we have a ton of developments today in the coronavirus vaccine situation. what we do know is encouraging in many waysramping up vaccine production. what we don t know about the effectiveness is terrifying. it makes you wonder if the u.s. needs to dramatically rethink the current vaccine distribution strategy. let s start with the good news. today johnson and johnson leased some promising data from its phase three clinical trials. the vaccine is 72% effective in the u.s. at preventing moderate to severe illness. experts consider that a strong level of protection. here is the potential worrying news. the company disclosed the data suggests the vaccine was less effective against the south africa covid variant we have been dropping. effectiveness dropped from 72% to 57%. it s called that because it was south africa was the first place it was found which is more contagious and resistant to the vaccines we have. it s already in the united states and appears to be spreading. the mor
close up shop over the holidays, you are practically inundated with releases a material. there was the committee s final report which clocked in at over 800 pages. then there were just thousands of deposition peaches and transcripts, court documents and exhibits from the committees. hearings dozens of videos. it is hard to believe that there was anything the committee did not release. and yet today, we learned there was something. today the washington post published this draft memo. prepared by a team of committee staffers and focusing on social media and extremism. they were known as teen purple. the team apparently hoped that there 100 plus-page memo would be adapted into a chapter investigations final report. but the committee decided to leave most of it on the cutting room floor. among team purples most damning findings was that in the run up to january 6th, social media platforms like twitter and facebook bent over backwards, that their own rules to, allow donald trump
Assignments back in the day? paul gosar also coveted see on the powerful oversight committee. and then there is far-right republican and qanon support, congressman lauren boebert, who s pivotal, last-minute phones which allowed commit mccarthy to secure the speakers gavel who prefer to democratic represents to de ville and omar as a member of a quote, jihad squad. lauren boebert, also got to see on the oversight committee, which is the law with which the gop is planning to, with which the gop is planning to go after the biden administration with numerous political needed administrations. kevin mccarthy need a number of concessions to become speaker, we do not know all of them. what seems clear is that hard-liners in his party have been appeased. and that can be catastrophic for both americans and democracy. joining us now is nbc s senior political reporter, sahel