hello, everybody. welcome to our viewers in theist and around the world. john king in washington. thank you for sharing this very, very important day with us. today's fda meeting agenda focuses on a single question, with pandemic altering implications. >> we will have a single question for the committee to vote on. the question is based on totality of scientific evidence available, do the benefits of the pfizer biontech for use in 16 years of age and older. >> this vaccine decision comes at a harrowing coronavirus moment.

221,000 new cases yesterday. 209,000 is the average, and new daily death record as well, 3,124 covid-19 deaths recorded wednesday. the cdc forecast says the american death toll will top 360,000 just into the new year. economic fallout is getting more painful today. 853,000 unemployment claims last week. pandemic assistance runs out after christmas for millions. you hear lots of talk, little evidence yet of compromise. the president's schedule reminds us he cares more about his power than your health. later this hour, a white house lunch with the attorney general of texas, the leading latest republican, leading the latest republican appeal for judges to toss out the 2020 election results. 17 republican attorneys general signed on to that supreme court petition. all the proof you need that what was once the party of federalism

and constitutional conservatism is now the party of trump, period. the fda decision could alter the american timeline to recovery. we have yet to see the full post thanksgiving covid surge show up in hospitals. already one in three icus nationwide top 90% capacity last week. that means scenes like this. that's a parking garage in reno, nevada, now a coronavirus ward, approaching full capacity. the urgency for the limited vaccine green light is obvious. still, the fda commissioner today says the need for trust is critical. that means the process must follow the rules. >> it is not just a formality. we take this very seriously in terms of having transparency around the process. our job is to assess the safety and efficacy, do that well. we have shrunk a process that took months into weeks. i have confidence in them and i believe the american people should as well. >> let's go through some of the numbers at the moment, then

bring in chief medical correspondent to walk through the vaccine process. let's get a sense of where we are, why this meeting is so critical. where we are is dismal. 221,267 new covid infections reported yesterday. i almost don't need to say anything. you see the direction of the line, compared to summer peak which was horrific. that was down here, way up here, approaching 250,000, above 200,000 now. for those of you that think it is just cases, most people recover, please pay attention. deaths hit a record high as well. 3,124 americans reported dead from covid-19 just yesterday. again, look at the trend line. yes, a lot of people got comfortable here, thinking a lot of people infected, not many die. we're seeing the death trend go up as well. look around your community. look around your community. there's stress, whether you live in an urban or rural area, there's stress on the hospital system. record 106,668 americans hospitalized yesterday with covid-19.

the numbers, you see them, they keep going up. maybe not every day as a record, almost every day is a record. why? because of the high positivity across the country. deeper the color, darker it is, the higher the positivity rate. people being tested coming back positive, 37% of pennsylvania, 34% in alabama, 40% in kansas, 49% in south dakota, 15% in wyoming, double digits almost everywhere, sometimes above 20 and above 30% in some states, which is why today is so important. what is the vaccine process. for that, let's bring in chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta. start with the stakes of the meeting. i want to bring up the timeline for what could play out today. they are meeting now, urgent meeting, meeting now, all day meeting. by end of the day, they can vote to grant emergency authorization which means pfizer can start to ship this, the government can ship supplies out to the states, can't administer yet. by friday or sunday, the cdc could say go. emergency use. walk through what it means.

>> yeah. obviously today is critically important, nine hours of meetings between the various people that comprise the committee from industry and infectious diseases. they'll make a recommendation to the fda either to emergency use authorize this or not and the fda generally follows the recommendations, not always, generally follows the recommendations. if the emergency use authorization is basically recommended, distribution can start, as you mention, there are a couple more advisory committee meetings with the cdc that basically determines as they already telegraphed that these people should go first, health care workers and people that live in long-term care facilities, things like that. each state will triage on their own. operation warp speed is responsible for getting the vaccine from the manufacturers to the states. sometimes it goes straight to pharmacies or hospitals, sometimes into a stockpile in

states. after that, each state will handle doses differently, if the authorization occurs, john. >> if it occurs. let's walk through the process. to remind people if you haven't paid close attention, this is an outside group, a jury, the government has a jury, they don't work for the government, it is an advisory committee, vaccine experts, infectious disease specialists, industry representatives, consumer representatives, they layout all of the data from the studies, decide is it safe enough for a limited green light authorization. if that happens, the expectation is it will, we watch it play out. will there be restrictions who can receive the vaccine. >> we think there will be. part of this is from looking at the data and figuring out who was tested, who was part of the clinical trials. you look at that, there are

groups that pop out as groups of possible concern in terms of whether or not the committee will recommend they be vaccinated. we heard from the beginning this is not for children under the age of 16, first of all. the trials are ongoing, but the results aren't back. pregnant women is going to be a big question mark, john. there wasn't a lot of data on pregnant women, breastfeeding women in this trial. we have to see how they look at that. people with weakened immune system, you heard over the news yesterday, people with history of severe allergic reactions. we also know looking at trial data, if you had a severe allergic reaction in the past, you were excluded from the trial. we knew that sort of going in. i think the pregnancy question is an important one. i want you to hear comments about this in the committee meeting today. >> we have been closely monitoring the impacts of

covid-19 in pregnant women and subsequently following up with infants. the rates overall have been relatively low thus far. early indication is there may be higher risk of preterm delivery among pregnant women infected with covid-19 relative to women without covid-19, but there's ongoing efforts to assess those and other potential pregnancy related risks and fetal outcomes. >> john, risk reward is what he is describing there, right? we understand the risk, it's been small numbers of significant covid disease in pregnant women, how do you balance that with the possibility of a vaccine that hasn't been tested in this population of people. >> so let's stay on the reward part because it is critical to remind people it is limited at first, even with the green light today, we'll see what the committee decides and as it goes forward, the question then is how long does it take to get back to normal, meaning how many

americans need to get the vaccine before we get to a place where we are more comfortable. here's the goal. i want you to help us explain it. 60 to 70% of the population ideally is vaccinated where we get to a term that's thrown around a lot the last few months, this is the right way to get to so-called herd immunity. walk through that. >> that's right. think of a vaccine like a powerful but slower acting medicine. masks are surgical, john, in their approach. they can greatly reduce if not prevent virus transmission. that's a surgical solution in terms of how quickly it can work. vaccines can be powerful but take time and you need to get to a certain number of people being vaccinated. i asked dr. fauci about that. listen to what he said. >> let's say you get 75%, 80% of the population vaccinated. if we do that, i believe if we do it efficiently enough over

the second quarter of 2021, by the time we get to end of the summer, i.e., third quarter, we may have enough herd immunity protecting society as we get to end of 2021, we could approach some degree of normality close to where we were before. >> and what that means, john, from a public health standpoint is that the number of new cases per day becomes manageable. you can find people newly infected, trace their contacts. remember the terms, testing, tracing. numbers have been so huge, john, that's been impractical to do in most places. we can get back to that point, eventually extinguish the pandemic. >> sanjay, help with this question. it fascinates me how they got to the answer they got to. a lot of americans want to ask this, one dose or two, in the case meaning that you have a

pfizer vaccine, you have limited supplies. takes two doses to be fully vaccinated. but partial dose, one dose, would help you. the question is say i make up the number, you have 100 doses, you could give 100 people some protection or 50 people 90 plus percent protection. what's the decision and why did they make it? >> john, we don't know the answer what the decision is yet. it is a point of contention. i talked to a lot of people about this, scott gottlieb, for example, former fda commissioner said it makes sense to get as many people some protection as possible initially. manufacture more doses for the second dose for those folks, get as much protection in the community right away. i talked to dr. fauci about this again as well and he has a different point of view. listen. >> does it make sense to you to take the 40 million projected doses by end of the year and give all those as first doses to people? >> we considered that, sanjay,

and we decided that it would be more prudent not to do that, namely to get the real total degree of protection, not the 52%, but the 95% after the second dose. >> so there you have it. we're all learning together. i don't know that there's any absolute right answers here, but let me show you what he is talking about specifically, in between the first dose and second dose. there is some benefit. it is hard to study because it was just three weeks between the doses. but 52% benefit, it is better than 50% the fda originally wanted, but dr. fauci says better to wait for the 95%. we'll see what the committee recommends. >> fascinating. dr. gupta, grateful for your time to walk through this. it is a complicated process and critical day. we'll continue to watch the hearing. grateful for the time. up next, today's big white house lunch, it is not about helping you get a vaccine or helping those of you that need a

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the election challenge president trump calls, quote, the big one, his words, focus of the white house lunch. the guest list includes ken paxton from texas who is asking the supreme court to throw out results in four battleground states that voted for joe biden. hopeless, offensive, constitutionally, legally, factually wrong, those are quotes from some legal scholars and one republican attorney general. that's how they describe that challenge. 17 other attorneys general, all republicans, told the supreme court wednesday the suit has their official support. joining us, kaitlan collins. the president called it the big one, he has ken paxton and other attorneys general at the lunch table today. all of the experts say this is a farce. if this is the big one, if the president loses, will he finally

give up? >> reporter: he will probably move to the next big one. you've seen the president do this time and time again. this week distanced himself after the supreme court rejected that effort in pennsylvania to challenge the vote there, and the president said after that wasn't our case. well, it wasn't, but it was touted by his legal team, rudy giuliani and others. now he is focusing on this one, even though as you noted there are several legal experts that say it has no legal basis, it is a long shot case, is more symbolic than going to achieve anything. not just critics of the president saying things of that nature. you know, republicans as well are questioning it, including senator john cornyn of texas, the texas attorney general filed this lawsuit, and ben sasse, he told someone this about the texas attorney general who of course is under investigation now for allegations that he abused the power of his office. ben sasse said of the lawsuit it looks like a fella begging for a pardon from a pr stunt rather

than a lawsuit. that's the view of this, even in republican circles how they're seeing the last ditch effort by the president. he is doing anything he can to try to continue to delay results of the election, john. what's notable about this is not that, the president has been doing that for weeks. it is the number of republicans falling in line behind the president, continuing to push this and amplify this, make it look like they're getting behind this effort. >> well, if you follow politics, the job of state attorney general often a springboard to the governor and senate, proof the attorneys general are for getting everything they learned in law school and understanding their party is under the thumb of the president of the united states. kaitlan collins, we will watch as this case, call it a case, as this petition goes to the supreme court. more high profile visits to help candidates in the georgia senate runoffs. biden transition saying he will campaign for the democratic candidates. vice president mike pence is there today. given the stakes, democrats

control the senate if they win them both. you think getting the trump base to turn out would be an easy sell for pence. the president's constant complaints that georgia was stolen last month complicates things. donie o'sullivan explains. >> reporter: are you going to vote? >> i don't know yet. if it is the same counters, same dominion machines, i may not. if i don't see the republicans thumping for trump, i'm not voting for them. >> reporter: two critical runoff elections will decide which party controls the u.s. senate. some trump supporters falsely believe trump didn't lose this state in the presidential election and they don't think georgia republican candidates are standing up for trump. some folks are saying they're not showing up. >> i understand. because we're pissed. >> reporter: did you vote in the presidential election in

georgia? >> i did. >> reporter: who did you vote for? >> greatest president we ever had, president trump. he ain't going to lose. >> reporter: do you plan to vote in the senate runoff? >> for a republican i take it? >> reporter: i don't know at this point. you may not vote republican? >> i don't vote for a party. as far as i am concerned, the democrats and republicans can all go to hell. >> reporter: trump supporters are stuck in the murky, muddy world of misinformation. viral videos claiming the election was rigged are circulating all over the internet. lynn wood, a trump supporting lawyer in georgia who is challenging the results of the election told republicans they shouldn't vote in january's runoffs if the senators do not challenge the november results. >> if kelly loeffler and david perdue do not do it, they have not earned your vote.

don't you give it to them. >> the republican people and base are the reason to get up off our tails and vote for you because if you don't stop this fraud of an election, you don't have our back, why are we having yours. >> if i were the chair of the republican party, hear you, a georgia voter, conservative, trump supporters, republican, saying they might not vote, i would be freaking out. i would say oh, my god, are we going to lose this to the democrats. >> that's the point. that's the point. the two republican senators need to get their asses out of the office, thump the street, demand a real recount, not a fake recount. >> do you trust that next month election runoffs will be fair? >> not 100%. i am still encouraging people to vote because if they don't vote, there will be nothing to sort out, we will have gifted the election to the democrats. >> reporter: gabriel sterling is

a republican election official in georgia who called out trump's bogus election claims. >> a lot of folks, look, just don't believe there's a free and fair election in georgia for the presidential race. some of them don't think what is going to happen here in january in the senate runoffs is going to be fair either. what's your message to people who believe this? >> first of all, we have shown with math and with everything we can, i know in their heart of hearts and gut, there's no evidence you will see that will make them believe it. everybody they know voted for trump, they don't know anybody that voted for biden. we talked about it for months, had an entire ad campaign on this in the state, a lot of what you're going to hear is not real. we have to combat it from the president of the united states which makes it much more difficult. >> reporter: donie o'sullivan, cnn, atlanta. >> fascinating report there from donie. grateful for that. ups is involved, fedex, too,

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positive outcome of today's big fda meeting on the coronavirus vaccine would begin a daunting logistical and medical challenge, getting every available dose to the states asap, then making big decisions

on who is vaccinated first. there are cdc guidelines suggesting those in nursing homes, then front line health care workers should be at the front of the line, but states make that call. with limited vaccine doses available, it is an enormous challenge. joining us, the director of the illinois department of public health. grateful for your time today. by kaiser's estimate, there are 692,000 people in illinois that would qualify essentially for front of the line, those are nursing home residents, health care workers. a, is that number about right, and b, are you going to get anywhere near that number of doses in the first wave? >> again, thank you, john, for having me. so the numbers sound about right, but we don't think we'll be getting vaccine for all those people in the first allotment, the first week that it comes out. definitely have to send a message there are a lot of people in the priority group, yes we want to get it to you,

but no, it won't happen on day one, week one, or even week two. patience will be the name of the game. >> patience will be the name of the game, and that means pressure on people like you and the governor saying where is mine, especially people that understandably should be front of the line, people need protection in nursing homes, firefighters, health care workers and the like. secretary azar sounds optimistic the wait for the rest of us won't be too long. listen. >> and what month do you expect right now average americans, meaning the general public, to get vaccinated or to have it available to them? >> that's going to be up to the nation's governors as they prioriti prioritize within their states, as you look at the quantity of vaccines we expect from a multitude of manufacturers, you should start seeing points in february and march general population vaccinations occurring. >> doctor, is that aspirational

or have you seen the spread sheet that shows you the logisticals, dleliveries that yu will have enough by february to give shots in the arm. >> we all want this to be the case. i don't have eyes on in terms of which vaccines will be approved to talk about then how many there are available with each of the two approved vaccines. we're waiting for that information from the fda today. thinking of which vaccine will be available, who it will be available for, how much of it will be available, there's quite a few question marks that make it hard for us to know if that timeline is accurate. >> so you have to build two lists, one is who should be in the line, how should the line be ordered, and number two, how fast are you going to get it, how quickly, how many doses do you have. walk through the who part. obviously the cdc recommends and you agree, people in long term

facilities like nursing homes, front line workers, then people like police, firefighters, emts, bus drivers, that have no choice because of their job to be in a setting exposed to other people all the time. what about public school teachers, for example, you could ease a lot of anxiety with parents is get children back to school and ease anxiety among teachers to get them vaccinated. where do they fit? >> you can easily make the argument that the education sector, those teachers are part of our essential, critical work force. yes, you would want to see if you put them in that group as well. we want to be able to rely on federal partners, the cdc, they're one of the world's premier health organizations, instead of every state making different calls, we would love to be able to have more of a national strategy. when you think about illinois, we have people that might be teachers living in indiana but working in schools elsewhere, so we have to be able to think about things more broadly so we

have something more unifying in terms of strategy. >> obviously a lot of this will carry over to the new administration. we will watch as there are shifts and changes, hopefully not hiccups along the way. grateful for your time and insights. best of luck as you deal with this enormous challenge. >> thank you so much, john. >> thank you. up next for us, president-elect biden sells his cabinet picks as ready day one. and one thing he will inherit from the trump administration is investigation of his son hunter. we started by making the cloud easier to manage. but we didn't 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. ♪

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more big personnel news from the biden transition. two of the picks are especially

intrigui intriguing. he made official to have tom vilsack to return as secretary of agriculture. katherine ty for u.s. trade representative. former obama chief of staff, dennis mcdonough is his pick for veteran's affairs, and susan rice to lead the domestic policy council. all these picks are interesting, but it is intriguing, we watched joe biden, reaching for his comfort zone, people he likes and knows and trusts. dennis mcdonough, not a military veteran, former chief of staff, department of veteran affairs can be a landmine politically for any president, proof that he wanted somebody that knows ins

and outs of the federal bureaucracy who also has experience on capitol hill. >> reporter: i think that was certainly a consideration with that mcdonough pick, which was kind of a surprise pick, wasn't among names i was circulating privately and publicly among the press who track these things, but you're right. the former white house chief of staff in the obama white house, a veteran obama aide clearly has the managerial experience, managing veteran's affairs, second biggest federal agency, those management skills a leader would need. we have seen how in the trump administration, questions about some of his va picks, former white house dr. ronnie johnson was one of the ones surrounding that pick. this is a constant thing you're seeing from biden picks so far. obviously you looked on the gra graphic, you see racial diversity. the incoming president-elect has been under immense pressure from

so many constituencies making sure his cabinet reflects america. but he is going into the comfort zone, picking people close to him. you have dennis mcdonough, susan rice, tony blinken, same with ron klain. you're seeing a lot of familiar faces pop up on personnel choices. >> talk about reinvention, susan rice, former state department official, former national security adviser in the obama white house, now to run the domestic policy council. take us inside that. number one, biden knows her and trusts her, i guess the national security adviser is a coordinator like the domestic policy adviser, but that one is interesting, too. >> reporter: that one really is interesting. clearly susan rice has been talked about for a high profile role in the biden administration should he win the white house, but the position she was tapped for was secretary of state, by drawing on foreign policy

credentials she built up in the obama administration, but they signaled she would have a difficult confirmation fight should she be chosen, particularly if they control the senate after the georgia runoffs. it became clear that nomination perhaps wasn't one the biden white house team was willing to have and put her in the domestic council position. she's known for foreign policy. she did entertain a run for senate in maine earlier this cycle. it will be interesting to see what she does on domestic policy front rather than what she's known for which is foreign policy. >> fascinated by that. we will watch it play out. you write about the pick of general austin to be the defense department chief. joe biden there willing to take on members of his own party that didn't want to give another waiver to a general like they did for jim mattis in the trump days. biden cast the nomination of austin as right for the moment but left out a key difference between his and mat is four years ago. biden had more choices. by the time trump was elected,

many candidates removed from consideration by openly criticizing him. it is not the same. biden is saying apples and apples. you're right. he had a number of other reputable, qualified choices on the table, he decided this was his guy. >> reporter: decided he was his guy. someone he had been in tough situations with during the obama administration, particularly on matters of the middle east. you see him yesterday at the event in wilmington, drawing on his personal in the trenches experiences with general austin but proactively trying to make that case to skeptical democrats in congress that general lloyd austin is the man for this moment, but you do see a lot of democrats who are uncomfortable and said there were plenty of other people available for this position and democrats in terms f consultation, not a lot of heads up for reporting by the transition on capitol hill.

>> they need to work on the communications part. we'll see how it plays out. interesting. wouldn't call it a big fight, ripples from democrats. grateful for the reporting and insights. fascinating transition will continue. another fascinating piece of it. the president-elect will inherit a sensitive item from the trump administration. a federal investigation into his son, hunter biden. cnn is told the feds have questions whether tax and other laws were followed, relating to his business dealings in china. hunter biden disclosed the investigation in a statement issued yesterday by his father's presidential transition team. i take this matter seriously, hunter biden said, but i am confident a professional and objective review of matters will demonstrate i handled my affairs legally and appropriately. the transition released a statement. president-elect biden is deeply proud much his son through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of

recent months only to emerge stronger. as he makes picks, he has to isolate himself from those decisions. up next, the covid stalemate proof america is in a polarized divide. while americans outside of washington aren't sure what to do, most think doing nothing is not the answer. it. workflow it...? just picture it... with the now platform, we'll have the company you always imagined. efficient, productive, seamless. ok, i'm in! whatever your business is facing... let's workflow it. servicenow.

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the stakes of the coronavirus stimulus talks on

capitol hill are enormous. words from key players are all too familiar. >> i can say this unequivocally. what mr. mcconnell is putting forth in terms of liability is an assault. >> every time they delayed, deflected, moved the goel post and made the places we agree a hostage. >> leaders would argue they're representing the wishes of supporters. yes, americans are divided on just what to do. a new survey suggests doing nothing is not acceptable. 79% of voters want an economic stimulus bill. 95% want the president and congress to work together more closely to solve the important problems facing the country. republican polster conducted that. ed, good to see you.

here's the conundrum. after the polarized election, everybody says please get something done. try to do something. but in your own data, 31% of all voters believe biden won because of massive voter fraud, 68% of republicans believe that. if you're mitch mcconnell, leader of the senate, kevin mccarthy, republican leader in the house, who are you answering to? the broader electorate or republicans that are still stoked and fired up, and you know the next election is a midterm and that's a base election. >> i think through their own demise, i think they need to look at the broader good. right now about 60% of voters are saying not enough is done. as you mention, 95% want them to work together and actually are doing something, passing something. that was over 90% of republicans, democrats, and

independents. so they want something to be done. i think the one thing that quite frankly mcconnell offered was drop the liability issue, drop the state issue, take those things that we all agree on and the american public agrees on and pass it right away. >> we'll see if they can come about that. the house majority leader says house members are going home until tuesday, doesn't appear it will happen unless that's a tactic to force a compromise. let's look at what you found as the most important issues facing voters. covid, 56%. deal with economy and jobs, 42%. then a big drop. 17% say budget and deficit, 15% immigration. if i am joe biden, 13%, climate change, 11% infrastructure, is that because voters don't view them as important issues or

because covid is so dominating that everything else gets shoved to the second tier? >> i think it is both covid and the economy, frankly. the current situation with the economy. they are very much linked in voters' minds. if you look at the 42% that mention the economy, every one of those voters mention first or second mention covid. if you look at who they blame now for the current economic climate, yes, you have about a quarter blaming donald trump but almost 40% blaming covid for the economic situation. focusing down, drilling down on that issue, getting something resolved and passed is extremely important to voters. >> we will see in this partisan divide if members listen. i know you'll gif advive advice that front. thank you for your insights.

up next, the pfizer, biontech could get the green light for u.s. use as early add to -- as today, but would open a challenging next chapter.

today could be a moment of celebration for pfizer and biontech, the partners in a vaccine seeking approval at a hearing under way now. emergency use authorization for the vaccine could come as early as today. americans could receive shots within several more days. that will be a landmark achievement for pfizer and biontech, would be a production and delivery challenge moving forward. fred pleitgen is outside biontech headquarters in germany. perhaps great news but a big new challenge. >> reporter: certainly is a big new challenge because of the logistical change. john, one of the things we keep talking about is the fact that the pfizer, biontech vaccine has to be stored and delivered around minus 100 degrees fahrenheit.

that's a big logistical challenge. some doses handed out to americans originated not far from where i am in belgium and have been brought to kalamazoo, michigan, where they're being stored. there will be thousands of planes and trucks set in motion and logistics companies we talk to say it is a big challenge, but certainly something that they believe they can manage. we have also been speaking to the company, to biontech, the founder and ceo. he told me he believes the trial data they've gotten so far from the vaccine has been so good that they think they could get that emergency use authorization fairly quickly. you were saying possibly even today. they say they believe their vaccine will have a good profile. one of the questions that has arisen the past couple days as it started being used in united kingdom is there were two people with severe allergic reactions to the vaccine. one of the things we learned about that, people both had a strong history of allergic reactions.

both of them were carrying an injector with them against allergic reactions and those history of allergic reactions were excluded from the vaccine trial. that's one of the questions that could come up. one of the things the founder of biontech told me when i last interviewed him a couple days ago, he said in total looking back on the process of developing the vaccine that it went about as smooth as anyone could imagine. one of the things you have to keep in mind is at the beginning, they were aiming for 50% efficacy, the lowest benchmark. they reached 95% efficacy. they were thrilled that that efficacy held in younger people and older people who are most vulnerable to severe cases of covid-19, john. >> fred, this fascinating moment, you talked about logistical challenge to deliver, also it is a global challenge in the sense that canada gave authorization yesterday for the same vaccine, it is being used elsewhere around the world. how does the company deal with i

want mine and i want it now demand that's going to come from around the world. is it first request in, next request out or do politics come into play here? >> reporter: well, of course, a lot of the countries made agreements with pfizer and biontech a long time ago. one of the first countries was united kingdom. they were the first country to authorize the vaccine. and you're absolutely right. in early stages especially, that will be a big question. in the beginning, pfizer and biontech were saying they thought they could deliver 100 million doses of vaccine before the end of the year, then had to scale it back to 50 million doses, which they say they're going to be able to deliver. of course right now, the first batch in the united states, all of the vaccine u.s. order is all it is going to get. they say once next year starts, they're massively able to scale up production, john. >> fred pleitgen live in germany, outside the biontech

headquarters. grateful for the live reporting. quick break for us. the president this hour having lunch, trying one more time to get the supreme court to throw out election results and the fda advisory committee on the important vaccine we were committing meeting now. we'll bring you the latest just ahead.

hi there, you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for being with me. a historic meeting is under way to determine if pfizer will be granted emergency use authorization for the covid-19 vaccine. if green lit, it will pave the way for tens of millions of vaccine doses to get into the arms of americans in just days from now. and this morning, the head of the fda struck an optimistic tone. >> we think that our initial assessment is that this is a vaccine that is, that does meet our criteria, but we do want to hear