First 1 million cases. And theres no sign that the spread of this virus is slowing down. At this point, coronavirus has killed nearly 285,000 americans. This week marking the deadliest in the pandemic so far with an average of more than 2200 americans losing their lives each day. That is 2200 fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters every single day. Its hard to wrap your head around. But youve got to. But also this morning, there is a small sign of hope on the horizon. The entire world watching as the uk delivered its first shots of the Pfizer Vaccine becoming the first country to start mass vaccinations of a clinically tested, authorized vaccine. Margaret keenan, the 90yearold grandmother who received the first shot, perhaps the new picture of hope in the global fight to finally contain this deadly virus. And thats exactly where well begin this morning. Keir simmons joined us from cardiff, wales. What do we know about the first people getting the vaccine, and whats the feeling where you are . Hey, steph. Its amazing, isnt it, that behind this nondescript door, this is one of the 70 centers around the uk that is vaccinating people with this Pfizer Vaccine, this first rollout today. The kind of people who are getting the vaccinations to answer your question, that is folks in their 80s and 90s. We have seen here Many Health Care workers. We saw one doctor who just finished a nightshift in the icu, had come here for his vaccination. Thats how important it was to him. So people who work with the elderly, too, theyre also getting a priority here. It is a huge operation. What weve learned just this morning, and were in wales. This is one of the hardest hit countries in europe. They have had restrictions for seven months, two lockdowns. This couldnt come soon enough. Weve learned, too, about some of the hurdles here. So the vaccine been delivered to this community center. Theyre doing it in a basketball hall. Its been delivered here. Has been defrosted. So they have just the five days to carry out the scheduled appointments they need for those thousand doses of vaccines that get delivered to these different places. And thats quite a careful operation in a role Community Like this. But this is the kind of thing youll see in america. Local Community Halls being turned into Vaccination Centers where people can get to. And another point just to say, what weve seen here, we havent seen so many elderly and frail. I think as we go forward, another one of the challenges is going to be how do people who struggle with transportation, maybe struggle with movement, how do you get them to places like this or how do you get the vaccine to them . Both solutions are difficult. One of the Health Experts we spoke to here said they were actually really looking forward to other vaccines here in the uk being approved because that, if you know, will give them more weapons, more opportunities, more vaccines and some of those other vaccines yet to be approved dont have to be transported in the deep freeze temperatures. Keir, thank you, and stay safe where you are. We cant forget, here in the United States, we are still months away from a vaccine and right now hospitals across this country are struggling to keep up with demand. My colleague Steve Patterson is in reno, nevada, where one hospital is getting absolutely desperate. Steve, whats the situation where you are . Stephanie, nevada per capita has one of the worst hospitalization rates in the country. Here in washu county, 1 out of every 40 residents has been active case of coronavirus. This hospital, one of the largest in the region, was getting slammed. They had to get creative quickly. What they did is opened up this alternative care site converting a parking garage into one of these sites. Two floors. Freed up 1500 beds. Full negatively pressurized so it has all the amenities of a covid ward and its helped a lot. One of the doctors said its now the difference between them having to make incredibly difficult decisions and being able to get a little breathing room. But the situation inside that hospital still dire. The icu bed situation almost completely full to capacity. 35 out of 38 beds. By next week they may have to start doubling up on icu beds. I spoke to the doctor about that and how the situation in the garage has helped things. Heres what he said. Weve had to create an entirely new icu to care for critically ill patients. Weve had to develop entirely new units for covid positive patients so we can cohort them together and provide the oxygen and the isolation thats required. When those patients thankfully improve enough to where their oxygen requirements are eight liters or less, we can then move them to this alternative care site where we can still monitor their oxygen. We have nurses out here, physicians, respiratory therapists. So as the doctor was describing, sort of the flow of care, this alternative care site, this garage is just for mild to moderate cases. Youll see in a lot of cases, these are patients transitioning out of the hospital and many cases theyve been in er rooms for weeks, isolated from their friends and family and other people in the hospital. So this is one opportunity as theyre leaving to actually have a community. To see other people. They are all in there together. And they need that as they leave this hospital. Stephanie . A sense of community. Certainly comforting. Please, stay safe. Joining us to discuss this and more, dr. Kavita patel, physician and fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Obama White House policy health director. Weve got to start with this vaccine news. The fda released their analysis of that Pfizer Vaccine ahead of the United States decision on whether or not to authorize it. What stands out to you from these documents, and as you look to what theyre doing in the uk . Yeah, stephanie. Great to be with you. Glad to see youre recovering and a speedy, continuous recovery. I will say, i theres no word other than gleeful. Im looking through 53 pages. The committee will discuss this publicly thursday. Three things stand out, stephanie. There is actually incredible evidence that theres immunity that starts to occur even after the first dose. So im i want to emphasize that the twodose vaccine, but really strong efficacy, even after the first dose. Second, i also want to warn americans that it looks like this vaccine will have kind of the same reaction pattern that we see with the shingles vaccine, stephanie, and people over a certain age. My patients will know what this is. Localized arm ache, some reaction at the site of the injection. All of that is i think, very mild and certainly no serious adverse effects to speak of. And, of course, this incredible kind of 95 and i want to unpack that briefly what this tells us. Of the people who receive the vaccine, they are 95 less likely to get mild, moderate or severe covid compared to a group of people that dont get the vaccine. Thats the right way to interpret it and the data reinforces that. Its rare that you join me on this show and you tell me youre gleeful, so ill take that any day. But i want to talk about where we are right now because we dont have the vaccine today. What we have is testing. Can you help me understand why 11 months in, our testing, which is so essential, is still in such a bad place. People are waiting five, six, seven, eight days just to get their test results. And during that time period, were expecting people to isolate and we both know theyre not. And when people dont isolate, thats when it spreads. Stephanie, its so its even worse than that. I will tell you that its the very reason youve been reporting on. Small businesses, businesses of any size, schools. This has all been bound up in the cluster of testing or the lack thereof. The fda has not been willing to create a pathway for what we call surveillance tests. So think about kids in schools around the country who dont necessarily have symptoms but we want to understand if they could possibly have covid. Universities around the country are doing this by the way, and they have just done it with their own labs and taken it upon themselves. We should be able to scale that. You should be able, with the technology developed, you should be able to not even leave your house without an answer about whether or not theres a high chance you could have covid. And i think its the failure of regulatory status and its a failure of the will of the federal government to prioritize this because at the end of the day, it takes energy and money to dedicate those resources, and they just simply havent. Okay. But then lets stay on that because if we want schools open, businesses open, which we both do, its about having the information needed to isolate. And, yes, it would cost a lot of money, but were spending lots and lots of money already and were losing lots and lots of money because were shut down. What would be the reason to not have this rapid test information . I mean, im somebody who is currently isolating, and i know exactly how hard it is to get tested, and it makes no sense to me. Who would want that . Nobody. Nobody. Stephanie there is no explanation. And all you have to do is rewind several months when we saw admiral giroux. Weve seen a number of Trump Officials say that were doing more testing, were doing more testing than any other country. Were simply not doing enough testing by virtue of our Positivity Rate and exactly what you just said. And certainly, stephanie, ill take it a step further. Its a policy failure, but its a failure of leadership because we also had to cater to the president s message that we were doing enough testing. So what would it look like if we tripled, quadrupled our tests, which is exactly what we need to do. And then i will tell you this. You bring up an incredible point about isolation or people in quarantine. Most americans have not adhered to quarantine restrictions. Telling people to not work or not see other people for 14 days if you had a close contact is very hard if you are a working mother or just anybody. So this has been incredible. The postmortem on this, i hope, will reveal we could have saved lives, could have kept businesses open and certainly kept schools open safely. Isolating works. Its just very, very hard to do. And at the very least, we need to acknowledge it and provide support for people who simply cant put their lives on hold. Dr. Patel, always good to see you. Thanks for joining me. Weve got to talk economics because as these numbers are getting worse and more businesses are being forced to close, lawmakers are still not giving us a relief bill. They are trying to pass a covid relief bill but we dont have it yet. Garrett haake is on capitol hill with the latest. Garrett, where are we on this . Dont have it yet, steph. They may not have it for another week or so. Yesterday we Learned Congress was going to do the thing that we all wish we could do in our own lives when we have an impending deadline and give themselves an extra week to complete their work. Theyre going to vote this week to give themselves another week to finish the government funding deal theyre working on and this covid relief package. The new deadline is next friday. Joe manchin this morning essentially the democratic leader of this Bipartisan Coalition thats working on a relief package said that today he hopes to release this detailed section by section of most of the elements of their bipartisan framework. Money for vaccines, unemployment insurance, even for unemployment. Well learn how all that works today but what we wont learn is how theyll do state and local government funding and how theyre going to do liability shield. That Liability Protection for businesses. Those continue to be the stickiest issues in this entire negotiation. In fact, the team thats working on the liability portion, they met last night. They are meeting again this morning. Theyre trying to hammer that part out of it. What they do if they cant come to an agreement on those two items, the other big question. Do they pass all the other things they can agree upon or keep fighting this out . Thats where we are right now and this Team Continues to work more or less around the clock on this relief package. Weve got a Record Number of people going to food pantries and food banks. We dont have enough access to rapid tests, and were bickering over liability shields for businesses on whether or not they need to protect their customers and employees. Think about that. Garrett, thank you. And now i want to turn to a shocking story out of florida. Authorities have raided the home of a former state official who has said she was ousted earlier this year for refusing to censor the States Coronavirus data. She was a whistleblower. Rebekah jones tweeted this video of the raid on her home saying this. State police came into my house and took all of my hardware and technology. They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids. In search of a warrant an investigator said, a person at jones home, who was using her email draerks illegally gained access to a staterun communications platform. That person sent a group text message telling people it was, quote, time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. Jones led the effort to establish a Public Information portal that listed the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the state of florida. In may, she told a local tv station her exit was not voluntary. She now says Governor Ron Desantis is behind the raid on her home. The Florida Department of health has made no comment. Still ahead the white house hosts a vaccine summit today. Whats actually going to happen at that summit . Because there may be a backlog of vaccines after the Trump Administration turned down the opportunity to order extra doses from pfizer. Plus, firing up the base. What both parties need to focus on right now in georgia as control of the senate hangs in the balance. I felt like. I was just fighting an uphill 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. These are skills lots of people can learn. I feel hopeful about the future now. [ engine rumbling ] [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] uh, you know theres a 30minute limit, right . Tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. And at fidelity, youll get planning and advice to help you prepare for the future, without sacrificing whats most important to you today. Because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction youre moving is forward. We started by making the cloud easier to manage. But we didnt stop there. We made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. No matter what it does, or how it changes. And we kept going. So you only pay for what you use. Because at dell technologies, we stop. At nothing. Becauto all the businesseses, make it through 2020. Thank you for going the extra mile. And for the extra pump of caramel. Thank you for the good food. And the good karma. Thank you for all the deliveries. Especially this one. Youve reminded us that no matter what, we can always find a way to bounce forward. So thank you, to our customers and to businesses everywhere, from all of us at comcast business. In just hours, president elect biden will introduce the members of his health team to the public. The team will immediately be in charge of addressing the coronavirus pandemic, including the governments efforts to distribute coronavirus vaccines. At the very same time, President Trump will hold what he is calling a vaccine summit at the white house today. But there will be two major noshows at the event. Vaccine Developers Pfizer and moderna declined the president s invitation to attend the summit. And new reporting by the Washington Post reveals pfizer has told u. S. Officials it will not be able to supply a substantial amount of additional vaccine doses until some time next summer. That comes after Trump Administration officials reportedly declined when pfizer offered to sell the u. S. More vaccine doses last summer. I want to bring in Michael Memoli where the biden team is and White House Bureau chief of the Washington Post, phil rucker. Mike, lets talk biden first. Introducing his health team in just a few hours. What should we expect in terms of an action plan . Can they do anything before january 20th . Well, steph, its interesting. You just laid it out there. Were more than a month since joe biden was projected as the president elect and were going to have another one of these split screen moments where at the white house, President Trump is essentially celebrating the vaccine, trying to claim credit for it and at the same time, biden will be introducing his team, the team that will be largely the one responsible for actually distributing this vaccine, getting it out to the public. And were seeing some considerable praise for some of those selections. Rochelle walensky. Shell be at the head of the cdc. Youre also going to see vivek murthy back as the Surgeon General after serving that role in the obama administration, and Jeffrey Zients as the covid czar helping to work across agencies to do this. Some criticism for xavier becerra, former congressman, get something pushback from republicans on capitol hill. But, steph, to the question you ask, its going to be a focus of a meeting that we now expect to take place on thursday. Moncef slaoui saying in an interview this morning thats the day hell meet with members of the biden transition team. Slaoui is the head of operation warp speed. Theres already been evidence of daylight between the two sides on how much the biden team believes there has been a plan in place to not just get a vaccine manufactured and sent to the states but then from that point forward, from the states into as biden says, into arms from vaccinations, from vaccine to vaccination. Thats going to be a critical conversation that happens this week. The delay in the transition really did set back the biden team and really understanding fully what position were in to get that vaccine out to the public. Of course, we expect that some time next summer. I also want to mention something youll be talking about later as well and thats bidens choice for defense secretary. There is a pandemic related part of this. One of the reasons we understand why joe biden selected lloyd austin to be his pentagon secretary, given his experience as a retired general is that the military plays a role in all of this. Expect to see that announcement potentially on paper today as we get the full rollout of the Health Care Team as well, steph. Phil, based on your reporting, how much is the Trump Administration cooperating with the biden team . Most americans would say they dont know any of those people that mike just mentioned. They dont even care who they are. They care that we get this pandemic under control. From your reporting, how much coordination is actually happening . Well, steph, as of a couple of weeks ago when the president allowed the gsa to authorize the beginning of this transition, theres been some coordination at a staff level and their incoming counterparts or the agency teams the biden transition has put in place in those agencies. At the senior level, at the level of the Coronavirus Response and planning to inherit this Operation Warp Speed Program as mike was just talking about, there has not been the kind of cooperation and coordination that you might expect. It seems like thats going to change this week when that meeting takes place. But that is really one of the most critical areas where you need to have cooperation so that there can be a seamless transition. So come january 20th when biden is sworn in as president , the government isnt missing a step in getting that vaccine out to people. There are other important areas, too, though. National security, for example, and some of the coordination and discussions are taking place there. Then explain to me whats going to happen at this vaccine summit at the white house today. If pfizer and moderna arent participating, wouldnt that be essential . Wouldnt it be essential to have bidens team there . If theres a vaccine summit thats anything more than just a ceremony, then it would be a working event where you need to have all the stakeholders that are going to be involved in the distribution of this thing. Yeah, thats a really important point, steph. My understanding is that the summit is designed in large part to try to boost Public Confidence in the governments vaccine plans to make people feel assured that the vaccines will be safe and that theres a plan in place by the administration to get it out to the millions of americans who need it most. But not having all the stakeholders there present and making this really a political event where theyre excluding the incoming biden team from the summit seems to send the wrong signal. But, again, this is the aspect of the Coronavirus Response that the president has been most consumed by, most eager to tout and wants to own as his own sort of personal, political legacy. The operation warp speed. And i think thats the main reason theyre not including any biden people. It makes very little sense because if they were looking to boost the american peoples confidence, what would boost their confidence would be access to testing, access to test results and access to a vaccine. Lets talk about that before you go. Pfizer wont be able to provide a substantial amount of additional vaccines until next summer because this administration said no thanks when they were offered the chance to order them . Thats right. The pfizer initially cut a deal with the u. S. Government to purchase 100 million doses, which is enough for 50 Million People. At one point, pfizer offered to double that to provide 200 million doses which would help 100 Million People and the u. S. Government said no. Thats according to the reporting in the New York Times and confirmed by my colleagues at the Washington Post. Well, fast forward to now when this vaccine is proving to pass these tests and about to get fda authorization, the government wants those additional doses but its too late because pfizer has gone into contract with a number of foreign governments to provide those additional doses outside the United States. And so its going to be a lag time here to get those doses into the u. S. Government. And its really the fault, frankly, of the planning of the government, of the Trump Administrations operation warp speed which apparently department have enough faith in this vaccine early on to double that order. Phil, michael, thank you both so much. Its not about getting people excited. Its about making sure theyre safe and healthy. Coming up, weve got to turn our focus to early voting in the Georgia Senate runoff. How do both parties not just fire up their bases but get every possible person out there and voting . Ho takes care of you. So why wait to screen for colon cancer . Because when caught in early stages, its more treatable. Im cologuard. Im noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92 of colon cancers. Even in early stages. Tell me more. Its for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. Ill get on it thats a step in the right direction. Before we talk about taxsaudreys expecting. New . Twins ill get on it wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. I will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night its true, i will rescue you oh, i will rescue you i just got to shop online and i get cash back. I love using rakuten during the holidays, because i can get the sale and i can get cash back. And its so easy and the best way to start off the new year. Sign up today and get cash back with rakuten. The Voter Registration deadline for georgias allimportant Senate Runoffs just passed. And this morning, both sides are focused on turning out the vote. Former housing secretary Julian Castro will campaign for democrats jon ossoff and Raphael Warnock today with senator Elizabeth Warren hosting a zoom fundraiser. Republicans, they have another scheduled trip from Vice President pence along with one from former Vice President candidate, sarah palin. This as georgias secretary of state certified president elect bidens win there against direct attacks from President Trump. And in case you lost count, that is the third time the state of georgia has said that joe biden won. Nbcs Shaquille Brewster is all over this story in atlanta. Shaq, this election is going to be all about turnout. Who seems to have the momentum right now . Thats really an open question. I think both sides are trying to adjust that by bringing in those big stars. This will be a key thing. Turnout will be the key factor here, and in the state of georgia, we saw yesterday, the focus was very much on Voter Registration. Registering as many voters as they could before that midnight deadline. Now it will shift to early voting. Inperson early voting starts just next week. The secretary of States Office said that more than 1 million georgians have already requested an absentee ballot. That is a number that is pretty impressive considering that runoff elections are usually lower turnout events. For democrats, they feel like they won this thing. Or they feel like they can look back to Vice President biden, now president elect biden and his victory. And they feel some sense of optimism there. For republicans, they have history on their side. They know that the last statewide Senate Runoff went for the republicans by about 15 points. They know that if they can get their traditional Republican Voters out to the polls, they feel some confidence there. So it really is about turnout. Its really about both sides driving out their base, steph. Shaq, thank you. I want to dig deeper and bring in georgia congresswomanelect nakema williams. The chair of georgias Democratic Party. Thank you for joining me. Lets talk about the history shaq was just mentioning. Democrats havent won a statewide runoff in georgia since 1988. And its people just dont seem to get that enthused. Are you worried that people just arent that energized because its not the president ial election . You and shaq got it exactly right. This is a turnout election. We might have not won a runoff since 1988 but its a new day here in georgia. If you look at what were able to accomplish. Donald trump lost not once, not twice but three times, right here in the state of georgia. And we hadnt done that since 1992. The last time democrats won a president ial election, i couldnt even vote. So we are making progress here cycle after cycle, and i have to remind people that this election was never just about donald trump. So it does not matter that trump is not on the ballot. His Republican Party is still on the ballot who has not looked out for everyday georgians. We have two United States senators who line their own pockets and looked out for their own stock portfolios instead of everyday georgians in the midst of this pandemic. We know whats at stake this election cycle. Georgians are turning out in force to vote for our democratic candidates, jon ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Georgians may be turning out in force, but republicans are bufth out their checkbooks. Republicans have a 400 cash advantage over democrats. At this point, is the game plan to try to close that gap or not even focus on fundraising . You aint never going to catch up to them. Were absolutely focused on fundraising, but what we know is that people want elections and were turning out our people. Were talking to everyday georgians making sure they understand whats at stake. If we want to get this pandemic under control, we have work to do. We need to get two democrats elected to the United States senate. Weve seen whats happened with republicans in control of the United States senate. Its gridlock after gridlock and people are not getting the help they need in the midst of a Global Pandemic. So, yes, money is absolutely important, people can go online and donate to the Democratic Party or to our candidates today, but we need them to turn out to vote, and thats what were focused on. Us who watched the debate the other night, Kelly Loeffler took the approach we saw the gop do. Attacking reverend warnock, making him out to be a radical. It worked in other down ballot races. How can democrats combat this . I mean, i dont know that its worked. I think the verdict is still out on that. Early voting starts december 14th, and i think people saw what we saw was you want authenticity in your candidates and what i saw was someone on repeat after repeat using a tired line that National Republicans continue to use. But what i know is that Raphael Warnock preaches from the pulpit of dr. King every sunday. I saw Kelly Loeffler sitting in the pulpit behind him on the king holiday just in january. So i know the man of integrity and the man of faith that Raphael Warnock is, and i cannot wait to call him my United States senator. But is it fair to say its a tired argument . It did work. Jaime harrison will tell you it did work. Amy mcgrath would say it did work. We heard that from the likes of current elected democrats who said that argument that the gop made helped republicans win seats. To say, oh, thats a tired argument, arent you risking something that could be a real vulnerability unless you attack it head on . What i do know is that our candidates have been going back out and making sure that voters understand exactly who they are. No matter who our candidate is, you are going to hear the same argument. It has nothing to do with the candidates that we have on the ballot. It has nothing to do with the work that Raphael Warnock and jon ossoff are going to do when they get to the senate to represent everyday georgians. It has everything to do with republicans being scared and using fear tactics to try and keep people away from the polls. And thats just not what were about here in georgia. Were looking forward. Were moving on to make sure that we can get this pandemic under control. We can get our children back to school safely. Get our health care on the right track. And get people back to work here in georgia. Amen to that. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up next president elect joe biden is expected to make another historic pick for his cabinet. Why the president and ceo of the naacp says he is less concerned about who joe biden is picking and more concerned with what his agenda priorities are. 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. Developing this morning, nbc news learned president elect joe biden will nominate retired army general lloyd austin to be the next secretary of defense. The 67yearold is a retired fourstar general and would become the first africanamerican to lead the pentagon. I want to go live to Geoff Bennett in wilmington, delaware, where the biden team is. Geoff, what more are you learning about this pick . Hey, steph. Great to see you. In choosing general lloyd austin, joe biden is elevating a barrierbreaking retired fourstar military officer. Lloyd austin was the first black officer to lead an Army Division in combat. He was the first black officer to oversee an entire theater of operations before retiring in 2016. He ran u. S. Central command. Now there are some democrats who are disappointed that biden didnt pick pentagon veteran michelle flournoy, making her the first woman to lead the defense department. There are some democrats who are concerned that here again joe biden is turning to a retired military man to lead the pentagon, even though the Founding Fathers set up a system of civilian control of the military. But people close to joe biden are emphasizing the deep personal affection that he has for general austin saying the two of them have a long working personal relationship, steph. President elect biden is also going to be holding a virtual meet with civil rights leaders today. What do we expect out of that . Yeah, and look, as we were first to report you have those legacy civil Rights Groups that were concerned, frustrated by the lack of access to biden himself. The lack of access to senior biden transition officials. And who felt like their issues werent properly represented in the biden transition. That there wasnt enough diversity represented in the upper ranks of the White House Team and the cabinet selections that biden was putting forward. So the meeting today is aimed at remedying that. Joe biden will meet with the leaders of the naacp, the urban league, the Naacp Legal Defense Fund will be there. And so, you know, based on our conversations with some of these leaders, theyre saying they dont necessarily want veto power over any potential biden pick but they want to be consulted, given that black voters were sddecisive in biden win, driving turnout in pennsylvania and wisconsin. This is aimed at airing a lot of those issues, steph. Geoff, thank you. Joining us now, someone who is going to participate in that meeting. Derek johnson, the president and ceo of the naacp. Im so glad youre with us. Help us understand, youre going to be part of this meeting. What matters to you more, who joe biden is choosing to be part of this cabinet or what his actual agenda is going to be . Its a false choice. What concerns us is the policy agenda, the priorities that this administration will place on the need for more diversity, for more inclusion, for more opportunities for africanamericans. And for that matter, Many Community who have been left out of the of governance for decades. We can look forward to 2030 of a more inclusive america or well have to settle for a 1950 reality, much of what was tried or that was being tried by this current administration. We have to reverse this trend. Its more than just reversing whats happened in the last four years. We know there was enormous racial inequality before President Trump took office. So what would you like joe biden to focus on most when he takes office . First of all, germinating straight from the west wing, his office, the priorities that Racial Inclusion would be first and foremost across all agencies. That tone must be set from his office, from him. If you look at corporations that have tackled this question or pursuing this question, you would notice that Diversity Inclusion officers report directly to the president and ceo of those companies, and those are the companies that are most successful beginning to remedy the problem of racial division. And that needs to be the tone set from this white house as well. We celebrate very capable officials to head up agencies but weve also seen in the past just because an africanamerican or latino serve in an agency, if the priorities are not set from the commander in chief, we may not get what we need out of that individual. The pandemic, weve talked about this before, has disproportionately hurt minorities. From a Health Perspective and financially. Right now if you look at 29 of black families in america, and 17 of hispanic families, those who are renters are behind on their rent and their utilities. And thats just the financial aspect of this. When president elect takes office, what do you want him to prioritize in terms of the racial inequalities that covid has exposed . We have to look at the economic harm that this Global Pandemic have created. We have to identify ways to minimize the Health Damage and risk that critical workers are confronted with. Of the disproportionate impact is also the result of many africanamericans are part of the critical worker pool. We have to create Safety Measures so they can continue to carry out those critical duties while, at the same time, make sure we protect their health, their familys health and the communities they cover. All right then. Thank you so much for joining me today. I appreciate it. Thank you for the opportunity. Coming up next food banks doing Everything Possible to keep up with the demand. As one Grocery Store chain in florida is now saying theyre going to see what they can do to help. I felt like. I was just fighting an uphill 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. These are skills lots of people can learn. I feel hopeful about the future now. Find a stock basedtech. On your interests i feel hopeful about the future now. Or whats trending. Get realtime insights in your customized view of the market. Its smarter Trading Technology for smarter trading decisions. Fidelity. Are you managing. Using fingersticks . With the new freestyle libre 2 system, a continuous glucose monitor, you can check your glucose with a painless, onesecond scan. And now with optional alarms, you can choose to be notified if you go too high or too low. And for those who qualify, the freestyle libre 2 system is now covered by medicare. Ask your doctor for a prescription. You can do it without fingersticks. Learn more at freestyle libre 2 dot u. S. Right now one of every six americans woke up this morning unsure of where their next meal is coming from. And with absolutely no clear relief from the federal government in sight, that number of americans is going up. Demand is surging at food banks across the country with some lines stretching for miles as americans are struggling to eat. But this morning one city is taking a new strategy and doing something about it. Miami giving up 250 Grocery Store gift cards to those who need them. Kerry sanders is at a soccer park in miami where theyre being handed out as we speak. Whats going on there, kerry . Reporter this has been an interesting morning. Some people began lining up at 2 30 yesterday to get the gift cards. This is part of the cares act membership. The city of miami found themselves backed into the corner because they say the cares act money wound up going to the county and then was distributed very late to the city. This sort of underscores the situation of the census counts. Miami is a big city, but because not everybody is counted here, it fell below the threshold of the money coming directly to the city. Theyve only recently gotten about 8. 5 million more, and 3. 5 is being distributed. While theyd like to be giving out food, it has to all go out by december. The folks lining up and getting those 250 gift cards that they can then go to the dominant Grocery Store in florida, called publix and do their shopping to get their food. When we look at the projection of where things look like theyre going, this is really perhaps the scariest number to look at what the usda and feeding of america have shown us. In the coming months, its possible we may see as many as 50 million americans who are what is called food insecure. And in that group when you look at the graphic, 17 million of them are children. We spoke to some of those folks who are lined up here today about getting the handouts here that they so desperately need. Its a relief, but theres also more that needs to be done. It doesnt take a lot to help people, and even if you give them some chicken or even a dollar, whar it takes just to give it. Without anybody giving you a congratulations or anything, its much needed. You will get rewarded. Reporter that young lady there talking to us is a mother of seven. Two of her kids are in college. She has five kids at home. She finds herself unemployed because of the pandemic, and perhaps the saddest irony of all . Her job had been working at a food bank. Stephanie . Wow. We know so many people are in need, but how does the city decide who gets a gift card and who doesnt . I ask because i think back to the Small Business loans. How many people out there thought hey, this is free government money, let me jump in line and get it and then the money ran out . Is there a scenario where the gift cards run out and people who need it most dont get them . Yeah. Its absolutely going to happen. There is no qualification other than that you have to be a resident of the city of miami. So some sort of i. D. With an address. Some people began lining up at 2 30 yesterday. There were many more people in line today that exceeded the 500 gift cards. Theyre doing it again next tuesday, and they also recognize that while the majority of people will take these cards, they will go to the Grocery Store and will buy food for their family, they know that just in the sense of the way people are, there will be some scammers who sell the cards, people who go and buy items that maybe are not really about nourishment. You know . Beer and other items. Theres no restriction on the cards. This is not like a food stamp ebt type card, but the majority of people who will get this, the belief is and based on the people that ive met here today, its all about feeding their families in the next week. Feeding our families in the next week. Thank you so much. Really important story. I appreciate you sharing it with us. That wraps up this very busy hour. Im stephanie ruhle. Really good to be back with you. And if this hour hasnt been enough, you can listen to us. The Second Season of my podcast, modd modern ruhles is out now. Coming up after the break right here on msnbc, youre in for a treat. Hallie jackson picks up coverage next. Ackson picks up coverage next using my old spice moisturize with shea butter body wash. All i wanted was to use your body wash and all i wanted was to have a body wash. We started by making the cloud easier to manage. But we didnt stop there. We made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. No matter what it does, or how it changes. 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The most tangible proof that help and hope are coming. Theyre calling it vday in the uk. The first vaccinations a few hours ago. More happening as we speak with a 90yearold woman, the first recipient becoming the face of this historymaking moment with a message. Im feeling good. Im feeling good. And here at home, more breaking news this morning within the last hour. The fda out with its review of pfizers vaccine data. It looks like more good news. Laying the groundwork for a rollout days away. We have the highlights of the data. And today a split screen moment as both the trump and incoming biden administrations focus on covid
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