"roadblocks." thanks for watching, good night. this is "nightline." >> tonight, wartime pandemic. waiting for their shot. fractured families ravaged by covid-19. now holding on to hope in a vial. >> you've got to give everybody a fighting chance. >> that's right. >> the new president's plans and mandates. >> mask up. >> and the new prognosis now that fauci is finally free to speak. >> it is somewhat of a liberating feeling. plus sign of the times. the high-risk warnings and what the doctor who treated the first patient has learned one year after the very first case came to the u.s. and pure poetry. the presidential poet getting the surprise of her life. inyesterday.rman, it's lin

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♪ good thank you for joining us. tonight, all hands on deck at the white house. president biden waging war on the pandemic. the virus claiming the lives of more than 410,000 americans. now the race to vaccinate

hitting multiple hurdles and leaving vulnerable americans desperate. >> you know, we take one day at a time. i'm not going to lie, there are some difficult days. >> reporter: amanda and vicki brown have already experienced the worst covid-19 can do. just two months ago, the virus killed coach charlie brown, vicki's husband of 47 years. >> it's still real hard for me. the hard days are the loneliness. nights are the hardest, when you're there all alone, no one to talk to. so it's learning to find that kind of life and still find joy without him being here. >> reporter: coach brown was a beloved figure in el paso. but as the family continues to grieve, amanda, her mom, and her brother, who is also a teacher, are now in a race to get vaccinated. amanda got lucky. so far, her brother has not. how frustrating is it that luck even has to play a role in it? >> how would i answer that? i would say that i'm going to

trust the government. do i necessarily agree or do i like it? probably not. especially given the fact that my dad has died from this horrible disease. does it make sense for me to sit here and be angry and for my brother to sit here and be angry? no, because that doesn't change anything. >> reporter: vicki had covid at the same time her husband did. she has to wait until next month to qualify. >> i am over 65. i do have one underlying health condition. if they called me and said, hey, we can give you the vaccination tomorrow, i would go. >> reporter: the vaccine rollout has fallen far short of its goal so far. and with each state having different rules it's hard to tell who can get what, when. for example, in new york, supply is short. this week the state was forced to cancel 23,000 appointments. in florida, officials are trying to cut down on vaccine tourists, now only allowing full-time or part-time residents to get the shots. in texas, the rollout is

happening in phases, but limited supply means it's hard to find a spot. >> how do you feel about the new administration and president joe biden and how he plans on tackling covid? >> he's our president. regardless of what side of the fence you fall on. and he deserves our support. because his success means that we can also be successful in our own lives. >> reporter: on his first full day in office, the president sat down and signed a series of executive orders to combat covid. >> help is on the way. today, i am unveiling a national strategy on covid-19. >> reporter: biden launching what he calls a full-scale wartime effort. among other things, the administration will have fema establish 100 federal vaccination sites in the next month. ramp up vaccine and ppe production by using the defense production act. and he signed a mask mandate for federal property and interstate travel. >> while the vaccines provide so much hope, t t has been mal fai. so i dpair and

frustration of so many americans and how they're feeling. >> reporter: based on the current pace of vaccinations set by the trump administration, some think biden's ambitious plan to roll out 100 million vaccines in 100 days appears to be out of reach. but in his first briefing in months, dr. anthony fauci says it can still happen. >> if we get 70% to 85% of the country vaccinated, say by the end of the summer, middle of the summer, i believe by the time we get to the fall, we will be approaching a degree of normality. >> reporter: the white house promising fauci will be a regular in the briefing room, after being virtually banished by former president trump. >> the idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what evidence, what the science is, know that's it, let the science speak, it is somewhat of a liberating feeling. >> reporter: abc news contributor and emergency room dr. darigan sutton says the new administration's approach is a welcome change. >> a breath of fresh air, a

weight lifted off our chests. it feels like science is inside of the white house finally. >> reporter: it was just one year ago today the first case of covid was announced in the u.s. the word "pandemic" was still a far-away thought. the first u.s. death wouldn't come until a month later. >> breaking news, the first death from coronavirus. >> reporter: dr. george diaz, head of infectious diseases at providence medical center in seattle, washington, treated patient one, seen here being wheeled into the hospital. >> what did we learn from patient number one? >> we learned quite a bit from patient number one. firstly, that we would be able to isolate him appropriately and keep our staff safe. we used remdesivir, which was a new antiviral at the time. he was the first patient to receive this drug in the world. and he had a good response to treatment. and that kicked off a number of clinical trials that we were involved in to prove that it's effective for treatment of covid-19 pneumonia. >> reporter: dr. diaz said he

and his team learned a lot about the disease from that first patient who was treated for five days before being discharged from the hospital. patient number one, how are they doing today? >> doing great. he's fully recovered and back to his normal life. so many people survive the illness but have medical problems afterward, fortunately patient one survived well. >> what does it tell you about the future of the pandemic? >> hope that we can get through this, but it takes a lot of work. the road ahead of us is convincing all of us americans to get vaccinated. >> reporter: now, a year later, the situation is becoming desperate. hot spots like southern california, where a new variant of the virus is accounting for one-third of all cases at cedars-sinai hospital in los angeles. l.a. county, the most populous county in the nation, has been pummeled by record-breaking case numbers and deaths for months. this is a rare day off for you, you've been working around the clock. >> yeah. i've been in the hospital for about six or seven days

straight. so today is the first day where i've been able to not wear scrubs or tightly wrapping an n95 mask to my face, so i'm graceful. >> reporter: after fighting the epidemic in new york city last spring, dr. sutton moved to l.a., tirelessly helping another epicenter. >> the majority of any patients in the hospital now that are severely ill are latinx, patients that are commonly essential workers. >> reporter: sidewalk signs in many minority communities now warn people that they are entering high-risk zones. and wait times for vaccines are frustratingly long. but the city of los angeles is now reporting a big boost. the rate of vaccinations this week jumping 90% compared to last week. however, the mayor still stressing demand is outstripping supply. how would you grade the vaccine rollout so far? >> i would probably give it a b-minus, c-plus. if we were able to focus on manufacturing, increasing production, simultaneously giving out as much of the vaccine and not holding as much, i think that's a good plan. >> you want the federal

government to play a bigger role in the vaccine rollout? >> i think, absolutely. we need help. >> reporter: back in texas, amanda and vicki brown live for hopeful moments, saying it's time to rally behind a new president and a new strategy. >> if you had five minutes with our new president, what would you say to him? >> good luck, number one. i hope he can stay true to his word and get those vaccines out. be kind. >> be kind. you represent all people, not to >> as i watched the inauguration yesterday, and they had all of those flags set out for every person who has died from this unfortunate disease and virus, it was devastating to see. and it doesn't take the sting away, just knowing that there's a vaccine. >> we knew one of those flags represented my husband. their dad. i told the kids, i texted them. i said, he's waving at us.

one of those flags is his. and he's waving at us. he hasn't forgotten us. >> for more perspective on the pandemic, earlier this evening i spoke with dr. asheesh jah, dean of the brown university school of public health. doctor, when do we get back to normal, and what's the timeline for returning to life the way it looked before the pandemic? >> yes, so there is going to be a new normal. it's not going to look like what life looked like before the pandemic. but i think that new normal is probably sometime this summer. but there's some things, like the indoor concert, the concert where it was a lot of packed people together. that may be tough for a little while. we may need to, in certain circumstances, be wearing masks. not all the time but in certain indoor gatherings. we may find at crowded events we get a test before we go in. i can imagine airlines and others requiring us to show

immunization before we board an airplane. there will be those kinds of differences that will remind us that this pandemic is still with us. but again, on a day-to-day basis, being able to see friends, family, a lot of that stuff will be possible again to do quite safely. >> many people will take that as welcome news. what do we know about the new variants of covid-19, and are you worried about this development? >> i am worried about this. you know, there have been a lot of talks about different strains over the last year. most of them have not been a big deal. this one is really different. it's much more contagious than the standard strain. and this is why we really have to get people vaccinated and try to keep people safe the next four to six weeks. if we don't, this variant could take over and end up really causing a lot more infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. >> you think the vaccines will be effective against this new strain? >> i'm pretty confident. obviously we'll have to do more testing to make sure that's true. but i do think it will work. >> and what's your sense of the

biden administration, and what does he and his team need to do first to start fixing the vaccine problem? >> i think what they need to do is two things. they need to make sure production of vaccines keeps up, and those are heading to states. then they need to become a partner to states. the trump administration tragedy was to leave states alone, let them figure it out. what the biden team needs to do is be a partner, provide resources, technical help. i think that combination is really going to help get vaccines into people's arms. >> encouraging news indeed. doctor, thank you for your time. >> thank you. coming up, the looming impeachment trial and that lofty goal to unite a divided nation. ♪ ♪ (quiet piano music) ♪ ♪ comfort in the extreme.

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today, his predecessor awaited word on his senate impeachment trial. earlier this evening i spoke with former republican congresswoman barbara comstock and democratic strategist, hillary clinton's former national political director, amanda renteria. thank you both. barbara, on fox news wednesday, senator lindsey graham had a strong warning for members of his party about loyalty to former president donald trump. let's take a listen. >> i hope president trump understands that his legacy and his best future lies with the republican party. i hope people in our party understand the party itself. if you're wanting to erase donald trump from the party, you're going to get erased. >> strong words. barbara, what's the message here for republicans, do you think? >> i think the message is, we

are going to have a politics, really democrat and republican, that's post-trump and post-pandemic, and we have a lot of new challenges, and i don't think we need to look to the past. yesterday was about turning the page and a new administration, but also a new congress that has a lot of new faces, particularly a lot of new republican faces. we have more women, we have more minority members. and i think we need to focus on that and the agenda that we want to get done for the american people, as well as how can we come together and work on things, covid relief, accelerating the vaccine, helping people who are in dire need? and we can't be about one person. that is over. we'll have impeachment, which i do support, but we also need to move on. >> amanda, to the point about moving on, president biden has continued toanceis agenda through executive orders, and has only appointed democrats to this point thus far.

after campaigning on a message of unity, is it risky for him not to extend an olive branch and include republicans thus far? >> i don't think so. he is really selecting people, as you can tell, with bringing a lot of experience to the table. and who have been viewed as a little bit more moderate. in that sense, i think he has kept his promise to make sure that he is really building a cabinet that's reflective of the country and making sure to bring in a lot of different voices, and also really represent different geographies as well. so i think he's going to be okay here. when you look at his message that he has sent from the very first day of his campaign, he's always said, i am the president for all americans. you heard that on the stage during his inauguration as well. he again hit that point that he really wants to reach out to everybody. and so long as his messages reflect that, his cabinet reflects that, his policies reflect that, he'll be just fine. i believe in that sincerity he

has for bringing everyone together. >> former majority leader mitch mcconnell has stated insurrection at the capitol was incited by president trump. will enough republicans get on board to convict in the senate trial? >> i think you saw ten republicans, including liz cheney, the number three republican in the house, do that. i think those ten members are really quality members. i think you're going to see more republicans in the senate be open to it. i happen to think, if you bring -- if the managers do a good job, they should bring people like mike pence in to testify about the things the president was asking him to do that were profoundly unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and illegal, in fact. all of those actions that were going on. the attorney general, barr, has already spoken up about that these actions on january 6th were wrong. i think there will be others, say the georgia officials who got those phone calls. i think we need to have that trial on the senate floor, and as governor chris christie, a

good friend of donald trump's, said, if this isn't impeachable, what is? >> amanda, how do you think the impeachment trial will play out, and will it distract from biden's agenda in his first few weeks as president? >> i think you can do two things at once. and the senate has proven to be able to do that, so has congress. the reality is this is such an important event that happened. and i think you're going to see a different kind of trial here. i think it will be simple, it will be easy to understand. and i think it will send a message to friend and foe alike that nobody should ever think about attacking our capitol ever again. and i think that is a bipartisan message. we will see how it plays out. but an important one in order to really heal the country and get back together again, you've got to make sure people are held accountable. >> one of the important reasons of having the trial, having the conviction, is also the need to have the vote that donald trump cannot run again, but also that

he will not get national security briefings and get those benefits of the presidency. this was essentially an assault of one branch of government against another. we've never seen that before. and it cannot stand. >> this is a conversation that will continue for some time, i would imagine. thank you both. >> thank you. and up next, the poet who moved the nation. now the surprise that made her speechless. so, what should we do today? ♪ ♪ wow. can we get some sun? ♪ ♪ uh, mom? can we go to the beach? (beep beep beep) should we just go see a movie? yes! i'm always up for a good movie. go rogue in the all-new, fiercely reimagined nissan rogue.

♪ and finally tonight, the message of hope. >> we've learned that quiet isn't always peace. and the norms and notions of what just is, isn't always justice. >> stirring the soul of a nation, the words of conviction and courage from 22-year-old amanda gorman, becoming the youngest inaugural poet in u.s. history. >> for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. >> her message drawing inspiration from the hit musical "hamilton." today the playwright surprising the poet. >> amanda gorman, it's lin

miranda. congrats again on yesterday. the right words in the right order can change the world. i can't wait to see what you write next. keep changing the world, one word at a time. you smashed it! >> amanda already dreaming of what's next. >> okay, got to ask you, 2036, you running for president? >> heck, yeah. >> love your confidence. >> remember her name. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. see you right back here, same