Transcripts For CNNW New Day With Alisyn Camerota And John B

Story. Reporter the pandemic ravaging the nation. Thursday, the United States reported more than 233,000 new infections and over 3,200 deaths. More than 114,000 americans are currently hospitalized with coronavirus. The 12th straight day of record hospitalizations. We have another couple of dark months ahead of us if we dont do something at this point to try to stop this dreadful upward curve of hospitalizations and cases and deaths. This is not the moment to be throwing down your guard and gathering for the holidays, like nothing was happening. We have a lot of trouble here in front of us. Reporter 48 states have Positivity Rates above 5 over the past week, including pennsylvania, which recorded more than 10,000 new cases on thursday, and a test Positivity Rate of nearly 39 . In neighboring ohio, more than 11,000 cases reported. Theres nothing to be happy about, as we look at these numbers. Reporter california, a major hot spot for this wave of the pandemic. In just the last two days, the state has reported more than 109,000 new cases. I would estimate at this point probably 1 in 50 people in l. A. County may be infected. And thats going to include people you know and you care about and who are in your family. Anybody can become infected. And anybody may be infected. And youve got to keep your distance, wear your mask. Reporter in southern california, icu beds are at 0 capacity. Something Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti had warned would happen by christmas eve. Los angeles is looking at ways to up capacity, such as converting regular hospital beds for icu units. And setting up triage tents in parking lots of hospitals. One Hospital Administrator conveyed to me in a zoom call that if we see a similar spike after christmas, and these were his words, we will go under. Reporter but as hospitals across the country face the brunt of the surge, the food and drug administrations Vaccine Advisory Committee recommending modernas Coronavirus Vaccine be granted emergency use authorization. The data that was presented to us was very strong. The efficacy was consistent across all the age groups. They included people with chronic conditions. Reporter and as for the moderna vaccine, it needs the final greenlight from the fda and the cdc. That is likely to happen this weekend with hopefully the vaccine being administered next week. And were also learning that vss and walgreens will begin administering the vaccines in longterm facilities beginning today. Dan simon for us in san francisco. Dan, thank you so much. We have something very special right now. Joining us, cnn chief medical correspondent, dr. Sanjay gupta. He is live at Grady Memorial Hospital in atlanta and sanjay, along with dr. Valerie montgomery, about to receive the Coronavirus Vaccine. And we will see sanjay get it live. Sanjay, before that happens, we want to talk for a few minutes about where we are as a country. And this is so important, because as positive as the news is with people starting to get the vaccine, that you will get in just seconds, we are seeing more death now than we have ever seen. We are seeing more hospitalizations than we have ever seen. In the imhe model, the one the government relies on and we all watch so closely came out with a revision overnight, which has raised the level of projected death to 560,000 by april 1st. It had been as low as 502,000 a few days ago. Theyre now saying 561,000 dead by april 1st. Its staggering, why . Yeah, john, look, i mean, as important as this vaccine is, the basic Public Health measures that were supposed to go into effect and make such a big difference, many of those things still havent happened in many places. If you look around the country, what you find is that once we hit certain benchmarks in this country, roughly, for example, eight deaths per Million People, and that was 2,400 deaths, you are smoeupposed to see these mitigation efforts start to happen around the country. The country supposed to compensate like the body compensates when its in trouble, when a disease has spread. Thats not happening. It was expected to happen, and as a result, the numbers continue to go up. Its a concern. Theres no question. Who knows where these models go. Were starting to look from moderate Case Scenarios to worstCase Scenarios, as a result of that. And its not surprising to the people who are making these models that the numbers continue to go up. Well see, john, if states start to respond or not, but thats the big concern. Again, the vaccine is wonderful, but the vaccine is a really big tool that takes a while to work. And thats a message that you you know, we need to convey to people over and over again. The masks are here to stay, along with all of those other measures, as we know. I think that california really that really made me sit up this morning when we saw some of the most recent numbers, specifically out of l. A. County. Two deaths being reported per hour. Were talking about icus that are basically full. The Ripple Effect of that, sanjay, cant be underscored enough. No, i mean, youre running into a situation where you just dont have beds. At the beginning of this, when youre looking at the northeast, if you had a situation where there werent enough beds, you can at least adapt to regional structure, to move patients to different parts of the region or even different parts of the country. Thats difficult when every place that you might send patients is also struggling with resources, beds, manpower, whatever it might be. So, you know, you have to sort of think about this idea that, what are the escape hatches here. They talk about the fact that they dont have any icu beds in some of these communities, what does that mean, exactly . If someone needs icu care, theyre going to have to triage and make some tough decisions. Theyve been anticipating this and have been doing a great job trying to find the Square Footage and take care of these patients, but its a real challenge and a situation we did not have to be in right now. All right, sanjay. You are at Grady Memorial Hospital in atlanta, along with dr. Valerie montgomery rice. You are both receiving the vaccine now. Ill let you take it away and walk us through this process. Yep, i am here with my old friend, dr. Valerie montgomery rice, the president and dean of the moorhouse school of medicine. Ive got to say, i want to Say Something before we start, because, you know, im sort of in an interesting position, right . I work here as a health care worker, therefore im getting the vaccine. Health care workers are more at risk. Ive also been covering the story so intensely for a year. Ive talked to the people who make these vaccines, ive talked to the fda commissioner, ive talked to the data scientists. A i am comfortable getting this vaccine. And yet there are still so many people who are still not comfortable. And i was surprised, dr. Rice, even here at grady, about a third of people, Health Care Workers, say they would get it, a third say they need more information, and a third say they would not get it. That kind of surprised me. So a couple of questions. First of all, youre totally comfortable getting this vaccine . Totally comfortable, totally comfortable. How have you approached this decision for yourself . For me, personally, as a clinician scientist, i have followed all the data. I listened in at the aicp, im on one of the, nih panels, so have had the opportunity to look at the phase 0, phase 1, phase 2. But like you, i have gotten a lot of calls from people. So over the last couple of weeks, three of my mentes called me who were on the front line, i dont know if im going to take this vaccine. I said, really . Were scientists, so lets go through the data. Went through the data with them, and then even just yesterday, one of my staff people came in to me, we were in the office, and she says, dr. Rice, my husband is on the front line and he works in one of the technical areas, but hes on the front line, in a hospital, and hes concerned about taking it. I went through the data with her and said, you know, this is probably one of the most important steps that we can make to mitigate the virus and do the Health Prevention measures that weve been doing. Was there something about the data that stuck out to you specifically for black americans . When i looked at the pfizer data, about 3,900 blacks, right, who were fwin there. When you looked at the ones who got the vaccine, about 1,900 or so, very effective. Even more so effective than the other demographics. And the early data that i looked at from moderna yesterday, the blacks who were in the vaccine treatment arm, 100 effective. And so, it does show that it is not were not seeing a distinction that is negative based on race or ethnicity, age, or even obesity. So thats very positive to me. Do you think this issue of Vaccine Hesitancy, especially among black americans is addressable . Or is this going to change, do you think . I think it is addressable. Were already seeing it. Back in august, when we first started the black coalition against covid19, the black the four black historical medical schools, weve been doing these town halls. In fact, we did one last night. About 30,000 to 40,000 people on there. And we are starting to see a difference in the number of people saying that they would continue to think about it, but now moving on from Vaccine Hesitancy to vaccine acceptance. And then the Kaiser Family foundation, initially in august, 60 of people said they wouldnt. It was down to 42 or 45 . So were making some progress. But its about communication, communication, communication, and demonstrating and modeling. So thats what were kind of here for today, right . Absolutely. And again, ill say it. Ive been following this for a year, from the beginnings of this vaccine. I am totally comfortable taking it. I feel its important to say. You are comfortable taking it. There is a reason why people are i dont want to minimize peoples hesitations, especially when it comes to black americans. The history of medical science and medical experimentation, i think is a word i can use, has really fostered some of this, right . Yes. If we went back and people can name the mississippi appendectomy studies, people can name tuskegee, people can name even some of the modern day things where were hearing that women in georgia, who are being having hysterectomies unnecessarily. But what we know thats different now, is that there are black scientists in the room where decisions being made. There are black scientists who are in the development of the vaccine. There are black scientists who are on the fda advisory panel. There are black scientists on the acip. There are black scientists on the cdc advisory boards. And there are people like me who are looking at the data, helping to interpret it, working with the national academy, giving our recommendations of the allocations. So were in the rooms where its happening. So we clearly are not going to go against ourselves, right . Because we understand how critical this is for black america and Latinx America who has been additidisproportionate affected by the virus. I would not recommend anything if i did not believe it was safe. All right. Your voice is so important. You ready to do this . Were ready. All right. Mary katherine will come in here and do the jabs. Mary katherine, thank you, i think, in advance. While were getting ready, i should tell you as well, dr. Rice is one of only three black mother daughters, harvard medical school, and your daughter just graduated, her Vascular Surgery resident. She is a Vascular Surgery resident giving her a shoutout. Weve probably embarrassed her now, so she wont forgive me for that. But yeah, so im going to sit down. We are both going to get this shot in our left arm, because we are righthanded, so they do the nondominant arms. My friends know im afraid of needles. Is that right . I dont like needles. I dont like needles. Youre a doctor. I am a doctor. Im a surgeon, too. You prescribe a lot of needles and scalpels. Its different when youre driving the needle. Its a lot different when youre driving the needle. Just relax and breathe. Big moment. Yeah, yeah. You ready . Mmhmm. All done . Thats it . Oh, piece of cake. All done. Seriously. Youre afraid of needles, that wasnt so bad. No, no, shes good. Thank you. Anytime. She has a new job. All right. This it. You know, it really does strike me that its such an amazing scientific feat, and yet its such a mundane act. Yeah, that was a piece of cake. You ready . I am ready, Mary Katherine. Thank you. I really feel good about today. I have to tell you. I feel good. Were making progress, to be able to do this at grady, as we call it, the grady. Having trained here. It has been one of the highlights of my career to be able to come back here and be a part of this continuing advancement at grady so im really excited to do this. I, by the way, as a surgeon am also a little bit afraid of needles. Yeah, thats scary. You know. Youre not wincing at all. Is it in . Its done. Its done you are really good. Oh, yeah, thats good. Thank you very much. Anytime. Do you get thanked a lot for jabbing i do, actually. Especially in the last couple of days. Seriously. Thank you very much, Mary Katherine. Youre very welcome. You got any words . You know what, i was as i think about this, i think about how honored aam, and i think about the people who several years ago, because you and i know this technology has been worked on for a while. This mission, they didnt just do it an warp speed. There have been people who have been working on this for years. And the fact that we see all of this coming together, you think about all the people who did the Animal Care Facility who worked on taking care of the animals when they were doing the preclinical studies. You think about the people who had the idea that you could actually take a genetic code and put it inside of a lipid particle, mix it with some salt and create a vaccine. You think about those people and the people who are doing the supply chain. Think about the people in kalamazoo and the big deal this is for them. I think about the u. P. S. Drivers. I think about the people who are flying the planes from who are carrying the vaccine. Its a big deal. And so im just honored. And i say thank you to all of those people. Thank you. And its important that they be protected, as well. Because theyre often most at risk. John, erica, i mean, it was a mundane sort of thing to get a shot. People have seen this so many times, but ive got to tell you, i didnt know exactly what to expect. They felt very significant. Very significant. It felt like history. It felt like history to me, sanjay. Yeah. And it felt like a moment of scientific achievement, a microcosm of the remarkable year that weve just gone through. People need to know, sanjay, first of all, that you operate on patients every week. Youre in the o. R. Every week. Youre getting you just received the shot today because you need it, based on what you do in your day job when youre not talking to us on cnn. Were so happy that you did it not just for your career, but also for the example that it sets. And now just tell us how you feel, what youre experiencing right now, and what the steps are over the next several minutes . Yeah, you know, i just have to say that, again, it is a really it feels like a very profound moment. This is sort of my day job here, Health Care Workers are more at risk. Thats why theyre at the front of the line with regard to these vaccines, but the reality is, you know, i think about my parents living down in florida. Theyre in their late 70s. I want them to be able to do what i just did. Ive been thinking about them a lot. Shooi im sure a lot of people who are watching are thinking about the people that they love. And the fact that this could help them from getting sick, 90 to 95 efficacy, its a pretty remarkable thing. What happens now, i think, were going to sit here for a little bit, i think 15 minutes or so. Theres iyou know, theres been these very few cases of allergic reactions, so in a situation like this, they monitor you for 15 minutes to see if you develop any kind of allergic reaction. Epinephrine, benadryl, things like that. Obviously, were in a hospital. You know, i should point out, its rare. It makes news, because were in the middle of all of this. Were all learning about this together. Even with other vaccines, about 1 in a Million People do have some sort of earlyic reaction. If you think about 300 Million People, weve seen hundreds of these around the country, during this rollout. So thats basically it. I think after 15 minutes or so, we are free to go, feeling like we have at least gotten the first half of our vaccination. Sanjay, you talk about what a profound moment it was for you. I have to admit, and i felt this way watching some of the vaccinations earlier this week. Perhaps its because youre a friend, perhaps its because i know you, but also listening to what dr. Montgomery rice had to say before her vaccination, as well, it is a profound, and i think, emotional moment for people in many ways, as they watch this, because the last year really has been so difficult. And im just user curious, you know, as you continue in this day job, do you think knowing that you have this first dose will impact you on a daily basis . Will it change anything in your daily life or when youre there for surgery . You know, thats a really good question, erica. I think theres a physical component to this, theres a psychological component to this. You know. Ill preface by saying this. Ive talked to so many people this year who have been, you know, who had covid of people who have lost somebody with covid. And a lot of times, it wasnt that they didnt believe that this existed, they believed it. They just didnt believe that it would happen to them. That is what it really was. And all of a sudden, they got a few symptoms one day, and then those symptoms got worse. And then they n