Second vaccine likely authorized this week while U.S. experiences grim reality of surging pandemic; Hundreds of Trump allies lobbying him for pardons; Pete Buttigieg to become first openly gay cabinet member; Congressional leaders on verge of $900b Covid relief deal with $600 stimulus checks included
The Lead with Jake Tapper
CNN
3.5 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 16 December 2020
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Politico: top Trump appointee pushed herd immunity theory internally, said “we want them infected”; Trump fires back after McConnell congratulates Biden; Sources: Trump pushing for appointment of special counsels to probe Hunter Biden, 2020 election; Hundreds of Trump allies lobbying him for pardons; Trump considering pardons for more than two dozen people; Biden picks Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary; Biden to get Covid vaccine publicly to show safety; Fake claims about election fraud escalate into violent incident involving former Houston police captain; Congressional leaders on verge of $900b Covid relief deal with $600 stimulus checks included
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And welcome to the lead, I'm Jake Tapper. We begin this hour with the |
| 0:04.7 | Health Lead today. There is more promising news in the fight against |
| 0:08.4 | coronavirus. Experts believe a second vaccine will be authorized this week |
| 0:12.2 | and in Americans arms as soon as Monday. |
| 0:15.4 | This would be a monumental moment in the pandemic, but of course the fight is not over. |
| 0:20.5 | The state of New York says about 4,000 people have received the first dose so far, |
| 0:24.4 | but to put that in perspective, New York reported more than 10,000 new cases just |
| 0:29.2 | yesterday. |
| 0:30.2 | Assistant Health Secretary Brett Jirwa told CNN today that even with the first vaccine |
| 0:34.9 | doses rolling out, Americans must continue to take this pandemic seriously. |
| 0:42.0 | Tens of thousands of Americans can either live or die depending on what we do to protect them until the vaccine gets widespread. |
| 0:50.0 | New emails reported by Politico today show a Trump administration official back in July |
| 0:54.8 | pushing the widely discredited theory of herd immunity, the idea of purposefully infecting people, |
| 1:01.4 | wrote the then science advisor, quote, |
| 1:03.4 | infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, |
| 1:06.4 | middle age with no conditions, etc. |
| 1:08.4 | Have zero to little risk, so we use them to develop herd. |
| 1:12.0 | We want them infected and recovered with antibodies. |
| 1:16.7 | We want them infected. Experts say that would be a disastrous course, though it might explain the refusal of the White House to do more to stop |
| 1:26.1 | the spread. |
| 1:27.1 | And as CNN Sarah Murray reports for us, now right now more hospitals across the U.S. |
| 1:30.8 | are once again warning that they are running out of space. |
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