he's a no. and, is there any hope for what would be historic investments in climate change and childcare? a wide-ranging interview with vice president kamala harris. what she says about the future of president biden's agenda and america's battle against omicron is it the fault of the unvaccinated? the war on cancer. 50 years since president nixon committed to fighting the've co disease, how far we've come, and where we go next. tiger's remarkable return. father and son tee-off, and a woods' first tournaments since the horrific crash ten months ago. how the duo fared on the fairway. and, bringing christmas cheer. a children's hospital making the holidays extra-bright for some very special kids. e holidays extra-bright for some very special kids. this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capital. >> brennan: good evening to our viewers in the west and thank you for joining us. i'm margaret brennan, in for norah. we begin with breaking news from the c.d.c. in just three weeks, since the first case of that omicron variant was confirmed here in the u.s., it is now the dominant strain, proving just how quickly this mutation spreads. omicron now accounts for 73% of new infections, and that's a nearly six-fold increase in only one week. and with christmas five days away, there is concern tonight about americans getting on airplanes, hitting the road and spreading coronavirus. today, the world health organization urged people to cancel some of their plans. this holiday surge has rattled financial markets around the world. on wall street, the dow fell more than 400 points, its third consecutive day of declines. in europe, cases are surging, more on that in a moment. but here in the u.s., new york city continues to be the epicenter of cases, and that is where we find nancy chen, outside a testing site. good evening, nancy. >> reporter: margaret, good evening to you. not only does the c.d.c. now say omicron is the dominant variant, but it also accounts for more than 90% of the new cases in the new york area, as well as other parts of the country. all this as new york state breaks the record in new covid cases for four straight days. in new york in new york city, where 71% of eligible residents are fully vaccinated, a race against the omicron variant. >> it's very transmissible. it moves fast, we have to move faster. >> reporter: there's a surge in demand for covid tests, and the wait could take hours. and here's what happened in one line. >> if you are here for the covid test, i don't have it. >> reporter: in washington, d.c., the mayor declared a state of emergency today, and new restrictions. >> we will be instituting a d.c. government vaccine mandate to include boosters. >> reporter: but there's positive news today from moderna, the company revealing a new study showing its booster provides a 37-fold increase in antibodies against omicron, compared to its two-dose regiment.e regiment. an and there is fresh evidence of covid's startling impact on the unvaccinated. the massachusetts health department reports that those who have not received a vaccine dose are 31 times more likely to test positive, than those who are vaccinated with a booster. and despite reports of breakthrough cases, the c.d.c. says nationwide, those who are unvaccinated are 20 times more likely to die from covid than those who are boosted. in texas today, officials announced the first known covid death related to omicron. at houston methodist hospital, more than 80% of new symptomatic covid cases are omicron. it took delta three months to reach that level. with omicron, less than three weeks. >> it's really blowing delta out of the water, in terms of how quickly it has spread. >> reporter: how bad could this get? >> so i think omicron is likely to become 100% of the isolates we're seeing in houston easily by the end of the year, if not by christmas. >> reporter: the director general of the world health organization is now urging people around the globe to consider canceling at least some holiday plans. in houston, dr. wesley long agrees. >> my hope is people saw family members safely during thanksgiving, and can delay what would be traditional holiday gatherings, maybe until january or february. >> reporter: and americans are still traveling for the holidays. february. >> reporter: and americans are st the t.s.a. expects to screen nearly 30 million people between now and january 3. here in new york, no word on yet if the big new year's eve celebration in times square will go on as planned, margaret. >> brennan: nancy, thank you. well, overseas tonight, europe is dealing with a covid surge of their own, forcing governments to issue new restrictions and lockdowns. cbs' roxana saberi reports from london, where omicron infectious are exploding in numbers. >> reporter: protests against covid restrictions turn tense in london, and in brussels, this weekend, as demonstrators clashed with police. across europe, countries are battling to contain the omicron variant heading into christmas. the netherlands has imposed its fourth lockdown, closing nonessential shops, bars and restaurants. denmark has shut down theaters, museums and cinemas. in germany, gatherings could reportedly soon be limited to up to ten people, and some travelers arriving in the country must now quarantine for two weeks. the u.k., meanwhile, is racing to give all adults a booster shot by the end of the year, but is not re-imposing severe restrictions yet, says british prime minister boris johnson. >> unfortunately, we will have to reserve the possibility of taking further action to protect the public. >> reporter: one event that won't be going ahead here in london is the annual new year's eve celebration in trafalgar square. mayor sadiq khan announced tonight it will be canceled to reduce the spread of the virus. margaret. >> brennan: roxana, thank you. well, the signature piece of president biden's legislative agenda, the sweeping $2 trillion spending bill, is now on life support. he does not have enough votes from senate democrats to pass it, and, tonight, his own party is playing the blame game. we get the latest from cbs' ed o'keefe at the white house. >> reporter: the white house tonight refusing to give up on the president's top legislative priority... >> we are going to continue to take steps and work like hell to get it done. >> reporter: ...after key democratic senator joe manchin dashed any hopes for its passage on sunday. >> i cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. i jst can't. >> reporter: the decision stunned the white house. they called it a breech of his commitments to the president, but manchin has always been concerned with the size and scope of the president's plan. today, the senator blamed white house staff without offering details. >> tax the rich! >> reporter: and the far left for trying to pressure him. >> well, guess what? i'm from west virginia. i'm not from where they're from and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they will be submissive, period. >> reporter: machin's objections put it all at risk. nearly $2 trillion to fight climate change, expand childcare, medicare and the universal pre-k programs put at risk, and it would have renewed an expiring tax credit for more than 33 million families for children. progressives quickly denounced manchin, saying they warned he might do this. >> i really am completely disappointed and disgusted by his reasoning. >> reporter: and today, they said democratic leaders need to take thekid gloves off in future negotiations. >> of course we have every right to be furious with joe manchin, but it's really up to leadership in the democratic party who, you know, made the decision to get us to this juncture, and how we're going to move forward. >> reporter: tonight, cbs news' learned president biden and senator manchin spoke sunday evening and that it went well, and senate democrats still plan to debate the president's plan next month when they get back to washington, hoping to force senator manchin to express his feelings not just on the airway but on the senate floor. margaret. >> brennan: saga continues. in an exclusive interview with kamala harris. with a 50/50 split in the senate, build back better was expected to be sent to the president's desk. but now, it is not clear how they'll revive it. do you feel that senator manchin is playing fair with you? i mean, he went on television and said no pretty definitively. >> i think the stakes are too high for this to be in any way about any specific individual. >> brennan: it's a 50/50 senate though. >> it is, i'm the tie breaker.0/ >> exactly. >> the stakes are so high. >> i refuse to get caught up in the-- what might be personal politics, when the people whoso are waking up at 3:00 in the morning wondering how they're going to get by could care less about the politics of d.c. >> brennan: so you don't feel betrayed? >> no, i don't have personal feelings about this. this is about getting the job done. let's talk with families who say, "i can't afford to do the basic things that i need to do as a responsible adult," like care for my children, care for my older parents, or afford to get life-saving medication like insulin. >> brennan: how do you do that, without senator manchin? >> you don't give up. that's how you do it. >> brennan: medical experts are projecting we could see as many as a million new infections per day as a result of this omicron variant. is our healthcare system prepared for what's coming? >> we are prepared for it. >> brennan: particularly in the northeast, we're already seeing hospitals overwhelmed with delta. inflation is real, it's going to be with us as long as the pandemic dominates. when can you tell the american people this will end? >> we have the power today, to go out and, if you've not been boosted, go get boosted; the power today, to go and get vaccinated. and that will have an impact on where we end up tomorrow. >> brennan: is it the fault of the unvaccinated? >> i don't think this is a moment to talk about fault. it-- it is no one's fault that this virus hit our shores, or hit the world. but it is more about individual power and responsibility, and it's about the decisions that everyone has the choice to make, no doubt. >> brennan: there are 100,000 russian troops on the border withkr are we going to see a hot war in europe in the next few weeks? >> we are having direct conversations with russia. we are very clear that russia should not invade the sovereignty of ukraine. we are prepared to issue sanctions like you've not seen before. >> brennan: does that mean sanctioning vladimir putin directly? >> i am not talking about specific sanctions, but we are making that clear to him. >> brennan: and we will have more of our exclusive interview with vice president harris on cbs "mornings" and "face the nation." tonight, we are hearing about the dramatic end of a two month long hostage situation in haiti. the 12 christian missionaries freed last week say they made a daring escape by breaking down a door and hiking across rugged terrain. they were part of a group of 17 missionaries, including young children, abducted by a gang demanding a million dollars per hostage. the group says it raised money to pay the ransom, but still had to escape to freedom. it was 50 years ago this week that president richard nixon signed the national cancer act, launching the war on cancer. and since then, fatality rates have dropped 27%. dr. jon lapook reports on the progress we've made and how far we have to go. >> when president richard nixon signed the national cancer act just before christmas in 1971, cancer was so mysterious and frightening it was often called "the big c." >> you will have of course, the total commitment of government. in the past 25 years, the cancer mortality rate increased over 20%. >> reporter: it was an all out effort to bring cancer out of the shadows. the law established a national program to study the inner workings of cancer cells and find their weak spots. >> that was really a momentous act. >> reporter: dr. lisa deangelis is a neuro-oncologist and physician in chief at memorial sloan kettering cancer center. >> it established a pipeline of discovery that is continuing today. rtrepeaorteenr:t thaharnt espe power of the immune system to seek out and destroy the cancer cells. knowing genetics of mutations helps doctors administer treatments. >> diagnosis, of melanoma. >> back then we thought it was perhaps 40 diseases. now we think of it as more like 400 diseases. and that actually means we have had to develop treatments that are unique and specific to each sub-type of cancer. >> reporter: how were we able to know there were these different types of cancers? was it genomic research? >> the genomics have really given us insight into the many different ways a cancer can form, even when two different cancers look exactly the same under the microscope. >> reporter: that is so key, lisa, right? >> there was nothing like this when we started medical school. >> reporter: that was 1976 in new york city. dr. deangelis and i were classmates at columbia. >> people were afraid to tell a patient that they had a diagnosis of cancer, family members were always saying don't tell mom, don't tell dad. the treatments were often brutal, quite honestly.ite hone. and now che and now, chemotherapy is given as an outpatient. >> reporter: medications now lessen the side effects of chemotherapy, and more targeted therapies can kill cancer cells while sparing normal ones. but, challenges remain. for example, pancreatic and brain cancers have especially low survival rates. we're 50 years into a war that's continuing. that's a long war. >> the war analogy may not have been apt. the concept was, that were going to be able to treat or eradicate all cancer. but that is not what happened, and it's not ever going to happen. >> reporter: moving forward, we need to improve early detection, which is a powerful tool. take colonoscopy, which finds and removes polyps before they can turn into cancer. now, researchers are now using blood tests to find cancer cells at the earliest stages. margaret, i'm optimistic. >> brennan: i hope we can all be. thank you, doctor. well, still ahead, tiger woods on his remarkable comeback to competitive golf. her around the? 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nature's bounty introduces new jelly bean vitamins. good for you nutrients in a tastier for you form. more sweet dreams, more flavorful immune support. new nature's bounty jelly beans. live bountifully. >> brennan: christmas is about giving, family, and hope. cbs' jan crawford reports hope is exactly what she found at children's national hospital in washington. >> reporter: nine-month-old marvin hernandez, born with a rare heart condition, will spend christmas here at children's national hospital in d.c. where he has spent every single day of his life. these are his christmas lights. without a sleigh, mom joana commutes from richmond, virginia, two hours away. what are your hopes for christmas? >> what i want for christmas this year is just, for him to be okay. >> brennan: about 300 kids will spend their holidays in the hospital. 17-year-old joshua alton will visit the holiday lights in the healing garden. do you have any special hopes for the new year? >> to be done with cancer next year, not have a tumor in my spine anymore, hopefully, and start walking again. >> reporter: some kids have smaller wishes, too. we've a got a dog, blocks, a little plastic phone. so santa set up a workshop to make the holidays more normal and magical. >> it's so fun seeing them open their bags on christmas. they get so excited because they didn't know santa could come to the hospital. >> reporter: marvin is too young to know about christmas, but his mom knows there are angels here. >> i know that he is well taken care of, and i have peace. >> reporter: peace, and hope for the new year. jan crawford, cbs news, washington. >> brennan: we'll be right back. look! oh my god... oh wow. ♪ i want my daughter riley to know about her ancestors and how important it is to know who you are and to know where you came from. doesn't that look like your papa? 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