top of the hours, i'm kate bolduan, at this hour there is good news on what could become the fourth covid vaccine approved for emergency use in the united states. this morning astrazeneca reported the results of its large scale u.s. trial. the data showing that the vaccine is 79% effective in preventing symptomatic illness, 100% effective against severe disease and hospitalization. during the trial they also are reporting there were no reports of serious side effects, including blood clots and that had been a major concern as you know after a very small number of people in europe developed clots after receiving the vaccine. it led to multiple european nations putting the vaccine on hold. well now astrazeneca's data reports there's no significant

risk. this news comes at a critical time in the pandemic, with dangerous variants spreading more rapidly across the country, and cases plateauing at a high level, something the cdc director called very concerning during a briefing last hour. >> these statistics should serve as a warning sign for the american people. as i have stated before the continued relaxation of prevention measures while cases are still high, and while concerning variants are spreading rapidly throughout the united states is a serious threat to the progress we have made as a nation. i am worried that if we don't take the right actions now, we will have another avoidable surge. >> avoidable surge. despite that warning people are still traveling. still flying, especially for spring break. air travel is breaking pandemic records as nearly 10 million americans flew over the past week. joining me right now is dr. craig spencer, director of global health and e.r. medicine.

good to see you again. what do you think of the data coming from astrazeneca? >> it's great, it's encouraging, it's nice to have a big trial e over 32,000 participants. great efficacy data, great news on hospitalizations and severe disease. this is wonderful. the more vaccine, the better. i will say that it's likely to not have a huge impact here in the u.s. we already have hundreds of millions of doses. we have supply contacts for pfizer, moderna and many other vaccines. by the time that the astrazeneca gets approved it may be that we already have enough of the other vaccines to meet our need. i think that getting fda approval, for emergency authorization from the fda, would help quell some of those concerns that we've heard in recent weeks. in europe, especially since the astrazeneca vaccine is one of the most widely used vaccines everywhere in the world. >> you raise something -- i was actually going to raise with you. about what the astrazeneca vaccine means to the united states right now. because the u.s. has a stockpile of the astrazeneca vaccine

awaiting authorization. and dr. ashish jha of brown university, he put up what he even acknowledged, he said, was an unpopular opinion on this. let me read you what he tweeted. he said we should give away the millions of doses of stockpiled astrazeneca vaccine, don't i care about vaccinating americans? and he says, by the time the az -- astrazeneca is authorized by the fda, we'll have lots of vaccines. this -- the time to use astrazeneca here would have been in january, by may we won't need it. i assume you think he's spot on. >> 100%. i said the exact same thing a week ago. and a few weeks before that i wrote a piece about global inequities in the vaccine rollout and how they're undermining a response here in the u.s. we're sitting on millions of doses of a vaccine that we're not even using while health care workers, my colleagues in many other countries don't have access to a vaccine. it may not, for months, or years from now, i think the right

thing would be for the u.s. and other wealthy nations who have ordered and have supply contracts for more doses than they have eligible people, to start getting them out to other countries that are still dealing with this pandemic. we have more than enough in our supply chain that will be coming by the end of may. the president has said that everyone will be able to get a vaccine. the astrazeneca numbers weren't even calculated and included in that calculation. we have more than enough. it's time to do our part and help -- it keeps them safe and us as well. >> this is something you and i have talked about. because the -- we're not safe until, really, until the world is safe. because of how this virus is. >> absolutely. look, the astrazeneca vaccine showed great efficacy here in the u.s., in 32,000 participants but there's been some concern in south africa, where it was trialed, where the b.1.351 variant is circulating, where it didn't have protection against

mild and mod vat disease. they could undermine the efficacy of the vaccines we already have and it could make it so that this pandemic continues a lot longer than it otherwise would have had we been proactive, as getting the world vaccinated as we have been getting the u.s. vaccinated. >> kind of on this front, you know, you've been on the front lines and you've spoken very powerfully about what you and other health care workers have been up against for more than a year, seeing just the worst of what coronavirus does to people. i'm curious just as to what your reaction was, and is when you see the images and the kind of scenes coming out of florida and spring breakers and everything that's unfolding right now. >> what i've been saying is that i know a lot of us are done with covid but covid is not done with us. you know, here in new york city we've plateaued. every one of my recent shifts i've seen more covid patients than the last. if you look nationally the number of cases has plateaued in the past month. everything that dr. walensky from the cdc mentioned, sure we

have vaccines that are rolling out quickly but we have variants that may be rolling out even faster. we need to keep up the public health measures that we know will help keep the virus in neck just a little longer. the summer is going to be great but spring does not have to be horrible. >> dr. spencer, thank you for coming in. >> thank you. so some of the country's largest school districts are making clear moves now to reopen and get students back in the classroom. today new york city's public high schools reopen for the first time in nearly a year. mayor bill de blasio went to welcome back some students in the bronx when they arrived today, about 55,000 high school students are now back in classrooms in new york. that's a lot, and that is wonderful. but that is still a fraction of the district's high school enrollment. also, take a look at los angeles, the nation's second largest school district. it just announced it will begin reopening schools by the middle of next month. the nation's third largest school district, chicago, it will also reopen high schools

next month. joining me right now is the new chancellor of new york city public schools me sha ross porter. thank you for coming in. a big day for new york city public schools. elementary reopened for in person in december. middle schools then last month. today high schools. you yourself have a child heading back to school right now. with this milestone, how much of the student community is going to be back in person now? >> so we expect to have about 20,000 high school students back, 55,000 total students back in new york city. and we're just excited. we know students need to be in classrooms and we're excited to begin to welcome them back. >> that's still -- i mean, i'm a parent of a kid going to school. i'm happy when anyone can be back in the classroom. that's still a fraction of this very large school district that we have here in new york city. how do you get to 100%? do you expect to get to 100%

back in person by the fall? >> we want to get as close to 100% in person in the fall, but we also know we have to honor the choices and decisions our families are making. we're looking forward to working really collaboratively with families to make decisions so that they are trusting in our system, trusting in our readiness. we have done a lot of work and followed all of the health and safety measures to date. and so, you know, we are going to be ready, and excited to welcome our students back to school in the fall. >> what do you think -- yes, the goal is 100%. what's the realistic -- what are you planning for? >> yeah. so let me just correct something. we have 315,000 students total, 55,000 high school students. we got that today. so just wanted to clarify that. tell me your question again. >> what is your realistic expectation of how many -- how much of the student body you're going to have back in the fall? >> i expect that we'll have 80%

to 90% of the student body back in the fall. there may be some students and families who have underlying medical conditions that we need to consider. but we want to make sure that 100% of the students who want to be back in classrooms are back in classrooms, and we are prepared to be ready for them. >> what are you doing about the change to cdc guidance from six feet of distance between students to three feet, especially for at least elementary school students? >> yeah, well we announced friday we're opening up the opt in period on wednesday for two weeks for all of our families to have an opportunity to opt back in to school, and we expect to, in april, welcome -- start by welcoming our elementary students back in who have -- were choosing to opt back in based on the three feet rule. >> you know, every school district is different and has its own challenges, of course. and i was -- there's a lot written about one particular aspect of new york city public schools and the reopening plan because atds with many districts it's been a roller coaster in returning for in-person for new

york city public schools. there have been multiple shutdowns of schools often stemming from this two case rule, that the district has in place, which requires schools to shutter for up to ten days, if there are two unrelated positive cases, confirmed in a building. that was put in place, an agreement with the teachers' union to get reopening started. do you think this rule now is too limiting and causing unnecessary disruption? >> so we're looking at the two-case rule. along with the new cdc guidance, which speaks in some way to this rule as well. and we just look forward to continuing to collaborate with our union partners to ensure that everybody can come back into our building safely. >> you've been on this job for, i believe it is exactly one week, and i'm just sitting here wondering, what it has been like to come in as the new chancellor of the largest public school district and the country in the midst of what is quite frankly the hardest school year that has

ever been. >> well, it is day six. and as a lifelong new yorker, it is an exciting moment to be the chancellor of new york city public schools as a public school parent, as a former teacher, principal, assistant principal, superintendent, it's exciting to bring all of those voices to the table as we begin to make decisions about reopening our school system in the fall but also thinking about what summer opportunities we're going to create for young people and so i'm excited about this moment. i'm excited about this opportunity. yes, it is challenging. but i think we're on the other side of the pandemic. and so there's -- we are right with opportunity at this moment. >> oh, well, good luck, chancellor, thank you very much for your time. >> thank you. still ahead for us, we are just learning that the white house is sending officials to mexico and to guatemala as the administration continues to struggle to handle the surge of migrants at the border. as we're getting new images, of

course, also coming in from temporary shelters at the border housing some of these migrants. miami beach declares a state of emergency over massive crowds of spring breakers. just look at that. coming up the mayor of miami on what's being done about the situation now. clicks tongue ] i don't know. i think they look good, man. mm, smooth. uh, they are a little tight. like, too tight? might just need to break 'em in a little bit. you don't want 'em too loose. for those who were born to ride there's progressive. with 24/7 roadside assistance. -okay. think i'm gonna wear these home. -excellent choice.

new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. at jackson hewitt, we offer safe and easy ways to file

with a skilled tax pro. securely drop off your documents, have them picked up, or upload them, and work with a tax pro online from home. safe and easy ways to file that work around you. top biden officials are traveling to mexico and guatemala to meet with government officials about managing migration, this announcement comes as we are getting new images from inside one border facility in texas as the country deals with the surge of unaccompanied children in border patrol custody. these pictures released by democratic congressman henry -- office. cramped, bare and quite frankly it's unsustainable. these pictures are important this morning because the biden administration has still not allowed press access to these facilities. cnn has learned as of sunday

there are almost 4,900 unaccompanied minors being held in u.s. customs and border protection facilities. more than 800 children have been in custody more than ten days, longer than the 72 hours allowed under u.s. law. joining me right now is cnn's kaitlan collins from the white house. the administration has struggled with the message and the policy at the border in these first two plus months that they have been in office. what is going on behind the scenes now? >> reporter: well, it's becoming increasingly urgent by the day because as you just noted those numbers are not changing, they're only getting worse for the administration to have to deal with, and while surges at the border have been a problem that not only biden's predecessor but also when biden was the vice president and president obama was in office, this is something that several presidents have had to deal with but of course now it is president biden's leadership that is going to be questioned here about how they are approaching this. and i think they are trying to get out in front of this and say that they are on top of this and that's why you saw the

department of homeland security secretary alejandra mayorkas on every political sunday show yesterday talking about what they are doing, coming after he himself had been at the border over the weekend looking at these facilities as there are record numbers of unaccompanied migrant children being held in these facilities, being held in facilities that are jail-like, basically, not for children. intended to be held in and not legally allowed to be held in for over 72 hours though many of them are and he was defending their response to this and trying to say that, yes, their message is that the border is closed. >> we are elevating our messaging so that the individuals do know that they cannot come to the border. the border is closed. >> we are encouraging families not to send their children along the dangerous journey because so many do not make it safely. we are encouraging them not to do so. >> the message is quite clear,

do not come. the border is closed. the border is secure. now is not the time to come. do not come. >> reporter: now, of course, kate, the question is, is that message getting through? they have been saying this for a month now and we are still seeing record numbers of people at the border and they've emphasized who they are turning away at the border. they're not turning away children, that's a policy that had gone to the courts during the trump administration and again in january and so the question also is, the conditions that these kids are living in, when they're being held in these border patrol facilities as the white house and the admin are scrambling to find space for them and so far cameras have not had access to these facilities like we did in 2019 at the surge of that crisis as well during the trump administration and we've been asking for this for about a month now in the white house press briefings, to these interviews, to these officials as well, and mayorkas was pressed on this multiple times yesterday. he did not commit to a timeline

but he said they were working on providing footage of these facilities and access, talking about the pandemic, but not giving a timeline of when reporters will actually be allowed in, kate. >> republicans are seizing on the mixed messages coming from the biden team, what are you hearing? >> reporter: they have struggled to find an attack line on biden. couldn't find one with the coronavirus relief bill, as you noticed they didn't really coalesce around messaging there but they're trying to do it with immigration, they know how important that is to voters and it's even something former president trump with talking about, he was interviewed earlier today and he was saying that he doesn't believe president biden's immigration policies are, quote, humane though, of course, donald trump faced a lot of criticism when he was in office for that zero tolerance separation policy where they were separating children from their parents, from mothers and fathers so of course him calling that not humane, of course he is one who also had not humane policies that were way more severe than what we're seeing right now. but the fact is, is that the surge is happening, this is a crisis, this is going on and so

the question is, how long this is going on, going to go on, and what are they going to do to fix it and we should note, roberta jacobson, president biden's southern border coordinator, is going to mexico today to meet with mexican government officials to talk about stemming the tide of migrants coming up to the border. we'll see how that meeting goes. >> kaitlan, thank you very much. now to the ongoing investigation into the january 6th capitol riot, there have been more than 300 federal criminal cases now started related to the siege. charges have ranged from destruction of government prosecute to conspiracy. well, now a former top prosecutor in the insurrection investigation says sedition charges could be on the table. cnn's whitney wild has been following this. whitney, what are you learning about this, especially from this new interview. >> this would be the most significant charge in the entirety of this capitol riot case. we know there have been conspiracy charges, sedition is by far the most serious.

it can carry a penalty of 20 years, that, at this point, would really be the pinnacle of these prosecutions and the charges here. what we know from previous cnn reporting is that prosecutors think that this is possible. they have recommended sedition charges. it is a very high bar, it is extremely serious, and so at this point senior officials at the justice department have to sign off on those charges. here's what the former u.s. attorney for d.c. had to say, michael sherwin. >> i personally believe the evidence is trending towards that, and probably meets those elements. >> do you anticipate sedition charges against some of these suspects? >> i believe the facts do support those charges, and i think that as we go forward more facts will support that, scott. >> kate, the other big headline out of that interview was echoing what cnn has previously reported, which is when it comes to the question of whether former president donald trump

was culpable, liable, prosecutors are looking at everything, kate. >> whitney, thank you very much. joining me now is former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, elie honig. on sedition, can you talk about what this charge requires, what it means for the direction of this massive investigation? >> yeah, kate, sedition charges absolutely need to be on the table here, now people hear this phrase sedition and it feels like a very dramatic charge to bring, overthrowing the government. however, if you look at the law, there's actually simpler ways to charge and prove sedition. first of all, trying to interfere with the governmental function. that's a way to prove sedition. what were those rioters doing in the capitol that day? they were trying to stop the counting and the certification of the electoral vote and second even more simply seizing or occupying a federal building without permission. we all saw it happen right in front of us, i think sedition charges absolutely could be applicable here. >> the fact that michael sherwin left open the possibility that investigators are looking at the

role of donald trump in this insurrection, the way that he worded it, i think, is really -- and talked about it is quite important, i think, let me play that. >> it's unequivocal that trump was the magnet that brought the people to d.c. on the 6th. now the question is, is he criminally culpable for everything that happened during the siege, during the breach? what i can tell you is this, based upon, again, what we see in the public record, and what we see in public statements and court, we have plenty of people, we have soccer moms from ohio that were arrested saying, well i did this because my president said i had to take back our house. that moves the needle towards that direction. maybe the president is call possible for those actions. >> so trump's acquitted in the senate of this very thing, right i know obviously very different from a criminal case, in a criminal investigation. but what do you think this means now? >> really interesting comments from the prosecutor there, i think he's making quite clear that he believes there may be

charges applicable against donald trump. ultimately, that's a decision that's going to have to be made by the new leadership. during confirmation testimony merrick garland said essentially that, he said we will follow all leads wherever they take us. you can't just charge the lowest layer of players here, you can't just charge people who physically committed the crime, you have to look beyond, who planted it. who incited it. merrick garland has only been in office not quite two weeks but that's the first key test. >> elie, is it surprising smer man went so far in this interview? how far he went in his comments. he was literally moments ago the lead prosecutor in this investigation. >> it is unusual, kate, we are trained at the justice department, you do not speak to the press while you're at the justice department. now, michael sherwin has moved on. he's no longer in charge of the capitol riot cases but he's still a regular prosecutor within doj so it's very unusual to see somebody do that.

why he did it, perhaps he's trying to put some pressure on the bosses there, when they have to make this decision that we know is coming. >> it's interesting. thanks, elie. coming up for us, miami beach has declared a state of emergency as the city attempts to get that city back under control after multiple nights of scenes like this. the mayor of miami is our guest. . ( doorbell ) thanks boo. ( piano glissando ) i think you better double them tots. no, this me was last year. i didn't get my madness last year, so we're doing double the madness this year. i didn't get my madness last year, ♪ mom and dad left costa rica, 1971. and in 1990, they opened lrazu. when the pandemic hit, pickup and delivery was still viable. that kept us afloat. keeping our diners informed on google was so important. the support from our customers, it honestly kept us going. i will always be grateful for that. ♪

when i was diagnosed with dupuytren's contracture, i waited to get treated. thought surgery was my only option. but then i found out about nonsurgical treatments. it was a total game changer. learn more about the condition at factsonhand.com

priceline works with top hotels, to save you up to 60%. these are all great. and when you get a big deal... you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal.

not stopping spring break travel despite continued warnings from top health officials. the tsa is reporting it screened more than 1.5 million people at u.s. airports on sunday. a record high since the pandemic began. let me bring in cnn's peet munteen who's been tracking this. it seems the trend just continues, what more are you learning about these air travel numbers? >> health experts are calling this crunch time against the virus and its variants, why they are so worried by these new travel numbers. the tsa says more than 1.5 million people passed through security at america's airports on sunday. that is a new record of the pandemic. the previous record set only back on friday. so all of this means, 9.8 million people have flown in a week's time. it is great news for struggling

airlines, got a bunch of new money from the federal government but health experts fear it could lead to a new struggle with the virus. here's what they said. >> this is crunch time. this is going to be our most difficult period right now in terms of seeing who wins out. if we can hang on another month or another six weeks, that's going to make a huge difference. >> just more context on how big these numbers really are, this is the 11th straight day where the tsa has screened more than a million people each day, that is the biggest and longest streak of the pandemic, bigger than around thanksgiving. bigger than the winter holidays, but this is the highest number that we have seen since march 15th, 2020, kate. >> wow, so much has changed since then. thank you so much, pete. coming up, an alarming rise in covid cases across much of europe has countries continue to play catch-up with the vaccine rollout. so i only pay for what i need. 'cause i do things a little differently. hey, i'll take one, please!

wait, this isn't a hot-dog stand? no, can't you see the sign? wet. teddy. bears. get ya' wet teddy bears! one-hundred percent wet, guaranteed! or the next one is on me! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ tonight...i'll be eating loaded tots for march madness. ( doorbell ) thanks boo. ( piano glissando ) i think you better double them tots. no, this me was last year. i didn't get my madness last year, so we're doing double the madness this year. i didn't get my madness last year, it's lawn season. and i need a lawn. quick. the fast way to bring it up to speed. is scotts turf builder rapid grass. rapid grass is a revolutionary mix of seed and fertilizer that will change the way you grow grass. it grows two times faster than seed alone for full, green grass in just weeks. after growing grass this fast, everything else just seems... slow.

it's lawn season. let's get to the yard. download the scotts my lawn app today for your personalized lawn plan. some people say our trade-in process feels too easy. they can't believe it's 100% online and gives them a competitive offer that won't change for 7 days. an offer that they can put toward their new car. some people can't believe our friendly advocate will come to them as soon as tomorrow. drop off their new ride and whisk their old one away. because we make trading your car unbelievably easy. all so you can say...

told you so. experience the new way to trade in your car with carvana. i'm a verizon engineer, part of the team that built 5g right. the only one from america's most reliable network. we designed our 5g to make the things you do every day, better. with 5g nationwide, millions of people can now work, listen, and stream in verizon 5g quality. and in parts of many cities where people can use massive capacity, we have ultra wideband. the fastest 5g in the world. this is the 5g that's built for you. this is 5g built right. only from verizon. if these beautiful idaho potato recipes are just side dishes, then i'm not a real idaho potato farmer. genuine idaho potatoes not just a side dish anymore. always look for the grown in idaho seal.

europe's vaccine rollout is going slower than expected and really at the worst time as it is seeing a surge in new coronavirus cases. the european union is aiming to vaccinate -- but they're running into a real problem with vaccine hesitancy. part of that linked to some european nations when they put that pause on the use of the astrazeneca vaccine. for the very latest covid headlines let's check in with our correspondents stationed around the world. >> i'm matt rivers in rio -- the situation with the covid-19 wave here in brazil remains critical.

latest analysis by cnn across the country nearly every single bra brazilian has iku occupancy at or above 14%. some have occupancy rates of 90% or higher. putting the health care systems at risk of collapsing if they haven't already done so. meanwhile we're hearing from across the country critical shortages of crucial medical supplies in the coastal town of -- in the richest state in brazil, the mayor of that town says that that town is going to be forced to extubate patients as soon as today, lacking critical supplies. the national association of private hospitals say across the country there are shortages of sedatives, aesthetics, and muscle blockers, things that are critical for intu btube ating

patients. >> if i'm fred po-- there are n measures in place in france. some pertaining to the capital paris and the large city of nice and curfew restrictions in other places as well and germany, new lockdown measures are going to be decided today. angela merkel is meeting with her state governors and one of the things that's on the table is a possible nighttime curfew, but also additional coronavirus testing as well. all this comes as the vaccine rollout in europe is going a lot slower than many people would have predicted. for instance, in germany, only about 4% of the population has so far received both vaccine doses. >> reporter: i'm patrick oppmann in havana. cubans -- soon will be working with the government of china on a new vaccine candidate, it will

be designed to combat emerging strains of the coronavirus. this is the first time that we are aware of that these two governments from communist countries are collaborating on vaccines. cuba currently has five other vaccine candidates in development. two of those vaccines are in the final stages. one of those vaccines was developed collaborating with the government of iran, and that vaccine, according to cuban scientists should be ready in the coming weeks for mass vaccinations. here in cuba, the cuban government is also hoping to sell that vaccine abroad. starting on monday. so the trials will be expanded and will be given to 150,000 volunteers here in havana. >> thank you all so much for that. so back here in the united states right now miami beach is extending a state of emergency order and curfew for an additional three weeks. measures put in place over the

weekend after spring breakers overwhelmed the city. at one point police used pepper balls to try to disburse the largely maskless crowd who were violating that curfew that was put in place. cnn's randi kaye is joining me now from miami beach, has been watching all this. randi, what a mess over the weekend. what are they looking at now? >> reporter: it's quieter right now, but we'll see what happens as the sun goes down here, kate, but it was like spring break on steroids. i mean, the city officials here have said they've never seen a spring break like this one. at one point there were more than a thousand people in the street that they were trying to clear out of the street. as you mentioned they used those pepper balls to try and get those spring breakers out of the street. there was gunfire. somebody fired a weapon into the air. there was a bit of a riot, the mayor said, a few stampedes as they tried to clear the street and then you have this incredible video of these people dancing on a car overnight and that was after the 8:00 p.m. curfew went into effect so a lot

of spring breakers certainly, they flew here from other states, other countries even and they're not real happy about the new measures that are in place but you mentioned the state of emergency and the curfew thursday through sunday as of 8:00 p.m., things shut down. spring breakers will not be allowed to party in the streets. the causeways from the mainland to here in south beach and miami beach, and this is the high entertainment district, those will close at 10:00 p.m. and then the local streets here, unless you're a resident or you're staying at a hotel, you're a business owner, you cannot be in the streets past 8:00 p.m. and everything then would reopen at 6:00 a.m. but the mayor certainly has sent a message to the spring breakers, this is not the city to come party in. if you think you're coming here to get crazy, think again. this is what else he told cnn. >> it feels, in some ways, like our city is a tinder right now. it's not just about not wearing masks and physical distancing, it's also some of the folks that are coming are coming with bad intentions. so there's been brawls, and even

gun play. and when you have these levels of crowds you can't really manage it unless you have enormous policing and all that mix creates peril and concern. i do worry. >> reporter: police are doing all they can. the governor of florida has said florida is open so now it's really up to the locals to try and protect the city here and get this all under control. we do know they've made arrests, they made more than a dozen arrests saturday night. and since february 3rd, kate, they've arrested more than a thousand people, more than 50% of them are from other states. so they're coming here, they're descending on florida for the beautiful beaches, but also wreaking havoc, some of them at least on the city, kate. >> the governor is now lowering the vaccine eligibility age today because obviously covid is a huge concern when you see these gatherings of spring breakers, but how is this going, and how is this working now that the governor is changing

eligibility again? >> yeah, well that's actually good news that we're going to get more shots in arms here in the state of florida, about 2.7 million have been vaccinated. it's lowered to 50 years old, they can get a vaccine if they can get their hands on one and smm communities are taking it into their own hands to go lower than that. in orlando the mayor there has said you only have to be 40 years old and older to get a vaccine and starting one week from today the mayor of miami-dade county says 40 and above. >> good to see you, randi, thank you very much. accusations of blatant sexism within the ncaa, the weight room that went viral and the changes now in place to make up for it. is it enough? we didn't stop at storage or cloud. we kept going. working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. and help make a hospital come to you,

instead of you going to it. so when it comes to your business, you know we'll stop at nothing. let's meet the defending champs. kim kietz, investor. i invested in invesco qqq a fund that invests in the innovations of the nasdaq-100. like 3d rendering software. become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq. ♪ we visited mars...mars! become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq. and people with diabetes are still pricking their fingers? that changes now. meet the dexcom g6. it shows your glucose right on your phone and where it's heading. finally, a better way ♪ you come and go ♪ to manage our diabetes. ♪ karma-karma-karma- karma-karma chameleon ♪ ♪ you come and go ♪ ♪ you come and go-o-o ♪ ♪ loving would be easy if your colors were like my dreams ♪

♪ red, gold -- ♪ [ tires screech ] [ crickets chirping ] for those who were born to ride there's progressive. with 24/7 roadside assistance. ♪ karma-karma-karma-karma-karma chameleon... ♪ we look up to our heroes. idolizing them. mimicking their every move. and if she counts on the advanced hydration of pedialyte when it matters most... so do we. hydrate like our heroes. ♪

keeping your oysters business growing hydrate like our heroes. has you swamped. you need to hire. i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo if these beautiful idaho potato recipes are just side dishes, then i'm not a real idaho potato farmer. genuine idaho potatoes not just a side dish anymore. always look for the grown in idaho seal.

the ncaa is attempting to recover from the national outrage sparked by pictures that went viral last week, contrasting the men and he is and women's training facilities during the march madness tournament. you can see what was the initial women's setup on the left and then the men's setup on the right. a fully equipped weight room. the ncaa's initially said there wasn't enough space to add more weights for the women's setup. a sophomore center from oregon responded with this. >> the ncaa came out with a

statement saying it wasn't money, it was space that was a problem. let me show you all something else. here's our practice court, and then here's that weight room and then here's all this extra space. if you aren't upset about this problem. you're a part of it. >> people were understandably mad, the ncaa quickly worked to upgrade the women's workout space, they also apologized. but the headline of this "washington post" column i want to show you makes clear an apology might not be enough. joining me right now is the author of that column. sally jenkins, sports columnist for the "washington post." i'm going to do what i did last time i had you on, read your own work back to you, i want to read a portion of what you wrote on friday. you wrote i'm tired, not from today or yesterday, but from 40 years of it, 40 years tired of writing the same damn story about the same ncaa shortchangers in suits who begrudge women's athletes so

much as an equal amount of air time in a tire if they thought it might come at a man's expense. this was so much more than just a crappy and inferior weight room, wasn't it? >> oh, completely. i mean, any viewer will notice a significant difference in the quality of the courts that the women are playing, on, for instance, and the display. the ncaa march madness for the men, the courts are brilliantly lit, brilliantly decorated with decals and other promotional, you know, items. the women's courts you might think you're in a high school state championship gym. it's just no comparison in terms of the amount of energy put into promoting them. >> sally, ncaa acknowledged this their words that they fell short. does that mean that they have learned a lesson? >> no. certainly not. because one of the things that i think viewers are about to learn, "the wall street journal" has a very powerful story just out that the ncaa actually

actively withheld the phrase march madness from the women's tournament. in fact, they've sort of actively -- second story now that i think is about to absolutely explode. this is a pervasive attitude on the part of the ncaa, it's unclear as yet as to whether the attitude is just benign neglect or whether there's some actual sort of malfeasance going on here, is it more convenient for the ncaa to frame the women's tournament as a money loser, because they're involved in a heavily political battle over ncaa revenue and whether athletes are entitled to a cut. that's another question. there are a lot of questions to be asked. i would hope by people in congress at this point. because the ncaa is very, very opaque about its money operation here. there's billions of dollars of ad revenue at stake and the ncaa doesn't disclose any of its financials here. >> i have to tell you, one of the things that was just kind of mind blowing for me is that

there are different testing protocols, sally, for covid, there are different safety testing protocols for the men's tournament getting daily pcr tests, the women's teams not so much, getting antigen tests. we know that antigen tests are less accurate. >> and they're cheaper. they're simply cheaper. >> mine, is that the answer? >> i don't know. i don't know if it's an inconvenience issue or a money issue. but does it really matter? i mean, should these athletes not be getting the same testing? they're both ncaa athletes competing for championships, there's no early rationale for it. >> sally, thank you so much for coming on and for your powerful writing. look, we all -- i love the men's tournament, i love the women's tournament as well, both march madness but there is a little bit of madness to this and what is being exposed right now, i have to say. thank you. >> thank you. just ahead for us, after that explosive interview from the duke and duchess of sussex,

new reporting the royal family might hire a diversity chief. live report from london next. ti. that kept us afloat. keeping our diners informed on google was so important. the support from our customers, it honestly kept us going. i will always be grateful for that. ♪ aliens are real, alright. there's just too much evidence. but ghosts? not so much. i mean where's the proof? show me the data. ooh, iced tea! kill weeds not the lawn with roundup for lawns products.

start the year smiling at aspen dental where new starts happen, every day. get exceptional care at every step, unparalleled safety at every visit, and flexible payment options for every budget. now, during the everyday smiles event new patients get a full exam & set of x-rays with no obligation. no insurance? no worries, it's free. plus, now all patients can get 20% off their treatment plan. find every reason to smile. every day at aspen dental. call 1-800-aspendental or book today at aspendental.com

dave! do you remember when we kicked you out of the band for recommending the general for our car insurance? yeah. turns out you were right about the general. they're actually a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage, go with the general. ( crowd sounds on tv )

tonight...i'll be eating loaded tots for march madness. ( doorbell ) thanks boo. ( piano glissando ) i think you better double them tots. no, this me was last year. i didn't get my madness last year, so we're doing double the madness this year. you are a mess. everybody was a mess. whatever, you ready? i stay ready, so i don't have to get ready. ( clapping ) double the madness! a few weeks after the world prince harry and meghan's shocking allegations of racism against the royal palace we are learning the british royal family is considering now appointing the diversity chief. joining me now is cnn's max foster for more on this. is this a direct response to what harry and meghan told oprah in their interview.

>> what they're saying is they take diversity very seriously in the palace and they've been working on programs and they have programs in place for this already. but they're also accepting they haven't done enough, kate. so i think it certainly is linked to the program. certainly the fact that they're accelerating their work in this area. a source told us we have the policies, the procedures and programs in place. we haven't seen the progress we'd like in terms of representation, and more needs to be done. we can always improve, they say, so what are they going to do? you're talking about this diversity chief, it's actually going to be someone who oversees diversity issues. that's the sort of person they're looking at appointing or giving that responsibility to someone. it's not entirely clear. this isn't an official statement but i think they are accepting here that there isn't true representation of society in the palace and frankly if you walk in there it's a very white institution, kate, so some progress, i think. >> yeah, well thanks for the update, max, i appreciate it, let's see what impact it

actually has. thank you for joining us this hour. i'm kate bolduan, our coverage continues right now with brianna keilar. hello, i'm brianna keilar, i want to welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. moments aing the cdc director warned there could be another avoidable surge of covid cases as the nation takes a giant step closer to adding a fourth vaccine to its arsenal against the pandemic. astrazeneca released its phase 3 trial data for the u.s. today saying that its vaccine candidate had 100% efficacy against severe covid and hospitalization, and that it was 79% effective against symptomatic covid. and the latest figures show the three vaccines already approved for emergency use in the u.s. are getting into the arms of mrp americans. each day this past weekend more than 3 million vaccinations were admi