Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Ana Cabrera 20201219

This will add millions of doses to our current supply of the Pfizer Biontech vaccine. One group that hasnt been cleared to take the vaccine is children. Dr. Anthony fauci today tells cnn that the u. S. May start Clinical Trials with children in a matter of weeks with results available in just a few months. This hopeful news follows an Alarming Development out of the uk, where a new, more contagious strain of covid has emerged. Its so serious that its prompted british Prime Minister Boris Johnson to reverse course and put parts of the country back into lockdown. Given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus, the potential risk it poses, it is with a very heavy heart i must tell you we cannot continue with christmas as planned. Thankfully the strain does not appear to affect the impact of treatments or vaccines, but englands chief medical officer says urgent work is under way to rule out if the new strain is somehow deadlier. Urgent work also under way on capitol hill where negotiations over the longawaited and muchneeded covid relief bill are still ongoing. Were told there is a single holdup. Cnns senior Congressional Correspondent manu raju joins me. When our viewers listen to what this holdup is, theyll be shaking their heads saying, what . Negotiations are centered on this one issue. The biggest Sticking Point right now about whether or not to rein in the Federal Reserves emergency powers. Those are Lending Authority that was created in the march stimulus law. That law allowed the Federal Reserve to carry out several emergency lending facilities. Republicans believe they should be restrictive. They say the intent of that law is essentially to be wound down. Their concern is that if it continues it could be used as a slush fund, not necessarily for this current crisis. Democrats say that the what the republicans are pushing largely by republican senator pat toomey that they believe that essentially would constrain the Incoming Biden Administration and they are pushing back. At this hour, there are negotiations intensifying between pat toomey and the Senate Democratic leader chuck schumer. They had a meeting in their office. The two spoke. Toomey came out suggesting we could still reach a deal. I talked to another senator in that meeting, mitt romney. He cant predict if they can reach a deal but they have an idea where their disagreements now lie. I also saw toomey moments ago talking to other senators as well. Kyrsten sinema who is a democratic senator from arizona sitting down with toomey right now behind closed doors. Shes part of the talks as well. And Senate Democrats are getting briefed to hear about the latest where things stand. This is seen as the biggest Sticking Point. If that gets resolved, the view other is issues still outstanding could also get resolved and then they can reach an agreement. Still its uncertain, though, whether or not this can move as fast as many people want. They still would like to get it done through the house by tomorrow. The hope is possibly in the senate by tomorrow, too, but the deal hasnt been reached. Still needs to be drafted. Schedule votes. Thats particularly challenging in the senate which requires 100 senators to agree to schedule a vote. So any single senator who can object and delay things, and some might because they may not like the deal and havent seen the details of whats being discussed. A lot of questions about whether this 900 billion relief package can pass by tomorrow night when the government is slated to run out of money if they dont pass another funding package. A lot of this tied up in these negotiations happening right now. Well see if they can get a deal. So many are waiting as theyre seeing things expire such as Unemployment Benefits in just a matter of days. Absolutely. Senator coons telling me in the last hour that he didnt know if he would be able to negotiate with senator tomey to walk back some of his demands as well. That seems to be the sole holdout right now. Manu raju, youll stay on this. Thank you so much. Thank you. Modernas Coronavirus Vaccine is being packed up and readied for delivery just hours after the fda issued an emergency use authorization. One step remains before americans can actually start getting the Moderna Vaccine shots. And that is the green light from the cdc. The agencys Vaccine Advisory Panel has just sent its recommendations to the cdc director who must now give the final go ahead. While we wait for that to happen, were told it could be at any time. Lets go to cnns pete muntean. If all goes well, how long before someone could be rolling up their sleeve for a vaccine from moderna now . Well, bianna, were standing by for the shipments to begin here. Operation warp speed says trucks carrying the Moderna Vaccine will roll out of here starting tomorrow. The shipments, those deliveries will begin on monday. It all begins right here. This is a critical spot. This is a mckesson facility. Thats the company in charge of the distribution of the Moderna Vaccine. And its a strategic spot. Were not too far from memphis just down the road. Thats fedex headquarters. And its fedex and u. P. S. That will be carrying the Moderna Vaccine to 3,000 locations across the country. This is a huge rollout. Four times larger than the initial pfizer rollout of last week. Massive rollout indeed. We know there have been issues with the shipping process of the Pfizer Biontech vaccine. What are you learning about that . Were also hearing a rare apology. Operation warp speed is actually issuing that apology having said it learned a lot of lessons in the last week. General Gustave Perna apologized to states who thought they were getting more vaccine but did not. Heres what he said. It was my fault. I gave guidance. I am the one that approved the forecast sheets. I am the one that approved the allocations. There is no problem with the process. There is no problem with the Pfizer Vaccine. There is no problem with the Moderna Vaccine. All right . It was a planning error, and i am responsible. This Moderna Vaccine has one big advantage over the Pfizer Vaccine. It does not need to be stored at super cold temperatures, rather, it can go in a regular freezer. That opens up this vaccine to a lot of places without deep freezers, namely, rural areas. This is a start of a massive movement. And it all begins right here in mississippi. Absolutely. And having two as opposed to one vaccine makes it so much easier and efficient getting it out around the country as well. Pete muntean, thank you. According to the cdc, at least 270,000 doses of the Pfizer Biontech Covid Vaccine have been administered under the fda emergency use authorization so far. So far, there have been six serious allergic reactions. There were additional reports of reactions but they were not considered serious. The cdc says investigations into these reactions are ongoing. With me now is dr. Peter hotez, professor and dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of medicine. Great to see you. What should people know about these reactions because were hearing they were in the Pfizer Vaccine as well as the Moderna Vaccine. Well, it depends what we mean by serious. We know serious allergic reactions do occur about the order of one to two per million for the influenza and the hpv vaccine for cervical and other cancers. 3 or 4 per million. Now 6 among 270,000 would be high, but theyre not saying they may not be serious. So theres a little bit of confusion there. So i know this is under investigation. The fda has made that decision to move forward except if youre allergic to any known component in the vaccine. And i think thats a wise recommendation for now. So hopefully the fda is now looking into this. Which is why its so important these vaccines are administered in a facility that can then monitor for a few minutes after the vaccines are delivered, right, and then offer epipens or whatever aid these patients do need to receive and theyve been treated on the scene there as well. Earlier today the u. S. Surgeon general addressed reports of reactions to the vaccines. Lets take a listen. This is normal. This is expected. If you are someone who has had a severe allergic reaction to a vaccine in the past, please let your Health Provider know. But to everyone else out there please know this means the system is working. We are recognizing and catching these very, very rare side effects. So you agree with what the sur Surgeon General said there and how important for these cases to be known that we have full transparency when there is an issue . Yeah, well, again, we need clarity on the severity of those six reactions, if they went into anaphylactic shock, thats one thing. But i think we would have heard about that by now. And then what is the allergic component to the vaccine . Theres some speculation it could be the polyethylene glycol thats found in in food additives, thats a component of the lipid coating thats required for the rna. And, you know, just by the logistics of how this vaccine is sdr distributed that it requires the deep freezer, it is in closely regulated facilities because its quite difficult to move it out to more remote areas which is more like what the Moderna Vaccine will do. And well see if the same allergic reactions occur with the Moderna Vaccine. The point is, it does not appear to be linked to people who have Food Allergies so far. Only if you have a known severe allergy to previous vaccine injections or components of the vaccine. But i think, bianna, the other point to remember is this is a brandnew technology. There are going to be speed bumps, as we roll out this vaccine. And so theres going to have to be that discussion between the government scientists and the American People. And thats the one part thats been missing out of operation warp speed so far. Its a Great Program in terms of scientific rigor and in terms of integrity of the Clinical Trials but they never really built in a program of public communication. Thats going to be a top priority for the Biden Administration to fix. It is crucial. And dr. Peter hotez, i dont want to diminish the miracle of having two vaccines in a record period of time. We just want to be transparent if there are any holdups but youve got thousands upon thousands of people having no side effects at all, so people should definitely talk to their doctors but not be dissuaded from taking the vaccine. We have to breaking news well have to end this conversation unfortunately too short. We love having you on, though. Thank you. Thanks, bianna. And now to that breaking news. Were learning of a Heated Oval Office meeting friday where trump allies floated ideas of ways to overturn the election. I want to go straight to jeremy diamond. Jeremy, just when we thought we couldnt hear anything crazier, what are we learning about this meeting . Very clear that as President Trump continues to refuse to accept that he lost this president ial election to president elect joe biden, the president is also still consulting aides and allies for more ways that he could possibly move to continue to contest this election or at least undermine the legitimacy of joe bidens election as the 46th president of the United States. Were told on friday the president met with Michael Flynn, the former National Security adviser, who was pardoned by the president , despite having pled guilty to counts of lying to the fbi and his attorney, sydney powell, who has been trafficking these deranged theorys about the 2020 election that have been roundly and thoroughly debunked. The president nonetheless was talking about potentially naming sydney powell as a special counsel within the government to investigation voter fraud in the 2020 election despite a total lack of evidence any of widespread voter fraud in this election. And he also discussed apparently this idea that Michael Flynn has brought up recently about using martial law to rerun the 2020 president ial election. I want you to listen to this crackpot idea brought up by Michael Flynn recently on another network and then well talk about it. He could order the within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities and he could place them in those states and basically rerun an election in each of those states. These people out there talking about martial law like its something that weve never done. Weve done martial law has been instituted 64 64 times. Now, it is not clear at all that that idea is being seriously considered, but it did come up in this meeting in the oval office. The military has made very clear that they would never be involved in any efforts as it relates to overturning the results of the election or determining who the next president will be. Thats a job for the voters and, i leelectors who have chosen jo biden. Many of these ideas being floated by sydney powell and Michael Flynn, they drew significant backlash from some advisers including white House Counsel Pat Cipollone and chief of staff mark meadows. Sources are telling us the meeting devolved into a screaming match at times. One source calling it, quote, ugly as flynn and powell accused the president s advisers of not pushing hard enough to overturn the results of the 2020 election. What is clear, this effort is continuing. And a source told me earlier this week that the president has even floated with some advisers staying at the white house past Inauguration Day before being talked down from that ledge. But it is clear that the president is engaging with some of these very dangerous and concerning ideas. The question is how far he will continue to take it. And well have to wait and see on that one. Aside from crazy and just deranged, it also shows you where the president s priorities are right now with all these other crises going on. Jeremy diamond, thank you so much. Joining me now is republican congressman john curtis of utah. Congressman, you were one of the first republicans in congress to acknowledge president elect bidens victory. I want to get your reaction to this stunning report out of an Oval Office Meeting last night, including talk of martial law and screaming matches. Well, let me just tell you, ive been in congress for three years. For three years i keep hearing all these worst case scenarios. It was a conversation, not a revolution. There were far more important things in front of us, and i think we need to move on and tackle them. But thats all you have to say to that . I mean, i understand there are far more important issues on and we had you on to talk about covid and we will in a singled. We cant grow numb to incidents that what happened in a third world country and we would have a state department that would be alarmed about hearing these types of reports. Listen, youre talking about a conversation that reportedly took place. We dont know anything about the details. And you just cant get me all riled up about that. Does it bother you . It bothers me that its such a big deal to so many people who know nothing about the facts and know nothing about the details. Lets get some facts in front of us and then we can have that conversation. But you do reiterate that president elect biden is, in fact, the president elect . Of course. Okay. Well, lets move on to why we had you on in the first place because theres another, as you said, many crises going on in this country. How confident are you that we will have a covid relief deal soon . Well, i am confident. Whats frustrating to me American People and i have to tell you very frustrating to me is that there are so many lowhanging fruit ideas that are bipartisan that we could move forward if we could just get a vote on them and yet were tying it up with all of these issues that are very, very difficult to solve. Id love to see us just push forward these ideas that have broad bipartisan support. Lets get a vote on them. Do you understand this holdup coming from senator toomey about some obscure fed policy allowing them to have certain privileges and certain separation from congress in terms of use of funds . Sure. As i understand it, what were talking about is funds that were allocated and not used by the Federal Reserve. And i got to tell you, theres a lot of us on both sides of the aisle very, very concerned about the amount of money were spending with no accountability. Why wouldnt we repurpose some of the funds from the original bill and use them in a more effective way . I can see his argument. But can you understand why some people would be scratching their heads trying to wonder why all of a sudden republicans are worried about deficits and spending given what this administration has done over the past four years . I think your point is valid. I can tell you that there are many of white house have been concerned throughout this whole process and remain concerned. But it is bothersome that many people dont seem to be concerned about the issue. How worried are your constituents about paying their bills, about paying their mortgage, about getting food on the table, about feeding their families . Well, i think not just my constituents but around the country and around the world we have people that are very concerned about that. Utah, wont surprise you, has handled this in a way thats been very, very impress pitch our Unemployment Rate is just over 4 . That doesnt mean people arent struggling and hurting, but it does mean that were making it through this. I personally feel like there are many people in my district that need help. We need additional ppp funds. We need to help individuals. We need to solve some of the things being handled administratively that congress had administrative attent on. Theres a lot of work to do. I know that you have received the Pfizer Vaccine this morning. How are you feeling . Well, thank you for asking. Im feeling fine. It was to be honest, no different than any other vaccine shot or shot that ive had. And im feeling great, thank you. Again, going back to the importance and significance of a vaccine, and thats why you have come public with yours and shown photos as well. You have people raising doubts about the vaccine in this country. At the same time, Fox Newss Tucker Carlson said this vaccine, you know, raises some questions and is wondering how smoothly the process has gone. Lets take a listen. So how are the rest of us supposed to respond to a mark etsing Campaign Like this . While nervously. Even if youre strongly supportive of vaccines, and we are, even if you recognize how many millions of lives have been saved over the past 50 years by vaccines, and we do, it all seems a bit much. It feels false, because it is. Its too slick. Its too slick . Its not a car hes talking about. Its a vaccine that can save, you know, millions of lives and get us out of an economic slump. How dangerous is that kind of talk . Well, i can tell you this. I took the vaccine this morning. Thats my level of confidence. As crazy as this year has been, theres only one thing that could make it more crazy. And thats to have the antidote, the vaccine right in front of us, something that would protect us and not take advantage of it. That would make this whole pandemic and this year even crazier than it already is. Well, congressman, thank you so much for coming on tonight and thank you so much for getting your vaccine and encouraging others to do likewise. We appreciate it. Absolutely. And tonight, join Anderson Cooper to learn how the country defeated the 1918 pandemic. The new cnn special report pandemic how a virus changed the world in 1918 begins at 9 00. And well be right back. Some hot cocoa . Mom, look are you okay . Head home this holiday with the one you love. Visit your local mercedesbenz dealer today for exceptional lease and financing offers at the mercedesbenz winter event. Hospitals across the state of california are on the breaking point this weekend. The number of patients being hospitalized with covid19 is skyrocketing across much of the state. In southern california, some major hospitals are now running out of icu beds. And Health Care Workers are verging on exhaustion caring for an unparalleled surge in covid19 patients. I want to bring in Paul Vercammen in tarzana, california. Paul, you spoke to Health Care Workers caring for covid patients. What are they telling you . They are exhausted. They are heartsick. They are just trying to maintain some level of lucidity because they are so tired. Lets get right to the california numbers. They just came out. Another 43,600 new cases. We also have another huge amount of deaths. It dipped just under 300 today. It was over 300 two days in a row and then the hospitalizations, they are up around 18,000. This is significant because in these intensive care units we have 3,500 people. At this small hospital, 17 beds, they are at capacity. The icu director here got on his shift at 2 00 am and he has the i dont even know how to describe this. He has the unbelievable task of telling us that he lost a couple of patients, covid19 patients this afternoon, and this is how he frames whats going on inside this icu. Its been horrible, paul. This is, by far, the worst its been in the past nine months. No matter how hard we try to get patients better to stabilize them, and hopefully we get patients hope. It seems like theres another four patients who are sicker waiting for that same bed. They know the hospitals are being overwhelmed and theyre trying to wait. I had a patient this week that waited too long. I asked, why your not coming in earlier . It broke my heart. He said i didnt want to take someone elses bed. I didnt want to take someone elses bed. I thought that someone is going to be sicker and needed it more. And these stories are being played out throughout california. The doctor here is saying, look, we need you to cooperate and wear your masks and pay attention. He says he wants to see los angeles turn back into a virtual ghost town. Back to you, bianna. Its not a hard ask to tell people to wear their masks, especially now that these First Responders are seeing a second surge, reliving all of that devastation again. Paul vercammen, thank you so much. And now to our breaking news. The president finally speaking out on the massive cyberattack linked to russia. But guess what the president is doing . Well, downplaying it. Ulus. Dreya hey how are you so good at this . Relax. Get into it aw, yeah ive got it rated everyone. At mercedesbenz, sits not just a job, its our mission. From our expert technicians armed with state of the art tools and technology, to genuine parts made for the perfect fit. Whether its our place. Or yours. Were there. Rain or shine, day or night. No one knows your vehicle better. To learn all the ways we can be at your service, call, click or visit a dealership near you. Less sick days cold coming on . Zicam® is clinically proven to shorten colds highly recommend it zifans love zicams unique zinc formula. It shortens colds zicam zinc that cold it shortens colds when it comes to the quality of our cars the highest. Its why only 1 in 10 cars we look at qualify to sell on our site. If its been in a reported accident, we wont sell it. And at our stateoftheart facilities our ase certified mechanics roll up their sleeves and get to it. Inspecting, dialingin, and fine tuning every single car inside and out, bringing all of it up to our high standards. By the time were done, our cars are beyond certified. Theyre carvana certified. So whether you have it delivered or pick it up, we do it all so you can rest easy. Theres nothing like a crisp refreshing sam adams boston lager. A perfect balance of malt hops. Sorry. I was gonna buy that sixpack. Ah, ten bucks. That includes mine. Yep, ok. President trump breaking his silence today on whats being called the biggest cyberattack on Government Agencies in u. S. History. This morning, trump seemingly downplaying the severity and russias suspected hand in all of this. Notably not condemning russia, but rather saying its all under control and that china might even be responsible. This after his own secretary of state, mike pompeo, publicly linked russia to the massive cyberintrusion campaign. Joining us now is cnn National Security analyst samantha vinegrad. Also the adviser to the National Security advise er in the obama administration. Sam, great to have you on. A lot of news. We are now learning that the white house itself was about to put out a statement accusing russia for the hack, which is probably why secretary of state said as much. Until, of course, he was contradicted by the president himself via tweet. Give us a sense of how serious this is and how confusing it is for the rest of the world when the president tweets Something Like this. Well, trumps failure to condemn russia is unsurprising. Hes been acting like putins publicist for years. What trump really did today, bianna, is cement his own legacy as a National Security threat to the homeland by undercutting his experts. Hes helping russias measure to sow confusion in the United States. His experts valued this attack a significant cybersecurity campaign. Trump downplayed it. Pompeo, as you mentioned, attributed this attack to china. Trump said to to russia, excuse me. Trump said china may be involved. Trump said he has everything under control. The experts say the attack is ongoing. Trumps tweets amount to dangerous disinformation and his team needs to spend Critical Mission time cleaning up his mess. Ordinarily id be more concerned that trump letting putin off the hook again would further empower putin, but putin knows in 32 days were going to have a president that just isnt going to tolerate russian attacks against the homeland. Thats why i think that putin is probably starting to tune trump out and paying more attention to what president elect biden has to say about costs for this attack on the homeland. This is going to be a huge crisis for president elect biden to walk into as well. Clearly sanctions are not working to deter Vladimir Putin and who knows how deep these intrusions and hacks have gone into our Government Agencies here as well. So its a big headache and big lift for the biden campaign. But lets talk about the trump tweet and experts that are likely working to ascertain what information was assessed. Trump said its not that big of a deal. We know otherwise. Do we have a sense of the damage here . From a pr perspective, this attack amounts to putin winning the lottery. There is now Public Knowledge that u. S. Cyberdefenses failed to adequately detect and avert this attack. Its now Public Knowledge that u. S. Intelligence resources failed to pick up on this operation. This was a multifaceted failure, and that fuels russias narrative about u. S. Weakness. In terms of other spoils, it does appear that russia may have been able to monitor u. S. Government email communications. Its a major intelligence advantage. And if russia got access to thousands of u. S. Government email addresses, those could be manipulated for future phishing operations. What we dont know is if the russians were able to disrupt any operations during the course of this attack or if they retained the ability to do so going forward. It may take months if not years, to ascertain the damage here, but just based on what we do know today, this attack was a big success from russias perspective. And a huge embarrassment from americas perspective as well. We know biden is reportedly working on a cost and position strategy. What could that look like . Shutting consulates doesnt seem like a great idea n sanctions dont seem to be deterring putin. Well, shutting u. S. Consulates hurts the United States and helps russia, but on the financial sanctions front, bianna, biden has already floated more sanctions. And i think sanctions could be effective if they involve countries who have a more substantive economic relationship with russia. Microsoft indicated earlier this week that at least seven other countries were implicated in this attack. That could bode well for getting countries on board for sanctioning russia with this attack. From a diplomatic perspective, president elect biden could choose to shutter more russian consulates in the United States and to kick out more russian diplomats. That could detract from their advance to advance its own. Theres also the possibility of the United States launching offensive cyberoperations against russian government entities, assuming that we have the capability to do so. That could lead to escalation, but you could mitigate that by couple anything offensive cyberoperation with a credible diplomatic message about goals, namely, the sire for a cyber ceasefire p. Al ceasefire. Also sanctioning those oligarchs and Vladimir Putin and his inner circle. Samantha vinograd, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it. Coming up the president raking in big bucks to fund his fight over the election. But where is that cash really going . Were following the money coming up next. With mucinex allinone youve got unbeatable relief from your worst cold and flu symptoms. So when you need to show your cold whos boss, grab mucinex allinone. And get back to your rhythm. Feel the power. Beat the symptoms fast. If you have type 2 diabetes and risks for heart disease, you could land in the hospital with heart failure. For people like you, farxiga does more than lower a1c. Farxiga also helps prevent hospitalization for heart failure. Do not take if allergic to farxiga. 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Now, he uses therabreath healthy gums oral rinse with clinicallyproven ingredients and his gum problems have vanished. crowd applauding therabreath, its a better mouthwash. At walmart, target and other fine stores. Good morning, mr. Sun. Good morning, blair. [ chuckles ] whoo. Im gonna grow big and strong. Yes, you are. Im gonna get this place all clean. Ill give you a hand. And im gonna put lisa on crutches wait, what . Said shes gonna need crutches. She fell pretty hard. You might want to clean that up, girl. Excuse us. When owning a Small Business gets real, progressive helps protect what you built with customizable coverage. And im gonna eh, eh, eh. Donny, no. Oh. Since the election, President Trump has raised more than 200 million by pushing lies and bogus claims of election fraud. Emails and Text Messages sent to his supporters urging donations suggest the money is going to a socalled election defense fund. But if you read the fine print, a lot of that money is going to a leadership pac trump established after the election that could help fuel his political ambitions in the future. Time now for the crossexamine with elie honig. One viewer is saying are there limits to how President Trump can spend money hes raised from donors to contest the Election Results . Whoever the candidate, whatever the pinch, your Campaign Donations can be used in very broad and sometimes unexpected ways. Now President Trump has been running a bait and switch since election day. The pitch is, i need donations to challenge the election in court. Of course, those cases never had any chance and they have almost completely failed in the courts. But heres the thing. If you look at the fine print, some of those donations went to whats called a leadership pac and that means the money can be used for many different things. That money can pay legal fees and campaign costs, but thats only a small percentage of the total. And as you said, were now learning some of that money is being spent at Donald Trumps own private businesses. The president also can use that money to fund other candidates. Thats an important way to keep people loyal to him and punish anyone who may dissent. And the president can use that money for his own war chest if he decides to run again. So these donations are doing far more than just funding these hopeless lawsuits. What they are really doing is building President Trumps personal wealth and building his political power for the future. Its also another reminder to always read the fine print. Lets go to another viewer who wants to know, now that the Electoral College has confirmed a biden victory, can congress overturn or nullify that . Well, this is the president s latest delusional fantasy, but its not going anywhere. Now under the 12th amendment of the constitution, congress has to ratify the electoral vote. Thats happening on january 6th. Ordinarily its just a formality but there san obscure procedure that allows congress to challenge the vote. First, you need at least one member from both houses in order to start this process. It looks like there could be some republican members who might do this in the house, but its less clear if theres even one member of the senate who would be on board. Even Mitch Mcconnell now has said its over. And bianna, even if that happens, then you need a majority of both the house and the senate to throw out or change any electoral votes. Its doubtful whether Senate Republicans would go along with this. Theres zero shot in that democraticcontrolled house. So the president seems to be very fixated on this, but its really more delusional fantasy than reality. And final question for you, elie. Coronavirus cases and deaths are exploding nationwide, but many businesses do remain open. So another viewer wants to know, does the law allow customers or employees to sue a business if they were infected with covid while at that business . Yeah, as we speak, this exact question is a major Sticking Point in the ongoing negotiations over a covid relief bill. Now republicans are generally in favor of immunity, where a person cannot sue. Their argument is, we need to prevent costly lawsuits against businesses that are already struggling to survive economically. Democrats, essentially, say, well, you cant cut off the right to sue. We need accountability. And people need to be able to get compensation if theyve been injured. Now there are possible compromise positions here. What they could do is make it harder but not impossible to sue and raise the legal standard. Its looking fas theyre going to do what politicians often do and punt it down the line a little bit. But well certainly be watching this. This will be a key issue in the ongoing negotiations up on capitol hill. No doubt about that. Elie honig, thank you. Have a great weekend. Thanks, bianna. You, too. Coming up, dr. Anthony fauci with a special message for kids about why covid cant stop santa claus. Youll not want to miss this. Crest gum detoxify. My gums are irritated. I dont have to worry about that, do i . Harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line. Crest gum detoxify works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. Crest. An herbal stress reliever ashwagandha, that helps you turn the stressed life. Into your best life. Stress less and live more. With stressballs. Come on over here . And finally tonight, a room full of supper rewhos stopped by cnn to explain santa to children. Its a show for kids, the abcs of covid19. We were just telling everybody that a vaccine is being made that will help protect us all from the spread of coronavirus. Oh, yes, of course, a vaccine, which is a busy name for a vacuum cleaner. No not quite, super grover. A vaccine is actually a weakened form of a virus. Or a part of a virus that can help our body build up its defenses by teaching our bodies germ fighters known as antibodies how to defeat the virus. Sometimes they need a little extra help. Thats why we take vaccines. Yes. Exactly what i was going to say. A vaccine is a little super hero boost to your body. A teachable moment for all of us. Well, several children had some rather important questions about coronavirus and santa claus. Well, they got a big answer from the nations top Infectious Disease expert, dr. Anthony fau fauci. They put out presents with covid19 spreading everywhere. How can they do it . Will santa still be able to visit me in coronavirus this season . But what if he cant go to anyones house or near his reindeer . Well, i have to say that i took care of that for you, because i was worried youd all be upset some what i did a little while ago, i took a trip up to the end of the north pole. I went there and i vaccinated slaus, myself. I measured his level of immunity and she good to go. Good to go. Dr. Fauci saves the day once again. We are so glad, dr. Fauci took the time right here on cnn to let kids around the world know that he vaccinated santa claus. Such a wonderful, wonderful morning show this morning. Well, this year cnn heroes, an all star tribute celebrated incredible people behind this years biggest stories. The fight against the coronavirus and the battle for Racial Equity and social justice. We also shared the years most inspiring moments and asked you to vote for which moment moved you the most. Anderson cooper shares your choice for this years most inspiring moment. Sometimes a photograph can capture the mood and the attention of the world. In june, one did just that. Protests in the streets of london, events turned violent. Black lives members were there to raise statues and they were there to protect the statues. Things got heated, a white former Police Officer wandered as the crowd started to got beat up. More of the black lives protesters after he saw he was in peril moved in, picked up the injured man, carried him through the crowd to safety. The biggest thing for me was making sure that no harm came to him, i knew if harm had come to him, that would be changed and the blame would fall on the young black live matters protesters who show you now theyre safely. Patricks father and patrick and everyone hopes the ability to do the right thing resides in all of us. For all races, all people, right now, 2004 one whos seem to be the oppressed ones. Its about time things were changed the world over. Such an incredible moment of humanity. You can watch cnn heroes all star tribute any time on cnn go, cnn on demand and hbo max. Thank you so much for joining us. Ill see you tomorrow night. My colleague wolf blitzer picks up our coverage coming up next. 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Sorry. And the world will never be the same. What is this . Uh, we call that a window. Window. Dun, dun, dun. Make it a croods family movie night with the croods a new age. Go to watchcroods. Com. This is cnn breaking news. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world him im wolf blitzer in washington. This is a special situation room. A Cdc Advisory Committee has just recommended modernas covid19 vaccine for people 18yearsold and older. This is the second vaccine for the coronavirus that is an approved for use here in the United States