Of this week. But as the vaccines are coming online, the virus continues to spread at an alarming rate. Now one in 20 americans have contracted this virus. And more than 301,000 americans have died. Joining me now, nbcs Yasmin Vossoughian is at Yale New Haven Hospital in connecticut where theyll begin to administer vaccines to Health Care Workers today. Nbcs Valerie Castro is in el paso, texas, where officials Just Announced curfews on christmas and new years. Yasmin, i know there are high spirits there among the Health Workers waiting to get the vaccine. What are they saying to you . Reporter think about whats been taking place in this state over the last two weeks, andrea. In the last two weeks theres been more deaths in this state than in the entire month of november. Theyre getting 30,000 doses of this vaccine over the next two weeks or so. This hospital alone, 2,000 of those doses, andrea, we saw delivered this morning. And the staff, the pharmacy staff, the folks that receive these vaccines at first off the fedex truck, they were elated, they were cheering as this small box was rolled in, holding almost 2,000 doses of that vaccine. In this hospital behind me, theres been 741 deaths total since march. Theres three out of four beds at this point occupied, covid beds, alone. 57 patients are on ventilators currently and 433 people are currently hospitalized with covid. One of the people that is going to be getting this vaccine first is dr. Obugawu, an Infectious Disease specialist. He was head of the Pfizer Vaccine trials through this entire process here for yale new haven. What does it feel like that youll be getting this vaccine in an hour or so . Its hard to even package my feelings together. Its excitement. As one of the researchers running the Clinical Trials for the vaccine here at yale, as a doctor caring for Covid Patients on the front line, even as a father worried i could take the disease back home, im happy on so many levels that i can hopefully get protected from the disease. Reporter talk about the trepidation of people, what does it mean to put yourself out there to say i am getting this vaccine . I hope for communities of color, to which i belong, i hope that seeing someone on the front lines of the vaccine process, eager to get the vaccine, i hope that can reinforce peoples confidence that the vaccines are safe and effective as they were found to be. Reporter now youre going to be getting the vaccine that you worked on, that you studied and researched, an incredible moment for the doctor here, andrea. As you can imagine. Hes going to be getting that shot in his arm in just about an hour or so, on the road to stopping this upon the issues thus joined six or seven months or so hopefully when theyre able to deliver vaccines to the general population. Yasmin, what a great validater that doctor is, the researcher, a person of color, someone who knows the science and is now getting the vaccine. Such a symbol of hope to all of us. Thank you so much for that. And now to valerie, where in el paso the vaccine cant get to that Community Soon enough. So hard hit by all of this, valerie. What are you seeing there . Reporter andrea, el paso was extremely hard hit by this pandemic. But today there is a bright spot in all of this. The first shipment of the vaccine is expected to arrive here at the University Medical center, really any minute now. Were here in the loading dock area behind the hospital. You can see some of their media there. Were waiting for that ups truck to pull in just around that corner. They were expecting 2,900 doses to be delivered in this first shipment. Of course it will arrive in ultracold temperatures, it will be put directly into storage here at the hospital. When its ready to be used, it will be thawed out, that will take several hours. Once at room temperature, it will be ready to be administered to those first front line workers. Again, we talked about thow el paso was hard hit by this virus. The hospital spokesperson tells us after all that dire news, today is certainly a bit of hope in all of this. Take a listen. We are excited. This is a day that weve all waited for. There is a palpable sense of excitement in all of our staff. Were looking forward to getting these vaccines here. As soon as the vaccines arrive in very short order, were going to put them to use. Were going to start vaccinating our staff. And these are the front line workers, the people there day in and day out, working with covid19 patients, the ones that have seen the difficulty, the strive, the heartache this disease has brought on our city. Reporter the hospital tells us they plan to use all of those doses, all 2,900, over the next five days. That will trigger another shipment. This will all roll out in phases, of course. The first phase, as he talked about, is front line workers. The second phase will be the elderly in early 2021. And phase iii will be the general public, possibly sometime in april. Andrea . At least some good news there for el paso, thank you very much, Yasmin Vossoughian and Valerie Castro. Joining me now, dr. Moncef slaoui, chief adviser of operation warp speed. Big news today, moderna expected to receive emergency use authorization approval from the fda as early as friday. First, how many doses do you think the u. S. Will get . What day do you actually think the first shots can be put in arms . Yeah, so very exciting day indeed. Second day of shipment of the Pfizer Vaccine approved last week. Thursday, the fda will be reviewing in public moderna filed with vrbpac, the advisory committee. Hopefully on friday the expectation is that the vaccine will be approved. Its efficacy, its safety, its performance is broadly similar if not identical to that of the Pfizer Vaccine. Its cold chain requirements are actually less stringent in that it requires the cold of a freezer like the freezers we have at home. And those vaccine doses will start to be shipped as of 24 hours after the approval. Hopefully they will be arriving next monday. About 6 million doses will be shipped to about 3,200 sites. Overall, in the month of december, between the two vaccines, pfizer and Moderna Vaccine, we expect to have immunized 20 million of our American People and keeping 20 million doses for their second immunization a few weeks later. So youre still on track for the 20 million doses that last week during the briefing are expected before the end of the year . Yes. We are actually expecting 40 million doses to have been produced before the end of the year. We will use 20 million for the first dose, in 20 million people, and well keep the 20 million for a second immunization a few weeks later. There are some very positive indications on the americamoder least from the preliminary information they released today, not just the 94 efficacy but also talk to me about whether or not it can prevent transmission of asymptomatic covid virus. So, really Important Information released indeed, two important things. One, efficacy was 100 against severe disease. Efficacy was very high in the people 65 years of age and older, also in our diverse population, between the latinos and africanamericans and native americans. So efficacy across the line, excellent. And secondly, indeed, early data showing up to 65 to 70 efficacy against acquiring infection thanks to the immunization. If you are not infected, of course you will not be transmitting the virus to others. The data obtained and described is after the first dose only, there will be more data that i hope will confirm and even achieve a higher level of protection against infection which would help us not only to protect against this disease, but also potentially eliminate the virus circulation from the population and then more quickly impact the overall population. So in this one regard, if not others, is this actually a better result than what the initial results were from pfizer . Doctor slaoui, can you still hear me . Yes, i can hear you now. Were going to take a quick break. I can hear you. Can you hear me now . Yes. Okay. I was asking whether in this one regard, about preventing infection, is that a better result than what was seen initially from pfizer so far . First, pfizer hasnt yesterday analyzed their data for protection from infection. It is a higher hurdle and therefore a better outcome, even better. My expectation is that prevention of disease by these vaccines will last quite long, maybe prevention of infection to the level were seeing, maybe shorterlasting, maybe lasts three, four, six months, when prevention of disease in my humble opinion as an expert is probably going to last a year or two years, three years. But all in all, the performance frankly of these vaccines is just exceptionally good, and their safety payrorofile is ver good, very similar to that of alreadyapproved vaccines. And were there any other contraindications regarding allergic reactions or pregnant women or any of the other categories that might cause some concerns . Right. So the allergic contraindication is four people who have known allergies to components of the vaccine. And the uk has decided that people who have severe allergies to the point that they are carrying an epipen should be careful in being immunized in a setting where they can have support in case they have a very, very severe allergic reaction. I should stress that in the Clinical Trials there were no such events for both vaccines. So those are likely to be very exceptionally rare events. But the statistics are such that maybe one in 100,000 events happens the first time and not when you get to the 100,000. In terms of pregnant women, the studies are starting to be able to study this vaccine now that we know that there is clearly an expected benefit to immunize pregnant women and assess the safety of the vaccine. Again, the expectation, frankly, is that it should be okay but it is important to document it and study it before its labeled. Because of the federalist system, the federalism system in the u. S. , the governors are in charge. We dont seem to have a centralized, uniform way to report and measure where vaccines have been received and administered and to whom. Theres no National System in place. Wouldnt it be beneficial to have that . Well, i mean, of course thats philosophical system. Of course in the uk there is a national centralized system. Here its not the case, however we have worked to create an i. T. System that is able to connect the various data sources so that we would be able to have an integrated view of the system. I think also, frankly, the size and complexity of the u. S. Is such that it would be very hard, at least in terms of deciding where to sent vaccines, it would be very hard to have the granular view required to say, you know, lets start with this particular nursing home rather than the next one in the next zip code across all of the u. S. We realize that its really very complex, and its probably better done with better judgment if its done at a more local level such as a state. A very renowned medical journalist, laurie garrett, has been talking about the supply chains and shortages of essential materials, components of the vaccines, which is lead to go fewer doses from pfizer so far than might have been anticipated. She was diagnosing it as, part of the problem, the same materials are needed for testing as for the vaccine manufacture, and a big surge in testing before thanksgiving led to fewer vaccine doses. Since the start we realized that supply of Raw Materials as well as supply of equipment needed to manufacture the vaccine will be a potential challenge, particularly for certain components. And this is one of the things that the operation, thanks to in particular my colleague general perna at the department of defense, has worked hard to create a priority pass through the defense production act, to ensure priority access to Raw Materials, to equipment, et cetera. I think the situation were living in is one where there are many vaccines being manufactured, some of which are being approved as we speak, a week apart, some of which are completing their phase iii trials, and some of the equipment and the Raw Materials that they are using are similar. So we have to ensure that we distribute these Raw Materials appropriately, given that the strategy is to have as many vaccines approved as possible so that we can accumulate as many doses as possible. For instance, one of the vaccines thats coming immediately after the moderna one is the Johnson Johnson vaccine. Its a oneshot vaccine that comes with quite a number of advantages in terms of distribution and immunization. And we need to ensure that we are able, again, to stockpile some doses of vaccine, of that vaccine, while we are also ensuring that the Pfizer Vaccine is produced and the Moderna Vaccine is produced. We think frankly that we are able to support all the players appropriately. As you know, we is signed an option for a second 100 million doses with moderna on friday. And we are working with pfizer to ensure that similar agreement is reached very shortly and likewise with the other manufacturers. And very briefly, when do you think Johnson Johnson might be done with phase iii and ready to submit for the emergency authorization . So the Johnson Johnson trial phase iii will actually close recruitment two days from now, on thursday. We expect the first readout of efficacy early in january of 2021. We expect filing, if everything goes according to plan and if the vaccine is efficacious, somewhere very late in january of 2021, and an approval in february, authorization by the fda, and we are gearing up to have enough vaccine doses as of the month of february to immunize a significant number of americans. Dr. Slaoui, thank you again. People are very grateful, of course, for the progress so far, and the anticipation of more progress to come. Thanks for being with us today. Thank you for having me. You bet. And the number of people who are hungry in this country is staggering. The crisis exacerbated by the pandemic. More than 50 million americans will not have enough to eat this year, potentially including 17 million children. Today msnbc is joining nbc news on all of our programming to highlight work being done around the country to combat the crisis in Food Insecurity, intensified by the pandemic. One organization that started fighting this problem right away in march is world central kitchen. Its already provided more than 33 million meals in more than 400 cities. Joining me now is chef jose andr andres, founder of world central kitchen and the chef and owner of the food group. Thank you for being with us, chef. As you know well, this National Hunger crisis is so exacerbated because of covid. What are your Immediate Solutions . Well, our solution is what weve been doing since february when we began responding to covid, feeding many people that were stranded on a cruise ship in yokohama, japan. We never stopped since then. This is very simple. This is the biggest emergency as a country weve face incod in t last hundred years. We have a Government Agency called fema which it is emergency organization. We have a hunger crisis. We have people who have been suffering in this pandemic. Why fema doesnt activate itself on this pandemic . They dont need any approval from congress. The white house can do this without any legislation. We are in the middle of the holidays, hanukkah, christmas coming. Wouldnt it be the logical thing to do, to make sure that congress and in this case the white house and fema put all their resources to feed everybody in need . We can do it, we should do it. If we are leaving americans hungry, its because there is not the political will. You made this very explicit in a column in the washington post. The federal government, you wrote, gives food banks about 20 per hungry american per year. Now in the pandemic, congress is struggling just to add 80 cents to that for each member of a family of four thats literally less than a can of beans. Youre saying take the fema money already appropriated because this gridlock in congress isnt going to do much for hungry americans who are going to food lines in unprecedented numbers. This is a very important moment, to be bold. Food can be the solution and not the problem. Lets make sure we build shorter walls and longer tables. Why we dont change things that theyve been like this for 50 years . The last white house summit has been in 1969. Its the last time really we take a look at how we keep america fed. When we give people food stamps, if we increase for families the amount we give them in food stamps, but we have to diversify ways families can use those food stamps. Why not use it in the local diners, in the local food bank, in the local supermarket . Why are people already suffering in the poor parts of our cities, why they cannot be spending that money in their own neighborhoods, in the cross creating jobs, in the process creating economic growth, in the process giving people dignity they deserve, there are many other ideas we can be doing right now not only to fix the problems from covid19 but also building more resilience with food systems. Once again, a plate of food gives dignity to americans falling behind. For some reason, the white house and in this case the senate are not putting all the resources of the federal government to make sure that every american, republicans and democrats, that are suffering right now, will be fed, especially going through this Holiday Season and beyond. Youre also calling for a secretary of food asxand agricultur agriculture. Do you believe the Agriculture Department has not put food foremost of the . The incoming secretary, tom vilsack, was the secretary of agriculture under the Obama Administration. I believe secretary vilsack would agree with me. There were obviously criticisms of things that the Obama Administration and vilsack didnt do. But his experience is broad, he understands the challenge and i think he will be there for the challenge. I will say i will show my support if he is going to be bringing new ideas to keep america fed. But food is more than the usda. Food is immigration. I just came from honduras and guatemala where people are suffering. If we dont do something there with the help of usaid, well have people coming to our borders. I believe food is so much more than the usda. Thats why im calling for a 2022 white house food summit so we can bring people with various ideas about how once and for all food will be the solution for many of the problems we are facing. I think President Biden is going to be up to the task. A few weeks ago he gave me the opportunity to do a town hall where the main issue was food and he has shown already kind of an understanding that food should be the priority of this administration, of the biden harris administration. Im going to be watching, but i do believe that they are going to be putting every resource the federal government has to make sure that, again, food becomes part of the solution and not the problem. And of course, as you have pointed out in all of your work, helping the Food Distribution by helping restaurants that have been hit so hard by the pandemic. Thank you for all youre doing, we will stay on this as we know you are. Thanks for today. And food banks and food pantries are being overwhelmed during the coronavirus crisis. 40 of people who are going to food banks this year have never before used them, according to feeding america. If you want to help, grab your phone, open up the camera and hold it up to the screen. The rest of the segment, youll see that qr code at the bottom right corner. Point your army at it. Youll be taken directly to today. Com where you can support feeding america. For more on the people helping during the season, nbcs Morgan Radford is at the greater food depository in oregon. Tell us how people can help. Reporter andrea, were standing right now with the helpers and heroes in this warehouse. If you look around the room and see the hundreds of people who are here trying to make sure that food can get into the hands of people who need it. Just to give you a big picture sense, this is a food depository. This is where everything starts. This is where people go to actually pack these boxes and distribute them to food pantries so that they can get to the people who need them. These volunteers, you can see them holding apples. Theyre putting them if boxes. These boxes will then get loaded into trucks and theyll go to serve. The bottom line is, andrea, this is a need thats unlike any the people who work here say theyve seen before. In fact i would love to introduce you to jim. Jim, you work here, youve been working here. Explain the scale of the need your seeing this year. The need weve seen this year because of covid and job loss is unlike anything weve seen in our 41year history as a food bank. Reporter why do you think that is, what are some things youre hearing from people . We know this pandemic and its economic effects has deeply affected our community, peoples ability to earn a living. Children have been out of school in some districts. Just a lot of challenges for families that were already living paycheck to paycheck. Reporter what does that mean for your workers and your volunteers . I understand theyre putting in extra hours, working overtime, because it sounds like you guys are moving an unprecedented amount of food. Can you explain that . We are, our Food Distribution so far this fiscal year is up by more than 50 over last year. Our team has been doing a phenomenal job working extra hard. And we have the help of volunteers like the folks in this room who are coming in to help us repack apples for our neighbors in need and do so many other things to keep the food going. Reporter and i think as jim was explaining, andrea, feeding america estimates the Food Insecurity in this region, in cook county, has increased by 51 . Theyve also seen pantry visits increase by 50 . Thats just since the beginning of this year, andrea. You can see the scale of the need. What warms my heart is you can see the scale of the people who are also willing to help, andrea. Its really wonderful, thank you so much, Morgan Radford. Again, you can learn how to help with this qr code. Scan it with your smartphone and follow the prompts to learn more. Please help become part of the solution. Biden strikes back. Coming up next, the president elect addressing the president s behavior for the first time in a prime time speech last night. And attorney general bill barr resigning after the president slammed him for breaking with him on voter fraud and refusing to publicly announce the hunter biden investigation before the election. Details coming up next. Stay with us. This is Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. Ty incom. We look at how much youve saved, how much youll need, and build a straightforward plan to generate income, even when youre not working. A plan that gives you the chance to grow your savings and create cash flow that lasts. Along the way, well give you ways to be tax efficient. And you can start, stop or adjust your plan at any time without the unnecessary fees. Talk to us today, so we can help you go from saving. To living. Wannits timeight, and for aerotrainer. A more effective total body fitness solution. announcer aerotrainers ergodynamic design and four patented air chambers create maximum muscle activation for better results in less time. It allows for over 20 exercises. Do the aerotrainer super crunch, push ups, aero squat. It inflates in 30 seconds. Aerotrainer is tested to support over 500 pounds. Lose weight, look great, and be healthy. Go to aerotrainer. Com. Thats aero trainer. Com. And breaking news from capitol hill this morning. With only 36 days to go until the inauguration, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell has finally acknowledged joe bidens win, congratulating him on the senate floor. This comes after electors from all 50 states solidified by his win last night, prompting the president elect to address the nation and the president s weekslong attempt to overturn the results. 306 electoral votes is the same number of electoral votes that donald trump and Vice President pence received when they won in 2016. At the time, President Trump called the Electoral College tally a landslide. By his own standards, these numbers represented a clear victory then and i respectfully suggest they do so now. If anyone didnt know before, they know now what beat deep in the hearts of the American People is this democracy. The right to be heard, to have your vote counted, to choose leaders of this nation, to govern ourselves. Just as california was cementing joe bidens win as the final electoral state, we learned of another shakeup in the trump administration, the president announcing attorney general bill barr is departing his post early, by next week. Joining me now with more, pete williams, kristen welker, and jonathan lemire. Welcome, all. Pete, the tension between bill barr who had done so much for President Trump with the mueller reports rollout and all the rest, in recent weeks, it was really getting pretty fierce on twitter coming from the white houses perspective. Bill barr is clearly not going to put up with that the way attorney sessions had for more than a year. Thats clearly what happened here, andrea. Jeff sessions was repeatedly attacked on twitter by the president. And he continued to take it. He wasnt happy about it, i think it really bothered him, but he kept in his seat at the Justice Department. What were told is that barr had a different view, it was like, why should i sit here and take this, im ougtta here. So he informed the white house yesterday that he intended to step down and both the white house and the Just Department say he was not fired, that the president was apparently willing to let him stay on even though he continued to be highly critical of bill barr for a number of things, for disagreeing with him whether there was fraud, and for not making public an investigation into whether hunter biden was in trouble with the irs over his taxes. For all these reasons, barr decided enough was enough. Just to put a point on that, what bill barr did was, according to regulations, Justice Department regulations, within a short time frame before an election, to go after the immediate Family Member of a nominee would have been against regulations. Youre right, longstanding Justice Department policy, not so much regulations. Policy. Kristen, with a month away from the inauguration, wouldnt the president want to avoid a major personnel change like this . I guess the acting secretary is his deputy so its not a big change, but is there anything youre hearing coming out of justice . Certainly pardons are about to happen, i assume a number of pardons. Were hearing there could be pardons, andrea, there could be more people who depart before inauguration day. And look, as pete laid out so well, there were tensions that have been simmering and intensifying, frankly, in recent weeks for all of the reasons that pete detailed, particularly around the hunter biden issue. And in fact youll recall, andrea, i asked President Trump a few weeks ago if he had confidence in his attorney general and he said, ask me in a few weeks. So i guess yes, this was a resignation, but we now have our answer that he was so highly critical of him publicly that ultimately barr felt as though this was the right course of action. I guess the question becomes, andrea, what specifically is it that President Trump would like to see happen with these remaining days that hes going to be in office, what does he anticipate the acting attorney general is going to do that attorney general bill barr couldnt do, for example does he want the attorney general, the acting attorney general to try to open new investigations into his baseless claims of voter fraud . Well have to see. But the bottom line is, youre absolutely right, this is potentially a disruptive personnel shift with just days before a new president is sworn in, andrea. And finally, jonathan, Mitch Mcconnell becoming the latest and obviously the most powerful republican to publicly say joe biden did win. And to publicly congratulate him. What difference will that make in the senate . Well, andrea, we may see other senators follow his lead. We did see some last night, finally, at tfter the Electoral College voted. Weve seen some republicans speak out and finally Senate Majority leader mcconnell today. Im at the white house today, inside the aps rather unglamorous booth here. Weve been waiting for President Trumps reaction, so far there hasnt been any. He has tweeted, continuing think morning about baseless claims of voter fraud. He has not reacted directly yet to senator mcconnells announcement. He has no Public Events on his schedule but White House Press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany has added a briefing, the first in a while, were expecting that at 1 00, ill be part of that. There will be questions put to her, does Senate Majority leader mcconnells, finally, acknowledgement today, will that affect the president s behavior . We suspect the answer will be no, the white house will continue these legal challenges and try to, again, raise the false claims of voter fraud, trying again to undo the will of the people in this election. It certainly seems that stephen millers comments to fox yesterday that they would try to challenge the Electoral College on january 6 as well wont happen even in the senate now, with Mitch Mcconnell going along with it. Kristen, Vladimir Putin also congratulated joe biden this morning, wishing the president elect every success. How strange is it that Vladimir Putin, the russian leader, has at least acknowledged our election before the incumbent u. S. President has . Its just remarkable, andrea. And of course Vladimir Putin waiting until what happened yesterday with the Electoral College to acknowledge 3w50bide win, but he did do so. Its significant and kind of underscores the fact that the relations between the u. S. And russia are at a particularly icy point. But the broader question here is, does this not turn up the heat on President Trump to at least try to explain what his plan is going to be to essentially leave office. What is his offramp . Ive spoken to a number of republicans who say they really want to know what the plan is, because they feel as though this uncertainty is not good for the country, and its not good for their party. Of course there have been reports that President Trump was considering announcing his Reelection Campaign on january 20, the same day that biden is inaugurated. But now were being told that there are a number of republicans who are talking to him about alternate plans. What might that look like . We dont exactly know, but possibly waiting until after january 20. But the bottom line is, andrea, as you are seeing more World Leaders and more Top Republicans come forward and acknowledging the fact that biden is going to be the next president , it becomes increasingly difficult for President Trump to try to make the case that he has any sort of a viable path, which he just does not at this point, andrea. And pete, briefly, you were covering the Supreme Court this morning. They came down with a ruling about a Colorado Church regarding covid restrictions on capacity. And then a separate one, andrea, involving new jersey churches. In both cases striking down lower court orders that had basically upheld restrictions on them. Three of the liberals in the colorado case said i dont know why were doing this, colorado has already lifted the restrictions. But this is a change, i think its one of the biggest changes on the court since Amy Coney Barrett came on. In the past the Supreme Court was deferring to health officials. Now they seem to be more concerned about violations of religious freedom. Pete williams on all things, thank you. Kristen welker, jonathan lemire, it is a very humble booth but thats what the white house booths are like, as we all know. Thanks for being with us, jonathan. President elect joe biden heading to georgia at this hour, hes left his wilmington home to try to turn out the vote in two pivotal runoffs that will decide whether the democrats will take control of the senate. Democratic candidates jon ossoff and Raphael Warnock are participating in a rally held in atlanta. Joining us now from atlanta, nbcs mike mechanimoli and pris thompson. Mike, biden will be in the state trying to get out the vote. How persuasive can he be . Its all or nothing here in georgia for the easiest way to have success with his new presidency, is to have a Democratic Senate. Reporter yeah, thats right, andrea, i think that will be part of the message today. What we heard from the president elect last night in that direct and forceful address to the nation was a reminder of the fact that he very much thinks he has a mandate from the country to govern, more than 81 million popular votes, more than 300 electoral votes. And he wants to use that mandate, and he needs a Democratic Senate to do that. Hes going to try to use that here in georgia, use his star power along with other star power here from the state of georgia in addition to those two senate candidates, Stacey Abrams and mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms who will be joining him here today. The timing is so interesting, andrea, in light of that acknowledgement finally from Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell, that joe biden is in fact the president elect. So much of what democrats need to rally their base here is the idea that a Democratic Senate means so much more in getting bidens agenda through, and his nominees through, than if Mitch Mcconnell is still in the majority. Biden saying last night on a call with some of his supporters that he has already heard from some seven republican colleagues in the senate. So this balancing act of wanting to work across the aisle but also rally the base here, which he needs to do. The biden team saying he can appeal to a unique biden constituency which is suburban women. All of this, andrea, including were hearing from dr. Fauci what it might mean for biden to get vaccinated before the inauguration. This is a person who very soon will be the president of the united states. Vice president elect Kamala Harris will very soon be the Vice President of the united states. For security reasons i really feel strongly we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can. We want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in january. Reporter and andrea, were also getting some news this morning from the Biden Inaugural committee, announcing that yes, he and Vice President elect Kamala Harris will take their oaths of office on the west front of the capitol. Theyre calling for an extremely limited footprint as part of these inaugural ceremonies. Dr. David kessler will be part of the team advising them on this, andrea. Thank you so much, mike memoli, for all of that. Basically a virtual parade. Priscilla, its day two of early voting in georgia. What type of turnout theres been a big request for mailin ballots. Reporter bidens ultimate goal here is to get people to return those mailin ballots and to get them to places like where we are, early polling sites. Check out this line behind me, as you can see, its going all the way down and what you cant see is its wrapping around the back side of this parking lot. Its been like this essentially all day with some folks lined up here more than two hours before polls opened this morning to be among the first in line to cast their ballots. And statewide, more than 480,000 people, according to the secretary of states office, have either voted in person early or returned those absentee ballots that were requested. And, you know, it is overall voting is down around 24 compared to where it was on this day of the general election but thats to be expected in a runoff. And the campaigns tell me they are still very hopeful about the numbers that theyre seeing. And i should point out that while biden is here today, Vice President pence is going to be here rallying those republican supporters and getting them to the polls on thursday, andrea. Thank you so much, priscilla thompson, and mike memoli. Up next, how a tragic loss spurred one doctor into action. And with free Curbside Pickup at walmart. You can get the perfect gift up until the last minute. 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But for you, theres a pill that may provide symptom relief. Ask your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. Xeljanz. An unjection™. But with walmarts low prices, you still know how to do it up. And keep costs down. Lets end the year enjoying more. You are all i need baby baby to get by the first Covid Vaccine in new jersey was given to an emergency room nurse newark this morning. It happens to be her birthday. Thank you. Thank you. Happy birthday. Thank you. Nbc news correspondent Antonia Hylton joins us from University Hospital in newark, new jersey. An emotional and jubilant moment from that nurse there. Thats right, andrea. What an amazing birthday gift, right . I think there were some people here this morning who were a little jealous of her, and i spoke to her, and she told me she got the day off work and was headed home after the presser here this morning to have some cake and celebrate with her family. She was so grateful for the opportunity to be the very first person in the state to get this vaccine at University Hospital in newark. I think it was extra special because she is a latina nurse, and first generation. And she represents a lot of the community this hospital serves. Newark is extremely diverse. There are black and latino neighborhoods here where theres a lot of distrust in institutions and fear around this vaccine. And so she was really excited to have her face out there this morning to share the message this was safe, that she felt very comfortable taking the vaccine and that shes prepared to talk to patients about it. The hospitals plan is to vaccinate about 600 people a day. Their vaccination clinic is right behind me here. Employees have been coming and getting their shots, taking their 15minute rest periods. Antonia, excuse me. Im going to interrupt because the president elect is speaking right now. Lets see if we can pick up part of what hes saying. Okay . Thank you. Thank you guys. Will you get the vaccine . Come on guys, lets go. Dr. Fauci recommends i get the vaccine sooner rather than later. I want to make sure we do it by the numbers and we do it when i do it, youll have notice and well do it publicly. Thank you. Antonia, just to point out what he just said. He was asked about when hell get the vaccine. He talked to dr. Fauci about it and he said he wants to do it by the numbers and publicly. And so i just want to thank Antonia Hylton for bringing us that birthday vaccination from newark. We want to bring in dr. Chris purnell, a new Jersey Public Health physician. Welcome. Weve been told that you were inspired to take part in the Moderna Vaccine trial partly because of incredible loss. You lost your father to covid, your cousin. Your sister was infected with longterm effects. Were so sorry for what youve gone through but youre turning it into something positive. As a role model participating in the moderna trial program. Yes, andrea, its very important for me to turn devastation into hope and victory. And i think its very important for my community to see that. My community in new jersey, my community in north new jersey, my community throughout the county. My father was a research scientist, and unfortunately, this pandemic took his life away but did not take away his fight or spiritary legacy because i look to live that forward. As black and brown communities have been despacimated by this pandemic, i saw a way to be a part of the solution. I saw a way to demonstrate accountability and to say how do we help to beat back this pandemic and to create a new na narrative, a more powerful narrative informed by Public Health. The fda is reviewing the Moderna Vaccine. The first shots could happen next week. As you point out, africanamericans are understandably hesitant about the vaccine given the history of experimentation by the medical community on people of color, on black americans. So that was part of your motivation . Definitely. Im well versed in that history, right . We can talk about enslaved black women who were subjected to gynecological procedures. Tuskegee. We can talk about henrietta in baltimore had tissue samples taken from her womb. There are countless, horrible stories of medical experimentation and abuse and its time for the medical complex and health care more broadly to be able to have honest conversations and to demonstrate trustworthiness. And Public Health is actually positioned to fight for health equity, to fight for Racial Justice because we know those issues impact and determine life outcomes and life exposures. So this was my opportunity to live forward a truer legacy around empowerment, about a sense of agency and i really jumped at that opportunity and i want to be able to have a conversation, a conversation nationally, and a conversation with my community about i hear your fears and concerns. Knowing your fears and concerns, this is the truth of the science. This is the truth of the data. And to walk hand in hand, science and empathy and to walk people along this decision. Dr. Purnell, your father was a man of science. We were looking at some pictures you shared with us. A striking man. What would you want people to know about Timothy Purnell . Wow, big tim, as we called him, he was a hero. Here is a man who defied the jim crow south. Here is a man who defied. Here is a man selftaught. My father did not go to college, but my father was brilliant. And that love of math and science led him to bell labs but he only could get a job cutting grass. He went from cutting grass to being a member of technical staff and advocating for black Laboratory Scientists and engineers to have access to opportunity. And i see myself as living out that mission of science and living out that mission of Racial Justice and health equity. And thats why i want all america to know that this is a crossroads in our nation. Its an opportunity for us to reckon with our past and to transform and define a new america, a new way forward. We cant get there without having these truthful conversations. Dr. Chris purnell, thank you for sharing from your loss. I hope many people can benefit from this tragedy. Thank you so much for being with us. That does it for Andrea Mitchell reports. Thanks for watching. Chuck todd is up next with mtp daily right here on msnbc. In a land not so far away, people are saving hundreds on the most Reliable Network with xfinity mobile. They can choose from the latest phones or bring their own. And choose the data option thats right for them. They even get nationwide 5g at no extra cost. And since they are on the carrier rated 1 in customer satisfation, they live happily ever after. Again, again xfinity mobile. Your wireless. Your rules. Your way to stay closer together. Click, call, or visit an xfinity store today. If its tuesday, another dose of hopeful news on the coronavirus pandemic. As the fda signals it will approve modernas vaccine later this week. Vaccine number two. And more states begin administering pfizers vaccine. But sadly, the death toll does keep climbing. Plus, Mitch Mcconnell acknowledges for the first time joe biden as president elect saying that the Electoral College has now spoken. Biden assails trumps ongoing efforts to undermine the results. And finally, Russia Strikes again. Cybersecurit