathering their employees. There are several people here, very high-up people here at the airport who are sort of waiting for this moment saying that this means so much to them not just Americans but also the people who, of course, Abby work in the airline industry, who work in air travel that have been hit so hard by this virus. The hope is that if everything goes as planned that this is the first step to potentially the end of this nightmare that we have all been living in for so long.
Again, right now, the goal is just getting those vaccines on this plane and tracking them and making sure that what tiny little room there is for error, there really isn't for any at this point here, and making sure this collaborative effort gets those in places they need to be.
PHILLIP: I think a lot of people can feel very proud this morning. All of the different types of people who played a role in making this happen from the scientists and the doctors to the people driving these trucks and flying these planes.
GALLAGHER: Yes.
PHILLIP: Diane Gallagher in Grand Rapids, Michigan, thank you so much.
It's a really important day for this country as we watch the vaccines heading out the door. And President Trump has been pushing for this for months and has been bragging about the fast development of the vaccine just this morning. He certainly sees it as one of his biggest accomplishments.
And "New York Times" correspondent Lisa Lerer is here with some of the behind the scenes politics behind the vaccine rollout.
Lisa, you know, it's no surprise that President Trump, obviously, wants a ton of credit for this vaccine. How much of it do you think he deserves at the moment?
LISA LERER, CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, I think there is a lot of enthusiasm among Republicans who believe that in hindsight, the president will be seen as getting a lot of credit for this vaccine. They say Operation Warp Speed is a major triumph in his presidency.
The question is going to be whether those achievements are lost in his larger approach to the pandemic which, of course, was marked by his refusal to enforce masking orders and to agree to any kind of social distancing or encourage states and local jurisdictions to do any kind of restrictions or closures.
And there's no question that contributed to the spread and to the really unbelievable number of deaths that have happened over the course of this pandemic.
So I do think it will be a bit of a complicated legacy for the president when we look back on this moment.
PHILLIP: Yes. I think that that's right. I mean the president is both downplaying the virus, but up-playing the vaccine. In the meantime, thousands of Americans are dying every single day.
And, you know, the virus is not something that he has been focused on at all. He has been spending a lot of his energy on this issue of the election. Is there any credibility I think for the American people about whether President Trump is focused on getting this country through this pandemic at a time that we are losing, you know, some 3,000 Americans a day?
LERER: Abby, that is such an important point. When I've talked to public health experts, they tell me that they see the president as basically abdicating his duties during this moment. That he is laser focused on relitigating this election which has been decided. There is absolutely no way the president can change the outcome of the election.
And while that's happening, while he's devoting all this attention and rallying his supporters around this really Quixotic quest to overturn the results of the election, people are getting sick and people are dying in large numbers. We had that after Thanksgiving surge. So I do think that this moment will also play really, really starkly into his legacy.
[08:54:55]
LERER: But I also think there is a bit of a hope that, maybe a little misguided, that President-Elect Biden is going to come into office and things will turn around immediately.
As your experts were saying earlier in the program, this is still a long road until things return back to normal.
PHILLIP: Yes. In the meantime, you know, President Trump's supporters have been in Washington this weekend. They have been -- many of them unmasked at these massive rallies. Is there still a role to play for the president?
Yes, we have the vaccines coming. But should he be -- do you expect that he might even consider telling his supporters, in the meantime, here is what you can do to both prevent the transmission of the virus but also some of his supporters don't want to even take the vaccine at all. I mean does he play a role in influencing them on those issues?
LERER: Of course, there's a role for the president to play. He is the president of the United States. He commands the bully pulpit. His words carry a lot of meaning. He can encourage people to mask. He can encourage people to take the vaccine.
Those things would go a long way, particularly with his supporters who, as you point out, have shown them to be fiercely loyal to the president. So loyal in fact that some Republicans are worried as they look toward this post-Trump future whether they have been very loyal to President Trump and they are uncertain whether President Trump will be quite as loyal to them as members of the Republican Party and whether he will bring his base of supporters along with them for the things that they need to do like encouraging people to take the vaccine.
PHILLIP: Thanks for joining us, Lisa.
And that is it for INSIDE POLITICS. Hope you can catch us on weekdays as well at noon Eastern time.
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