the southern border. more than 4200 unaccompanied migrant children are in custody in the united states as pressure mounts on this administration. we do have a lot more on that in a moment. let's begin with the race to vacc vaccinate. randi kaye is live at a mass vaccination site. you see so many getting vaccinated in florida at the same time you see spring breakers acting like there never was a pandemic. >> absolutely. i mean, you -- it depends on where you go here. that's when you know you're in 2021 or maybe even 2019 when the spring breakers seemed to be living in that year, before the pandemic even hit. but if you look at the numbers, they are certainly going in the right direction for the vaccinations. just take a look at how many have been fully vaccinated across the country. more than 38 million people fully vaccinated with that covid vaccine and even the partial numbers are impressive. more than 71 million have been partially vaccinated. you mention those record highs. the cdc has been tracking those shots in arms and the seven-day average for the covid vaccine doses has reached a record high of 2.4 million doses a day. so i am at this south florida fairgrounds this morning. and they have now turned that into a vaccination site. it's appointment only. hoping to do 500 vaccinations here today. but they are expecting a large crowd and that is because the governor is trying to ramp up more shots in arms. get more shots in arms. it's now the age to get a vaccination. the eligibility age has now been dropped so you can come in if you're 60 years old. 60 and above. the vaccine is available. but we're seeing the crowds coming. the cars are slowly heading in here. it opens just at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. but even in other states around the country they are looking to expand in mississippi. they are looking to expand the vaccinations offering now, the vaccination to those 16 and above, just the second state to do so. connecticut not far behind looking to do that as well. but certainly you mention the concern among the cdc and the spring breakers here in the state of florida. we saw them in huge crowds on the beaches, the bars. big gatherings in miami beach. a hundred arrests over the weekend. crowds trying to break up the crowds. there's no mask mandate and the governor has said these municipalities cannot fine anybody for not wearing a mask. we didn't see a lot of mask wearing, didn't see a lot of social distancing. the cdc chief is warning we could see another surge like we saw in the spring and over the summer if they don't take this seriously. >> the last thing we need. randi, thank you for that reporting in florida. a big step in the push to get kids back into school, this morning, moderna revealed the first children have been vaccinated in the next phase of their pediatric vaccination trial. >> cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen has been following this. elizabeth, what does this mean for the timeline as to when the trial will be complete and, therefore, it will be safe for children to get the vaccine as well? >> you know, jim, moderna is not saying what their timeline will be, but we do know they are very early on in this clinical trial. they still haven't figured out what dose is best to give children of various ages. it will be months. it will take months to do these clinical trials. let's take a look at what moderna is doing. 6,700 participants ages 6 months to 11 years old. that's the age group that they're testing it in. they'll be testing it in those children in canada and the united states. and they are testing different doses to see what dose might be best for babies and toddlers and then for children ages 2 to 11. now it's important to note, pfizer will probably have its approval for a children's vaccine before moderna. pfizer fully enrolled its trial in january. so they are ahead of the game here. jim, poppy? >> there is some really good news in a handful of states across the country. really loosening up vaccine restrictions, opening up vaccination for those 16 and older. what do you know? >> so states areflexible. other states as well. some states are saying everybody 16 up. some are saying everybody 16 up if you have an underlying condition. each state has its own individual set of rules. and this is a good thing. it means there's nor and more supply. we're getting more out there. there are two groups that health authorities are really worried about reaching. and that's minority communities, communities of color that have been very hesitant about this vaccine and also republicans. we've seen in a cnn poll that almost half of republicans don't have any intention to get this vaccine. dr. brett giroir was asked about this earlier. >> i think it's very important for former president trump as well as the vice president, to actively encourage all the followers to get the vaccine. the people who follow former president are very committed to president trump. and i think his leadership still matters a great deal. >> this is a very hard to reach group. former president trump got a shot in january but didn't say anything. so what we're hearing from health authorities, gee, wish he would get out and say something because then maybe his followers would do the same. jim, poppy? >> all the questions about the seriousness of this outbreak for months has an effect and we're seeing it there in these partisan information bubbles. sad to see. experts from the world health organization are set to meet today as a growing list of countries is now suspending the use of the oxford/astrazeneca covid vaccine. >> more than half of european nations have halted their use after a small number of patients did experience blood clots. let's go to melissa bell in rome this morning. this is a huge blow to europe's ability right now at least to try to get these surges under control. do they know if there's a direct correlation between these blood clots and the vaccine or is that what they're looking at now? >> that is exactly what they are trying to look at now. poppy, this is the point the world health organization, the european medicines agency, astrazeneca itself have come out and said, for the time being there's no evidence that there is any correlation between those handful of people and we're talking about more than 30 -- just over 30 total of 17 million people who have been used -- using astrazeneca vaccine in the united kingdom and in the eu that have experienced these problems with blood clots. for the time being no evidence there's any correlation. astrazeneca points out that figure of just over 30 people, that size of a population, on that size of sample is really what you'd get in any ordinary population. and yet, european national health agencies, one after another, and they really have been falling like flies the last few days, have begun announcing the suspension of the astrazeneca vaccine. even france and germany that initially defend its increased use. what's happened? it isn't just about the numbers. what happened yesterday is that denmark, one of the first countries to announce the suspension, said the reason it had done so is one of the people who died after being inoculated as a result of blood clots was found to have unusual symptoms. i think that is really what sent alarm bells going. so these are the subject of investigations, the european medicine agency should be delivering its verdict in the next dfew days. the fact is in so many countries it's stopped. and that's a massive blow to a rollout that had already been under pressure. it's a massive blow because it comes even as the third wave is sweeping across the european continent. here in italy we're under a new lockdown in half the country and, of course, it has ramifications way beyond europe. we're talking about vaccine hesitancy and because the astrazeneca vaccine itself was one that was really considered crucial in the global fight against this pandemic. it is cheaper than other vaccines. the company is not making a profit on it. it is also easier to store, easier to roll out. 3 billion doses purchased and it's considered crucial for trying to help the developing world to fight their own health emergency. not just about a health emergency, but it's about a pandemic. we have to get the whole world vaccinated. >> melissa, thank you very much. let's bring in dr. colleen kraft from emory university hospital. let's be clear here. we don't know if there's any correlation here between the astrazeneca vaccine and these blood clots, and it very well may be incredibly safe. it probably is. but they are pausing to study that and figure that out. what is your read on this. what is everyone who may be getting this vaccine need to know? >> right. so any time that we give a lot of people a vaccine, we start to worry about if we can attribute certain side effects or things that happen to that vaccine. i think you have already said the numbers, poppy. 17 million. 30 people. this would happen probably at that reate in a normal population. i have received the ebola vaccine spoep this is a very safe vaccine. it's important to look into these safety concerns as they come along, but i don't think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. we need to make sure that we're actually seeing a signal before we say we shouldn't give this vaccine. >> and let's remember here for our audience here in the u.s., this is not the vaccine that people are receiving. there are three other vaccines, pfizer, moderna and now johnson & johnson. and they have not shown anything like this. if you are listening at home and making an association here, don't make that association. there's no evidence of those kinds of problems. we do, sadly, dr. kraft, have an issue here where, despite the enormous success rate of the three vaccines available now in the u.s., without safety issues, you have this political problem. half of republicans aren't taking it. it's been months of disinformation from republican leaders and even going back to the president. it's not serious. you don't have to wear a mask. blah, blah, blah. what do we do about it? you can't have it be a party line issue because you need the population vaccinated and stop the pandemic. >> you're right. covid-19 does not care whether you are republican or democrat or any other party. so it's really important, i think, that we have to eventually come -- this isn't surprising entirely, right, given the year of misinformation we've had sort of under the previous president and all of the aspects of this that's been stoked. we're number one in the world for absolute number of cases. the reason is because this has become a political issue in the united states. and so i think we really have to figure out, and this is something i think about all day, every day is how to just have individual conversations with people to understand what their concerns are, and then work towards, you know, enhancing that relationship so that they can make a good decision which would be getting the vaccination. >> moderna is trying out their vaccine on really little kids. 6 months to 11 years old. that makes me smile because i think of my toddlers. so what does that mean for most parents of young kids? >> i think it means a sense of freedom. i have my parents who are both vaccinated coming to visit me this week, and i'm so excited. i can hardly stand it. and i think it also makes me happy to think about my children also being around my parents and them all being vaccinated. and that concern about hospitalization or severe disease being gone. that is really, really exciting. >> so -- i've heard a lot of stories like this. met a grandparent yesterday who for the first time in a year was able to pick up their grandchild from school. when do you see the country reaching a critical mass of vaccinations? approaching herd immunity? we're at about 20% with one dose now. summertime? >> i am a little more pess pessimistic than that. i think we're in this race against this variant. if we can really still try to wear masks and do all of the things we should have been doing to prevent this transmission in the beginning, we can prevent that variant from taking hold in the united states and that will be a better place to get to herd immunity. if that variant rolls through and there's some issue with the vaccine, that's where i get concerned. my prediction is sort of like maybe early fall, late fall in terms of sort of reaching that critical mass. only because of thinking about the children getting vaccinated as well. and not really seeing if that's going to be completely finished by the time they start school in august. >> understood. we'll be watching closely. we'll hope for a little better. dr. colleen kraft, thanks so much. >> thank you. still to come -- a scramble to find a place to house a surge in migrant children, unaccompanied, coming over the border. we'll speak to a republican lawmaker who visited the border. that's next. dozens of new bills seek to limit early voting. make it harder to get absentee ballots and more, all targeting efforts in texas to expand voting access. and the white house is looking to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations. we'll speak ahead with a member of the president's council of economic advisers. stay with us. so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh. ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? 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>> the administration is trying to keep up with the sheer number of minors crossing the u.s./mexico border. and one of the steps they are taking is using this convention center in dallas to house children between the ages of 15 to 17 years old. boys specifically. now this morning, the department of homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas stressing the need to build capacity while encouraging them not to make the b journey to the u.s. border p. we're building the capacity to address the needs of those children when they arrive, but we are also and critically sending an important message that now is not the time to come to the border. do not take the dangerous journey now. give us time to build an orderly, safe way to arrive in the united states. and make the claims that the law permits you to make. >> now jim and poppy, the administration again facing a steep challenge on the u.s./mexico border as we continue to see a surge of migrants. mayorkas saying in a statement this morning that they are expecting and on pace for encounters not seen in the last 20 years. >> priscilla alvarez, dank than very much. joining me is marianne miller meeks of iowa. she's on the homeland security committee and part of a delegation of house republicans who toured a detention facility at the border in texas yesterday. congresswoman, thanks for taking the time this morning. >> it's my pleasure, jim. >> so, tell us what you saw down there. >> well, we first went into a processing facility. this is a new facility that's just over a little over a year old. they thought they would never see capacity to the numbers that they are seeing now. so their capacity is about 1,040 and yesterday they had already exceeded that capacity. typically the surge or the biggest volume of people coming across the border is april and may and this is february. they saw the biggest number of unaccompanied minors and single families and adults coming across the border. those are just the ones they knew came through the facility. they are not tested for covid-19. they have facilities for them to sleep. they provide food, clothing, diapers. they have a screening questionnaire for medical and temperature checks but other than that, they aren't testing for covid-19. >> i wonder, runder the trump administration, a number of mechanisms and systems that previously handled influxes of migrants, the asylum system, the central american minors program which reunites children from central american countries with legal guardians or parents here in the states. they were dismantled. as you watch this now, do you believe it was a mistake to dismantle those systems? >> that's a great question. i can tell you the border patrol agents we met with, all of them were supportive of the previous administration's policies and they think in them has created this surge. at midnight on january 20th, the wall stopped being built, including that portion of the wall that was already funded. so they have gaps, a 17-mile gap and that with that new wall was also technology and all that has stopped. they are very supportive of the wall. the technology that went with the wall so that was video sensors, that was sensors to detect motion and also underground sensors that would detect tremors. all of those were extraordinarily important. the crossing that goes into the santa crista mountains is a very important part. they think the wall needs to be extended into the mountains. there's a road right on the other side of the fence and that they have a large caravans and buses of people dropped off. they rush the fence and then you see the cartels use that as diversionary tactic to bring other things across the border. they think those policies worked and should have remained in place. and they are very concerned about title 42 going away. especially during a pandemic and covid-19. >> i want to get to the wall for a moment. i've also spoken to border experts, security officials who say that the wall, you know, throughout the trump administration, was not the solution but specifically to the issue of minors here because the real change under the biden administration, right is to say, we're no longer going to turn around unaccompanied minors. we're going to put them through a legal process here rather than turn them around unaccompanied to go back home. do you support reinstating that policy? turning unaccompanied minors away at the border again? >> i think if you look at it, we heard stories from the border patrol agents of 1-year-old children being dropped off at the border with a sign or written on the back of their clothing a phone number for someone to call. a 1-year-old child. unaccompanied. no adult. not knowing who is with them. and this is a huge money-making scheme for the cartels. you send the message that the border is not open to anybody to cross. we shouldn't be encouraging minors to come across unaccompanied. families to send them. the border patrol agents we met with and the border patrol union members had indicated to us the amount of money the cartels make in human trafficking. we don't know where these children go. we assume, you know, hhs tries to do a good job of making sure they're going to go to a community where there's a