a major announcement about pfizer's covid-19 vaccine. this morning we're learning that the fda will approve it. we have a closer look at the mission to get it moving across the country. lobbying to be first in line. the push from groups vying for early access to the doses headed to california. and live doppler 7, it may be quiet now but that could change as we head into the weekend. we are tracking the chance for much-needed rain across the area. it's december 11th and it is friday. good morning to you. >> hi, mike. i was hearing something in the background, i was wondering what was going on. i'm like, is mike in the tunnel? who is in the tunnel? >> is there a wind tunnel? what's happening? >> the heater warming up back there. >> do i sound -- >> it may not be you. >> do i sound weird? >> you sound amazing. >> look good, too.

>> hey. >> i appreciate that. shout out to dave figura, our engineer, who spent about two much hours redesigning my setup. let's talk about what's going on. i'm excited because it's the weekend. i'm also more excited because it's going to rain our healthiest storm of the season is on the way. since most of us have to stay at home any way, it's going to rain on the weekend. starts tonight and it goes through sunday morning in two waves. light to moderate rain, heaviest in the mount bes. it will be a healthy rain for the burn scars and a healthy rain for our record dry vegetation. we'll start to see some green hopefully a couple weeks a this rain. right now we have verga out there, it's so dry, this rain is evaporating and cooling the air. so we'll have highs in the 50s today after starting off in the 30s and 40s. sprinkles in the north bay at 4:00. all of us see light to moderate

rain during the evening hours. let's get back to rej ggie with the news. we start this morning with a big announcement about pfizer's covid-19 vaccine. let's than an hour ago, alex azar revealed on "gma" that the fda is going to approve emergency use of the vaccine. >> just a little bit ago the fda informed pfizer that they do intend to proceed towards an authorization for their vaccine, so in the next couple of days probably as we work to negotiate with pfizer the information doctors need to prescribe it appropriately, we should be seeing the authorization of this first vaccine. >> once those details are worked out and approval is given, those first doses will immediately begin making their way across the country. here's alex presha. >> reporter: a critical moment in the fight against the coronavirus happening over a zoom call. >> so we do have a favorable vote. >> reporter: the fda advisory committee recommending emergency use authorization authorization of the first vaccine against covid-19.

the pfizer vaccine found to be 95% effective with no serious side effects. >> i do believe the data proves the vaccine is safe and effective. >> reporter: next it goes to the full fda for authorization. that decision expected soon. once it has the green light, pfizer will send out the first 2.9 doses across the country within 24 hours. the first doses earmarked for health care workers and nursing home residents. walgreens and cvs standing by to help get the vaccine out. >> we expect to go to every single facility that has selected us as a partner within three to four weeks to provide the first dose. >> reporter: this comes after two of the darkest days since the pandemic started. the u.s. crossing another grim milestone. more than 3,000 deaths a day. that's a reported fatality from the virus every 30 seconds. california breaking its own records in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. this hospital turning its parking garage into a makeshift surgical hospital. some states like arkansas have

seen deaths double since last week. in massachusetts, a newly reopened field hospital is admitting more patients than expected. virginia's governor announced a midnight curfew and pennsylvania is now banning all events with 50 people and suspending indoor dining as of tomorrow. pfizer won't be the only option. officials are hopeful we'll have fda authorized vaccines from moderna, astrazeneca and next johnson & johnson with even more vaccines in the pipeline. alex presha, abc news, washington. abc7 news is on vaccine watch as part of our effort to build a better bay area. governor newsom says the first shipment of 327,000 pfizer vaccines could arrive in our state next week. they'll be going to health care workers and nursing home residents first, but now other groups are clamoring to be next in line. abc7 news reporter julian glover is live with a look at who is getting priority for a dose. >> good morning.

right now it's anyone's guess who will be next in line to get vaccinated after the 23 million health care workers and nursing facility staff and people in nursing homes get vaccinated. we do know a number of industry groups are lobbying lawmakers to make sure they've next in line. these are industries that have high contact with the public. they're pushing to be included in phase 1b of the vaccination process which the cdc and the california public health department have not yet announced. groups like the northern american meat institute and the national press photographers association, even the association of zoos and aquariums sent letters to the cdc advocating for their industries to receive the vaccines sooner rather than later. san francisco supervisor hillary ronen has urged the governor to prioritize educators in the next round of vaccines. >> teachers, educators, all employees of schools need to be

top of mind at the forefront for vaccines so we can get this important work done. >> this week uber's ceo sent a letter to all 50 governors asking them to prioritize governors and delivery drivers as essential workers to get them early access to the vaccine. moving on to the general public, phase 1c will likely include people over 65 with underlying health conditions. moving beyond that, healthy people under 65 will begin to get vaccinated in phase two. that won't likely happen until spring of 2021. reporting live this morning, julian glover, abc7 news. >> thank you. we are dedicating next week to bring you in-depth coverage with our team of reporters and experts. if you have questions we'll try to answer them. go to abc7news.com/vaccine to submit your question. on monday night at 10:00, a special edition of "20/20."

it's called "the shot: race for the vaccine" that will cover safety, access and timing of the vaccine. california recorded its highest single day death toll of the pandemic so far. 220 covid-19 fatalities on tuesday. it surpasses the previous record set four months ago during the summer surge. icu availability is dropping across the state. in san joaquin, it's just 1.9%. in the bay area, it dropped to less than 18%. now, remember, if that drops below 15%, all of the 11 counties in the bay area region will have to enact the state's new regional stay-at-home order. more than half of the counties have done that preemptively. monterey says it will start sunday and sonoma announced it will start saturday. this morning the santa clara county health department will hold a briefing on the covid-19 health crisis. yesterday the county reported more than 1,000 new cases bringing the countywide case count to 44,000. four new deaths were reported bringing the total number of coronavirus related deaths to 519. today's briefing starts at 10:00

a.m. it will be streamed on the county health department's facebook page. in washington, d.c., lawmakers are facing two major financially focused deadlines today. one is how to keep the government open. the other is how to help millions of americans during the pandemic. jobina is looking at both. >> good morning. the u.s. government will shut down at midnight eastern time unless senate leaders fix last-minute differences on a short-term spending bill. the spending bill is part of a defense bill being delayed by kentucky republican rand paul. he wants to delay consideration of the defense bill over an amendment he believes will limit the president from withdrawing troops from war zones. the fight is putting a covid-19 relief package in jeopardy as well. senate sources tell abc news a compromise is not looking good. >> people are in lines begging for food, you know, looking for food for each meal for their children, and the renters are absolutely terrified that they're going to be evicted.

>> we need to pass covid relief before the end of the year. i hope members of the democratic leadership will decide they're willing to move forward to meet our country's most critical covid priorities. >> abc news has confirmed that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell signaled through staff he is not in favor of a $908 billion bipartisan proposal. mcconnell is saying it would not be supported by most in his conference. >> thank you. australian officials make an announcement that the world did not want to hear. it's covid-19 vaccine trial has been stopped. the troubling reason why. and look at how healthy this rain is going to be. a quarter to a half inch in many areas around the bay and the south bay. up to two-thirds of an inch in the north bay and our mountains, you can see the green, that's more than an inch of rain. since it's a nice, gradual rain we don't have to worry about

welcome back. we are going to take a look at some video possibly? or we can just -- there it is. it's that time of the year when some places turn into a winter wonderland. since we don't get snow in the bay area, i thought i would share this cool video of what we're mayissing. check out this scene in alaska. the man here is throwing frozen water into the air and it causes snow immediately. he calls this heaven's gate. technically we call it a circumhorizontal arc. that's pretty cool.

let's talk about what's going on here at home. we'll start with our temperatures which are nowhere near freezing. we have mid to upper 40s in san francisco. even a 50 as you head out towards ocean beach. some 30s up in the nash val valleys and down in the south bay for the cool spots. let's talk about what will happen today with the activity planner. make sure your gutters are clean due to the yard work. get everything cleaned up before this healthy rain arrives tonight. if you're exercising or if you're working from home or remote learning, it will be dry during the day. just cooler. here's a look, you can see some sprinkles developing in the north bay late in the afternoon hours, then the green turns into yellow and orange, which is moderate rain as we head into the evening and early overnight hours. wake up tomorrow morning, a steady drizzle is possible. that steady drizzle will stay along the coast and into the mountains heading throughout the day. the rest of us will have pockets of rain. several hours later, the next storm arrives saturday night into sunday morning.

we'll wake up to light to moderate rain. it will end as we head into the afternoon hours. that's a look at your forecast. how about the commute, jobina? >> we have two major sigalerts to get to now. this is on northbound 238 before hiss peeria hesperian. that's on 258. and it looks like we'll bring in here san upon blpablo. this is on the richmond parkway off-ramp right there where it meets westbound 80. you can see there's a minor backup forming now, this is a crash between two vehicles. major injuries involved and fire as well according according accg the san mateo bridge here. very smooth ride. it's beginning to slow a bit as you get to mid-span if you're traveling further westbound on

to the peninsula there. but look at the bay bridge toll plaza. so light this morning. great time to ride into san francisco. kumasi? >> thank you. a group of air force trainees making history. the important mission they're about to embark on in california and warestaurant workers t

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and choose the data option that's right for them. they even get nationwide 5g at no extra cost. and since they are on the carrier rated #1 in customer satisfation, they live happily ever after. again, again! xfinity mobile. your wireless. your rules. your way to stay closer together. click, call, or visit an xfinity store today. as we get close to having a vaccine approved in the u.s., another trial is being scrapped in australia. that's because some patients got a false positive for hiv. >> yes. but we want to emphasize none of these patients had hiv. the australian government is stopping the trial because of the issue. at a press conference this morning prime minister scott morrisson made the announcement. it's a big hit because the company behind the vaccine, csl,

planned to provide 51 million doses. the shot was being developed as part of a $750 million trial between csl and the university of queensland. csl says that the changes needed to prevent the false positives for hiv would be too much to overcome at this point. the government plans to compensate for the loss by increasing orders of the other vaccines including those made by astrazeneca and novavax. mike? >> or all of us. >> everybody! >> hey! >> hello. >> you were talking a second ago about snow and something that we should not bring up is that people are not -- are being told not to go to tahoe for probably weeks. probably at least until the christmas and new years holidays are over. >> so now our ski resorts will be impacted also because, you know, so many of us travel up there for the weekends and come

back and spend a ton of money up there. so, there's another area that will be hurting. at least they'll receive some snow. they desperately need it. snow pack is 35% of average right now. up to about a foot this week is possible. the east bay hills showing a few low clouds. mainly high clouds. the air is super dry below 15,000 feet. as the clouds thicken today, the rain will eventually saturate the air and make it down to our neighborhoods after the sun sets. before it does that, we'll have a cooler afternoon. two waves of rain from one storm and both of them are a 1 on the storm impact scale. we'll have another chance wednesday. here's a look at your temperatures today. the cool spot will be lake port at 51. santa rosa and napa at 52. livermore and antioch, 57. warm spot is 59 in fairfield. a lot of 54, 55, 56 degrees around the bay and into the south bay. tonight, more homogenized air mass because of the clouds and rain. 45 to 50. here's our storm. very healthy looking storm.

all right. so, what to expect. greatest amount of rainfall this season, this should help start to turn our hills green in the next week or two. it will be breezy along the coast, not expecting any damage. there's a small possibility of a thunderstorm in mendocino and northern sonoma county sunday. a touch warmer tomorrow in the 50s and 60s. rain-filled air usually is warmer. monday and tuesday we're dry into wednesday, and then thursday a chance of rain. temperatures mid 50s to low 60s. all right. let's get back to reggie and kumasi and talk more about the news. >> thank you. we'll turn to ginger zee with a look at what's coming up at 7:00 on "gma." hey, ginger. >> we're hurting over here for snow, too. my little boy wants for his fifth birthday to ski and learn to ski. so not happening yet. i was like, buddy, yeah, we haven't had enough cold air to make it. so i feel you, mike.

thank you for bringing that up. hi, reggie and kumasi. so much to get to here on a friday. all eyes are on the fda as we await their emergency use authorization for the pfizer vaccine. it could come at any moment. we're patiently waiting outside fda headquarters. plus we'll go inside that mission of the century after it is approved to deliver millions of doses across the country. how u.p.s. and fedex are tracking every single shipment. then we'll answer the question of when you will get the vaccine. secretary of health and human services alex azar will help us do that. and streaming wars are heating up. major announcement from our parent company, my kids will be excited. disney announcing the "star wars" spinoffs, lando, darth vader. the future of "black panther." details on that. and it's officially two weeks until christmas. tiktok's top influencers are joining us live and will share their secret hacks to take your

christmas tree to the next level. it's actually very plush. >> you don't need an excuse to have cookies for breakfast because we will kick off our christmas cookie countdown. get sugared up right here on "gma." >> what is your favorite christmas cookie? >> i'm boring. i like the peanut butter with the chocolate kiss in the middle. done. >> that's a classic. >> a nice sugar cookie. i like the lotion, i'm here for sugar cookie. >> my grandmother would make her real thin sugar cookie with the lard. buckets of lard. >> buckets? >> it sounds gross, but they're so good. >> i'm not mad. >> i'll send you a bucket of lard for christmas. >> grandma would be proud. super proud. >> you're welcom. >> thank you very much. we'll see you at 7:00.

>> okay. coming up, we're just learning the nation's largest retailer, walmart, is planning to administer the covid-19 vaccine. more than 5,000 walmart and sam's club pharmacies are getting prepared to get the doses. the stores are making sure they have the freezers and dry ice to properly store the vaccine. setting the record straight on those san francisco parklets. an update on the story we first brought you about the rules when you get takeout. and have you noticed the clorox wipe shortage again? the oakland-based company is

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welcome back. it's 6:25. here's a look at the first signs of a changing storm pattern. now, this is all verga. it's evaporating, it will lead to a cool day today in the 50s.

once the sunsets tonight, a 1 on the storm impact scale for light to moderate rain. a nice, gradual soaking rain that will get rid of our fire threat and turn our hills green. that's good news. we look forward to that. let's get back to you guys. new details on a story we brought you earlier this week. some san francisco restaurants were letting takeout customers eat in spaces that were once used for outdoor dining. in a statement officials with the city's covid command center tell abc7 news no food or drink may be consumed on restaurant premises. that includes shared space like a parklet the restaurant has a permit for. new this morning, seven air force trainees are making history as the first enlisted

members of the u.s. space force. the airmen and women just graduated and are heading to california. they'll go to vandenberg air force base to start space force training. they'll learn to operate radar stations and satellites and global systems that can detect missiles. next at 6:30, ready to roll. the nationwide effort about to kick off to get the covid vaccine to the people who need it most. sonoma county, you have been

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sonoma shutting down. the county joins the bay area with new shelter in place orders.

shipping out vaccines, the fda revealing this morning they plan to approve pfizer's covid-19 vaccine. how they'll get millions of doses distributed across the u.s. and live doppler 7 is quiet right now but mike is tracking weekend rain. >> good morning, it's friday, december 11th. >> let's get to mike. so this is not a deluge. >> no, a nice, gradual rain. it will showill soak in, it sho cause flooding. there's a minor chance where leaves are sitting in drains that there could be a pooling of water. today is the day to get that cleaned up. we're waking up to mostly cloudy conditions this morning. as we head towards noon, clouds will thicken. you'll see some radar returns, but that will evaporate before it reaches the ground. that will keep us in the 50s. sprinkles in the north bay at 4:00, light to moderate and steady rain moving into our

neighborhoods during the evening hours. the storm is a 1. another part, also a 1, will come through tomorrow night through sunday morning. you can see the verga out there now, but it's this big massive clouds to the west that will bring us our healthiest rain so far this season. an hour-by-hour look at that coming up next. sonoma county taking preemptive action to slow the spread of coronavirus. starting at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow they're entering the state's new stay-at-home order. abc7 news reporter amy hollyfield is live in sonoma where business owners will be struggling the next few weeks. >> yes. some restaurant owners are upset. they spent a lot of money on these outdoor dining areas. starting tomorrow these will sit empty. place. some restaurants say this shut down will force them to lay off workers. the shutdown starts tomorrow. health officials say the number of covid cases has doubled in

recent days in sonoma county and they're seeing an alarming rate of hospitalizations so they say they have to take action. some residents we talked to say they understand the move. >> we need to stay home, whatever we need do to keep the numbers down and beds available. i'm very saddened for small businesses, 100%, but as long as we can keep those beds available so if anyone needs it, especially over the holidays, i'm 100% on board. >> this is the same order other bay area counties already have in place. it shuts down hair and nail salons, indoor and outdoor dining, wineries, bars, family entertainment centers. starting tomorrow, residents of sonoma county are ordered to stay home unless they are essential workers or need to get out to grocery shops or have a medical appointment. the order will be in effect until january 9th. i'm amy hollyfield, abc7 news. >> thank you. this morning the fda announced they plan to approve

pfizer's covid-19 vaccine within days. this news comes as a massive operation is already under way to deliver this vaccine across the country. jobina is at the live desk for that part of the story. >> thank you. the effort to distribute the pfizer vaccine is ramping up this morning. "good morning america" is at the pfizer storage facility in kalamazoo, michigan. that's where the shipment of vaccine will depart to hospitals across the country. abc's alex peres has a glimpse of how the vaccine will roll out and how it will all work. >> once pfizer gets that fda authorization, they say the work of shipping the first batch of 2.9 million doses to 636 addresses in every state will begin. once that authorization is given, u.s. marshals will be on hand here at the distribution sites making sure things are running the way they should be. now, this here is a massive facility and employees will be working around the clock. trays of vials will be removed from 300 freezers where they're being stored placed into

specially designed boxes that could and will keep the vaccine at the extremely cold temperatures it needs to be at for up to ten days. >> pfizer believes they can get the first batch of 2.9 million doses of vaccines out the door within 24 hours of approval. you can watch a full report on the massive effort to distribute the vaccine coming up at 7:00 on "gma." a push is under way to urge state officials to prioritize public school employees when it comes to getting the covid vaccine. >> educators, school secretaries, janitors, bus drivers should be vaccinated and should be vaccinated as soon as possible because every day that kids miss that in-classroom education is another day that we're failing them in this state. >> yesterday politicians, educators and parents joined the call you just heard from san francisco supervisor hillary ronen. they want those in the education system to be put in the second tier of the state's vaccine distribution plan after first

responders. marin county already made that decision. abc7 news is your source for the latest on the race for the vaccine. you can find every update on our app and enable push alerts to get developments as they happen. and exclusive content like a story about a bay area company that could determine who gets the vaccine first. the dmv is suspending behind the wheel driving tests for at least two weeks. that starts on monday. officials say having an examiner inside a vehicle with a driver just is not safe with the current surge in covid-19 cases. customers with scheduled appointments in the next two weeks will be notified and the dmv will reschedule the test for a later date. california public health officials are urging residents to start using canotify, a free and voluntary smartphone based covid-19 exposure notification tool. it launched yesterday. apple users can opt in on their mobile devices by enabling exposure notifications in settings. android phone users can download the canotifyapp.

people who test positive can enter a code supplied by the state into canotify which will alert others that they're infectious. >> technology is the way forward for these things. i do believe these apps can have an impact. so, let's see. >> officials say the app uses bluetooth wireless signals to determine when two phones are within two feet of each other for at least 15 minutes and we're told there's no tracking santa clara county teaming up with the valley transportation authority and labor unions to test essential front line workers. yesterday bus and light rail drivers along with mechanics and maintenance workers lined up to get tested at the vta's light railyard in san jose. union leaders say the program is vital to keep members and the public safe. in santa clara county they have a enough door to door pilot program. the plan is to send teams out in the hardest hit areas of the

county beginning with east san jose. trained public health care workers in full ppe will knock on doors offering the free test that residents will administer themselves. >> with this intervention coupling testing and high-touch case investigation and contact tracing, we are able to support families in their language with someone who understands their culture and help support them to access various services. >> officials say this program is needed because residents in communities like east san jose are fearful of seeking help and they're unsure how to access services. facebook plans to challenge the u.s. government's antitrust case against the social media giant. earlier this week the ftc and attorneys general from 48 states filed separate lawsuits in court accusing facebook of illegally crushing smaller competitors by purchasing smaller rivals. facebook says the complaints are misguided. today facebook's coo sheryl sandberg talks with tamron hall

about the lawsuit. she points out that facebook faces competition from tiktok and snapchat and she says when facebook acquired instagram and whatsapp they were small companies. they says instagram only had 13 employees and whatsapp had 55. you can watch tamron hall today at 1:00 p.m. on abc7. in a last-ditch effort, president trump is holding out hope of remaining at the white house. more than 100 house republicans have signed a brief with the supreme court. it backs a texas lawsuit based on president trump's baseless claims challenging the election results. the focus is on the four swing states of georgia, michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin that handed president-elect joe biden the white house. the electoral college is scheduled to meet on monday to cast their votes with congress

slated on certifying those results january 6th. efforts are under way to as an underground gasoline spill discovered in walnut creek last month. kinder morgan said they're working with the epa and fish and state wildlife to address the leak of up to 42,000 gallons of gas in the area. this is south of broadway. preliminary findings determined that tree roots had grown into the pipeline and that caused it to crack. milpitas beginning its search for a new police chief. the "mercury news" is reporting that chief armando corpuz will be retiring at the end of the month. he's been the department's chief for three years now. the 51-year-old has worked in law enforcement for 30 years. assistant police chief gerard hernandez will take over as acting police chief december 31st. demand for dry ice. it's an industry about to boom because of the packing of covid-19 vaccines. the challenge suppliers will face. and clorox can't keep up with demand for its wipes. it is ramping up production

again. when you can expect stores to be stocked. and you are taking a live look right now at the big board at the new york stock exchange. we're down about 90 points. an update on how the markets are doing next. and an update on your weather right now with mike nicco. >> thank you. in the south bay, mostly cloudy conditions and some fog around morgan hill. 37. same thing in santa teresa. milpitas about 38. everyone else about 40, 45 degrees. low to mid 40s in many areas, upper 40s around places like newark, alameda, san francisco, 50 in half moon bay, upper 30s and low 40s across the north bay. it's quiet this morning. all of the caution is for the sprinkles that develop this afternoon and the rain that is going to develop as we head into the evening hours. the later you stay at work, the more likely you will need the windshield wipers and more time to get home. here's a look at future radar.

by 5:00, the steadier rain moving into the north bay. it initially starts as light green, but notice yellows and oranges as it slides south during the evening hours. if you're heading out, watch out for that heavier rain. that will be rolling through. this will end by tomorrow morning. we'll have some drizzle early and then drizzle along the coast and the mountains. the rest of us have a few pockets of rain from time to time as we head into the afternoon and evening hours. the next wave comes in later. by 11:30 tomorrow night, it's just starting to move into the north bay. it's also going to be light to moderate. because it's coming in later means you'll wake up to that steady rain sunday morning. but then by sunday afternoon, other than a random shower in the north bay it will be out of lee here. look at these rainfall totals that our high resolution models are breaking out. this is what we've been waiting for. a nice gradual rain that will soak in, not flood and get rid of the record dry fuels or

vegetation and take away our fire threat. i'm going to leave you on that good note. let's get over to jobina and talk about the commute. >> thank you very much. good morning. we have a couple of crashes to talk about. we have a sigalert in san pablo right now that is not causing much of a backup at the moment. it is on the richmond parkway off-ramp as you are coming off of westbound 80 there. just heads up to you. there's fire involved due to one of the vehicles. major injuries involved there. our biggest backup is from the newest crash in fremont. this is southbound 880 past thornton. speeds down to 21 miles per hour. it's definitely extending there. and a thumbs up here in san leandro from our earlier sigalert. this has cleared on northbound 238 before hesperian. a live look at 87. very clear there. also even though the bay bridge does look busy now as you make your way into san francisco, i can tell you there are no metering lights on at the toll

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governor newsom says the first shipment of 327,000 pfizer vaccines could arrive in california next week. they'll go to health care workers and nursing home residents first, now other groups are clamoring to get in line. abc7 news reporter julian glover is live with a closer look at who is going to get priority. >> good morning. we know health care workers and nursing home residents will be first in line. there's 23 million people when it comes to those health care workers and now other industry groups are lobbying lawmakers and health care leaders to make sure they are next in line and getting some type of priority. these are industries that have high contact with the public. they're pushing to be included

in phase 1b of the vaccination process which the cdc and the california public health department have not yet announced who will be in phase group 1b. groups like the northern american meat institute and the national press photographers association, even the association of zoos and aquariums sent letters to the cdc advocating they get the vaccine sooner rather than later. this week uber's ceo sent a letter to all 50 governors asking them to prioritize drivers and delivery workers as essential workers to get them early access to the vaccine. >> i'm hoping they make it available for us. we interact on a normal day, you know, 30, 40 passengers a day. san francisco supervisor hilly ronan wants the governor to prioritize educators in the next round of vaccines. phase 1c will likely include

people over 65 with underlying conditions. healthy people under the age of 65, the earliest that group could get vaccinated is spring of 2021. again, that is just a timetable at this point. reporting live this morning, julian glover, abc7 news. >> thank you. facebook's ceo mark zuckerberg says he will not require employees to be vaccinated against covid-19 before returning to their offices. zuckerberg made the statement during a company q&a session. he says he's confident about the vaccine. he's planning to get one himself. a company spokesperson tells us employees have options to work remotely at least until july of 2021. when offices reopen there will be protocols in place like testing and mask wearing to make sure everyone is safe. we have new details about apple's plan to return to the office. ceo tim cook says the majority of teams won't be back before next june. he made the announcement during a virtual town hall meeting with

employees yesterday. cook has been publicly vocal about his desire to bring staff back saying there is no replacement for in-person collaboration but because of current stay-at-home orders apple is giving employees extra paid days off on january 4th. the crush of demand for dry ice has begun. dry ice is needed to pack millions of covid-19 vaccine doses for shipments around the world. the pfizer vaccine has to be kept at 94 degrees below zero fahrenheit. one company in washington state says it's ready for the challenge. >> it's an honor to be a part of it. we're taking one step at a time. there's still a lot of unknowns, but my phone has been ringing off the hook. i've been getting a lot of emails, more than usual. >> one of the challenges, dry ice is constantly fogging itself back into a gas. ten pounds of dry ice disappears within 24 to 36 hours.

all right. so bad news if you have been searching for clorox wipes. the oakland-based company says stores may be out of them until midway through next year. clorox executives say demand has reached a fever pitch during the latest surge of covid-19 cases and the supply can't keep up. this is the third time this year that the oakland-based company pushed back the timeline for easing nationwide shortages. clorox continues to ramp up production. by february it will make and ship 1.5 million packages of wipes daily. new this morning, oakland native and hamilton tony winner david diggs gifted us our new favorite hanukkah song. ♪ >> diggs teamed up with the disney channel to release the catchy "puppy for hanukkah." it's about a boy who is desperately hoping for a puppy

for a present. some team are calling this the greatest hanukkah hit since adam sandler's "hanukkah song." it's on vivo and on rotation on the disney channel through the end of hanukkah. szeny disney is the parent company of abc7. >> this is brilliant. there are some holidays that are underserved when it comes to songs, hanukkah is one of them. i would campaign and say thanksgiving is another one. we need to get on this. >> yeah. >> mike, we can make a song. we can do this. >> let's do it. yeah. i like that. i love adam sandler's. that's one of those for the ages. i hope this one lives up to that. i can't wait to see it. let's talk about what's going on. let's hope the storm lives up to its billing. our highlights as we look at a beautiful back drop from the exploratorium with those high clouds, it should be almost as colorful as the sunrise yesterday. that was one for the ages. so clouds will increase today. the verga, the rain evaporating as it falls from the cloud also

keep our temperatures cool. in the 50s today. a 1 for tonight, a 1 for tomorrow night. those are the waves of rain coming in. here's a look at our temperatures. on the warm side, 59 in fairfield. most of us around 55 to 56 degrees. on the cool side, the north bay, low to mid 50s because the verga will hit you first. tonight's temperatures, more homogenized, mid 40s to around 50. plenty of green hanging around. here's a look at that very healthy storm to our west. let's talk about what it means for us. it's the greatest amount of rain we've had so far this season. it will be breezy along the coast. coastal mountains, not expecting any damage. a slight chance of a thunderstorm sunday in mendocino and northern sonoma counties. it will bring healthy snow to the sierra. up to a foot is possible. right now the sierra snow pack 35% of average for this time of year. this evening through tomorrow morning, tomorrow late tonight

through midmorning tomorrow are the best times for light to moderate steady rain with the 1s on the storm impact scale. temperatures could be a degree or two warmer. monday, tuesday, wednesday, looking dry with temperatures close to average. mid 50s to low 60s. our next chance of rain after this weekend will be thursday. right now we don't have a storm impact scale on it. be careful out there. first rain after a while, jobina knows this, probably going to tell you about it, it will be slippery when that rain first hits. let's get back to reggie. all this week on abc7 we've been looking at the state of the arts in the bay area. every one of our cherished arts and science institutions has been forced to find new ways to keep people engaged from a distance. the lesher center for the arts in walnut creek is no exception. as challenging as 2020 has been, the people at the center refuse to let an annual holiday tradition skip this year. >> i was thinking that we could do a live production of the year in december.

we can't do that. i think covid has taken a lot of people by surprise. "a christmas carol" is the best known dickens story. it's a message of hope. it's an exciting show. we usually sell out. we run the show for about two weeks, 16 performances. for most it becomes a holiday tradition. the plan was before we went into purple was we could have like any movie theater, 25% or 100 people. now what we're able to do, we did a four-camera video shot of a previous year that's spectacular. we'll stream it available online and really make it a family experience that you can have in your living room on your tv, on your smart device. >> you can see our complete report on the center at 4:00. we have information on how you can help all of the organizations we're featuring this week at abc7news.com/betterbayarea. click on state of the arts.

toys for tots campaign is still in need of your help as they're preparing to give toys to thousands of kids next weekend. abc7 is really excited to donate 1,000 toys with the help of s p shopdisney.com and the disney store. toys for tots donations are down this year because of covid. you can drop off new unwrapped toys at the san mateo county event center. look for the toys for tots banner. we're two weeks away from christmas. "good morning america" spoke to some social media influencers for unique decorating hacks to make your tree stand out. >> first tip is to put your christmas lights on vertically as opposed to the spiral pattern. put it up like this. this allows you to use less lights especially if you plan to display your tree in the corner of a room. >> it's all about location, location, location. once you find that perfect spot think about decorating around it. you don't have to go all out to take it to the next level.

leave the artwork on the wraps and wrap it with wrapping paper to make a precedent. >> looks good. >> i don't know why that was so funny. >> that room is definitely them. how about that? >> yes. yes. >> "gma" will have a full report on decorating hacks coming up at 7:00. now, if you're a loyal abc77 morning viewer, you know every day kumasi and i have lotion time. this is the most adorable thing that i have seen in a long time. apparently kumasi, we are inclui influencing the next generation. >> if you're abc news, i'm kumasi, he's reggie. we're doing our daily lotion. we'll be here 24/7. >> oh, my gosh. i wasn't ready. >> you had not seen this video. this is so cute.

kate smith, thank you so much for sending this. and also a shout out to sienna and nolan. >> my gosh. >> we love the lotion. we love your santa jammies, and we're so happy you're with us every day. >> that's going to make me cry. that's so cute. >> isn't it? >> sandra sent us more lotion. i got more merry cookie lotion. >> sandra, thank you for sending us this lotion. that was a nice surprise yesterday. >> yes. >> you know what? the christmas spirit is upon us. >> listen, that was a good friday gift. how sweet. >> wasn't it?

we have the power to harness california's abundant solar and wind energy, but it's not available all day long. use less energy from 4 to 9 pm for a cleaner california.

it is 6:58. if you're just joining us, here's the 7 things to know this morning. number one, this morning the fda announced it plans to approve pfizer's vaccine within days. people could get the vaccine by monday or tuesday. number two, in sonoma county business owners admit the next few weeks will be tough. a stay-at-home order goes into effect at midnight.

number three, lake tahoe is shutting down today as the number of hospitalizations soar. holiday travel to tahoe will be banned for three weeks. number four, verga for most of the day. that means evaporating rain. grab the umbrella if you're heading out this evening. keep it handy through the weekend. >> a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza. it is light, everybody. no metering lights. facebook's coo sheryl sandberg is making her first public comments following the lawsuits followed against the social media company. she appears on tamron hall at 1:00 p.m. today on abc7. and number seven, look at dion. abc7 anchor dion lim hanging out at the sloth house in penn grove. find out how you can enjoy the sloths and other exotic animals at abc7news.com. >> what was that? what are they doing?

>> good morning to the sloths. >> right? >> and t good morning, america. breakthrough. the pfizer vaccine clears a major hurdle with the fda. on the verge of granting emergency use authorization, the announcement could come at any moment amid new questions about how the vaccine might affect those with allergies, pregnant women and teens. all this as cdc director robert redfield issues a dire warning, that the next 60 to 90 days will also see more american deaths each day than 9/11 or pearl harbor. now the mission under way to make sure the vaccine gets delivered safely the moment it's approved. tracking devices going into every single package and the special faa clearance for each plane. health and human services secretary alex azar joins us live on "gma." republican rebellion. more than 100 gop congressmen now backing a lawsui