left. >> i'll use my time saying he should use his time wisely by presenting himself and his policies as as affirmatively as he can. >> dana: bob barnett, great to see you. they're playing our song here. see you open "the five." bill hemmer, that is my signal that i'm out of here. >> bill: it tolls for thee. thanks, dana. >> dana: thanks, bill. >> bill: all right. i'm bill hemmer. the debate over covid relief playing out in washington. president trump and joe biden get ready for the final debate. we're 13 days from the election. the final show down happens in nashville, tennessee. house speaker nancy pelosi and stueven mnuchin speaking at this hour. the last we heard, there's a ways to go in getting a deal that could help millions of americans. also today two senior administration officials telling fox news the fbi is in

possession of a laptopthat belonged to hunter biden. how will that topic come up in tomorrow's debate? mark meadows standing by. he will join me. we have the latest on hunter biden and first back to john roberts. there's a lot of optimism about the potential of the white house and nancy pelosi to reach the frame work for a new coronavirus relief bill. getting relief out to the people that are being squeezed so terribly by the coronavirus. the economy is quite another thing. here's what mark meadows said earlier this morning. >> while we have not seen a lot from speaker pelosi, we've seen more movement from the rank and file democrats in the house. i can tell you that negotiations have entered a new face on

trying to get the language right if we can agree on the numbers. we're still apart, still a number of issues to work on. the last 24 hours have moved the ball down the field. >> while the ball has been moved down the field, administration officials say they don't think nancy pelosi has any intention of getting the ball over the goal line. they didn't want to hand president trump what would amount to a big political victory. there's a problem with the senate. republican senators are choking on the size of the relief bill that's being talked about by president trump. the president says he will get mitch mcconnell to accept whatever is being negotiated with nancy pelosi. here's pelosi on that topic earlier today. >> i wouldn't even be having the discussions if we didn't think the president had some sway as to whether the senate would take this legislation. again, administration officials believe that nancy pelosi wants to give the appearance of a

negotiation, setting the table to get something tone but not getting it done until after the election is over. a coronavirus relief bill expected to play big here at the debate tomorrow night. the thing the president is expected to bring up is the hunter biden controversy to use that with which to hit joe biden. but the biden campaign prepared to respond in a statement earlier today. the campaign spokesman saiding when donald trump goes over right wing conspiracy theories, he's forced to run away from his own record because his pandemic response continues to be a train wreck and he's this worst jobs president since the great depression. some republicans like mike huckabee are cautioning the president not to go too far down the hunter biden rabbit hole. huckabee saying it's difficult for voters to understand. they don't care about it. doesn't really affect them and that the president would be better served to stay with bread and butter issues like the economy on which he still

continues to lead in the polls over joe biden. >> bill: thanks, john in nashville. john mentioned the latest on hunter biden. two senior administration officials telling fox news that the fbi has a laptop reportedly containing e-mails about hunter biden's alleged foreign business dealings. mike emanuel is on that reporting again from washington. where are we today now, mike? >> this hunter biden story has heated up now that the fbi has broken their silence. ron johnson has been demanding answers from the fib wanting a background briefing. the fbi is responding echoing what john ratcliffe said on fox monday, that the intelligence community doesn't believe this is part of some russian disinformation campaign. the fbi has nothing to add and they cannot confirm or deny the existence of an on going investigation including to members of congress. johnson told reporters a short time ago that he isn't happy

with the lack of information. >> i've not been satisfied with the fbi for months, probably years, in terms of the lack of response to most recently the subpoenas of our committees trying to extract information that is readily available. we're asking for documents that the inspector general had here. >> the fox news has obtained e-mails from hunter biden, correspondence with chinese executives. it discusses payment for six people including 10% to the equity of the deal being held by h for the big guy, joe biden. he was asked about the laptop stories. he said it's the same garbage that rudy guliani has been pedalling. he called it a last ditch effort in his desperate campaign to smear him and his family. bottom line, biden doesn't like the question about his son's business dealings. one would expect president trump

to express the issue tomorrow night. >> bill: mark meadows, my guest from the north lawn. good to have you on the program. good afternoon to you. a number of topics to barrel through. let's see how we do. good afternoon to you. first on covid relief. is this real or are you chasing a unicorn on this deal? >> we've been obviously engaged with speaker pelosi for a long time. secretary mnuchin and speaker pelosi are talking ago i'm talking to you and your viewers right now. i spoke to the president and secretary mnuchin the last hour as we try to identify the remaining issues that stand in the way of getting help to the american people. there continues to be a number of differences. as i mentioned earlier, we have entered a new phase where we're looking at the technical language. many senators are concerned with the policy differences that we

have in addition to the money. >> bill: republican right? >> yes. >> bill: that's where the rubber hits the road. i don't know what you can pass in the senate now. i don't know what could be reconciled in the house at this late date. >> i can tell you, they're not only voting on a smaller package today that should come up and the democrats will say no to a package that -- >> bill: looks like that's been defeated already. i tell you -- >> here's the other thing. let me stress that the president is willing to lean in to this. if we see any amount of fair negotiations from speaker pelosi, which we haven't really seen to date, it's been secretary mnuchin, the president advancing this negotiation further and further to nancy pelosi's side of the ledger, but i can say that at one point $9 trillion, which is where we're at right now, when you look at 1.9 trillion, is nancy pelosi

really going to tell the american people that i'm not going to send that relief to you just for political reasons? and i don't think our chances get better after election. i think the next 24 to 48 hours will tell us a whole lot. >> bill: so you're saying she's not moving but you're giving in. that's what i hear from you. yes or no on that? >> yes, that is correct. she's made very small -- >> bill: here's what it appears to be. am i wrong? it seems like it's b.s. seems like each side is giving cover to get past the next debate, maybe past the election and that's when the rubber hits the road. >> i think you're wrong on that, bill. we started out at $1 trillion. we went to 1.3, 1.5, 1.6. now 1.9. at some point speaker pelosi has to take yes for an answer. there's a number of things that she said. if you only deal with this, we'll be able to move forward. so we said yes to that. only to find out that the goal

post moved again. so i'm encouraging her and certainly all the rank and file democrats to take yes for an answer. let's get help going to the american people. >> let's talk about biden and the e-mails. how long has the fbi had the laptop? >> there's reports out there that there was a grand jury subpoena september in 2019. i want to stress one thing. this is not about hunter biden. this is about the biden family. this is about pay for play. this is action -- actually what kind of access did hunter biden sell for the access of his father? so the american people going to the voting booth right now, they need to understand this has nothing to do with hunter biden and as much as it does to do with joe biden. with so i think you'll see the e-mails are authentic. they're hard to reconcile with

anything other than wrong doing. >> bill: have you or the president spoke with the fbi director about that? >> we don't get involved in those kinds of discussions. i know the president has not talked to director wray. it would be inappropriate for us to do that. there's a number of people encouraging a special prosecutor or special counsel to look at this. i'm hoping that -- >> bill: you asked about this earlier today on the radio. are you recommending a special counsel on this? >> i have a number of people recommending that. so i have looked at that as a possibility just so that the american people can understand that we're going to get to the bottom of it in a neutral way. i don't want to discount the efforts of attorney general bill bar and his team to hopefully look at this in a reasonable and responsible way. i don't expect any result before november 3. if we're going to learn anything

about this, that would be by investigative reporters. >> bill: does this come up tomorrow night in nashville do you believe? >> it should come up. if you look at joe biden -- >> bill: the president could do it if he wanted to. has he shared that with you? >> obviously we're prepping for the debate tomorrow night. i can't imagine a debate going off with hunter biden at least not getting a tough question from the moderator on this subject. >> bill: you said the absentee ballots were troubling but the early voting numbers were promising. that sounds like a push. where do you this this election is right now? >> i don't think it's a push. you don't have to look any further than north carolina and look at the absentee requests in north carolina that were disproportionately in the democrat's favor. with early voting totals coming in right now, it's showing a huge, huge turnout for president

trump. the trends and the numbers are very encouraging. we're seeing that not just in north carolina but in a number of states. so i think the suppression polls that have been out there are really not working. the vast majority of the pro trump, pro america, pro growth economy voters are showing up in droves. >> bill: last point. a few seconds. what happened in that "60 minutes" interview yesterday? >> obviously when you look at "60 minutes" hopefully they will go back to responsible journalism. i said it earlier. i don't know that -- >> bill: you're saying they're irresponsible? >> i don't know that there was a neutral reporter asking the questions of the president of the united states. >> bill: will we see that before sunday? >> time will tell. >> neil: okay. we're on stand by then. mark meadows, thanks nor the time. hope you come back soon. 13 days to go. thank you. in a moment, taking on beck tech. we'll talk to the sec talking

about accusations of censorship joe biden bringing out the big guns with barack obama. and joe biden weighing in on the mute button earlier martha maccallum is in nashville in the sunshine of tennessee coming up. three thousand dollars. three thousand dollars!! that's how much veteran homeowners can save every year by using their va benefits to refinance at newday. record low rates have dropped to new all time lows. with the va streamline refi there's no appraisal, no income verification, and no money out of pocket. one call can save you $3000 a year.

i can't. there's never been more divisiveness in this country. it's frightening and sad. that was trump's whole thing, you know, take the politics out of it and run it like one of his businesses. i know people were looking for that kind of change, but it's not working. you know, we've only gotten more in debt, we have this virus now out of control, people out of work, no healthcare. how is that helping people? we need someone that knows what they're doing, and i think it's biden. i know he will listen to the experts. that's what we need. i trust him 100% to get this under control. he has the capability to bring us back together. i'm joe biden, and i approve this message.

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>> bill: there's a new rule for the next debate. there's a mute button. a live look at nashville. a beautiful day. the volunteer state. the former v.p. was asked about it. he says he superintendents the -- supports the change. >> i think it's a good idea. i'm going to focus on the issues that affect the american people and talk to him. i hope they keep the rule of the uninterrupted two-minutes answer. >> bill: martha maccallum, a beautiful day in tennessee. the way i got it, two minutes for an answer. two minutes for a response. both mics are muted. then about ten minutes to

engage. is that how its set up? >> have at it. that's the way it's set up, bill. good to see you as always. it's beautiful here in belmont. we get ready for the debate. it's another crack at this whole thing for president trump and joe biden. there's going to be a mute button as you mentioned. how that is going to work exactly, i think we'll see when it plays out. as we learned in the last round it gets interesting. sounds like they'll be givening the two minutes and after that, they can jump in. they can counter attack or counter balance. it would be a shame if there's too many control. joe biden said he would like more muting and more control. i don't think that -- i think the american people want a chance to hear these two people exchange their ideas. >> bill: you heard mark meadows

said the hunter biden story will come up. the story won't go away without explanation even if the veep wins. there's some truth to that. >> yeah, there is truth to that. 24 is normally traditionally the foreign policy debate. there's been a push on the trump side to put the focus on foreign policy. it's one of the biggest jobs the president has. in this moment where the country is so consumed with covid and the very real economic ramifications of that, we tend to put the foreign policy issues on the back burner. i look back at prior presidencies. what is front and center is never the thing that becomes the hallmark for the presidency. it's the thing that comes after that. and that could very well be china. there's a lot of obvious aggression coming from china. i think that the american people deserve to hear how president trump would handle it, how be. >> would handle it. that does raise obvious questions about their business dealings with china and exactly

what they were promised and what those negotiations were all about. everybody needs to know that. >> bill: we'll see how that is prosecuted tomorrow night. the president goes to north carolina later tonight. this is not scientific. when one guy is on the road doing rallies every day and the other guy is at home and you have two weeks to go before an election, looks like the guy doing rallies is on offense. what is your observation on that? >> you can look at it either way. the president is spending time in places that he won last time around. he wants to shore those up. he's not in some of the states that they were hoping to add to the list. minnesota or nevada. i think there's one nevada rally over the last several weeks. so you can make a lot of -- you're the expect at looking at the maps and figuring out that path. this is a different situation. joe biden has spent most of his campaign in a very sort of back burner mode. it does raise questions about what kind of presidency he would have, whether or not he would be

out there every day doing events, doing things or would he be sort of more hunkered down. the president would have a different style. we've been used to president trump engaging every day, traveling all over the country. what would a biden presidency look like. >> bill: good stuff. see you tomorrow night. thanks. republicans fighting to hold on the majority to the senate. could come down to a few key raises. we'll take a look at one of them. president trump set too rally in north carolina tonight. chris stirewalt on deck to break down what is at stake and what we're learning from the tarheel state just today coming up. another bundle in the books. got to hand it to you, jamie. your knowledge of victorian architecture really paid off this time. nah, just got lucky. so did the thompsons. that faulty wiring could've cost them

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>> bill: president trump heads to north carolina. barack obama is in philadelphia. biden is all for debate. chris stirewalt, hello to you. a good song and dance here in north carolina. i'll fillet it and you serve it. how does that sound? this is 2016. president beat hillary clinton by 77,000 votes in the tarheel state. here's charlotte. raleigh up here. he's going to land in charlotte, mclinberg county. romney was at 56. about 6,500 more votes in a state that was decided by 77,000. everything matters. the advanced vote in north carolina is impressive. that's 2012. that's 2016.

this is 2020. as of today, chris, you have 600,000 ballots returned. 1.5 million people voting in person. you're already at 20% of the advanced turnout in north carolina. it's critical. the president won it by 3.5 points. how do you see this as of today, chris? >> it's a good pick with gadsden county. charlotte suburbs. the deal for the trump campaign, they're not doing anything near what they need to do in the suburbs, right? affluent voters have turned open trump. but if they can juice the turn outin lower income areas and rural areas, gadsden county is going away from charlotte, if they can get higher turnout there and higher turnout with white working families, that's what the trump campaign is counting on in north carolina. on both sides of the state, east and west. if they want to juice turnout, the people whose families voted

for jesse helms, may have voted for john edwards, they need them to storm the polls. >> bill: as of today, this is too close to call between biden and trump. on the senate side, a really good race here between -- that's not that. pop down here and see if we can locate it. that's michigan. see what happens when the machine doesn't do what you tell it to do? battleground north carolina. try it again here. let's advance it. tom tillis and kyle cunningham. this is too close to call. how important is this in your vote for the u.s. senate? 81% said which party controls the senate? it wasn't about trump. it wasn't about cunningham's affairs. it's about who controls the senate. why is that? >> so tom tillis is in a weird predicament. he attached himself to trump.

he can't do better than trump does. we saw a lot of republicans outperform trump. some distanced themselves from trump and he's unpopular in their state. tillis can't do that. he's embraced trump to his core. so he's got a cap there that he keeps running into. 0 on the other hand, if biden does win north carolina and biden does come out ahead, there's a strong impulse for those voters that may have been turned off by tillis for them to say gosh, we need a republican senate. if we're going to have a democratic president, we need a democratic senate. so that's where tillis can pick up votes from folks that he turned off in the raleigh suburbs, the republican bread basket of the tarheel state. >> bill: president obama will speak to a bunch of cars in philadelphia. joe biden won't be there. why not? >> man if joe biden could bury himself under the earth, he would do it. he thinks the less the better

and he's probably right. >> bill: see you later, chris. there he is. nice to see you in your living room. i do believe. thanks. taking on big tech now. speaking with an sec staffer accusing twitter of censorship. later, a memorial in france after a history teacher was decapitated. we'll look at the intersection of free speech and terror happening in that country five years after the charlie ebdow massacre coming up. even lower. veterans who refi now can save three thousand dollars a year. with newday's va streamline refi, there's no income verification, no appraisal and no out of pocket costs. one call can save you $3000 a year. $3000! that's a big deal.

>> bill: republicans trying to hold on to a three-seat majority in the senate but running tight in a dozen races including iowa where joni ernst is up against teresa greenfield. we have reports with more on that race today. garrett? >> bill, this is one of the tightest races for the senate in the entire country. for months, joni ernst and

teresa greenfield are locked in a dead heat. in a new model, the candidates have 47% apiece among registered voters for the second straight months. in models that assume high voter turnout, ernst gained a point putting her within the four-point margin of error. the top issues for hawkeye stay voters, the economy, law and order, the coronavirus and healthcare. which the candidates are spending a lot of time discussing. >> i wouldn't do what senator ernst did, which is to vote to end the affordable care act, gutting pre-existing conditionses, gutting prescriptions, mental healthcare, maternity coverage. >> when it comes to healthcare, we know we have to protect pre-existing conditions. i have never heard anybody argue that we shouldn't. so that is a bunch of false smears out there. >> only 2% of iowa voters have

not made up their mind on who they'll vote for. in a race this tight, it's all about turning out the vote and convincing as many of those undecided voters as you can in the final days. >> bill: thanks, garrett. nice to see you in davenport where the grass is green. >> thank you. >> big tech poses the largest threat to free speech and democracy in america. their power grows and grows. they use and abuse their monopoly program to enrich themselves a at everyone's expects and number 2 when it comes to politics, to silence american citizens. >> bill: senator cruz on the news earlier today. my next guest criticized twitter for allowing iran's supreme

leader to tweet but not the post. matthew, i have my theory. what is yours? >> i think it's been quite clear for years that twitter has a viewpoint. it's a left-wing viewpoint and uses that viewpoint to discriminate against conservatives and conservative outlets. >> bill: that's simple. the fcc chair writes this. social media companies have a first amendment right to free speech. they do not have a first amendment right to a special immunity denied to other media outlets like newspapers and broadcasters. as of today, that stands however. doesn't it, matthew? >> they -- congress passed a law in the 90s called section 230 which gave social media companies and other websites very broad immunity from lawsuit. there's really bipartisan concern now and whether that immunity has gone too far. you have democrats and republicans in congress calling

for this to be looked into. you have my boss, chairman pie, calling for this to be looked into. justice thomas just last week of the supreme court called for this to be looked into. you have the president and the commerce department calling for this to be looked into. so i think there's a broad consensus right now that this immunity is probably been interpreted too broadly and that they should not get special privileges that a newspaper doesn't get or that let's say a cable news network doesn't get of the. >> bill: i wonder how dorsey and zuckerberg look at this. they see the internal volume. they see the constant daily churn globally on stories and issues that really come and go. maybe it lasts for an hour or six hours or a day perhaps. but they're banking on this coming and going yet again. you see it that way? >> well, i think this incident has caused a lot of people to wake up and take notice.

it's just an outrageous situation when twitter allows the supreme leader of iran to tweet about arms resistance to the state of israel, about wiping the state of israel off the map, committing genocide, yet the "new york post" and american newspaper founded in 1801 by alexander hamilton has been locked out of twitter for seven days because they posted an article about hunter biden? that is outrageous. i think the american people and i think their elected representatives are waking up to the fact that this company, twitter, is incredibly biassed and discriminating against american conservatives. >> bill: so you're making the case that this is one step too far? >> i do think this is one step too far. unfortunately it's not an isolated incident. it's an incident that has gotten a lot of attention. i think in general twitter and i would add facebook are

discriminating against american conservatives and tilting the playing field and not enforcing their standards in an even-handed manner. >> bill: why would they take that risk if it's so obvious to people like you? >> i think i they have a certain viewpoint. jack dorsey has said the vast majority of people that work at twitter are left wing. that i have a left wing outlook on the world. that's the way they see the world and end up enforcing their rule in a skewed manner. >> bill: so he doesn't care about people like you. >> i think what twitter cares about the its left-wing viewpoint. i do think that if people speak up, that i can alter their behavior a bit. i do believe they're a company with a viewpoint and that i use that to discriminate and i think the events of the past week have made that abundantly clear to any rationale person. >> bill: called the former prime minister of israel a butcher and a wolf in human skin.

talked about israel being deadly and cancerous growth. that's iran's leader. those tweets went unobstructed. >> bill: they have. it isn't isolated louis farrakhan is allowed to tweet. richard spencer is anti-semitic is allowed to spew their hate. but the "new york post" has been locked out for seven days. so the values of twitter, the viewpoint of twitter is incredibly skewed. it's out of the mainstream of the american people. i think people should speak up about this and let twitter know that this is just unacceptable. >> bill: we'll see if change happens. thanks, matthew. good to get your point. >> you bet. >> bill: in a moment, a senior justice department official saying other tech giants could be targeted after the feds found a massive antitrust lawsuit against google this week. edward lawrence reports on that from washington. hello, edward.

>> yeah, the senior justice department official says the lawsuit against google is the first to come out of a year-long investigation. it may not be the last one, this is about market competitive any and if the companies unfairly disadvantage competition with their power. we're talking about other companies like microsoft, apple and facebook. one 0 the attorneys general was in florida. he says we need to make sure that others can provide alternatives to google. >> you don't want government interfering in a fair competitive marketplace unless unlawful competitive actions are taken by a company which allow it to have so much dominance where exclusion ordinary agreements are undertaken. >> google claims that they're just doing nothing different than a beverage company it would do for the grocery store like when gross pays store to make sure that their product is eye level. google pays billions to apple

and other phone makers to use the google internet search as their default. if you google the fact, results will tell you that google last 12% of the worldwide traffic. they don't break it down by country. >> bill: in a moment here, will amy barrett clear the next hurdle? the senate committee gets ready to vote tomorrow. we'll have the latest on where things stand. and california's reopening plans could keep disneyland on ice for months. that's coming up. ♪ greetings mortal! your journey requires liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. liberty power! wow. that will save me lots of money. you're insured!

this game's boring. let's get tacos. only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. well, this has been an absolufrom the beginning. this is real. that's the first thing. no pussyfooting around. we are not going to stamp this out unless we have a change of leadership. joe biden has a plan. he actually has a plan. he listens to medical experts. he wears a mask to show that everybody should wear a mask. joe biden will do what needs to be done so we can live a healthy, normal life again. ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad.

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♪ i know we'll make it to the finish line ♪ ♪ i know you're waiting on the other side ♪ ♪ i'm like you on-demand glucose monitoring. because they're always on. another life-changing technology from abbott. so you don't wait for life. you live it. >> bill: breaking news out of atlanta. life look at the cdc.

robert redfield set to give an update on the coronavirus response. we'll head there when there's headline's. judge amy question any -- coney barrett is back on the held. chuck schumer had a serious take with dianne feinstein. she faces heat about the question during the confirmation hearing. chad pergram has more. >> there's liberal groups that want feinstein removed as the top democrat on the judiciary committee. they view her as being too differential to lindsey graham. she said this is one of the best sets of hearings that she participated in. if democrats flip the senate, she's in line to be the chair of the judiciary committee. here's chuck schumer.

>> i've had a long talk with senator feinstein. that's all i'm going to say. >> there's predent for removing senators as chairs of committee. the senate sidelined the south carolina senator storm thurmond two decades against and robert byrd voluntarily gave up the gavel in 2008. here's the timetable to confirm amy coney barrett. the senate will vote open it and send it to the senate floor. they will start debate friday and continue with that debate saturday and sunday. a procedural vote sunday and vote to confirm her monday probably 8:00 or 9:00 p.m., bill. >> bill: we'll watch that. thank you back to the cd. c. here's robert redfield. >> this is why it's so important that all of us remain diligent

in our efforts to defeat this virus and protect ourselves and our families and our communities. at the cdc, science, data and service have driven our unprecedented reresponse to the covid-19 pandemic. our mission is to protect the health of every morn and save lives. personally, i'm incredibly proud of the men and women at the cdc and it's truly been an honor for me to lead them during these extraordinary times and to meet these ex-strohhed -- extraordinary people. jay? >> good afternoon, everybody. thanks for being here.

it's fabulous the speak to you today. thanks for that introduction, dr. redfield. we're here to give you the latest with what's going on with the covid-19 pandemic. we're seeing a distressing trend here in the united states with covid-19 cases increasing in 75% of the country. to date, we've confirmed over 8.1 million cases and sadly over 220,000 deaths since january. i know these are numbers but they're also people. we mourn these losses. the past week we've seen nearly 60,000 cases a day on average as well as 700 deaths. here in georgia, we've also seen an increase in the number of cases despite the decline we've seen beginning in august. we're also seeing cases increase in really all parts of the country in the midwest

particularly, likely in part because people are moving indoors with the arrival of cooler temperatures. another factor is the smaller more intimate gatherings of family, friends and neighbors maybe driving infection as well. especially as these gatherings move indoors and adherence to face coverings and social distancing may not be optimal. i realize we're getting tired of the impact of covid-19 on our lives. we get tired of wearing masks. it continues to be an important as its ever been and i will say it's more important than ever as we move in to the fall season. it's incredibly important to continue these steps also as we look to the upcoming holidays. we know that every activity involves interacting with others has some degree of risk right now. there are four general rules of

thumb for assessing risk and deciding how to best protect yourself and those you love. first, the more closely you interact with others. second, the longer the interaction has. third, if the interaction is indoors rather than outdoors and fourth, interactions with the greatest number of people translates into the higher risks of covid-19 spread. understanding these risks and how to adapt different prevention measures can help you protect yourself and your families and your communities. we all want to live as safely as we can. minimize the risk of covid-19 while its circulating. secretary azar will highlight what people can do to protect themselves but i want to spend a few minutes that additional tools we'll likely have soon. the covid-19 vaccine. as dr. redfield mentioned, we're

cautiously optimistic that the vaccine will be available although likely in limited quantities before the end of 2020. preparing for implementing the successful covid-19 vaccine program is a crucial next step as part of our overall effort to protect americans, reduce the impact of the covid-19 pandemic and continue to restore more normalcy to our lives and our country. cdc is a proud part of operation warp speed. the partnership between parts of hhs and the department of defense to develop, make and distribute millions of covid-19 vaccine doses as quickly as possible, volunteering that they are safe and effective. in other words, we want to make sure that they work. i'm pleased to announce that all jurisdictions including georgia have submitted their initial vaccine program plan. these plans are an important

milestone in our efforts to ensure successful delivery and administration of faith and effective covid-19 vaccines. the ultimate goal that everyone that wants to be immunized can be. over the past month, cdc has provided technical assistance to each jurisdiction including nearly daily check-ins with jurisdictional staff, conference calls with immunization staff and assistance. we'll provide feedback to the jurisdictions during the next two weeks. it's important to recognize that the plans are flexible because things may change as we learn more about which vaccines become available and what amounts and when. additionally, each plan will include an executive summary that we plan to post online later this month allowing for maximum transparency and a general understanding of each

jurisdiction's approach. i want to highlight also the pharmacy partnership we announced last week with cvs and walgreen's. again, we anticipate that initially the vaccine will be available in a limited supply. when -- when the supply of vaccine is limited, our efforts to vaccinate may need to focus on those that are tightest risk of disease and those critical to the response including those that provide care of people in the healthcare system. people at risk include those in long-term care facilities like nursing homes and assisting living facilities as well as independent living facilities. the pharmacy partnership for long-term care programs provides end-to-end management of the covid-19 vaccination process including getting vaccines to facilities, provide for on-site vaccinations and fulfillment of all reporting requirements.

long-term care facilities will have the options of partnering with cvs and walgreen's whose combined national footprint will allow most facilities nationwide to opt in to this program. before i close, i want to remind you that tomorrow the vaccine advisory committee is discussing to discuss the latest covid-19 vaccine development and next week the advisory committee on immunization practices will be meeting. both of these meetings independent committees will be broadcast live for the public to see the data to be discussed as well as the profits being used to ensure that certains have a safe and effective variety of covid-19 vaccines. we know stopping this pandemic is going to take all of our tools. hand washing, masks, social distancing, hopefully quite soon vaccines. taken together, these tools are our best chance at getting our

communities, schools and health systems back in the normal operations. i'd like to turn the podium over at this point to secretary azar. thank you for being here. >> thank you, dr. butler and dr. redfield and thanks to everybody at cdc for hosting us here today. it's an honor to be here and express my gratitude to the hard working cdc, their efforts throughout this pandemic. while in atlanta, i also have the chance to learn about the heroic efforts of the healthcare providers, the janitorial staff, everybody at grady hospital and emory hospital's work on clinical trials for the regeneron and the vaccine. thanks tooperation warp speed

and if and when the fda gets the go ahead, we will have supplies already manufactured and ready for distribution. in conjunction with operation warp speed, the cdc is leading the effort to coordinate vaccine administration working with the 64 public health jurisdictions that they partner with on vaccines each year. i want to offer a special thank you to every american who is volunteered for covid-19 clinical trials or helped raise awareness, especially among diverse communities. anyone interested in signing up for a vaccine trial can visit coronaviru coronavirus.gov. while we think this exciting progress on vaccines and

therapeuti therapeutics, we see concerning trends. with the latest data and the career experts each and every morning. there's hope on the way in the form of safe and effective vaccines and in a matter of weeks or months. but in the meantime, to bridge to that next phase, we have to take steps that can keep ourselves and our families and our communities safe. those are the three ws. wash your hands, watch your distance. wear your face covering and avoid settings where you can't do those things. thank you all for joining us here today. thank you to the american people for the incredible sacrifices that you have made throughout the pandemic and thank you to, again, to the dedicated team here at cdc for their incredibly hard work. we're now happy to take some questions. >> thank you, mr. secretary.