Announcer nightline will be right back. Lets be honest. Quitting smoking is hard. Like, quitting every monday hard. Quitting feels so big. So try making it smaller, and youll be surprised at how easily starting small can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette. Good evening, thank you for joining us, joe biden and Kamala Harris wont be sworn into office for another 2 1 2 months. But already unveiling a plan to combat the pandemic. While donald trump and his allies double down on unfounded election claims and rebuff calls to concede. I will spare no effort to turn this pandemic around once were sworn in january 20th. Reporter president elect joe biden today making it clear, his first order of business, tackling the covid19 pandemic thats now killed nearly a quarter million americans. Primary message, wear masks, specifically imploring those who resist it. Its not to make your life less comfortable or take something away from it. Its to give Something Back to all of us, a normal life. Reporter bidens remarks coming on the heels of the most promising vaccine news to date, pfizer saying theres is effective presenting infection. On the run after waiting four days to be announced the winner. Joseph biden jr. Is on track to win the state of pennsylvania, become the 46th president of the united states. Reporter in several u. S. Cities, democratic strongholds, spontaneous celebrations erupted. On saturday night, the culmination of incredible run for president , once thought to be too old, white and out of touch with todays democratic party, celebrating with his running mate, senator Kamala Harris. Weve won with the most votes ever cast for a president ial ticket in the history of the nation, 74 million. Reporter biden reaching out to the 71 million who did not vote for him. For all those of you who voted for President Trump, i understand the disappointment tonight, ive lost a couple of times myself. But now lets give each other a chance. Its time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again. And to make progress we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies, theyre americans. Reporter harris shattering the Vice President ial mold, becoming first woman to win the Second Highest Office in the land. While i may be the first woman in this office, i will not be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. Reporter President Trump still refusing to concede, spending the weekend golfing at his virginia resort. His campaign taking the fight to court, questioning the validity of the votes in key swing states. This election is not over, far from it. Reporter theres been no evidence to back up any of the allegations that team trump have made. President elect biden bringing to the white house a decidedly different style. Born in 1942, spent early years in northeast pennsylvania, scranton. Family moved to delaware, biden would launch career in politics. 29 years old elected to u. S. Senate in 1972. But just a month later, tragedy struck. Bidens wife and baby daughter killed in a car crash. Sons beau and hunter also seriously injured. Nearly resigned his senate seat but served. Sworn in at hospital. Do you solemnly swear i do. Reporter commuting from d. C. To delaware every nig on amtrak. 1977, married second wife jill. We dont use term stepmother. We have a mom and mommy. Mommy died, this is our mom. Reporter and they had a daughter, ashley. Biden spent 36 years in the senate and launched two unsuccessful campaigns for the white house. In 1998 and in 2008, where he faces barack obama, obama tapping biden to be his Vice President. Beginning of a deep and enduring friendship. For the final time as president , i am pleased to award our nations highest civilian honor, the president ial medal of freedom. Reporter right before they left office in 2013, obama surprised biden with the president ial medal of freedom, highest honor given to civilian in america. Obama would also be there to comfort biden when his son beau died from brain cancer. Beau biden brought to his work a mighty heart, to his family a mighty heart. Reporter a griefstricken biden decided not to run for president. But it was President Trumps reaction to the unite the right rally in charlottesville, virginia. You also had very fine people on both sides. Reporter that compelled biden to change his mind, throw hat in the ring one more time. At that moment i knew the threat to this nation was unlike any i had ever seen in my lifetime. Reporter not auspicious start but propelled by black voters, surprising frontrunner and then nominee for the democrats. If you entrust me to the presidency, ill draw on the best of us, not worst. Reporter anything but traditional shl traditional, in midst of pandemic, president had huge rallies. Biden always wearing a mask, had smaller events. He and his running mate accomplished what is only done four times in history, beat incumbent president. Were here to bring this home. Reporter grew up in california, daughter of immigrants, jamaican father and indian mother, primarily raised by mom. Part of a bussing program to integrate berkeleys public schools, going on to star on debate team on howard university. Do not listen when they say it cant be done. Howard taught me and it has taught you, you can do anything and you can do everything. Reporter after graduation from law school, she was the first female San Francisco district attorney, then became californias attorney general in 2011. During that time she forged a bond with delawares attorney general, beau biden. I got to know joe in large part through beaus relationship with his father. Reporter in 2016, harris easily won race for u. S. Senate, sworn in by her future running mate. She launched a president ial run herself in 2019. America does not want to witness a food fight, they want to know how were going to put food on their table. Reporter dropping out before any votes were cast. When biden became the democratic nominee, he repeated history like obama, tapping former rival to join the ticket. Facing a raging pandemic, tattered economy and polarized nation, newly elected team is not intimidated by the challenges. We stand at an inflection point. We have an opportunity to defeat despair, build a nation of prosperity and purpose. We can do it, i know we can. Coming up, why dr. Fauci was calling the findings of one covid19 vaccine trial extraordinary. Sofi made it so easy to pay off my student loan debt. They were able to give me a personal loan so i could pay off all of my credit cards. I got my mortgage through sofi and the whole process was so easy. 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More than 238,000 americans dead, now a flicker of hope. Early results from a late stage clinical vaccine trial from pfizer showing vaccine is more than 90 effective preventing the coronavirus than a placebo. When might the vaccine be approved . I spoke to dr. Richard now the ceo of the Robert Wood Johnson foundation. Pfizer announced the results, whats your reaction . I think its exciting. I always urge caution until a companys results have been validated by impartial scientists. But when you have a vaccine thats more than 90 effective, that can be a game changer, along the same level of protection you get from measles vaccine. And fda had set threshold for approval, above 50 in reduction of risk. Exciting news. Dr. Fauci called the effective rate extraordinary and unexpected. Did you ever think wed get a vaccine this successful to deal with such a deadly virus . Well, you always hope youre going to get a vaccine as good as measles, some of the best out there. But there are a lot of vaccines where the level of protection is nowhere near that. Each year we encourage people to get the flu vaccine knowing in a good year it will reduce your risk about half. So this vaccine has some challenges in terms of how you distribute it. Will take a while to ramp up production, but if it holds up and its as effective in longer periods of time as its shown in the sevenday evaluation, could be incredible. We know its early but what do we know about the safety of the vaccine . We dont know a lot yet, fda is requiring companies to follow patients full two months and its not through that full period. This vaccine is using a new technology, are mrna, never been used for vaccine in humans before. Its really important to follow people even longer than that, larger populations, and make sure the vaccine is not only effective but safe. Doc, as you know, pfizer and three other companies are in late stage trials. When can the American People expect a vaccine to be widely available . You know, theres a lot of effort going into planning. Vaccines where the government has already paid to have the vaccines be manufactured so if theyre effective, they can start to roll out. Theres been a lot of planning by the cdc and state Health Departments in terms of how they would distribute vaccines when theyre available, but this vaccine, if it pans out, its not going to have big impact this winter. In early course will go to health care providers, those in positions of greatest risk, but not widely distributed to the general public until spring or later. Doc, cases have never been higher in our country, passed 10 million cases today and another surge is sweeping the country. Is there anything we can be doing to get it under control before the vaccine comes . There is so much we can be doing. One, we need to come together as a nation and recognize that following the recommendations of Public Health is best way to get economy up and running in sustained way, the best way to protect each other, to make sure our children are safe, our parents are safe, those in our communities are safe. Im hoping now the election is over, we can see governors stepping up and mandating masks in each of their states. Just saw utah do that, a terrific move. We estimate if everyone in america wore masks appropriate time and interactions, there would be tens of thousands of lives that could be saved. Thats a small thing to ask people to do. Any concern at all that news of a possible vaccine may give the public a false sense of security . Its given me real concerns throughout this. Lot of people saying theres a vaccine around the corner, why do i need to inconvenience myself by wearing a mask, keeping away from others, or limiting my behavior. Those are the things that will save lives this winter. And the storys not fully in yet on this vaccine. This news is encouraging, we need to see a longer period of time, 28 days to see how it protects at that point. We need to see how it does against serious covid infections. This initial result was against all infections and fda wants to see how it protects the most serious infections and then we need to look at safety data. This is encouraging but were not there yet. I hope people will step up. Winter is viruses high time. They survive longer and stay in the air and we spend time indoors, that favors the virus. You talked about this plenty of time, this notion of fatigue. World has been dealing with this a long time. Any sense with the vaccine coming down the road, you think when the world might get the virus under control . I do worry about the issue of fatigue. But as you look across the nation, states that thought because they were rural and less densely populated, they didnt have anything to worry about, were seeing cases skyrocketing, hospitals fill up and states having to put in mobile hospital units. Im hoping that sense of fatigue doesnt overcome peoples ability and willingness to do those measures that will save lives, because the models are only a prediction. We have the ability to make those modelers wrong by doing things to reduce the spread of this disease in our country. I hope we can come together as americans and do it for each other. Dr. Richard besser, always grateful for your time and expertise, see you down the road. Thanks for having me, great talking with you. Up next, final jeopardy with host alex trebek, how he inspired the next generation. Announcer abc news nightline, sponsored by i robot. Experience clean in a whole new way. 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The same humira you trust with less pain immediately following injection. If you cant afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. The outpouring of tributes coming in for the beloved jeopardy host, his absence felt around the globe. Alex trebek. Alex trebek sharing the wonders of the world to millions of families each night, inspiring them to strive for greatness. Im an immigrant, like a lot had a hard time learning english. Growing up, grandfather would sit me on his lap and we would watch you, and i credit you for my perfect diction, thank you. Trebek brave throughout his battle with pancreatic cancer. Telling how important fans were to him. Most important element of my life outside of family and friends. Cant help but be touched by what they say. Stop worrying about the future, treat every day as a blessing and enjoy it to the fullest. And try to be aware of when you leave this earth that youve made a difference in the lives of other people. Theres no question, hes left a Lasting Legacy of compassion and kindness. How would you like to be remembered . Oh, gosh, as a decent guy who did his best to help the contestants perform, and if thats the way they remember me down the line, perfectly happy with that. Alex trebek was 80 years old. Thats nightline for this evening. Watch full episodes on hulu, see you back here same time tomorrow. Thanks for the company, america, good night