Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Victor Blackwell And Christi Paul 20210102

You. Georgia has so much power right now. I want to wish you a happy new year and welcome to this saturday, january 2nd. Im christi paul. Look at this familiar face with us. Im john avlon, filling in for victor and youre in the cnn newsroom. Happy new year. Were so glad to have you, john. There are two tough losses for President Trump that we have to talk about. A federal judge tossed a lawsuit from a gop congressman attempting to overthrow the results of the election and the senate voted to override President Trumps veto of the Defense Authorization act. Thats right, cnns Sarah Westwood has the latest from the white house. Lets start with the lawsuit. Several arizona republicans joined gop congressman gomert in trying to force Vice President pence to choose donald trump as the next president unilaterally. We know the Vice President asked the judge to reject the case. What more did the judge say . Reporter john, the judge in the Eastern District of texas says the congressmen did not have standing to bring the case forward, meaning there was no basis for the lawsuit which centered on challenging Vice President pences role in certifying the Electoral College results, a role that largely is ceremonial and just a formality because the votes have already been cast. In the days after the lawsuit was filed we had a lot of radio silence from Vice President pence on the lawsuit. But we did finally hear from him in a filing on that lawsuit in which he asked the court to reject the case, acknowledging that the Vice President does not have the authority to discard Electoral College votes. The department of justice had given the white house a heads up that they did plan to weigh in on that case but we know that President Trump in the past few weeks has been furious at what he perceived as doj inaction on his baseless claims of election fraud. And as you guys mentioned, thats not even the only setback from the president suffered yesterday, because the Congress Gave the president is first veto override of his term in office when they rejected the president s attempt to veto the defense spending bill. Trump had asked republicans to include a repeal of some protections for social Media Companies in that bill. Republicans and democrats overwhelmingly said no, they wanted that bill to pass anyway. I want to read you the president s reaction. He said, our Republican Senate just missed the opportunity to give people ravaged by the china virus 600 rather than the 2,000 which they so sdpldespery need. Not fair or smart. So obviously the president s influence over republicans is waning in the final days of his presidency, even as he pushes them to do his bidding legislatively and in terms of his election challenges. That tweet was a very broad critique of the gop, but i know hes actually taking aim at several specific gop senators, yes . Reporter thats right, and one of them is one of the highest ranking republicans in the senate. Thats majority whip john thune. The president actually encouraged the protrump governor of south dakota to primary thune, essentially advocating for him to be voted out of office because thune has been one of many senators who have been vocal about opposing their colleagues attempts to challenge the Electoral College results this week. Senator josh hawley is leading the charge in the senate for the gop saying he will object to the Electoral College votes of at least one state. But there are dozens and dozens of republicans in the house who plan to do the same. Obviously its not going to change the Electoral College results, its really just a protest vote. But its setting up a painful test for republicans if this becomes not just a ceremonial certification, but members are forced to put their votes on record in favor of or against the results. The surreal scene continues as donald trump gets ready to leave the white house. Sarah westwood, thank you very much. Thanks. So you just heard wednesdays vote to certify joe bidens victory wont be quick, nor will it be straightforward. No, but we can make sense of this with Cnns Phil Mattingly as he walks us through the challenges we could see this week. Reporter as the 116th Congress Comes to an end, the president with a pretty sharp rebuke from both republicans and democrats. Now, that doesnt mean the relations with congress are officially over. In fact, republicans, more than 140 in the house, at least one in the United States senate, perhaps more, are lining up behind the president this time around when it comes to trying to overthrow or overturn the u. S. Election. Lets make something very clear. On january 6th when a joint session of congress convenes to count the electors, joe biden will once again be confirmed to be the next president of the United States of america. How long it takes to actually get to that point, well, thats where the current dynamics are throwing things into question. The republicans, when paired with the senator, if they raise an objection to any of the votes being counted, that would require both chambers to recess, have a debate of up to two hours and then have a vote on the objections. The vote will fail, however many times it occurs, however many times it happens, it will fail. Democrats control the house and have a decent amount in the senate and a number of republicans in the snenate are acknowledging reality. So it means its going to be a very long day. Politically its become a big issue inside the republican party, particularly with republican senators. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell made very clear this was not a pathway he wanted republicans to go down. You either vote for reality, that joe biden is the next president of the United States, or you vote for President Trump. Well, thats against reality and obviously there are political implications and incentives, incentives that republicans who dont want this fight certainly didnt want to have to vote on. Yet it looks like thats whats going to happen. Just another page in the final weeks for President Trump, what it means for the party, what it means for the president himself, what it means for the senators and congressmen that will still be in office when he leaves. The bottom line is joe biden will be inaugurated president of the United States on january 20th. What happens to President Trump and what happens to the party that he currently oversees, that very much remains an open question. Phil mattingly, cnn, washington. Lets bring in a commissioner on the federal election commission. Its very good to see you. I want to get your take on this fact that more than 140 lawmakers are expected to object to the Electoral College vote next wednesday. The fec is all about strengthening confidence and integrity in our elections. What do you have to say to those republicans who are taking this step . Well, its not for me to give advice to members of congress, but i do worry that this is a longstanding myth that is out there and that is being propounded about voter fraud. There is no evidence of any kind of substantial voter fraud, either in this election or historically. This has been studied numerous times and we were really fortunate in this election to have had such a great turnout, the best turnout in 120 years, due to the great work of Election Officials throughout the country in the middle of a pandemic with overwhelming turnout. We ran a safe and a Fair Election and i think we should all be proud of that result and we should be encouraging the American People to have faith in their democracy, to have faith in their institutions. Because when you undermine faith in our very democracy, really it makes it its going to make it a lot harder to govern and go forward and its going to create a lot of feelings in this country that really, as i said, have no evidence to back them up. And thats exactly why i wanted to talk to you this morning, because its these baseless allegations of voter fraud that have led to the excuses of confusion that many of these congressmen are using to challenge the Election Results, with the backing of a president. But i want to get your take also on what one of your colleagues, the former federal election chairman wrote in a tweet. He wrote having practiced law for almost two decades as a member of the state bar of texas, ive even known Sidney Powell to be anything but forthright and honest. If she says theres rampant voter fraud in election 2020, i believe her. The reason this is significant is at the time he was the chairman of the fec. Sidney powell has made dozens of baseless claims. Shes even been distanced by the trump team because of those claims. But here he is, your colleague, essentially saying that massive voter fraud is taking place. What do you say to that, what do you say to him . As i said, there is no evidence of this and its not a question of belief. Its not a question of who you like or who your friends are. We live in a nation of laws. There have been 60 lawsuits fought by the president and his allies to try and challenge the Election Results throughout the country, and in 59 out of 60 of them, they lost. Thats a really bad electoral result, thats a really bad track record in litigation. And it just shows that there is no evidence of this. One republican election lawyer has described this as the lock nest monster, that republicans keep trying to find proof of voter fraud and it just doesnt exist. To be clear, have you spoken to your colleague traynor about that tweet and the misinformation hes promulgating in his role as chairman . I have not. So listen, one of the important things i mean, with all the focus on election integrity, the fec has been divided and dysfunctional, really starved of adequate support for a long time. As we look to an incoming administration, what do you hope can be done to strengthen the fec and to strengthen democracys guardrails Going Forward . For one thing, finally we have a quorum at the fec. Going back to september of 2019, the fec basically was functioning without a quorum, which means we really couldnt make most of the important decisions that we need to make in order to protect the transparency and the fairness of our elections, and to be able to give those assurances to the American People. We dont have a working quorum other than for a few weeks in june going back to september of 2019. So during most of this important election year, where 14 billion was spent on this election, unprecedented numbers, the federal election commission, which regulates money in politics couldnt really do its job. Now, finally, at the end of the year, commissioners were nominated and for the First Time Since 2017 we have a quorum and a full slate of commissioners and i hope that means we are going to be able to get our job done. We have a huge backlog of enforcement matters, but there also are rule makings that have been languishing for years, rule makings will social media and internet communications. We have never had a rule making to address the rule of super pac in the ten years theyve existed and obviously they have changed the ballgame. So i am hoping with this new slate of commissioners we will be able to find some Common Ground to reach across the aisle and try to improve our laws for the betterment of the entire country. Folks say they care about election integrity, strengthen the commission. Thank you so much for joining us and happy new year. Thank you. It feels good to say happy new year. It really does, because we feel like theres going to be change, theres going to be change. Right now the government is really struggling to get the vaccine, the Covid Vaccine to people. Hospitalizations are at an alltime high today. Were going to bring you up to speed next. Too easy. 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That means for 31 days now hospitals in our country have collectively been caring for 100,000 people or more, sick and fighting for their lives from covid19. Polo sandoval joins us. The u. S. Is inching closer to 350,000 lives lost to covid19. Just so much uncertainty in the airs wi air as we start this new air providing and you have the prominent model now predicting that it could go up to 115,000 additional deaths in the coming weeks. Friday brought a new year, and with it another tragic milestone in the covid19 pandemic with the u. S. Surpassing 20 million total confirmed infections. Its a reminder that the virus will keep ravaging parts of the country until ongoing vaccine efforts help to slow or stop the spread and there lies the challenge. Health officials in several states report difficulties in planning the vaccine rollout with no federal mandate in place dictating how to administer the vaccine. The result has been a flawed distribution leaving vaccine figures far below the goal. Senator mitt romney called that inexcusable. Texas reports the state has only distributed a third of the vaccine its received as of friday and some hospitals are trying to overcome the logistical challenges of administering the shots. There have been a few hick ups. Theyre trying to get as many frontline workers vaccinated as possible. Were doing a little bit of a changeup in how theyre doing the scheduling so we can get more people. And now reaching out to clinics outside the hospital to get those folks vaccinated and then working with local Health Departments on the next level, the people over 75. Reporter data from the cdc shows new york is overperforming on the vaccination front. Friday figures showed 32 of new yorks vaccine doses have already been given and that is well above the National Average of 23 shots administered. The real crisis point remains in california, which set a new daily record for covid19 deaths on friday, as one state official warned that california is on the brink of catastrophe, this new years eve crowd gathered in l. A. County protesting masks. These people are having parties while so many people are struggling. I just want to thank the Unsung Heroes of this pandemic and these are the average americans who have sacrificed their family time and jobs by doing the right thing day in and day out by Wearing Masks and distancing. Reporter dr. George rodriguez says some medical facilities in his region are using gift shops and chapels to care for patients. This Weekend Health officials will be watching for more reported cases of a fastmoving covid19 variant. Its still the same virus. Its not different. Its just a new lineage that may be transmitting a little better. Reporter the new variant spreads the same way, meaning social distancing and masks offer the best protection. And this week the nations top Infectious Disease effort dr. Anthony fauci made it clear the u. S. Will likely not be following the united kingdoms decision to effectively delay the second doses for the folks who have received the first vaccination for the coronavirus. As you recall, the british leaders had said that the uk would essentially be prioritizing their doses among some of those most vulnerable and of course the frontli Frontline Healthcare workers. Dr. Fauci says they show high effectiveness within two or three weeks so they dont want to wait months before they offer the second dose. Good to see you. Thank you. Lets bring dr. Peter hotez into this conversation, from Baylor College of medicine and a codirector for childrens vaccine development. You are a voice of reason and such knowledge for us. Thank you for coming back with us. I want to talk to you about the uk, the variant that we saw in the coronavirus that popped up in the uk a couple of weeks ago. We are now seeing that we know in colorado, california, and florida. With that said, how long is there any way to gauge how long that variant may have been here in the u. S. And how far it may travel at this point . Well, you know, the variant probably popped up in the uk sometime around september, so late in the summer. So its been circulating for a while. And our best guess is its probably been here in the u. S. For a while as well. But remember in the u. S. , weve not been doing virus surveillance to nearly the same extent as places like australia, which has done the full of half of the virus isolates. In the u. S. Weve only done genome sequences on a small percentage, so barely touching this. So weve really fallen behind. So the uk variant is probably here in much higher numbers than we realize and probably homegrown that we havent been able to pick up yet. Are you confident that the vaccines that are currently being administered can tackle all of these variants . Were testing our vaccine with the other groups and im cautiously optimistic in the sense that the number of mutations that are in the business part of the spike pro tooen, the receptor that bind to our host tissues which is how all these vaccines operate, there are not that many mutations there. So i think well be okay for vaccines this time around, but well have to continue to do monitoring and surveillance in future months and future years in case there are some escaped mutants that we have to worry about. For now i think well be okay, but we need to step up our game in terms of genome surveillance. I want to ask you for clarity here. I had read that this latest variant affects younger population, like 20 and under. Is that the case . Do we have a good assessment of that . The data is still not nearly as robust or strong as we would like it. Theres some evidence that its in the South African variant, so thats a possibility. But, again, its so understudied, especially here in the u. S. That this will have to be a priority in the new administration to step up our program for that whole virus genome surveillance and then well get a better sense of it. Is that what youre waiting for, the new administration . Is there anything that joe biden can do to speed up the lag time that weve seen in the vaccination distribution . Yeah, absolutely. I mean, sadly, our Public Health system has come up small every time, whether its detecting the entry of the virus from Southern Europe into new york, the diagnostic testing, the virus genome surveillance and now were failing to vaccinate the American People. Weve not put an adequate infrastructure in place in order to vaccinate the country. I mean, weve got people frantically calling today, theyre calling sams club and cvs and rite aid to see if they can get vaccine for their father or their other loved ones. And thats not the system we were supposed to have in place. We need a high throughput mechanism. If you do some back of the envelope calculations, we have to vaccinate roughly threequarters of the population by the fall in order to interrupt virus transmission. Thats at least 240 million americans. Thats 1 million americans every day starting now until the fall. Were not even close to anything like that. We just dont have the infrastructure in place and thats where the priority has to be. So i understand the logic of using pharmacies, but youve got pharmacy deserts in low income neighborhoods. And the pharmacies alone are not going to solve this problem. Were going to have to put in some added infrastructure such as vaccinating large populations and a more high throughput way, maybe using open air football stadiums or mechanisms to do it safely. Dr. Peter hotez, your expertise is always appreciated here. Thank you. Thank you so much. The u. S. And iran are ratcheting up military activity in the persian gulf. Ahead of the anniversary of a drone strike that killed a commander. General mcmaster, author of the group battlegrounds joins me next to talk about it. Aaaand welcome back to guess the price ok johnny tell our contestants about eargo. Johnny these top of the line hearing aids from eargo are straight out of the future theyre rechargeable and virtually invisible in your ears and you dont need to visit a doctor to get them. They ship right to your door and come with lifetime remote support. Host convenient. Right . Guess the price and theyre yours. 8,000 host too high. 6,000 host no 5,000 host too high 3,500 . Host oh, too high. Eargos are affordable and retail for about half the cost of traditional hearing aids. Unfortunately nobody won. Johnny tell our contestants about our lovely parting gifts. Johnny its a peruvian pan flute. Host well thats all the time we have for now. We will see you next time, bye bye i heard that bring in the new year with better hearing from eargo. Shop our new year sale today and get 400 off eargo neo hifi. And if youre an active or retired federal employee you can now get eargo at no cost to you. Act now your benefits may be changing in the new year. Its moving day. And are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. It only takes about a minute. Wait, a minute . But what have you been doing for the last two hours . Delegating . Oh, good one. Move your Xfinity Services without breaking a sweat. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Xfinity makes moving easy. Go online to transfer your services in about a minute. Get started today. Cnn affiliate kgo is reporting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosis home in San Francisco has been vandalized. Kgo says San Francisco Police Responded to a call early new years day. Police said graffiti had been painted on the garage door and a pigs head had been left on the sidewalk. Cnn has reached out to the San Francisco Police Department and to spooeeaker pelosis offi for information. Well bring you more information as we get it. Eyes are on georgia ahead of Tuesdays Senate runoff elections. A report 3 million absentee ballots and early votes have been cast and hundreds of thousands more expected to vote in person on election day. We want to go to ryan nobles live in atlanta. President trump and president elect biden we know are scheduled to campaign in georgia on monday. It has been the neverending election in this state. Even my children, ryan, are saying enough, and theyre 11 years old. So just walk us through where we are right now and really i believe, correct me if im wrong, Kamala Harris is going to be here tomorrow, yes . Reporter yeah, thats right, and tell your kids its almost over. We dont know how long its going to take to count the votes, but at least those political ads are going to end on tuesday in georgia. This neverending election. What were seeing here over the next couple of days is a real push to get voters, those final undecided voters to the polls on january 5th. Thats really a bigger job for republicans right now than it is for democrats. The democrats are very happy with the turnout that theyve seen during the early voting portion of this election. As you mentioned, more than 3 Million People have already cast their ballots and its been already registered democrats than republicans. So republicans are going to try to make up the gap on election day. Thats why we see these republicans out on the stump today. Right now were in milner, georgia, and were expecting kelly loeffler. She has senator ted cruz as her guest as an example of these big stars that are coming into the state of georgia in the closing days. You mentioned Kamala Harris will be here tomorrow. Shes going to be in savannah and then of course Vice President pence, President Trump and president elect biden will all be in the state on monday. Jon ossoff, one of the democratic candidates, he talked about the importance of this election and what is at stake earlier this morning. Take a listen. Georgia has so much power right now. Georgia voters have so much power right now. And after four years of hatred and racism and division and bigotry, georgia is going to make a statement about love and decency and compassion and unity, because thats what georgia stands for. Reporter and were hearing both republicans and democrats try and drive home that point that this is more than just about who represents the state of georgia in the United States senate, but its also about the control of the United States senate. Its about if youre democrats arguing an opportunity for joe biden to implement his agenda and if youre a republican arguing that this is a only and last chance you have to keep a Biden Administration in check. So a pretty compelling argument on both sides as they try and get out base voters, which many believe is really going to be the difference here in georgia. Just a couple of days to go before this is all over. January 5th is the day that the runoff takes place on tuesday and all eyes on the state of georgia. Thank you. Ryan, just quickly before we go, this turnout is extraordinary so far. How have you seen the experts to increase minority and youth turnout in this runoff, and also what has turnout been like in the suburban counts that were so crucial in the general election . Reporter turnout has been very strong in the suburban counties in particular. Were seeing the democratic parties outpace the republican counties. But the youth vote so important. Keep in mind theres a whole group of voters who turned 18 after election day that now get the chance to participate in this election and democrats in particular are making a concerted effort to reach out to them and get them to the polls. Ryan nobles, thank you very much. Right now the u. S. And iran are ratcheting up tensions in the persian gulf. Tomorrow marks the one Year Anniversary of the drone strike that killed soleimani. The potential of an attack from iran is the highest since his death. Joining me to talk about this is a veteran of the u. S. Intelligence community and President Trumps former National Security adviser, author of the great new book battleground. Good morning, general mcmaster. Its good to see you. As both iran and the u. S. Seem to be ramping up tensions in the persian gulf, the head avenue irans military suggested friday that retaliation may come from, quote, people from your own house. Knowing the iranians, do you consider this a credible threat . John, it is. First of all, its great to be with you. Happy new year. You, too. We shouldnt be surprised by this. What were worried about is iran has been waging a four decade long proxy war against us since the revolution in 1979, since the taking of our hostages, since the bombing of our embassy and Marine Barracks in lebanon in 1983, its support for terrorist organizations globally, from argentina to panama, to europe, and of course the main targets, though, are the great satan, the United States, and the little satan, israel, so iran is a grave threat because its been able to use these sort of cutouts, terrorist organizations and malitias. But the strike against soleimani is we know what the return address is for these attacks now and i think the effort was important in connection with reestablishing deterrents so the iranians know theyre going to have to pay a price if they continue this destructive war against us. No question about it. As National Security adviser, you opposed leaving the iran deal despite being hawkish on iran in terms of them being bad actors. Trump of course left against your advice. Just now iran says it plans to enrich uranium to 20 purity, so it seems clear that abandonment of the deal, however flawed, did reaccelerate irans pursuit of nuclear weapons. What advice would you give the Biden Administration . The first advice is dont try to turn the clock back to 2016. Dont try to rush to get back into this flawed nuclear deal. It was really flawed, because how can you trust the iranians and the verification regime was not sufficient enough really to assure us, you know, that they werent continuing a clandestine nuclear program, which of course now theyre saying were just going to continue to enrich uranium as kind of the veiled threat to restart a program which they denied they ever even had to begin with. And then of course a lot of really key aspects of the threat to us lie outside of the deal, especially with missile capabilities and there was the sunset clause. It was just a delay. And what did they get in return . They got sanctions relief, john, and they got a lot of money. And where did that money go . It went to intensifying that four decade long proxy war against us, it went to perpetuating this sectarian civil war that we see across the middle east that has caused a humanitarian crisis of colossal scale and allowed iran essentially to put a proxy army on the border of israel. So the deal was a disaster. I argued to stay in to sanction their behavior outside of the deal and to keep europe and others with us. But once we were out and the sanctions came back in place, i dont think theres theres no going back to the old flawed deal, i dont think, and i think we ought to keep the pressure on iran. What i write about is we need to force them to make a choice. You can either be a responsible nation and be treated as such and reap the economic and other benefits of it, or you can continue to be a state sponsor of terrorism and to create this humanitarian catastrophe across the region and continue this four decade long proxy war against us and suffer the consequences of economic isolation. One of the points of your book really is forward looking. Its really a call to return to that idea that partisan politics ought to be left at the waters edge. So as the Biden Administration prepares to take office, what advice would you give them on how to deal with china and russia . Well, john, ive seen this tend aens across multiple administrations now, to define an administrations Foreign Policy mainly as an opposition to the administration that came before it. And the trump Foreign Policy, like Many Administration foreign policies has profoundly positive aspects to it and some profoundly negative aspects. So lets correct the negative and accentuate the positive. I would put in the positive column the shift from the strategy of cooperation and engagement with china under the belief that china having bb welcomed into the International Order would liberalize its economy and play by the rules. We know the exact opposite is the case now under xi jinping and the communist party. So we need a competitive approach to china. And of course we have to work with allies, but working with our allies has to be more than just a better atmosphere at cocktail parties with our european allies who just entered into an economic agreement with china i think at exactly the wrong time. So i think we have to engage our allies purposefully to compete effectively with the Chinese Communist party and look at that as an element of continuity with the trump administration. On russia, i think that we ought to continue the policies of the trump administration, but reject this language of apology that President Trump uses with russia. And this failure to acknowledge, you know, massive cyberattacks like we just experienced, for example. I described in battlegrounds russias approach of disinformation and denial. This is putins ability to literally get away with murder and most recently attempted murder of mr. Navalny because he can say i didnt do it. When the leader of the free world doesnt pull the curtain back and show that, it gives putin maneuver space that he doesnt deserve. Important points, as always. Were going to have to leave it there for now my friend. Happy new year. Thank you very much. There were huge lines in florida this week after officials announced that anyone 65 and older could receive a vaccine on a first come, first serve basis. This created a scramble for doses, and hours long wait times and it overwhelmed county hotlines and vaccine sites. Dianne gallagher is following the developments. Good morning. Reporter good morning. The theme down here in florida appears to be confusion and congestion. Now, the state didnt necessarily adhere to the cdc recommendations of the order in which people should be receiving the covid19 vaccine. After those Frontline Health care workers and those who live in longterm health care facilities, it was supposed to be essential workers and people who are over the age of 75. But the state of florida decided that anybody over the age of 65 would be next in line and there wasnt much continuity when it came to how the different counties were distributing it. Were in lake county, florida, and you can see behind me theyre actually giving the vaccines to people in their cars right now. You see them at the table. They just pop it in the arm for the people who are in the car and theyre done. But here its by appointment only. In other places its been first come, first serve and we have seen long lines. Older americans who are literally camping out overnight hoping to get a covid19 vaccine. The governor says that this is about trying to make his state safer for his population. So let me just be very, very clear, our vaccines are going to be targeted for our elderly pop laying. Weve been going through over the last week to do the tip of the Sphere Health care workers, as long as longterm residents and staff. As we get into the general community, the vaccines are going to be targeted where the risk is the greatest, and that is in our elderly population. We are not going to put young, healthy workers ahead of our elderly, vulnerable population. Reporter and so the problem is, though, that there hasnt been, again, much continuity. So while some people have been waiting long hours just to get these vaccines, others have had to make appointments. And some of these counties have just been inundated with phone calls, their hotline systems went down, their websites crashed. And so people were confused. In this particular county, well, they initially had said that it was appointment only and then they said starting on january 1st, its going to be first come, first serve. Then they changed their mind and went back to appointment only. This morning there were people who had been waiting in line for hours because they thought it was first come, first serve, and they got turned away. Dianne gallagher live from lake county, florida. Thank you very much. Well be right back. For vetera ns like martin. When a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa nicoreyou get advice like smoking is hard. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Just stop. Get a hobby. You should meditate. Eat crunchy foods. Go for a run. Go for 10 runs run a marathon. Are you kidding me . instead, start small. With nicorette. Which can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette i want to take you now to central falls, one of the hardest hit towns in the state of rhode island and Health Officials are going door to door to give residents in Public Housing the vaccine. We have the chief Health Strategist for the city of central falls. Doctor, so appreciate your time this morning. Help us understand what this is because it was highly unusual. You went to these Public Housing units. Did they sign up for this, did they expect that you were coming . We worked to enroll every Single Person first in Public Housing and then in section 8 housing. I know you have another clinic today that is, what, almost 800 people, as i understand it, from section 8 housing . There are 800 people in section 8 housing. I think were going to be vaccinate between 150 and 300 today. So what was it like for you as a doctor to go door to door . We want to really understand what these people are living with, the conditions theyre living with and the risks that theyre living with. It was really gratifying to go door to door. I mean, thats what Public Health can and should be doing. We should know every Single Person in the city and the state and in the nation, and know how to reach out to them. Thats what we were able to do during the course of this week. So what was their reaction . Was there anybody who declined getting a vaccination . There were a couple of people who declined because its Public Housing, the pioneering mayor of the city of central falls, the mayorelect and i got on the public address system, talked about how we have been vaccinated and talked about the safety. And i think we were able to increase the vaccination rate to close to 80 to 90 . Wow. I know that once people get the shot theyre not actually considered immune until february. How are people who are living in those conditions in the Public Housing, how confident are you that they can keep from getting the virus even after being vaccinated since there is that lag time . Its going to be a struggle. But weve really organized ourselves, mobilized the community. We have about 20 Health Ambassadors who patrol the streets in beautiful orange costumes so everybody can see them, helping everybody remember to remain masked and social distanced. We have Police Cruisers using their p. A. Systems on the street reminding everybody. Weve gone full out to try to stop the progression of this disease. It is such a coordinated effort by so many entities here. You have said that this can be the thing that gets us to herd immunity, meaning going out to these communities and doing this doortodoor or in the fashion that youre doing it today. Why do you believe that . I think thats what its going to take. Remember, in the United States we have a market, not a health care system. We dont know everybody. In order to get enough of a community vaccinated to have the whole community immune is really to reach out to every Single Person. We dont have a natural mechanism to do that. In the United States now only about 43 of people actually have their own primary care doctor. So we dont know everybody. We have to work extra hard to reach everybody and make sure every Single Person gets reached and vaccinated. Help me understand the level of gratitude from these people. Were they scared . I think there was real variation three weeks ago. Everybody was nervous and i didnt think we were going to get 1,000 people vaccinated in this city of about 25,000. But our Health Ambassadors walked the streets, talked to every Single Person on the street, the mayorelect, maria rivera, went on Facebook Live and talked to people. We talked and talked and talked, told people the vaccine was coming, made sure people understood how it was prepared and that it was safe. So weve really seen a huge turn in people being ready to be vaccinated now. Dr. Michael fine, thank you so much for your efforts. Thank you for walking us through what youre doing there. We wish you all the very best. Thanks very much. Of course. 2020 may be behind us, but its legacy will live on for at least a little while. For example, did you know the year gave us a brand new word . I have a feeling there were several new words, but this is just one, vaccine. We can see it on television. Reporter famous politicians tend to roll up their sleeves to have their shots shot by the media. That was easy. Reporter not quite as easy, taking a selfie while getting your covid vaccination. The New York Times reported vaccines is the new word for vaccination selfies, doctors and medical staff in particular are posting them. Brandishing their bandaids, even their scars. Covid in the center, small pox underneath, wrote this doctor got my fauci ouchie. This doctor got his shot at Jackson Memorial in miami and posted his vaccination photo while joking the injection gave him super powers. My left arm is now twice as large as my right one. I can see through walls and im feeling more alive than ever. Reporter a group of neurosurgery residents held up their vaccination record cards. Vaccine selfies are the new i voted sticker selfies, posted with pride. Whats the point . I would hope that its encouraging. Reporter encouraging others to get the vaccine, though vaxxies can create envy, starting to get annoyed by vaccine selfies, because i think they can go to a concert now. The hashtag has been going around the web. The words are from a song in the musical hamilton. Even wearing a mask, you can tell this wisconsin doctor is smiling. Only side effects so far are joy, gratitude and absolute relief. Who needs a selfie stick when youre getting a needle stick with a lifesaving vaccine . And hopefully that left you with a little bit of a smile this morning. Absolutely. So glad to have you with us. Good to see you, john. Well see you again tomorrow morning. We hope that you make good memories today. We do. Next up, newsroom starts right now. Ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. Whoohoo great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. And nutrients to keeping your oysters busihas you swamped. You need to hire. I need indeed indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventyfivedollar credit when you post your first job at indeed. Com promo thank you so much for joining me. Im fredricka whitfield. Happy new year. Well, its barely one for so many across the country. We begin this hour and this new year with the pandemic surging to troubling new levels. 2020 ended with a deadliest month yet, only to continue into 2021 with a sobering warning from Health Experts saying the worst is yet to come. The u. S. Is now approachin