americans have now gotten at least one shot. sites like the one vice president harris visited today in las vegas, and more than 11% of the population is now fully vaccinated. late today, connecticut's governor said he expects to expand statewide eligibility to anyone aged 16 and up by the 5th of next month. other states taking similar steps as vaccine supply ramps up and federal help kicks in. this is happening as new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths, continue to fall. and evidence grows, most notably, from a recent major study in israel, prevent the spread of infection, not just illness. >> we've always believed that they're having that effect. we didn't know the full magnitude of that benefit. but all the incremental evidence coming out suggests that the impact on the reduction and transmission could be quite strong. and if that's the case, the vaccine creates what we call dead-end hosts. meaning, people will no longer be able to transmit the infection. >> so, more people, than ever, getting shots that appear to be more beneficial the closer you look. the kind of breakthrough we have all been hoping for. so, why is it, then, that in a recent marist poll, 49% of republican men say they would not take the vaccine when it becomes available to them. and remember, the former president launched the effort to speed up the testing and production of it. and who recently demanded national gratitude for the speedy delivery of, what he calls, quote, that beautiful shot. he is the one, who, once upon a time, even seemed to recognize the public-health purpose of someone like him getting vaccinated or not as the situation demanded. >> if there's a vaccine and if they wanted me to be first in line, i'd be first in line or i'd be last in line or i wouldn't take it at all. whatever is best for the country. >> well, to cut to the chase, as you know, he did get vaccinate . he did it off camera, in secret. which is pretty remarkable when you consider how willing he's always been to weigh in on virtually anything. but especially, his accomplishments, which this actually is. it's a puzzlement. even to former members of his covid team. >> the people, who follow former president are very committed to president trump. and i think, his leadership still matters, a great deal. i think, it's very important for former-president trump, selz as well as as well as the vice president to actively encourage all the followers to get the vaccine. >> dhere is dr. anthony fauci. >> if he kcame out and said go get vaks natded, it' important for you and the health of your family and the health of the country, it seems absolutely inevitable that the vast majority of people who are his close followers would listen to him. he's such a strongly popular person, i cannot imagine that, if he comes out, that they would not get vaccinated. it would be very helpful to the effort for that to happen. >> keeping 'em honest, though, there is reason to doubt the former president's effectiveness as a spokesman for getting vaccinated. the same reason, his own supporters are now vaccine skeptical. the entire covid outbreak, he politicized public health. whether it was bad-mouthing mask wearing, mocking social distancing, touting crack cures, donald j. trump, in effect, vaccinated his supporters against the science. toward the end, he even said the quiet part out loud making perfectly clear, this wasn't a pandemic at all, that it was just politics. >> that's all i hear about now. that's all i -- turn on television. covid, covid! covid, covid, covid. a plane goes down, 500 people dead. they don't talk about it. covid, covid, covid, covid. by the way, on november 4th, you won't hear about it, anymore. >> not from him, at least. except, to complain, somehow, that vaccine authorization was delayed just to get him, which it wasn't. after that, he checked out, completely. now, was it because there was no longer anything in it for him? you can decide, for yourself. what's indisputable, though, is he primed tens of millions of americans to doubt the vaccine. one presumes he would never have stopped boasting about were he still sitting in the oval office today. but even if the former president had a complete change of heart about it and started praising vaccinations to the skies, it is an open question now, how much weight he holds over former supporters. >> should president trump help promote the vaccine, among skeptics, sir? especially, those republicans, who say that -- >> i'm hearing a lot of reports from serious reporters, like you, saying that. i discussed it with my team, and they say, the thing that has more impact than anything trump would say to the maga folks, is what the local doctor, what the local preachers, what the local people, in the community, say. so, i urge -- i urge all local docs and -- and ministers and priests to talk about why. why it's important. to get -- to get that vaccine and even after that, until everyone is, in fact, vaccinated, to wear this mask. >> others, he says, not the former president better influencers. and there's evidence, he may be right. republican pollster, did a focus group over the weekend with vaccine-hesitant trump voters. "washington post" detailed the results. they blamed their hesitation on doubts about the long-term effects of new vaccines and accuse politicians and government scientists of repeatedly misleading them. what is interesting, though, they blame democrats and not the former president for this. at the same time, what seemed to change their minds the most were not political endorsements of getting vaccinated but more science, more evidence. here's a woman named sue from iowa who said she went from about 50-50 on getting a shot to 75% in favor. >> i like the doctors. i like the medical situation when they give us the facts, and talk to us without any politics involved. i think that helps me see that my bias was probably with the political side of it. getting involved in just separating the medical side of it. if i can look just at the medical and health side of it, i'm much better off than when you mix politics in with it. >> 19 people took part in that group which included republican politicians and former-cdc director, dr. tom frieden. all 19 came out of it saying they were more likely to get the vaccine than they were going in. joining us now is dr. tom frieden. we heard her say she liked hearing the facts about the vaccines. for you, was that the big takeaway separating politics from science in order to get people to trust the vaccine? >> it was a really interesting conversation, anderson, because this is a group that is strongly pro-trump. they are -- have a lot of doubts about the vaccine. but they're not people who are totally anti-vax and that's how they were selected. and they clearly believe that the virus, the vaccine, and the response, has been politicized. and what they wanted was, they didn't want to hear from any politicians, not even former-president trump. they wanted to hear from doctors, their own doctors. and they had understandable, rational concerns. they wanted to know what's the evidence about the long-term health complications of the vaccine? this is a reasonable question. and they wanted to be listened to. and i think, that's the fundamental message. that, for each community, we need to listen, and figure out, both, the messages that are going to resonate most. and the messengers who are going to be most effective. and i'll tell you, some of the most effective messages were virtually every doctor who's offered this vaccine is going to get it. no corners were cut, in approving it. only red tape was cut to get it approved quickly. and it was not rushed to the market, in a year. this is a technology, that was more than a decade in the making. and the trials were not small. they were tens of thousands of people. and not a single person, as far as we know, has died from getting the vaccine. >> dr. fauci said it'd be helpful if former-president trump encouraged his supporters to get the vaccine. though, president biden, as we just heard, says, you know, look to community leaders, local doctors, to promote it. your focus group. did they care about the former president's opinion on taking the vaccine? >> it was actually somewhat surprising. i think, it surprised frank luntz, who organized the whole group. they didn't want to hear from any politicians, not even former-president trump. they wanted to hear from their own doctor and that's why it's so important we get shots into the offices of doctors, as soon as the supply gets a little more than it is now. and they want to hear from medical professionals. >> chris christie also spoke during the meeting, i understand. talked about his own, personal ordeal with covid-19. i'm wondering, if personal and emotional stories had an impact on changing minds? >> yes. in fact, it wasn't so much chris christie's stories or his description of getting covid at the white house. it was his discussion of two family members. one of them, quite healthy. who both died from covid. that, clearly, had an impact. and this is one thing that's very important. we need to give honest, accurate narratives of what covid does, of the death. of, also, the long covid and the suffering that causes. because, fundamentally, we can't give you 100% certainty that there is not going to be some rare, adverse event of this vaccine, ten years down the line. but we can tell you, with 100% certainty, that you're much-less likely to get covid if you get the vaccine. and if you do get covid, it's going to be replicating all over your body for a week. and that you do have a chance of having long-term suffering, as a result. >> that was one of the things, personally, for me, was really powerful. i did a piece on 60 minutes about, you know, so-called long haulers. people who had actually mild symptoms, when they actually were infected. and thought they'd kind of g gotten away. you know, they had -- they had some bad days but it wasn't -- they weren't hospitalized, many of them. and -- and yet, you know, eight months later, they are still, you know, having trouble walking. having troubles breathing. having brain fog and the like. that, for me, was really kind of a wakeup of -- of, you know, you don't even want to get it and not have any symptoms or think you have mild symptoms. we played sound, a few minutes ago, from the former-fda head, scott gottlieb, telling cbs this weekend about evidence has shown vaccines are reducing asymptomatic infection and transmission. dr. gottlieb, should point out, is on the board of pfizer. if he is right, that is a huge step toward getting the virus under control. what more do you know about that? >> well, we have better and better news about the vaccine. what you are seeing, already, in the u.s., is a dramatic decrease in nursing-home death. and that is, undoubtedly, an impact of vaccination. already, these vaccines are saving thousands of lives in this country. and that effect is going to get even greater, in the coming weeks, as vaccine-induced immunity kicks in for more and more people who are over the age of 65. so, this is making this virus even-less lethal. and there is growing evidence that it reduces the likelihood that you'll spread the virus to others. but we don't know that, yet. it's not certain. but i do think, that the vaccine is getting the best of the virus. now, we're not out of the woods. it ain't over, till it's over. you are seeing explosive spread in europe and parts of latin america. you are seeing variants, that can overwhelm the immunity that you get from getting the virus infection before. so, it's really a race of the vaccine, against the variants. and the more we control the virus, the more we vaccinate, the greater the likelihood that we'll get to a new normal, sooner. >> dr. tom frieden, appreciate it. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> coming up next. republican senator responds to allegations of racism over his statements about the january insurrection. also, arrests finally in connection with the death of capitol police officer, brian sicknick. and later, transportation 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something but you possess just enough self-awareness to know that you can't help saying it. tonight, republican senator and insurrection doubter, ron johnson, is answering to charges of racism in what he said friday about the attack on the capitol and the people behind it. his kind of people. >> i knew those were people that love this country. that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to -- to break a law. so, i wasn't concerned. now, had the tables been turned. joe, this could get me in trouble. had the tables been turned, and president trump won the election. and those were tens of thousands of black lives matter and antifa protestors, i might've been a little concerned. >> that was senator johnson, on friday, saying that the people who attacked the capitol loved law enforcement. senator johnson, late today. >> there was nothing racial about my comments. nothing, whatsoever. this isn't about race, this is about riots. it's still pretty shocking that it would take, what i consider, complete completely inokay inocculous comment. >> joining us now, bakari sellers. >> bakari, well, i'll let you just speak on this. because i -- i was just so surprised by not -- not surprised by. but just irritated by what he just said, now, to justify what he said, previously. the idea that, you know, that he sees the truth here, in his comments, and knows that there was nothing racist involved. >> and you know, when people are -- are making racist comments. the first thing they want to push back with is, simply, say, you know, you can't play the race card. but it's our job to call it out. i mean, i'm not surprised. but i -- and i'm not disappointed, anymore. nothing about this is new. i mean, this is as an american as american can be. but i'm troubled, because this is coming from the highest part of the land. i mean, this is coming from the united states senate. the united states congress. just last week, we heard from representative as well saying that black lives matter didn't believe in the old, traditional family. and now, you have ron johnson saying the same thing. you know, for me, i go back to car michael, anderson. and stokely once said that, if you want to lynch me, that's your problem. but if you had the power to lynch me, then that's my problem. racism in this country is a power construct. and people, like ron johnson, have the power and the ability to implement racist policies, even when they're ignorant to the fact that what they're doing is racist. this is not about somebody calling you nigger. i get called that enough in my twitter comments. i get called that in my messages, when i leave cnn every single day. it's not about that. it's about something more than that. it's about the systemic oppression. it's about the systemic racism. and people, like ron johnson, who play a role in it, and are so ignorant to the fact, to the role they play, that they sit there. and simply, turn their back and say, don't play the race card. we're not playing the race card, senator. we are trying to educate you on the fact that, either -- there -- there -- there's one of two things. either, you're using racism as political currency, which is cowardice. or, you simply are ignorant, and do not know that the language that you're using is racist and hurtful. it's one of those two options. >> it -- it -- you know, and then, him using the term, you know, the race card, as if it's some, sort of, game here. >> yeah. and -- and, you know, for -- for me, if i -- if i -- if i had the opportunity to sit down with senator johnson. i would -- i would go back and say, senator johnson, you know, what this is, is -- is an ignorance of the history and how far we've come. you know, i -- i would sit down, and tell him that the reason we got the '64 and '65 civil rights act and voting rights act is because of the edmund pettus bridge and people who were brutally beaten on national tv for the first time in this country's history. white folk, throughout the country, were able to see the water hoses, the batons, et cetera. this is about the assassinations, the medgar evers, the emmett tills, i would say, senator johnson, the way we got the fair housing act of 1968 was because dr. king got assassinated. i would say, hell, the reason that the confederate flag came down in south carolina is because nine people, including my friend, were murdered in a church. i would say, senator johnson, the only reason we're on the cusp and having these discussions about criminal-justice reform is because george floyd had a knee in his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. what i am trying to tell you is that there is a great deal of pain in black blood through the streets of this country so that we could have an ounce of semblance of political change. so, i think that he needs to understand the history of this country. so, when you make comments, like, it's okay for these white boys to come in here with they confederate flags and anti-semitic rhetoric and beat police officers and murder a cop. but if there is somebody black standing up for what they believe to be right and just, saying that we need to stop being killed in the street. you want the national guard called on them. see, that's the problem. and -- and it's not people, who use ignorant rhetoric. it's people, in power, who implement racist policies. that's why i have a problem with grothman and ron johnson. >> he's, also, rewriting history. i mean, he looks at the crowd who attacked the capitol. he's not scared of them, he alleges, because he knows that they are good people, who love this country. and love law enforcement. i mean, there -- there are hundreds of people who have been arrested. you know, and -- and numerous police officers, who have been injured. one police off