good morning! and welcome to "way too early," the show that wants to hear more about this four-day workweek idea. we're going to tell you about that little bit later on in the show. i am kasie hunt on this tuesday, march 16th. we'll start with the news. europe's fight against coronavirus just hit another snag as more countries hit pause on the astrazeneca vaccine due to concerns about side effects. germany, france, italy and spain have halted use of the vaccine after reports of blood clots in some people who had recently received shots. denmark and norway halted the shots last week. astrazeneca says a review of 17 million people found no increased risk of blood clots and the world health organization is urging countries to continue using it. this comes as europe faces a third wave of coronavirus amid a slow vaccine rollout. the shot, which was developed with oxford university, has not yet been approved for use in the united states. the fda is still reviewing data to determine if the shot is safe and effective for use here. and president biden kicked off his campaign to promote the benefits of the covid relief package with an event at the white house yesterday. >> help is here and hope is here, in real and tangible ways. we're just days away from 100 million shots in the arms of millions of americans, 100 million checks going into the pockets and/or direct deposits, going into the pockets of americans, on the way to a million more -- millions of more americans. that's real progress. we have a lot more to do. we have to prove to the american people that their government can deliver for them and do it without waste or fraud. >> the president travels to delaware county, pennsylvania, today, delco, the first stop of the administration's nationwide tour to promote the plan. and after majority leader chuck schumer praised president biden's handling of the recovery from the pandemic, minority leader mitch mcconnell took to the senate floor yesterday and gave this decidedly different review. >> the president announced another supposedly audacious goal on thursday, that all adults in all 50 states should be eligible to schedule vaccinations by may 1st. here's the problem. dr. fauci said a month ago we'd be there by april. that was dr. fauci's prediction last month. so, the president's announcement of may 1st wasn't ambitious, good news. it was actually a walkback. president biden also made news with a big proclamation that maybe, maybe, if citizens behave themselves, we'll be able to have small outdoor gatherings by july 4th. this was bizarre and problematic on several levels. number one, let's be clear, the federal government does not instruct free citizens how they may gather in small groups with their own families. number two, this strange proclamation was out of step with science. current cdc guidelines say it is already safe right now, right now, for fully vaccinated people to meet in small groups, not just outdoors, but indoors, and they can be joined by an unvaccinated household if they're low risk. that's the cdc's advice, talking not about july 4th, but right now. right now. so, the president went on national tv to move the goal post way beyond what his own cdc is saying. that brings me to point three. the president's proclamation was far out of step with what's already happening across the country. it was advice for an alternate universe. the president and his advisers may need to get out more. >> joining us now, nbc white house correspondent mike memoli. mike, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. >> you and i have both watched a lot of mitch mcconnell over the years. he was trying to attack president biden there. i couldn't help but thinking his heart really just wasn't in it, because things seem to be going relatively well. >> reporter: well, kasie, i think this really shows the divide in the republican party about how to deal with president biden. attacks on this new president, just like in the campaign, were difficult for republicans to really find a strategy that would stick to him. and that's why, as you see president biden going on this don't call it a victory lap tour of benefits of the recovery plan that they just passed, you look at what the leader of the senate is doing, which is to try to go attack at the heart of why the president is still enjoying a little bit of a honeymoon -- the broad perception in the public that he's done a good job of handling this pandemic. and then you look at the leader of republicans in the house and you see a very different strategy, which is to look at a completely different topic to try to raise the specter of immigration as a midterm issue especially, something that does unite republicans at a time when they are looking for things that unite their party. but for the president, and as he embarks on this tour and you look at what the first lady was doing yesterday, focused on school reopening, the vice president yesterday focused on vaccines, this tour does two things -- one, talk about lessons learned from 2009. the white house knows that they need to continue to impress upon the public what's in this plan, to continue to talk about it ahead of what they know eventually will be more targeted republican attacks. but two, kasie it buys them time. they need to figure out what their next legislative priority is going to be. is it a huge infrastructure package, a smaller thing in the hopes of getting bipartisanship? that is what they're deciding in the building behind me as the weeks come ahead. >> as we speak. or maybe they haven't gotten up yet. we can imagine. mike, on the school question, that does seem to be one place where they are actually struggling. they made promises to reopen schools. and i know there are a lot of frustrated parents out there. what is the plan to try and actually deliver on that promise? >> reporter: well, it was interesting to see the first lady and what she did yesterday, and she's going to do another event later this week. of course, dr. biden, herself, a teacher, which is to address the issue of teachers, themselves. this white house, obviously, is closely aligned politically with teachers' unions, and that's been one of the other sources of attacks from republicans, that this white house is very well aware of and concerned about, because their allies are some of those resisting efforts to put teachers and students back in the classrooms quickly. what they've tried to impress upon the public is that this rescue package was necessary to deal with this. now there will be resources and money for schools, to give them things that are required, to have social distancing, to have more teachers in the classroom. but very clearly, we're also going to see next week a summit hosted by the new education secretary to talk about ways in which this can happen. but clearly, the white house knows there's more work to be done. >> all right, nbc's mike memoli, thank you, as always, for getting up early with us. >> reporter: you got it. >> really nice to kick the show off with you. and on the topic of schools, a new study suggests that a shorter social distance for masked students might be enough to stop spread in schools. the study, which was published last week in the journal "clinical infectious diseases" suggests that public schools may be able to reopen safely with three feet of social distancing in the classroom, instead of six. for the shorter distance to work, students would need to wear masks as well as take other safety measures. the cdc has yet to issue new guidance for schools, but dr. anthony fauci said the agency's studying all data before making new recommendations, and we are going to hear more from dr. fauci when he joins "morning joe" coming up later on this morning. also this morning, the director of the cdc is warning that the united states could experience another spike in covid cases as states ease restrictions and more people begin traveling for spring break. >> with the coming warmer weather, i know it's tempting to want to relax and to let our guard down, particularly after a hard winter that, sadly, saw the highest level of cases and deaths during the pandemic so far. i'm pleading with you for the sake of our nation's health. these should be warning signs for all of us. cases climbed last spring. they climbed again in the summer. they will climb now if we stop taking precautions when we continue to get more and more people vaccinated. all right, still ahead here, new charges stemming from the assault of a police officer who died after the january 6th capitol riot. plus, a group of republican lawmakers travel to the southern border and blame president biden for a surge in unaccompanied migrant children. we'll show you how democrats are responding to that. those stories and a check on your weather when we come right back. when we come right back tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? what if your clothes could 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title, this year's tournament is wide open after five different teams were ranked at number one in the ap poll this season. that includes uconn, which finishes the regular season as the poll's top team for the 16th time. but the lady huskies will play without coach geno auriemma for at least the first two rounds of the tournament, as he isolates for ten days following a positive coronavirus test taken on sunday. the team's head physicians had contact tracing protocols indicated he did not have close contact with any other team members since friday. according to the school, all other tier one members of the team and staff tested negative for the virus in the last two days. auriemma can rejoin the team as early as march 24th. meanwhile, six referees have been ruled out of the men's tournament because of positive coronavirus tests. an ncaa official tells "usa today" that one official tested positive yesterday and five other officials interacted with the person the day before were identified as exposure risks due to prolonged close contact. four replacement officials have previously been approved and meet the pretournament testing protocols. two of those officials will not be replaced. this news comes a day after the men's bracket was revealed and three days after virginia and kansas had to pull out of their respective conference tournaments because of health protocols. both teams made the field and must return negative tests on seven straight days in order to participate. teams must have five players test negative to remain eligible. and finally, there is no better way to heal division in our nation's capital than the return of america's pastime. the d.c. government has approved the attendance of 5,000 spectators at washington nationals home games when the regular season begins next month. the figure represents about 12% capacity for nats park, which holds more than 41,000 people. the nats will host the mets in the first of a three-game series on opening day, which is followed by another three games in washington against the braves. the team said it's going to start talks with city officials this week about increasing the number of fans permitted to attend games starting with the series that begins april 15th against the visiting diamondbacks. i cannot wait! cannot wait to go to a baseball game. all right, time now for weather. let's go to meteorologist bill karins for a check on your forecast. bill, do we have any baseball weather anywhere today? probably not yet. we haven't quite gotten to opening day. >> we're getting there. but eventually. maybe in the south a little bit it will be okay where they're doing all the spring training still. so, kasie, we're transitioning from winter with our big, last huge storm that nailed wyoming and colorado with feet of snow. and now we have a new storm coming through california. this is going to be more like a middle of the spring type of storm. this one's going to have a lot of severe weather with it. we're going to be talking tornadoes over the next couple days. so, for severe weather, you need a couple of ingredients. you have to get the warm, humid air coming off the gulf of mexico. that's already happening. and then, once the storms form, in order to get, you know, severe weather, you have to get winds kind of colliding. and that gives you the lifting mechanism. then to get tornadoes, you need that lifting air to start spinning. and we're going to get what we call wind shear with those storms, too, significant wind shear, especially on wednesday. so, me's how it sets up. during the daylight hours today, no problems. but this evening, severe weather will formulate today and then through the overnight hours. watch out in oklahoma for showers, maybe dallas to austin to san antonio, some wind damage and hail. then tomorrow's the big day. that looks like the best chance of a severe weather outbreak and possibly even tornado outbreak. heads-up for our friends from little rock to memphis, all of northern mississippi, including tupelo, then from huntsville to montgomery. and then finally, this severe weather threat will last all the way into thursday as these storms will plague us throughout areas of the southeast. so, kasie, you know, we're jumping right from our big winter storm over the weekend to what we expect to be a significant severe weather outbreak. and you've probably heard of tornado alley? there's a new term for this area, alabama and mississippi. they call it dixie alley. there's a trend with climate change to increasing tornadoes in that area. >> all right, well, fingers crossed for all the folks living in the potential path of that. bill karins, thank you very much. we will see you tomorrow. and still ahead here, amid accusations of racism, republican senator ron johnson is, get this, defending comments that he made last week about black lives matter protesters. we'll be back in just a moment. we'll be back in just a moment did you know that 70% 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(burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. they should really turn this ride off. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ (burke vo) start with a quote at 1-800-farmers it all starts with an invitation... ...to experience lexus. the invitation to lexus sales event. lease the 2021 nx 300 for $359 a month for 36 month's, and we'll make you're first month's payment. experience amazing. start your day with secret. secret stops sweat 3x more than ordinary antiperspirants. and we'll make you're first month's payment. the new provitamin b5 formula is gentle on skin. with secret, outlast anything! no sweat. secret welcome back. two men were charged with assault on officer brian sicknick, who later died on injuries sustained during the january 6th attack on the capitol. julian khater of pennsylvania and george tanios of west virginia are accused of working together to use bear spray on sicknick. but according to court documents, authorities stopped short of charging them with killing him. the search warrant application says there's video of khater reaching into tanios' backpack and later holding a can of chemical spray. a body camera of one officer captured khater holding a canister in his right hand and aiming it in the officer's direction while moving his right arm from side to side. both men appeared in court yesterday and were ordered to remain in custody. and the u.s. capitol police are going to begin taking down parts of the fencing that's surrounding the capitol since rioters broke into the building on january 6th. a security memo sent to lawmakers yesterday says capitol police have determined that there does not exist a known credible threat against congress. according to the "washington post," over the course of this week, the acting house sergeant-at-arms said security officials will begin repositioning inner perimeter fencing closer to the capitol to allow some pedestrian access to the grounds. and then there's this. after facing bipartisan criticism, republican senator ron johnson is defending comments he made about black lives matter protesters and the deadly capitol riot. here is what he said last week, followed by his new defense. watch. >> i knew, even though those thousands of people that were marching the capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, i knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law. and 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 protesters, i might have been a little concerned. there was nothing racial about my comments, nothing whatsoever. this isn't about race. this is about riots. and i was -- you know, i have been attacked and criticized because i pushed back on the narrative that, you know, there were thousands of armed insurrectionists, and that's just part of a small -- a small part of the 74 million americans who voted for president trump that also needed to be suspect of being potential domestic terrorists or also potentially armed insurrectionists. it's a false narrative. i wasn't surprised, but it's still pretty shocking that it would take what i consider completely innocuous comment and turn it into, you know, use the race card on me. >> he prefaced the first comment by saying he was going to get in trouble for it, and now he's saying it was totally innocuous. okay. still ahead, lawmakers have had access to coronavirus vaccine since december, but it turns out about one in four members of the house haven't gotten a shot yet. we're going to talk about what that means for americans who are already skeptical about getting vaccinated. but before we go to break, we want to know, why are you awake? email us your reasons for being up and watching to waytooearly@msnbc.com or drop me a tweet @kasie, use #waytooearly and we'll read our favorite answers coming up later on in the show. ow this is an athlete, twenty reps deep, sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. still your best friend. and now your co-pilot. still a father. but now a friend. still an electric car. just more electrifying. still a night out. but everything fits in. still hard work. just a little easier. still a legend. just more legendary. chevrolet. making life's journey, just better. lisa here, has had many jobs. and all that experience has led her to a job that feels like home. with home instead, you too can become a caregiver to older adults. apply today. did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn before it begins?e a caregiver to older adults. heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release formula that helps it pass through the tough stomach acid. it then works to turn down acid production, blocking heartburn at the source. with just one pill a day, you get 24-hour heartburn protection. prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. see every delivery... every yikes... and even every awwwwwwww... wait, where was i? introducing self protection from xfinity. designed to put you in control. with real-time notification and a week of uninterrupted recording... all powered by reliable, secure wifi from xfinity. gotta respect his determinatio. it's easy and affordable to get started. get self protection for $10 a month. ♪♪ welcome back to "way too early." it is 5:30 here on the east coast, 2:30 out west. i'm kasie hunt. history's been made with president biden's latest cabinet confirmation. congresswoman deb haaland is now the first native american to hold a cabinet-level post. she was confirmed by a vote of 51-40 in the senate with backing from republican senator lisa murkowski of alaska. the senator says she was urged by native alaskans to back the nominee. haaland's confirmation will elevate her to the head of the government agency that handles american-indian affairs. pretty remarkable. this is also rather remarkable. one in four members of the house of representatives has still not been fully vaccinated against covid-19, this despite every member of congress having access to the vaccine since they were first approved last year. in a letter from house minority leader kevin mccarthy to the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, he argues the house can relax coronavirus safety measures because 75% of members have gotten the vaccine. he wrote in part, "simply put, it's time that we return to regular order. house republicans are eager for the chance to reopen the people's house, restore america's voice in congress, and work day in and day out to address the many concerns our constituents face." house majority leader steny hoyer debated gop whip steve scalise about the plan to reopen last week. >> now that we have seen, from reports i've seen, maybe you have, too, that roughly 75% of all members in this house have had a vaccination for covid-19, there is a strong desire to get back to a regular floor schedule here on the floor, where we're conducting our business. we have the ability to interact with each other as colleagues. it's a much different experience than when people have to trickle in, trickle out. >> that would certainly be the ideal. there's no doubt about that. and we would like to get to that position. we continue to consult the capitol physician on his advice on what we ought to be doing. it would be a lot simpler if every member had been vaccinated, i tell my friend. and although, obviously, the information is to who gets vaccination, who does not is privileged and private information, as it should be, i would ask my friend to urge his members to get the vaccination so that both sides will know that all of our members have been vaccinated. >> the house vaccination efforts mirror the national struggle. a new poll found nearly a third of americans are still choosing not to get the vaccine, and that includes 40% -- 47% of people who voted for former president trump. should point out, we're not sure exactly what the political breakdown is in the house as to who's gotten vaccinated and who's not, but as leader hoyer alluded to there, it's possible it's a significant group of republicans. and nbc news is out with an exclusive report just a few minutes ago about a new push by environmental groups to pressure the biden administration and congress on climate change. the ad campaign, as nbc's josh lederman reports, is backed by democratic governors and it's going to run upwards of $10 million. it aims to set an aggressive starting point over the size and scope of the looming infrastructure fight as lawmakers and the white house tackle the next big issue following the passage of the covid-19 relief package. all right, joining us now, the co-founder of punch bowl news, jake sherman. he is also an msnbc political contributor. jake, good morning! always good to see you. let's start with this vaccine situation, because we know that some republican members in particular have been vocal about not wanting to get the coronavirus vaccine. madison cawthorn, the young new member from north carolina, among others. i think for those of us who have been scrambling to try to find vaccines for our families, this is a little bit of a head-scratcher. what is the plan? is there a plan to get everyone vaccinated so that the house can actually go back to conducting business? >> you know, kasie, that's a good question. i mean, i think it's a mix here, right? i think there are some members of congress who have suggested they're not going to get vaccines until they're widely available to their constituents, which is a fine position to have. but we're at the point, kasie, as we all know, that most americans are going to be able to get this vaccine in the next, you know, couple weeks, five, six, seven weeks. so, if congress is going to get back to business, get back to normal, get back to a place where they can be voting together instead of over a two or three-hour period, people need to get vaccinated as soon as possible. and i just think that, you know, it's not very difficult for members to get vaccinated. they could get a shot in their workplace. there's a lot of americans who would be very jealous at that kind of setup. >> yeah, no, for sure. and you know, the reality is that we are, i think as you point out, getting to the point where the most important thing is shots in arms. and of course, they play a role in that. all right, jake, so, let's talk for a second about what's up next here, because we're calling it infrastructure, right, this bill that, in theory, the white house wants to do it on a bipartisan basis. there's a lot of behind-the-scenes acknowledgement that they're probably going to have to use the same process they just did to get a big package through. but the word infrastructure is doing a heck of a lot of work, because it is going to be climate change, it is going to be roads and bridges. it could be a wide variety of other goals and opportunities for people to throw stuff in there. what are you hearing about how this is going to take shape and what the potential conflicts are? and do you think that there is a good-faith effort to try to get republicans on board to do this in a different way? >> a lot to unpack there, kasie. yes, i do think that they're going to try to get republicans on board. i think it's difficult. as josh's report points out quite clearly, there's going to be a ton of pressure to get green priorities into this legislation, and i think that's going to make a lot of republicans skittish and a lot of republicans are already saying it should be narrowly tailored into infrastructure, highways, bridges, roads, airports and trains. i just think that this is going to be a catch-all bill, kasie. and we heard yesterday ben cardin on a hot mic at an event with pete buttigieg, transportation secretary. he said that it's going to be one party only. it's going to be on a reconciliation package. and just the administration should be ready for that possibility, ready for that reality. so, i think -- listen, i'm looking at july 4th as a probable timeline, a probable deadline for this infrastructure package. but there's just going to be a lot of haggling between now and then. and there are people that are even skeptical that this will get done at all. and you and i, kasie, have lived through many iterations, not only in the trump administration, but also in the obama administration. infrastructure is bipartisan in the sense that both parties recognize that infrastructure is needed and needs to be updated. it's not bipartisan in the solutions that are proposed or the ways to pay for it or the contours of the bill like this. >> yeah, no, for sure. real quick, jake, what do you got coming up in "punch bowl a.m." today, anything good? >> yeah, we have a big talk about immigration. my colleague, john bresnahan, our co-founder, makes the case that immigration policy, immigration politics have gotten decidedly worse in the biden administration, in the biden years, and that's the top item. number two, we have some update on nancy pelosi's quest to get a 9/11-style commission to investigate the january 6th riot at the capitol is the best word to say it. it's not going anywhere. it hasn't gone anywhere. and it's really stalled, frankly, in something that shouldn't be surprising to anybody, but is still shocking, given the horrible events of that day. >> yeah, it's quite a statement on the state of things. and of course, you've always got something good in "punch bowl a.m." we'll be reading it in minutes. >> that's true. thank you. >> punch bowl news' jake sherman. thank you. coming up, we'll look at this year's oscars nominations. plus, the totally different approach to the workweek for one european country. 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[ applause ] >> you know a black woman hasn't won in that category since 1986? >> haddish joins whoopi goldberg as the second black woman to ever win the award and the fourth woman to do so as a solo act. congratulations. and now this. spain is set to become one of the first countries to experiment with a 32-hour workweek. for years, advocates for a four-day workweek have argued that a compressed week leads to higher productivity and a better work-life balance, a perspective that has gained traction amid the pandemic. while the details have yet to be completely worked out, spain will attempt the shorter workweek with companies. the government will make up the difference to lessen employer risk. the experiment is expected to cost up to $340i68on with enough money for up to 200 companies to participate. it's expected to last three years and could start as early as fall. interesting. all right, still ahead here, the latest on the situation at the southern border. republicans are criticizing president biden over a surge of migrants, but did the crisis actually begin during the previous administration? don't go anywhere. "way too early" coming right back. nywhere. "way too early" coming right back this is how you become the best! ♪“you're the best” by joe esposito♪ ♪ [triumphantly yells] [ding] don't get mad. get e*trade. age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice. and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain! see every delivery... every yikes... and even every awwwwwwww... wait, where was i? introducing self protection from xfinity. designed to put you in control. with real-time notification and a week of uninterrupted recording... all powered by reliable, secure wifi from xfinity. gotta respect his determinatio. it's easy and affordable to get started. get self protection for $10 a month. this crisis is created by the presidential policies of this new administration. there's no other way to claim it than a biden border crisis. the safety and security of americans and our border is the job of the president. he is the one who created this and he is the one who can fix it. >> house minority leader kevin mccarthy led a group of republican lawmakers to el paso, texas, yesterday, amid the surging number of migrants crossing the u.s. border with mexico and claimed president biden created the border crisis. just a day earlier, democratic congresswoman veronica escobar, who represents el paso, argued that the influx of migrant children at the border began during the trump presidency. >> we began seeing the increase in unaccompanied minors going back to last april, 2020. this is not something that happened as a result of joe biden becoming president. we saw the increases dating back almost a year, and this was during the trump administration. >> and joining us now, president and ceo of voto latino, msnbc columnist and contributor maria teresa kumar. always great to see you. thank you for being up early with us. >> good morning, kasie. >> i want to talk through this issue and how we solve it. it's obviously something that has been a point of stress for many administrations, presidents of different parties, but obviously, under the trump administration and stephen miller, in particular, who had so much influence on this policy, the way that we have handled people who have crossed simply has, according to the biden administration, fallen apart. what do you and other advocates think they need to be doing right now to try and make sure that these people who are coming are treated humanely? >> kasie, you nailed it. this is not the first administration, and there was an influx of children at the border even under obama. that's when we saw the first surge. one of the first things the obama administration ended up doing is they allowed what is called a policy of the northern triangle. they allowed minors wanting to make the treacherous journey through central america to present themselves at their local embassy to ask for asylum. and that way, they didn't have to make that journey. one of the first things that the trump administration did, kasie, was actually strike down that policy. and so, that was why we started seeing more of an influx of children making that dangerous journey. and now, the biden administration is going back to the root cause, opening up those embassies, saying, please, don't try to cross the border. go present yourself at your country of origin and let's start processing you there. that's part of it. the other part is that, sadly, the covid epidemic has exacerbated a lot of the detention facilities holdings, so they are now spilling over. and the administration is trying to do as much as it can, but from what is described internally is that the whole homeland security department, this whole area of processing children basically was gutted under miller, under the trump administration. and so, they're trying to patch everything together as quickly as possible. let's keep in mind that the president has been at the helm of this administration for less than 60 days and this border crisis was exacerbated for over four years under president trump. >> do you have any concerns about the different tone coming from the biden administration? i mean, do you think that they should be more strongly discouraging people from coming? what role does -- you know, they haven't said -- they've said that the borders are closed, but they've certainly taken a different tone than what we've seen in the past. >> well, and i think that's one of the reasons that the challenges that we're hearing from even people on the ground that with the change of administration, there was a whisper campaign saying now it's safe to go back to the united states. and the biden administration has very clearly stated and told those countries of origin not to send people, that the system is backlogged. and one of the things that we would encourage them to do is have more of those conversations in the countries of origin and have a propaganda campaign that's much stronger, because there is a discord of what people are hearing and the reaction to it. but at the same time, the reason people are principally coming, sadly, is because major crisis that they have in their home countries. whether it's increasing gang violence, but in places like guatemala, it's climate change. most of them are farmers. they simply cannot grow their food. so they are coming for survival. most of these individuals are political and economic refugees. so the biden administration is recognizing that. but one of the things that would be great to see is while he was running for office, he talked about creating a marshal plan of sorts for latin america. now would be a good time to start making those announcements. >> while i have you, you have a new op-ed about disinformation and vaccinations. i know this is something that has particularly come up in latino communities. how do we fight this and create trust in the vaccines, especially in vulnerable communities of color? >> it has been a huge problem. it was so close that it hit my home, my mother. my mother is in the health care industry, kasie, and she was reticent of receiving a vaccine. and it took me weeks for her to finally admit, she was receiving these random whatsapp and inbox messages from someone at the gym. and one of the reasons they are targeting the latino community and the african-american community, and sadly non-native english speakers is that we're finding the root cause is to make these individual groups distrust government. and the moment you start distrusting government, you stop participating. and it's one of the major reasons when we're looking at the autopsy of what happened in florida in 2020, was a concerted effort of spinning conspiracy theories that targeted donna shalala and other congresspeople, making them not only distrust government, but fundamentally encouraging not to participate in our democratic system, not to vote. this is one of a larger picture. we're still learning about how and why. but just a couple of weeks ago, for example, "the wall street journal" discovered that a lot of this disinformation propaganda was stemming from russia. >> all right. maria teresa kumar, thank you very much for being up early with us, really appreciate your perspective. and earlier on in the show here, we asked all of you, why are you awake? >> shannon writes, i'm up way too early to try to force my body to recognize daylight savings time. ryan tweeted, woke up this morning to work on a paper for my course on congress and thought your show would get me in the right head space. wish me luck. good luck, ryan! i hope so. and karen shared this photo saying, this little cutie woke me up at 4:00 a.m. barking at who knows what. i have been there with our dog, radar. thanks for watching, guys. coming up next, nbc's matt bradley joins us with his reporting as europe faces a third wave of coronavirus infections. and coming up on "morning joe," anthony fauci will join the conversation and we'll hear from mikie sherrill about what's next on democrats' agenda after a big win on coronavirus relief. don't go anywhere. 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[music: "i swear"] jaycee tried gain flings for the first time the other day... and we'll make you're first month's payment. and forgot where she was. you can always spot a first time gain flings user. ♪ welcome back. as spring break kicks into high gear across the country, many are traveling south for warmer weather despite the pandemic. florida facing crowded beaches and busy streets, a far cry from last year's lockdown. over the weekend, police in miami beach shot pepper balls to disperse a crowd that had gathered around officers making an arrest. yikes. law enforcement had attempted to break up a crowd of more than 200 people who were blocking traffic in miami's nightclub district. the city reports that over a hundred people were arrested in miami beach over the weekend. across europe, meanwhile, new coronavirus restrictions are being rolled out as case numbers surge. italy has shut down shops, schools, and restaurants and both france and germany are adding new lockdowns. adding to the turmoil, at least four countries have suspended astrazeneca vaccinations. joining us now to talk more about the challenges facing europe, nbc news foreign correspondent, matt bradley. matt, it's good to see you, thank you so much for being here with us. you spent so much time in italy, covering the lockdowns, as we were all just beginning to grapple with this crisis. and i think it's a little stunning for everyone to see them having to do it again. what's going on there that's causing that and what's the difference between the vaccine rollout in europe compared to what many people are experiencing here in the united states? >> yeah, the vaccine rollout in europe has been a scandal for a lot of europeans. there's been a lot of reasons behind it. astrazeneca, which just suspended its use by several countries in europe. they've been way behind on delivering the vaccines they've promised. it looks as though there's a lot of vaccine skepticism that's also been an issue. but we're now looking at a third wave throughout the continent. and that is causing hospitals to start to be brimming with patients, especially in places like france. italy, which took such a brunt of this virus, especially in the north of the country back one year ago now is also going to be seeing more added restrictions putting people at home once again. now, this is so upsetting for so many people, because a lot of these countries really thought that they were over the hill here. they really thought that they had seen the back of this virus. and they were looking forward to getting these vaccinations. a lot of the european continent is relying on astrazeneca. and now that there's these suspensions, that's going to be a huge problem on top of other problems that this continent is already facing. now, i mean, really the problem is, is that we're talking about a couple of deaths, a couple of sicknesses amongst millions and millions of people who have been receiving this vaccine. so while a lot of european authorities, even as they suspend use of astrazeneca, they're still saying that the science doesn't call it dangerous. well, that's a very difficult line to make, because you're saying that we're suspending its use, we're not going to be administering it, but it's safe. it's safe to use. and a lot of people, especially among those here in europe who are already quite skeptical of vaccines, they're not going to be able to accept that. they're going to really think that astrazeneca is a dangerous vaccine. kasie? >> yeah, you know, i was talking to a u.s. expert yesterday who suggested that, that it is pretty dangerous to make that suggestion, it's going to feed some of these conspiracy theories. why is it that there's so much vaccine skepticism in europe? i find that a little bit surprising. >> it's the same really in the states and it depends on the country. when i was in france last year, there was a period when 60% of french people responded to surveys and said they would not be getting any vaccine. there have been incidents in the past where government programs and doctors have tried to administer vaccines and there have been health problems, there have been scares. a lot of these things have never really turned into anything. and a lot of this was sort of innuendo and not to scientific. but at the end of the day, there is a lot of skepticism. there's a lot of worries about vaccines, just as there is in the states. it's part of an anti-vaxxer movement that really is global. >> remarkable. nbc's matt bradley, thanks so much for being here. really appreciate it. just to underscore that point, ask your local doctor. these vaccines, we know, have been shown to be safe and effective and are going to get us thankfully out of this pandemic. thank you so much for getting up way too early with us this tuesday morning. don't go anywhere. "morning joe" starts right now. and then i see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see, it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number in the lungs. it would be interesting to check that. so that, you'll have to use medical doctors with, but it sound interesting to me. >> that moment, obviously, there's a lot of tape on