Diego, a healthy baby boy, but erica never got to hold him. She went on a ventilator moments after delivery and died last week, leaving behind diego, her 1yearold daughter and her husband. Erica bacerra is one of 284,000 americans who will not be home for the holidays this year. She didnt have any Underlying Health issues. She was just pregnant. She followed every rule in the book, and you know, she still ended up catching it, and its sad, you know, like, you got a lot of people that dont understand whats going on. They all think its a joke. They all think its a joke until, you know, it happens to them or one of their family members, and. Tragedy, and erica is not alone, as laura pointed out. The rate of americans dying is now as high as its been the entire pandemic, and more remain at risk. 102,000 americans are in the hospital this morning, thats another new record, and thats before we fully feel the effects of holiday gatherings. And a surge thats expected in the coming weeks. New york, california, arizona, michigan, and pennsylvania, among the states reporting concerns over Hospital Capacity. And breaking overnight, a landmark moment in the pandemic. The United Kingdom becoming the First Western nation to vaccinate its citizens, less than a week after the uk approved the Pfizer Biontech vaccine. Phil black is live at a hospital in edinburgh, scotland. Margaret keenan said she wasnt afraid at all, and it was just fine. Reporter she spent much of the year separated from her family. Shes a mother, grandmother, and she was supremely grateful to receive this vaccine. She turns 91 next week, and she described it as a wonderful early birthday present. Take a listen. Its free, and its the best thing thats ever happened. So please gor for it. Thats all i say. If i can do it, so can you. Reporter so if you look at the initial rollout here in the United Kingdom, the numbers are relatively small. But they are powerful in the hope they represent, i think, to people everywhere. 800,000 initial doses of this vaccine start to roll out from today. Millions more by the end of the year, were told, and the focus will be on those most at risk. Front line, and medical care staff, care home residents, it means that those who most need protection should in theory have it in the relatively near future. Deaths will be prevented almost from the getgo. But in the slightly longer term, a little further over the horizon, as this vaccine and others are rolled out, there lies the possibility for families, communities, whole cities really, to go back to living Something Like their normal lives, but the message here from the very top down, from the Prime Minister down, is that although this is hugely significant and that promise of normalcy is the promise of this Vaccination Program, eventually, right now, were not there yet. This is a hugely significant day. It is a turning point in dealing with the virus. It is potentially the beginning of the end, but were not there just yet. So the message is to use this hugely hopeful optimistic day to celebrate this achievement for medical science and focus that on being disciplined and not being complacent in the final stretch of grappling with this virus, and finally on this hugely significant day for britain, the second patient to receive that vaccine was someone who shares a significant british name. He was william shakespeare, someone who shares the name with the famous british play wright. Great second name, i should say, for the patient there. Were not out of the woods yet but such an important, historic day. Phil, thanks so much. On the heels of this terrific news for the world, you have to ask, what is the american plan for the vaccines and for eradicating coronavirus. Dueling events today from President Trump and president elect joe biden will offer a realtime contrast, and with concerns growing about having enough vaccine, theres a new report that the white house passed on an opportunity to secure more supply to meet the predicted demand. For his part, President Trump is leaning on what looks like an empty vow to make sure americans get vaccinated first. Cnns Kaitlan Collins reports from the white house. Good morning, boris and laura. Theres a summit happening on vaccines here today at the white house where the president is expected to sign an executive order aimed at making sure the americans get the Coronavirus Vaccines first, though. When white house officials were pushed yesterday on what exactly the specifics of that are going to look like, they did not offer a lot of details, because of course were waiting on approvals to happen at the fda for the Companies Making the vaccines, and that means that pfizer and moderna, two of those companies, are not going to be present at this event today at the white house like they were initially planning to be so, and white house officials explain that by saying because their vaccines are before review in front of the fda currently, they did not think it was a good idea to have them appear both at this event at the white house where theyre going to be talking about vaccine distribution, and what thats going to look like. It comes after the New York Times reported that pfizer offered to sell the white house more doses of its vaccine over the summer but that the white house passed on that offer. A white house official denied the story yesterday, and said they do feel confident there are going to be enough doses of the vaccine to go around to all americans that want them, starting once they are approved by the fda, and they start getting shots into the arms of people. One big question, and one thing you should be looking for today, there are not going to be any Biden Administration people at this event. That comes after there had been so criticism and back and forth between the two parties where president elect biden said he had not laid eyes on a Distribution Plan for the vaccine, from the white house, not a detailed one, and you saw several officials push back. There is one, they are expecting to meet with the Transition Team later this week, still waiting to see exactly when that could happen. For now, president elect biden can only stand by and watch as a crisis he will have to confront deepens. Mr. Biden will introduce Top Health Officials later today, and is expected to announce his pick for secretary of defense. Cnns jeff zeleny is in wilmington covering the biden transition. Reporter good morning, laura, and boris, president elect biden is poised to introduce his new health team we have been talking about for the last several days. Front and center, javier bacerra, the California Attorney general long time member of congress will be nominated to lead the helalth and Human Services department. Several members of the health team have become household names during the pandemic. We learned late last evening, mr. Biden has settled on defense secretary, hes going to nominate, we are told, lloyd austin, a retired army general. He retired in 2016, he led the central demand during the obama administration, a 40 year veteran of the army. If confirmed by the senate, he would indeed become the first africanamerican man to lead the defense department. Of course this would be the latest in a series of barrier breaking nominations that mr. Biden has named to his cabinet. He would also, though, need a waiver from congress because civilians are to run the department of defense. He retired from the army just four years ago, and there is a sevenyear waiting period. It is likely he would certainly get that waiver. Clearly another barrier breaking move. Also his defense contracting time over hasis retirement is gaining scrutiny. No question, certainly would be one more first mr. Biden appointed to his kabcabinet. A busy week in wilmington. More economic posts expected later this week. Laura and boris. Thank you so much. Michigan secretary of state, the latest to face personal threats over the election. Hear what she says about the situation in michigan and beyond. Next. Mornings were made for Better Things than Rheumatoid Arthritis. When considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz. 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They are reaching out to pharmacy and nursing interns and medical students to get as Many Health Care workers vaccinated as possible, once vaccines get emergency authorization. New york state is moving to expand Hospital Capacity preparing for a long, arduous winter. Cnn has the pandemic covered from coast to coast. Im jean casarez in new york. Governor andrew cuomo is asking hospitals to increase bed capacity by 25 , after the states Positivity Rate went up to 4. 79 on monday. It is all part of the states new surge and flex strategy. And if these actions are taken, there will be about 75,000 hospital beds all together. 58,000 of them for covid patients, and the governor says if ultimately more beds are needed than that, they can always open field hospitals. Reporter im nick watt in los angeles. Now on thursday, the ca notify app goes live. Heres how it works, if you test positive, you type a code into that app, and it then notifies anybody who has been within 6 feet of you for more than 15 minutes. Apparently it is all anonymous. It uses blue tooth technology, and the idea is the sooner you know youre infected, the more chance you have of not infecting anybody else. Reporter im lucy kafanov, with covid19 cases skyrocketing, arizona says only 8 of adult icu beds remain open to patients. The state reporting more than 1,500 new coronavirus cases monday. 92 of icu beds are currently occupied. Nearly half are filled with covid19 patients. Reporter im pete muntean in washington. Pilots will have to wait for an extra layer of scrutiny for a Coronavirus Vaccine before they can get vaccinated. The faa says it must evaluate each Coronavirus Vaccine candidate. This is another step beyond fda emergency authorization. Medications can ground a pilot making them unfit to fly, but the faa has not said if it has ever grounded a pilot for a vaccination. Thanks to all of our correspondents for those updates. Michigan secretary of state refusing to be bullied after she says dozens of armed protesters gathered outside her home shouting into bull horns about voter fraud. Joslyn benson says her 4yearold son was just sitting down to watch how the grinch stole christmas on saturday night when the mob showed up. The protesters made what she called unambiguous, loud and threatening demands to overturn the States Election results. A fury that the president has stoked among his supporters. Were calling on all citizens to join us in defending the voice of the people, defending our democracy, and ensuring that we all can push back against this on sluslaught of misinformation, combined with hateful rhetoric to lead to incidents like we saw saturday night, not just targeting me, our voters, and also affecting elected officials on both sides of the aisle all across our state. Reporter this behavior not just in michigan where an alleged plot to kidnap the governor was foiled over the summer, Election Officials in other states including georgia and pennsylvania have also reported being targeted with Death Threats over the election. The perfect season for the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to a crashing halt. Washington Football Team for the win taking the upset. Details next in your bleacher report. Dry, distressed skin that struggles . New aveeno® restorative skin therapy. With our highest concentration of prebiotic oat intensely moisturizes over time to improve skins resilience. 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The stealers were up 14 right before halftime, and alex smith, leading washington back. Smith here going deep for cam sims, watch the incredible one handed catch, and that was good from 29 yards. That grab would set up washingtons go ahead and field goal in the 4th. The steelers did have a chance to retake the lead with two minutes remaining in the game, but Ben Roethlisberger here in the line of scrimmage, intercepted by former steelers line backer, jon bostic. Washington goes on to win, 2317. Their first victory against the steelers since 1991. The 49ers hosting the bills and their home away from home in arizona, due to coronavirus protocols in santa clara county. But theres no Home Field Advantage for the 9ers in this one. Buffalo quarterback josh allen dominating, four touchdown passes. The bills get the rare prime time win, 3424. First victory on monday night football for buffalo since 1999. Baltimore ravens, will have starting quarterback Lamar Jackson back in the lineup against the cowboys tonight. The reigning nfl mvp activated from covid19 list after missing last weeks game. Jackson was one of nearly two dozen ravens to test positive in the nvrlfls biggest outbreak o the virus so far. The team firing the defensive coordinator yesterday a day after his controversial play call led to a last second loss against the raiders. Instead of guarding the goal line with five seconds left, williams called for an all out blitz and one on one coverage that allowed las vegas to easily score that winning touchdown. That dropped the jets to 0 and 12, and now williams is out of a job. Finally, break dancing now going to be an olympic sport. Breaking as the sport is called is going to make its debut at the 2024 summer games in paris. The International OlympicCommittee Approved it yesterday, becoming the first dance sport to join the summer olympics. It made it debut two years ago at the Youth Olympic Games in argentina. So laura, you know, break out your old cds, get that boom box out, you know, who knows. 2024. I still have cds, dont age me necessarily. I do want to see your moves. Maybe theres hope for you in the olympics still. I dont know about me. Andy, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Some sad news for you this morning, Actress Natalie reed, best known for her roles in babs and cinderella has died . A girl like her a flail and flub the actors family says she died after a battle with colon cancer. Her costar halle berry says shes heartbroken. Natalie showed us it was okay to be goofy and funny, and sincere, she represented actual black women, not what black women are perceived to be. She is survived by her husband and three children. She was 53 years old. Join Anderson Cooper and kelly ripa for cnn heroes, an all star tribute, 7 00 p. M. , 8 eastern only on cnn. Good moves. Or hydration. Neutrogena® hydro boost. 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Its about 30 minutes past the hour in new york, and we begin this half hour with big breaking news. Overnight, a landmark moment in the pandemic. All done. The United Kingdom becoming the First Western nation to vaccination its citizens less than a week after the uk approved the Pfizer Biontech vaccine. Cyril vanier is live at a hospital in london. Tell us who got it first. Reporter the uks biggest and motorist complex Vaccination Program in history is well underway. The first patient, patient a, is Margaret Keenan, shes 90 years old, an early riser. She got the jab at 6 31 a. M. Local time at Coventry University hospital. Heres Margaret Keenan just after the jab. I say go for it. Go for it because its free, and its the best thing thats ever happened at the moment, so, do, please go for it. Thats all i say, you know. If i can do it, well, so can you. Reporter yeah, she says she felt privileged to be the first britain to get the jab. If she can do it, so can you, she said. She said she spent most of this year, 2020, alone, unable to see family and friends, and shes looking forward to being able to see her relatives in the new year. She wont be immunized until the first days of 2021. She got her first jab today, 21 days until the second jab, and another seven to ten days until shes fully protected from the coronavirus, and look, theres also poetry in who it was that got the second jab in that hospital. It was a man named william shakespeare. Not spelled quite the same as the english play wright but theres poetry in the fact that one of the first britains to get it. He was a patient at the federalfrailty ward, his grand kids art work was nearby and he went for a rest afterwards. Cyril, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Well, for now, president elect joe biden can only stand by and watch as a crisis that he will have to confront deepens. Its time for three questions in three minutes. Lets bring in cnn senior political analyst john avlon. Nice to see you my friend. Good morning, guys. On the same day that the uk administers this Pfizer Vaccine for the very first time, looks like the u. S. Passed up on chance to have more of this vaccine available. The New York Times reports that the Trump Administration turned down an offer from pfizer for more doses and now pfizer cant guarantee anything beyond the initial hundred doses before june. So what do you think happened here . Is this just basic incompetence. The Trump White House denying the New York Times report, which means very little, given the history. 100 million doses is what theyre guaranteed. The president is expected to put forward an America First proclamation, which doesnt have any teeth other than the fact that it says america will be first for vaccines developed here. Thats not what will happen, and the Pfizer Vaccine is going to be distributed globally. Obviously the u. S. With a population over 300 million needs more than 100 million vaccines. We should note pfizer is not the only vaccine maker. It does seem, however, to be a pretty expensive fumble. I dont knjohn, i want to ast the big news, nominating the defense secretary, set to announce retired general lloyd austin as defense secretary. Hes not a household name but joe biden knows him and certainly his resume. Hes a retired army general, led u. S. Central command for three years. Hes also a commanding general of u. S. Forces in iraq. What are your thoughts on this pick . Somebody who could have a lot of credibility with troops in uniform, however, there are some disputes coming out of the congressional quarters because austin will require a congressional waiver because he has not been out of the military, retired, for requisite seven years. That was granted to general mattis but a lot of Democratic Senators at the time said it was inappropriate, and they wouldnt green light Something Like that again. So an impressive pick, a series of firsts, good to have someone with military experience, but because of that seven year waiver issue, there could be a fight for this one up on capitol hill. John, even if theres a fight, the u. S. Has a rich history, i think you would agree, of relying on career servants in this country like lloyd austin, but the president is trying to gut the apparatus before biden takes office. A member of the pentagons defense business board were told has now resigned over the recent purge of the boards membership. Trump loyalists are being replaced. Former military officers with decades of experience in the Defense Industry, is this actually going to affect bidens ability to govern or is trump just messing with the system before hes out of the door. The full court press, i think, the administration is making, is designed to create headaches and to try to implement some of their ideological agenda before they go out the door. However, while it is petty and pathetic to replace Defense Industry professionals who have served without regard to party with just political app rach, this one is just more of a petty head scratcher rather than an attempt to influence policy and solidify it before they leave. Always great to get your help sorting through this. A former coronavirus Data Scientist is defending herself after Florida State police raided her home on monday. About ten officers with guns drawn showed up at Rebecca Jones tallahassee home at 8 30 in the morning. Remember, she was fired in may, and shes been accusing florida officials of trying to cover up the extent of the coronavirus pandemic. Now those officials are investigating whether jones accessed a State Government messaging system without approval to urge other employees of the state to speak out about coronavirus deaths. According to court documents, investigators traced a message to an ip address connected to her home. They took my phone, and they took the computer that i use to run my companies. And on my phone is every communication ive ever had with someone who works at the state who has come to me in confidence and told me things that could get them fired or in trouble like this. And i just want to say to all of those people right now, if he doesnt know already, desantis will know soon enough that you have been talking to me, so be careful. Jones is refuting the states account. She tells cnn she did not access any state messaging system improperly, and she lost access to her government computer accounts after she was fired. Hey, stay with early start. Well be back after a quick break. Three derm ingredients in one cream. Dont settle for less. Revitalift triple power with proretinol plus hyaluronic acid and vitamin c. It visibly reduces wrinkles. Firms. And brightens. Now thats triple power. Revitalift triple power moisturizer from loreal. 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Designed to put you in control. With realtime notifications and a week of uninterrupted recording. All powered by reliable, secure wifi from xfinity. Gotta respect his determination. Its easy and affordable to get started. Get self protection for 10 a month. Dining curfew and closing gyms and salons as coronavirus cases tick up. Keep in mind, hong kongs new surge pales in comparison to the unite. There were 132,000 cases reported yesterday in the u. S. Hong kong had 78. Meantime, japan is taking steps to jump start its faltering economy. Cnn has the pandemic covered around the world. Reporter im japan is pumping billions into its economy as it battles a new wave of covid19 cases. Prime minister pledging to spend more than 700 billion to help save jobs and keep the economy afloat. Japan has already spent trillions to boost its economy. The latest measures come as the country battles a rising number of covid19 cases thats putting a strain on the countrys medical system. Reporter im Fred Pleitgen in berlin, germany, where the key indicator of Coronavirus Infections per 100,000 inhabitants has hit a new record high. The German Health minister is warning that new lock down measures might become necessary if the surge in Coronavirus Infections, hospitalizations and deaths is not brought under control. Theres also some state governors who are saying that planned easings during christmas time might not happen if the numbers dont go down. Reporter im istanbul reported new covid deaths making it the single deadliest day since the start of the pandemic, as the government prepares to start vaccinating. Turkey has developed its own vaccine but right now it vaccine of choice is developed by sin evacuate, biotech, undergoing phrase three trials in turkey, but the government has already preordered 50 million doses. It says it will start rolling out this month thanks to all of our International Correspondents for those reports. Iran is facing its biggest surge in coronavirus cases, and hospitals are being stretched to their limit right now. The countrys global isolation, not making it any easier for people to survive there. Cnns Nick Paton Walsh went inside a hospital in teheran. Heres what he found. Reporter a bleak winter outside as was teherans summer and spring before it. Relief is scarce, 750 have died from coronavirus in these corridors. Another, a young woman, as we arrive. Just turning the corner marks the start of the icu here, two dead is a good day. Four average. And nine bad, doctors say. Irans heroism in the pandemic, a little fierce as theyre doing it under the maximum pressure of the Trump Administration sanctions. Proud of what they have done with this equipment as theyre angry that its all they have. One of the hardest hit countries in the middle east by the coronavirus. Theyre suffering they say so much more acute because of the impact of sanctions led by the United States. Halief doesnt look it but is much better. One of the parks, and there we had the coronavirus. Very pain in my chest and it is cruel upon america. Cruelty. Yes. Reporter 300 medical staff have died in iran on this job were told, but like all numbers here, it is at the mercy of limited testing equipment and exhaustion. But even in that numerical chaos, 10,000 officially died in november alone from covid19 and seem here to be getting younger, were told. The most bitter day was when i had a 47yearold mother of 3 here, he says, she didnt respond to treatment. When she died, that was the most terrible, bitter day for me. I could not save her. It stuck in my memory. And if you have lost the fight, you often head south across the city to where there is both little and plenty of space in the cemetery. Economy and scale, every final home measured precisely even as the bodies arrive. The imams prayers here caught in a loop of loss. Reverberating into and over each other day in, day out. Each of a dozen imams leading about 30 funerals a day. A womans scream, which would normally freeze everyone here, almost lost. Nobody wanted to talk but the stories off camera were similar, diabetes, late 50s, coronavirus, the vulnerabilities that under pin the fond memories of the departed, and fuel each final tender ritual. Care is all around. These are tombs, not holes, and even in the grim process of decay, handled meticulously. The outside World May Never see the full picture of irans battle with the same enemy weve all faced, or appreciate how much more crippling a deliberate tightening of sanctions made it. Now, weve seen some pretty chilling tolls passed in the last week. On the weekend, iran passed 50,000 dead from this. Thats that they know of. There are issues with the capacity for testing not being as strong as they would like it to many. Many countries face that too. And they have passed their million case mark since the pandemic again. You hear from doctors a consistent message of we have managed to get a grip and get our Domestic Production of medicines and equipment, they dont have a surplus here. They are worried about an escalation, and of course, november, the deadliest month, a fifth of those known dead within that month alone. Startling to see the damage the coronavirus is doing here, and at the same time, too, as the tension escalates in the region around diplomacy and the Nuclear Standoff here. So important to show the reality on the ground there. Such great reporting as usual. Thank you. Back to the United States now. The house set to vote today on a oneweek stopgap to keep the government open until december 18th. Notably, that bill just one of three critical items on the agenda this week. Cnns matt egan is here, the lead writer for cnn business. Matt, this is shaping up to be an insane week in washington, as if we havent had enough of those. Take us through the huge pieces of business that Congress Needs to get through, and why they matter. Good morning, boris and laura. Youre right, it is kind of insane that washington is trying to cram through all of this stuff all at once. This would be like trying to get married, have a child, and move into a new home all at the same time, what could go wrong, right, so heres the deal. First, theres this 740 billion military spending bill, even though it includes pay raises for soldiers, and new equipment, President Trump is threatening to veto it. Thats because hes upset with silicon valley, specifically he wants to include a repeal of section 230, which is the law that shields Internet Companies against being sued for what people post on their web sites. Whats so telling here is that republicans and democrats are actually working together to cobble together enough votes to override the president s veto threat. Next, as you mentioned, government could run out of money as soon as friday, thats why there is a plan right now to vote on a continuing resolution that would basically keep things going for another week so they could then do the third big item of business, which is this covid relief bill. It would be nearly a trillion dollars and the economy desperately needs it. Matt, thankfully, it looks like there has actually been progress on a bipartisan stimulus package. It may seem obvious. Just explain what happens to the economy if congress drops the ball on this yet again . Yeah, laura, i mean, basically the recovery is losing serious momentum, and it could stall out if congress does not act soon. Just look at whats going on in the labor market, the november jobs report that came out friday, it showed the weakest of the entire pandemic. Economists i have been talking to, they said that basically the economy can start losing jobs if congress does not act soon. Also, millions of americans could lose access to Unemployment Benefits. Thats because two unemployment programs, theyre set to expire, one covering gig workers, the other for people on longterm unemployment. The big thing to watch here is what happens on liability protection. Basically whether or not the federal government is going to shield companies from getting sued for covid outbreaks. Senator mitch mcconnell, he said that is a red line for him, and so if there is no progress on that item, the whole thing could collapse, which really would be a shame because we have vaccines on the horizon, and the economy just Needs Congress to sort of bridge the gap. Yeah, that liability protection, a huge priority for mcconnell. I want to ask you about Bernie Sanders and other progressives that are not happy with this stimulus package because it does not include stimulus checks, the same actually goes for Republican Josh Hawley of missouri. But would that idea have enough impact on the economy that it would lead to ultimately spiking this bill all together, do you think . Well, i think the criticism is right in the sense that this 908 billion package is not enough to get the economy through the whole pandemic. And whats interesting is as you mentioned, its not just from the left. We heard senator josh hawley say that he told President Trump that veto the whole thing if stimulus checks are not included. The economists im talking to, they say, listen, you know, we dont know that stimulus checks are really needed right now. Americans will probably just save that money, rather than spend it, and theres a lot of really good stuff in this package including extending the Unemployment Benefits that i was talking about earlier, forgivable loans for small businesses, state and local aid from the federal government, and so, you know, you dont just want to kill the whole bill because of that single issue. I mean, its like if your house is on fire, you wouldnt turn away the one fire truck that comes up just because you think two are needed. You would take the help and hope to get some more. Yeah, thats the idea. You cant let perfect get in the way of helpful or just good. Matt egan, cnn business lead writer, thank you so much for the time this morning. Thanks, matt. Thank you. Finally for you this morning, americas greatest pilot, chuck yeager has passed away. The world war ii fighter, ace and air force general became the first to break the sound barrier in 1947. The famously captured decades later in the book and the movie the right stuff. Yeagers wife announced his death, an incredible life well lived and strength and patriotism will be remembered forever. Chuck yeager was 97 years old. Once known as the fastest man alive. Incredible story. Thank you so much for joining us. Im Boris Sanchez in for christine romans. Im laura jarrett. New day is next. 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