| "There is a light at the end of the tunnel right now" -- Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on the potential for widespread access to a COVD-19 vaccine
Welcome to the "Face the Nation" Five at Five newsletter. Scroll down for your five takeaways from today's broadcast with moderator Margaret Brennan on CBS. Did someone forward you this? Sign-up at cbsnews.com/email. 1. Fauci: Herd immunity possible if enough take vaccine  Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, said Sunday the U.S. could reach herd immunity against the coronavirus "reasonably quickly" next year if enough Americans get vaccinated. What we asked: The scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed said this morning we could have true herd immunity take place somewhere in the month of May as the vaccine is distributed. Does America go back to life as normal in May? What Fauci said: "If you get an overwhelming majority of the people vaccinated with a highly efficacious vaccine, we can reasonably quickly get to the herd immunity that would be a blanket of protection for the country." Why it matters: Fauci said "help is on the way" in the form of the vaccine, but Americans need to exercise caution as the holidays approach and take steps to mitigate the spread of the virus through the winter, saying the country is in a "very, very difficult situation" as cases continue to rise. Vaccines will be available "relatively soon" if Americans can "hang in there," Fauci said. 2. Biden to make top cabinet picks this week  President-elect Joe Biden will announce his first cabinet picks on Tuesday as he continues to fill senior roles in his incoming administration, senior adviser Symone Sanders said Sunday morning. What we asked: Will we get an answer to that question Tuesday? You said picks plural. What Sanders said: "There will be Cabinet nominations, picks, on Tuesday. I can't tell you right now how many or who but I can tell you that the president-elect is starting to put together his Cabinet and the American people will see the first glimpse of that on Tuesday." Why it matters: Sanders' comments come as Mr. Biden has already named top White House staffers, including incoming White House chief of staff Ronald Klain. Mr. Biden has said he's chosen his treasury secretary, but hasn't announced his selection. 3. Gottlieb: Vaccine widely available by mid 2021  Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said the COVID-19 vaccine will likely be widely available to the general public by the middle of 2021, but warned of a "very difficult period" in the months ahead. What we asked: What do you know about that distribution plan? What Gottlieb said: "We'll be able to vaccinate the public or a good portion of the public heading into the fall of 2021. I think 2021 is going to be a much different year with COVID, with the combination of the vaccine and other therapeutics, the therapeutic antibodies that will be in wider supply in 2021. What we really need to get through is the next two or three months." Why it matters: Gottlieb said elderly residents in nursing homes will likely be the first group to get vaccinated once a vaccine is approved. After that, elderly people living at home could be the next group vaccinated, with lower age groups and populations with less risk being eligible to receive it by "probably second quarter of 2021, maybe third quarter, if things go well." 4. McMaster on Trump's Afghanistan drawdown: "Abhorrent"  H.R. McMaster, a retired lieutenant general and President Trump's former national security adviser, said the Trump administration is handing the Taliban a victory by withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, calling the plan "abhorrent." What we asked: Is the president handing the Taliban a victory on the way out the door? What McMaster said: "In fact, what I think President Trump has done is paradoxically doubled down on all the flaws of the Obama administration approach to Afghanistan by conjuring up the enemy we would prefer, instead of the actual enemy that we are facing in Afghanistan. An enemy that- that- who- if they win, if the Taliban establishes control of large parts of- of Afghanistan, give safe haven and support base to terrorist organizations who want to commit mass murder against us on the scale of 9/11, we will be far less safe and- and vulnerable to these groups. And I think what happened is the prioritization of withdrawal over our interests led to us actually empowering the Taliban. I mean, if we were going to leave, just leave, but don't force the Afghan government to release 5,000 of the most heinous people on Earth. Don't- don't- don't make this assumption that there is this bold line between the Taliban and these other terrorist organizations. Hey, we saw today with these rocket attacks in Kabul and- and the images of- of hundreds of young girls fleeing these- these rocket attacks. We saw it with, you know, an attack on a maternity hospital where they gunned down pregnant mothers and- and killed infants. We saw on the attack of- on the American University in- in Afghanistan. I mean, what does power sharing with the Taliban look like? Does that mean every other girl school is bulldozed? Does that mean there are mass executions in the soccer stadium every other Saturday? I think it's- it's abhorrent what we're doing." Why it matters: McMaster's criticism comes after President Trump fired former Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Twitter shortly after Election Day, replacing him with Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller. Soon after, defense officials announced the U.S. plans to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 in each country, a drawdown of about 2,000 in Afghanistan and 500 in Iraq, by January 15. 5. CVS Health CEO outlines plan to vaccinate the vulnerable  CVS Pharmacy is one of the locations where Americans will eventually be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes widely available. CVS Health CEO Larry Merlo walked through the process of rolling out the vaccine and just who would receive it. What we asked: What is the time frame? When you receive it from the U.S. government, how long before there's a shot in the arm? What Merlo said: "Our first involvement in terms of administering the vaccine will be in long-term care facilities. That is not anything that is new for us. Our pharmacists, our nursing professionals, have gone to skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities for several years now, conducting seasonal flu clinics. So we have the systems. We have the processes. We have built the logistics directly for the COVID vaccine. And we just received information within the last few days that more than 25,000 long-term care facilities have selected CVS to be their COVID vaccine provider. So, we're in the final step of matching our staffing plan to our logistics plan and, to your point, Operation Warp Speed has said 24 hours after approval, those vaccines will be on the road and 48 hours after we receive that vaccine, we'll be in those facilities providing that vaccine into the arms of our elderly, our most vulnerable population." Why it matters: Merlo's analysis provides the first tangible evidence of a roll-out plan for the coronavirus vaccine in a highly accessible format -- CVS pharmacies found on nearly every block of U.S. cities will be instrumental in providing much-needed care to the most vulnerable Americans.
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