Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin 20201211

That were in the worst of it right now. One day after setting new records for daily deaths and new cases, unfortunately, we have done it again. 3,110 americans died from this virus on thursday. We are days away from surpassing 300,000 deaths. Cdc director Robert Redfield has this alarming message about the loss of life we could see in this country. We are in the time frame now that probably for the next 60 to 90 days well have more deaths per day than we had at 9 11 or pearl harbor. This is really as i said, this is a real going to be a real unfortunate loss of life, as all that weve had so far. An absolutely grim reality there. It underscores how important these next few months will be even as vaccines are being rolled out across the country. All of us at nbc news and msnbc want to meet this important moment head on. Today nbc news is devoting its home page to a special collection of reports that show the pain of this pandemic and the path forward. All day long, msnbc will be highlighting exclusive new reporting and key tools to help you at home understand what could be coming in the days and weeks ahead. We start with that major step forward this morning. Pfizers vaccine is just within reach of getting emergency use authorization by the fda. We have our reporters on the ground. Nbcs Morgan Radford is at fda headquarters, and nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is at pfizers largest manufacturing facility. Morgan, let me begin with you. The fda says it informed pfizer this morning it will rapidly work towards issuing that emergency use authorization. What who do we know about when we could see this vaccine officially approved . Reporter ayman, timing is the Million Dollar question. The fda basically telling the cdc to get ready to distribute that vaccine. Timing is the issue because we are waiting any minute now to hear from the fda. They could tell us as early as today whether or not theyre going to officially authorize the emergency use of that vaccine. As you mentioned earlier, that means the vaccine could ship in 24 hours. That first batch is 2. 9 million doses that will come from those pfizer freezer farms in the midwest. The reality of it is, the general public may not see that until a little bit later. Thats because we know priority will be given to the elderly, those in longterm care facilities. It will also be given to those Front Line Health Care workers. The question, ayman, is what about the next tier of people eligible, people like you and me. That question comes down to the cdc. They have a separate Advisory Panel to advise them about the age groups and people with Certain Health care conditions that should be eligible. They decided to call an emergency meeting today at noon. That meeting can also be live streamed. When it comes to that age requirement, aim madge, thats one of the most interesting things i found about the Advisory Panel add fiezing the fda just yesterday. 77 of the experts who were on that panel said this vaccine is good to go. The rest either ab stained or voted no. They werent voting no because they were necessarily saying the vaccine was not safe. Instead, they were saying there wasnt enough data about that 16 and 17yearold age group to give a whole hearted recommendation. Of course, they were the minority of that panel. But that means that the fda has more options. When they offer that authorization, they could, for example, say we authorize it for people 18 and above. They could also take the committees recommendation and say we authorize it for those 16 and above. They could ask more questions. For example, how long does that 95 effectiveness last . These are the kind of questions were waiting to find out as we wait for that eminent possible fda approval and authorization. You raised good questions that well dig into over the course of the hour. Gather, how is pfizer gearing up for the next step morgan was talking about . Whats it going to look like to actually get the vaccines rolled out from manufacturing facilities like the one youre standing in front of to the arms of ordinary americans . Reporter thats right, ayman. This is an outstanding logistical challenge here. As morgan mentioned, this is one of the manufacturing facilities, one of two really here in the midwest. This is the largest one in the entire country. We expect that within 24 hours of fda approval, trucks will be rolling out of here, ups and fedex as part of operation warp speed will start to get this vaccine really across the country. Ayman, as you know, the large challenge here, one of the challenges is trying to transport this vaccine that needs to be stored at 80 degrees below zero. A mindboggling amount of dry ice will need to be produced in order to do this over the coming weeks and months. We spoke with a Small Business here in michigan that is right now scrambling to secure some of this dry ice. Take a listen to what that Small Business had to say. Weave got calls from tristate area, people waiting for shipments, they dont know with what day theyll get it, dont know what theyll do once they get it. How does it feel to be part of this now Global Supply chain . Frightening, but amazing. Its almost like a Public Service at this point. Reporter a Public Service that Business Owner says that once the fda approves this and the trucks start rolling out, the facility will be like a triage situation. Ayman, as you mentioned and as morgan mentioned, nearly 3 million doses in this initial batch. The different states are being allocated those initial doses based on population. A state like california might initially get more than 300,000 doses. Mediumsized states might get 50 or 60,000. Smaller states 5,000 to 6,000 at least at the beginning. Yes, hospitals across the country are preparing to potentially get those first doses, assuming everything goes according to plan, could poe trnlly start getting them as early as monday. Ayman . Gabe gutierrez and Morgan Radford, thank you. I want to turn to dr. Peter hotez, the codirector for Vaccine Development at texas Childrens Hospital and the dean of tropical medicine at baylor medicine. Hes become a familiar face to all of us. Great to have you with us. I want to start with the Fda Advisory Committee, the big starting point for all this and its approval of the pfizer covid vaccine. How soon are you expecting doses being administered based on what youve seen and read . I think they want to move pretty quickly. I think it will be out by next week and well start delivering that. Theres still unknown questions, as you mentioned, the 16 to 17yearolds, will fda endorse that . I think thats a possibility. The other questions are, there are a lot of specialty populations that we need some further fda guidance about. For instance, immunocompromised individuals. Theres a lot of people on monochrome antibodies like huira. Certainly pregnant women who we know that covid19 has pretty deleterious effects during pregnancy. Weve seen a lot of icu patients who are pregnant and looking at the risk versus benefit. Thats really an important question. We heard about the allergic reactions from the National Health Service Workers and Health Care Providers in the uk. England took a very draconian approach, uk took a draconian approach by saying theyre going to hold off on giving vaccine to anyone with a serious allergic reaction. We have 50 million americans with 58 her gees and several million with epipens. If we start excluding those individuals, thats going to cause a lot of instability, not only because theyll feel left out but also because that may create a lot of untoward concern about the vaccine among the general population. So theres some really key issues to deliberate on, and i know the fda is working as hard as they can to resolve those. To that point, dr. Hotez, if you overlap the subgroups of the population that you just described, lets say pregnant women, people with severe allergies or using epipens, perhaps those under the age of 17 or 16, young people in high school and students, how effective can the rest of the population be if such large subgroups remain out of the bubble of being vaccinated . Certainly youll be able to protect frontline workers and the elderly and nursing homes, but what about the effectiveness of the vaccine in the broader population . Whats the threshold to be able to say we need to have this much of our population vaccinated, to be able to have a sense of normal see or return to normal see, concerts, restaurants, what have you . So you get to a very important point, ayman. I would argue for greater inclusivity given the dire nature of this pandemic and losing the lives of 3,000 americans per day. If i were in the room, i would be advocating to pry to include those populations as much as possible in this initial round of vaccination. I think ultimately to get to the point where we need 60 to 70 of the American Population vaccinated, and those are the numbers we came up with with our collaborators at City University of new york, in order to interrupt transmission, its a pretty high bar. I dont think were going to get there with mrna vaccines alone anywayment well need some of the adenovirus vaccines. Thats going to be really critical. I think were going to have to do stepdown vaccinations in adolescents and even kids. 60 to 70 of the population is a lot. Weve got to communicate about vaccines better. We just have not had strong communication coming out of operation warp speed even though the scientific integrity and rigor is outstanding, theres not been a communication strategy. Its been left to the pharma ceos. Weve got a pretty aggressive anti vaccine movement, we need a counteroffensive against that. All those stars have to align if were serious about the next step in vaccination. We know we have good vaccines that will keep us out of the hospital and the icu. Thats really important. Thats a breakthrough. We need that second pace to scale up. It sounds like a massive undertaking and certainly, while people are hopeful about the vaccines, we have a long way to go to meet numbers talking about 60 to 70 of the population. Dr. Peter hotez, always a pleasure. Once the fda clears the way, then comes the next major challenge. Getting the vaccines into americans arms on a mass scale. Across the country, teams of dedicated Health Care Workers have been coming up with their own strategies in trying to perfect that process. I want to bring in nbcs Josh Lederman in media, pennsylvania, where he took part in a test run of a mass vaccination drivethrough operation. Was us through, josh, this drivethrough process. Will it play out as Health Officials are hoping it will from what theyve learned over the past couple of test runs . Reporter ayman, this was a dry run for the period thats probably going to come in the spring of next year when the vaccine becomes available much more broadly for the american publ. They had it set up like an assembly line. The first thing they did, registration and get you scheduled for that second dose because its so critical that people come back three weeks later with the Pfizer Vaccine for the second doets. They had a Nurse Practitioner who walked through fatigue, dizziness, headaches. Then they did the mock injection, basically just like getting a flu shochlt roll up your shirt, they do it in the upper arm. They sent me to a waiting area to be observed for 15 minutes by a paramedic. Honk three times if you had any side effects and medical assistants can rush over and provide care. They were timing this. They found it was taking 35 to 42 minutes per person, ayman. That was longer than they expected. What was taking so long was patient education and making sure they would be able to deal with peoples fears about the Coronavirus Vaccine and the possibility that it could give you the coronavirus. Take a listen to what Pennsylvanias Health secretary, dr. Rachel levine told me about the challenge theyre facing on that front. We have no funding right now for the communication plan and the Education Plan to work past vaccine hesitancy. We certainly call upon the administration and congress and then the new Biden Administration in january that the states, territories and cities will need more funding to accomplish this tremendous mission. Reporter a tremendous mission and one that is very complicated, ayman. The other reason they want to make sure they have this process down pat, once they take the Pfizer Vaccine out of the freezer, they only have five days to use it while its refridge rated before it goes bad. They want to make sure they have everything ready to get it in as many arms as possible so none of it goes to waste. Josh lederman in pennsylvania, thanks for that insight look. Now that the fdas Advisory Panel has endorsed pfizers vaccine, well talk about what you need to know with a lead investigator for the Pfizer Biontech vaccine. Hes going to join me straight ahead. Plus ill talk to a nurse who took part in the Pfizer Vaccine trial. What was it like and what she wants people to know before they get the shot. Thats coming up next. More than nine months into this pandemic, americans finally have concrete reasons for hope with a vaccine almost here. This crisis isnt over. Some predicts are still unfortunately very bleak. As part of nbcnews. Com special coverage, you can see how much worse things can get. If distancing mandates are relaxed or how sharply they could drop off with mask usage becomes universal. You can plug in specific states to see how your area could be affected. Nbcs Erica Edwards is covering how the u. S. Could turn the tide in 2021. Take us through some of these bleak projections youre seeing in the days ahead even as a vaccine becomes reality. Hi, ayman. Youre right. As youve been reporting over the past hour, all indications are that the fda will, in fact, authorize the Pfizer Vaccine either today or possibly over the weekend. Next week theyll analyze data from a similar vaccine from moderna. That means we potentially have two highly effective vaccines in the pipeline. The operation warp speed documents weve obtained say theyre on track to vaccinate 20 Million People by the end of this year. Thats an amazing accomplishment. We need to put a giant asterisk on that statement. We should be expecting there will be bumps along the way, some hick kupts, perhaps delivery problems or production problems, things like that. Even though the vaccines seem to be highly effective, we dont know how long that immunity lasts. Beyond the vaccine, though, Health Care Workers tell me that they continue to struggle to keep up with the influx of very sick patients. The number of Covid Patients requiring hospitalization is on track to outpace the number of people qualified to care for them. Ive spoken with many Critical Care physicians around the country. And theyre accustomed to delivering high quality care. Theyre at the top of their game. They say that that care, that attention to detail that could save lives will begin to suffer and erode, and they warn the situation will reach a breaking point, and it could come quickly. Ayman . Let me ask you really quickly. Nbc has put together this animated map that shows the dramatic death toll over the course of this year. Here are the numbers. Well put it on the screen. 292,000 dead, and an independent gloenl Health Research Center Projects that the dealt toll in the United States will unfortunately surpass 500,000 by march. Reporter its incredibly sobering. One tool we have to keep people out of the hospital and potentially keep them a little healthier is monochrome antibodies. Regener regeneron, eli lilly, meant to act like your bodys natural immune reaction to the virus. Theyre meant for people infected but not sick enough to be hospitalized but at high risk for complication, people with Underlying Health conditions, type two diabetes, sickle cell disease, chronic kidney disease. Here is the problem. Demand is far exceeding the supply. I spoke with a physician in alabama who treats outpatient Covid Patients. He estimates he only has access of one those monochrome antibodies to treat 1 to 2 of his patients who need them. Those patients could end up hospitalized, draining that system you talked about even further. You spoke to in your reporting to a doctor who said the way 2021 plays out really depends on what we do right now. What did he mean by that . These folks are saying, you know, theyre very blunt, very clear. This is not going to resolve itself when the clock strikes midnight on january 1st. We may rip the last 2020 month off our calendar, but our 2020 problems will continue into 2021 at least over those first few months as the vaccine ramps up and all of us can have access to that probably at the end of the summer. They continue that familiar refrain. Weve all heard it a million times. Wash your hands, wear your mask, keep that physical distance of at least six feet. People are tired of that advice, but theyre saying we can work together. Now we have this impetus. We have these great vaccines that were just on our horizon. We cannot continue to rely on scientists and researchers and doctors and nurses to continue to carry that heavy load. Thank you so much. Nbc news health and medical reporter Erica Edwards. Excellent reporting. I want to bring in kristin choi, psychiatric nurse and Health Services researcher at utilities, also a participant in the Pfizer Vaccine trials. Great to have you with us. Im curious to get your thoughts. Tell us about your experience in terms of what led you to go to this vaccine trial . I know a lot of people ive been speaking to, theyre nervous to take the vaccine coming out now. Youre willing and volunteered to take that vaccine trial. Tell us about that. It seems we have lost the signal there with kristin choi. Well take a quick break and reestablish that connection and bring her back into the conversation. Stay with us. Were at the movies and we need to silence our phone. Who knows where that button is . I dont have silent. Everyone does right up here. It happens to all of us. We buy a new home, and we turn into our parents. What i do is help new homeowners overcome this. What is that, an adjustable spanner . Good choice, steve. Okay, dont forget youre not assisting him. You hired him. If you have nowhere to sit, you have too many. Who else reads books about submarines . My dad. Yeah. 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New York Hospital systems experienced some of the worst of the pandemic this spring. One of those was nyu lang grown. As the crisis intensified the hospital played a key role in helping us get out of this crisis, leading vaccine trials in our country including one from pfizer. Joining me is dr. Mark mulligan, director of the nyu lang grown hemt vaccine center, the lead investigator for coronaviruss vaccine trial. Thank you for joining us this morning. Talk us through a little bit, through the major takeaways from your trial that we should know as millions of americans are about to get vaccinated. Well, i think the key things are safety or efficacy and protection, ayman. Its extraordinary. This vaccine and the moderna vaccine, both of these vaccines have 95 protection. I think everyone has heard that. Then in a trial of 44,000 people for the Pfizer Vaccine, the data for safety were very carefully evaluated by the Fda Advisory Committee yesterday. As everyone has heard, they recommended strongly that the fda grant the emergency use authorization. I think the messages are high levels of protection. Theyre up there with our best vaccines, outstanding safety. Theyre well tolerated. We do see some sore arms. Some people will have a headache or body aches or a chill. Thats normal. Those go away within a day. They usually start on the second day. Its a vaccine response. It means your body is reacting appropriately. Those are not safety concerns. I think the safety profile has been outstanding. This is a vaccine that can help us gain control of the pandemic. Doctor, let me ask you a question that i get asked a lot very anecdotally speaking the people out there. People feel comfortable and safe about the vaccine and what it can do to the coronavirus or to prevent you from getting coronavirus today. But how do you study or test for something five, seven, ten years down the line when we just dont have that time to be able to find out, as you mentioned, the safety profile . How would you explain that to a viewer who is watching saying im worried about three, five, seven years down the road from now . This question came up at the expert panel yesterday, ayman. Several of the expert commentators said this, and i agree, that most vaccinerelated side effects are going to occur in the first few months. It would be exceedingly rare to have something popping up years and years later. The further out you get from the vaccine. So we really expect within this first several months, were now only as far as six or seven months after the first people that got the vaccine. On average the fda reviewed data as far out as two months. But we expect well get a lot more data as we go forward. I would be very surprised if anything happened in the time frame that youre talking about, two, three, five years after vaccination. We just dont see that with the vaccines that we have. Are there any specific plans to start studies on some of these subgroups of the population that right now some people may have reservations about . We talked about folks with allergies or those who use epipens, pregnant women, perhaps teenagers as young as 17 and 16 years old. Yes. All of these studies are being discussed, being planned. Several of them are under way. For example, the pfizer trial included 12 to 15yearolds. It also included 16 to 17yearolds in amendments to the ongoing trial. There are plans to go down as young as five years of age. Same thing for moderna. Pregnant women, trials are being planned as we speak. And i think really importantly, one of the communities that i want to mention are minorities. We really had outstanding participation in the trials from racial and ethnic minorities. These are the communities that suffer the most from covid. The deaths, the hospitalizations. It was critical that we included them in the trials. And i think actually the trials did really well with reaching out to engaging, educating, inviting participation from minorities. That will serve us well as we roll out the vaccine in the coming weeks and months. Let me ask you finally, if i can, what happens in terms of vaccine trials at nyu langone . Are you at all concerned about the virus mutating nah makes this oren ders this particular vaccine ineffective next year . I dont have a strong concern about that so far. We havent seen any evidence of that. For example, the Pfizer Vaccine and im sure the others were tested upon panels of several viral variants, 10 or 12 t. Vaccine antibodies were able to vaccinate against those. Well keep looking for that. Really importantly, im glad you asked that, ayman. Pfizer and moderna together wont be enough vaccine for all of us. I think people should think of this, not like a light switch thats on and off, but rather one that is a dial, like a dimmer and slowly well get five, 15, 20, 25 of people. We need other safe vaccines. Were continuing at nyu, to answer your question, with the astrazeneca vaccine and well be doing others after that as part of our nih grant. Really important, we must have more than justifieser and moderna to meet the need for our country and for the world. Dr. Mark mulligan, i cant thank you for the work you guys are doing. I certainly appreciate your candor and your perspective on this. Very informative interview, sir. Thank you. One of the worsthit hospitals in new york was elmhurst hospital in queens. This is what it looked like back in march at the height of the pandemic. Nbcs ron allen is outside elmhurst this morning. Ron, i can only imagine for doctors there this has been a very long road. It does not necessarily mean the beginning of the end, if you will, but the sight of vaccines arriving will be such an important moment for them. How are they preparing . Reporter ayman, i think theres a big sense of relief. The ceo here, dr. Eric way said this is a moment theyve been praying for, hoping for. Its whats kept them going through all these very difficult months when there was so much misery and suffering here at the hospital. The numbers are up again, too, as we know across new york city and across new york state, but not nearly what they were back in the spring. The vaccine is welcome. Its going to arrive here in new york city, the expectation is over the weekend. Sometime in the middle of next week Health Care Workers, nursing home staff and residents could start getting vaccinated. Here is what dr. Way said about the arrival of the vaccine and what it means to him and his team here. I cant be overstated. This is what weve been praying for, this is what weve been hoping for. This is the light out of the tunnel, and really out of this pandemic. As the numbers are ticking up in the fall and winter which we expected, i didnt know what to expect. For myself, waking up with the pit in my stomach, the trauma of the spring, is this really happening again . There is a sense of a little bit of anxiety. Reporter this is, of course, one of the priority neighborhoods for distribution of the vaccine. There are some 27 neighborhoods around new york city that were particularly hard hit, disproportionately hard hit by the virus. Those are going to be the first places to get the vaccine. The mayor and others today in a briefing were very adamant about that, that theres going to be equity and justice in the distribution of the vaccine in the city. Theres a lot of concern about whether these communities will be bypassed. That doesnt appear to be the case. At least, there are a lot of people trying to make that not happen. A con serb that the numbers are ticking up so the vaccine cant get here soon enough. The city is forming a huge task force, equity task force. Theyre also send setting up a command center across the street from city hall that they describe as an air Traffic Controller that will keep tabs on the movement of the vaccine as it arrives, where its going. Theyll publish transparent lists of who is getting vaccinated and where because, again, theres also this huge issue of trust and confidence. Theres a Public Service Announcement Campaign going on. A lot of outreach using Community Leaders in these hardhit neighborhoods and communities to try to build trust so that, in fact, many people will take this vaccine, a real realization that theres a lot of skepticism out there and theyre frying to take that head on. Ron allen, thank you, as ulz. Stay safe. Time magazines 2020 person of the year is actually this year, president elect joe biden and Vice President elect kamala harris. Theyre receiving the title this year. It is the first time a president ial ticket has shared this honor. Well see next biden and harris this afternoon when they introduce more members of their White House Team including susan rice as head of the domestic policy council. Also, were getting closer and closer to approval for a vaccine. But millions of americans also desperately need economic help. Mitch mcconnell doesnt look like hes ready to make a deal. Where negotiations go from here. Well also check in on a group of people who have seen the devastation of the virus up close. How nursing homeworkers are holding up on this and why some have a surprising take on the vaccine. Ll battle in my career. So when i heard about the applied Digital Skills courses, im thinking i can become more marketable. You dont need to be a computer expert to be great at this. 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Alright, lets see what we can adjust. Wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. Okay. Mom, are you painting again . You could sell these. Lemme guess, change in plans . At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. Balanced nutrition for strength and energy. Whoohoo great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. Stayed on my mind. Was another around the corner . Or could it be a different story . I wanted to help protect myself. My doctor recommended eliquis. Eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot. Almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didnt experience another. And eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. If you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Whats around the corner could be your moment. Ask your doctor about eliquis. It has been nine long months for the entire country, but especially for nursing home residents. Many could only see friends and family through panes of glass and hear their voices through cell phones and computers. While less than 1 of the u. S. Population lives in longterm care facilities, the covid tracking project from the atlantic found those residents made up nearly 40 of all u. S. Covid deaths. But now there is a ray of hope with the promise of vaccines so close. Msnbcs Chris Jansing is in tampa where shes been talking to nursing home workers on the front lines. Nursing home work has always been tough. But 2020 has been absolutely brutal. It started with ppe shortages which continue in many nursing homes. Many of them, all of the one i talked to, have lost both residents and friends. One of them got covid herself, took it home to her entire family and was out of work for five weeks. That was in july. She still hasnt gotten her unemployment check, all of that for wages they say are difficult to support a family on. Take a listen. Some barely start off at 11 an hour. We cant afford to get 9. 00. Do you know someone who has to work two jobs. I work two jobs. We have to do what we have to do. We work hard. Were underpaid, understaffed. Due to covid its worse with staffing. Do you know coworkers, Family Friends who have died from covid. Yes. Yes. Yes. All three of you. My coworker, 37 years old. I think mine she was 41 and 38. What did you think when you heard it looked like we had a vaccine . I just basically need more testing to be done. I will take it. But im not going to be first in line. When your patients are among the first to get the shot, will you be nervous . We want to know how will it affect them . Will they decline . Will they get better . We would love if they get better. I think thats going to surprise a slt of people who thought theyd be celebrating. After all, theyre in the place thats most at risk for death from covid, but 70 of the Union Workers who are in longterm care facilities and nursing homes, 70 are people of color. Many of their residents are people of color who have been not only disproportionately affected so far by the coronavirus, but, of course, theres a historical precedent with things like the tuskegee medical experiment that have them really nervous about whats going on. Government, they feel, has failed them. Take, for example, whats going on in congress right now. That want to know why help is not coming for many coworkers struggling even more than they have. After all that, the remarkable thing is, they feel like these residents are family members. I asked them, have any of you thought given all that youve been through this year, and they said no, too many of the people we work with just dont have any family. We are their family and were not going to leave them. Ayman. What a powerful reminder of whats at stake. We started this week on the verge of a bipartisan covid relief deal. We end the week, it seems, further from that goal. Ahead, the big issues Mitch Mcconnell says are keeping them from moving forward. One of thousands of americans who died this week of covid, republican speaker of new hampshires house, richard hen ch. The New York Times says the responsibility for hinchs death rests on the others in the house who refuse to wear masks or maintain social distance. He said, quote, the pier pressure from colleagues is the root cause of what happened to my friend. The only thing a disaster cant destroy is hope. Donate now at redcross. Org littlefriend. S lost. She needs to be home. The rules have changed since you rode. How much you want for her . Shes not for sale. If they find you. They kill you. Jump johanna its hard finding your way home. You cant have her. And im taking her home. Its just that its. Lavender, yes it is. Old spice, its for men. But i like the smell of it. [music playing] Coronavirus Relief talks on capitol hill have reached a breaking point with Mitch Mcconnell, saying he cant see a deal coming together because of two big issues. Nbcs Leigh Ann Caldwell is on capitol hill where lawmakers are continuing to hash out those critical details. Leigh ann, where do relief talks stand at this hour and what does Mitch Mcconnell object to . Reporter hey, ayman, it is like a broken record. The same issues playing lawmakers, this issue of Liability Protection and the issue of funding for state and local governments, like firefighters, police officers, teachers. Majority leader mcconnell sending strong signals that any sort of deal on those two issues in particular are not going to be able to get the support of the entire senate or the entire republican conference. So is mcconnell just being the christmas grinch or is he being a realist . Looking at the facts, this Bipartisan Group of negotiatof have been working day and night on these two issues in particular. They have agreements on everything else. But they have a lot of people they have to please. They have to please republicans, democrats, mcconnell, pelosi, trial lawyers who have a big stake here, the Business Community like the chamber of commerce, theyre trying to get support from them as well. A deal has been completely elusive on this issue. I just spoke to senator chris coons, democrat. He is one of the negotiators. And he sounded extremely frustrated this morning, ayman. Leigh ann caldwell live on capitol hill for us, thank you so much. I want to cross over to new york. Governor andrew cuomo is do we have the governor . Okay. Were waiting for Governor Andrew Cuomo to start a press briefing. Well keep an eye on that for you. Once that gets under way well bring that you to. Meantime i want to cross over now to sam brock. Its about the nba. The nba preseason tips off tonight with the league continuing an aggressive strategy to test players and coaches. Here is that report. Reporter just 61 days after the l. A. Lakers took home the nba title, king james will have to defend his throne with preseason basketball tipping off tonight in the first regular season games on december 22. To start, most teams will have to play to empty arenas, something lebron james admits is no fun. It would never be something i would be fully comfortable with. Reporter after a wildly successful quarantinefree covid zone to finish the season, the nba has decided to burst its bubble. Teams will be competing in home markets, traveling to away games by private planes, and of course players, coaches, and refs taking daily covid tests. Everybody is super excited to compete against somebody else and play the game that we love. Reporter even as the virus spreads at record levels nationwide, coaches are projecting confidence. I think everybody is glad to be on the court, to be honest. Reporter as concerns simmer. More than 10 of the entire league tested positive this month. The nba announcing thursday eight more players tested positive for covid in addition to 48 cases found in the first round of preseason tests. New safety guidelines do not spell out a threshold for calling games or the season, though the imminent arrival of a vaccine is boosting optimism. A handful of teams like the hawks, jazz, and spurs, are working on plans for fans inside arenas. Mark cubans Dallas Mavericks arent part of that group, but cuban feels good about what march or april could look like. I think those last couple of months of the nba season are going to be incredible, where people are just going nuts at games, fans are going to sports bars to watch games. Reporter basketballs biggest story line outside of covid is the considerable layoff for some of its megastars. Kevin durant, donning a nets jersey for the first time, 550 days after tearing his achilles with the warriors while his former golden state teammate steph curry has hardly seen the hardwood since breaking his hand in 2019. For me especially, i only played five games in a calendar year. Theres a lot of excitement to get back out there. No doubt about that. A lot of excitement to see the league back in action in whatever shape or form. That does it for me this hour, ill be back at 3 00 later today. Andrea mitchell starts after a short break. Eak. [ engines revving ] its amazing to see them in the wild like th shhh. [ engine revs ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. Youre all, youre all i need youre all, youre all i need as long as i got you then baby you know that youve got me, oh yea. Good day, im Andrea Mitchell in washington where the nations top Health Officials say that the food and Drug Administration is rapidly moving towards approving emergency use of the Pfizer Vaccine. At this hour the cdc is holding their emergency meeting to start reviewing the Fda Advisory Committees finding yesterday with a sunday vote by the cdc expected to recommend the vaccine, possibly with Health Advisories for specific groups. All this ahead of the first shots being administered in the u. S. , according to hhs secretary on abc today. In the next couple of days, probably, as we work to negotiate with pfizer, the information doctors need to prescribe it appropriately, we should be seeing the authorization of this first vaccine. We will work with pfizer to get that shipped out. And so we could be seeing people getting vaccinated monday, tuesday of next week. Even after the vaccine becomes more widely available, though, the cdc director says the devastating increase in covid cases and deaths that weve seen over the past week are likely to continue at this pace for up to three more months. The current surge and what could have been done to prevent the pandemic from getting this bad, plus important new information about the vaccines are all part of special coverage on our website today, combined with indepth reporting on all our msnbc