their very important items. it makes me very happy. ♪ the good, the bad, and the hopeful. president-elect joe biden names his covid task force as the u.s. reports over 133,000 new cases of coronavirus in a single day, but drug giant pfizer has announced an experental vaccine that's testing 90% effective. president trump begins cleaning house with multiple firings and instructs the justice department with voting claims. tropical storm theta is

churning in the east atlantic. we'll tell you what's next. >> "early today" starts right now. >> good tuesday morning. i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. one company takes a giant leap toward a cure for covid pfizer announcing a potential vaccine that's 90% effective among volunteers our tom costello has the latest. >> reporter: pfizer executives are calling it one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in the past 100 years 90% effective in the grug of volunteers known to be infected. now seeking to get fda approval at the end of this month. >> with thousands dying every day, it's great day, not for signs but for humanity.

>> reporter: the science involved more than 44,000 volunteers researchers will continue monitoring the volunteers to make sure the vaccine is safe. everyone will need to get two shots three weeks apart with protection kicking in. >> most people in the community are probably march through june would be my best guest. >> reporter: melissa was one of the first to receive the injections at nyu. >> i felt good i had some side effects after the second dosage. i felt a little achy my fever irwas elevated. i had a head jake and took a tylenol and felt better. >> reporter: at 90% effective, it would be far more effective than doctors had hoped here's how it works. rather than using a live virus, the pfizer vaccine carries the genetic code known as messenger

rna that instructed the proteins without making someone sick. it then creates the antibodies dr. anthony fauci said a second vaccine maker moderna should have similar results soon. the government has already made a massive purchase as part of "operation warp speed.speed. one challenge is it must be kelt at below 70 degrees. pfizer suggests it could have enough for 25 million people worldwide this year and 650 million next year. tom costello, nbc news, washington. as hospitals are overrun with covid-19 cases, another change is made the drug mimics the body's natural defenses against the

virus. it's similar to the treatment president trump received when he was battling the virus. >> after a deadly summer surge, the pandemic cloud still looms over the sunshine state. more than 847,000 floridians have now been infected can covid-19 it means one in 25 people have the virus. our kerry sanders has the latest. >> well, frances, the numbers are not good in florida. if you take a look at the most recent numbers, we're talking about the most numbers the numbers are heading in the wrong direction. at the same time when we look at the positivity rate t goal was to be under 5% but right now it's at 8.07%. so the focus now is on trying to figure out how to get a handle on that. medical officials are trying to

encourage people to continue to wear masks to recognize that there is still a pandemic in this state as well as in this country, but they're also finding there are many people who are just plain exhausted by all the precautions they're taking and they're dropping their guard, and they believe that may be part of the reason why it's spreading they have seen an increase in the number of deaths they tend to believe as they've said before that this is like the flu, that they'll recover, but, of course, this is not like the flu. of course, a lot of hope, frances, that there is a vaccine that is going to soon be widely distributed, but the most important thing is folks should not drop their guard there is still a problem with coronavirus. frances? >> they need to turn those numbers around. meanwhile in the midwest covid hospitalizations also continue to spike. hospitals there are scrambling to keep up in illinois, cases are just shy of half a million.

our cal perry is there with the latest. >> reporter: phillip, no matter what statistic you point to, things are very, very bad in the midwest. in illinois, it's more than 10,000, the number of people hospitaliz hospitalized that's more 2457b,000. that's equal to what the state saw in may we're back to where we were. doctors are concerned, of course, this time of year, it's getting colder with thanksgiving, we could see a spike even higher. it's not just illinois it's the whole region. wisconsin, more than 5,000 a day. that's concerned for a city like chicago where they're still carrying out elective procedures if the cases increase, they'll have to just focus on coronavirus. we've had a number of restrictions put into place. the first is no eating indoors

the governor saying a few days ago it's possible we could have a stay-at-home order here in the city phillip? >> all these months later, worse than ever. president trump is laying th biden up 4.5 million in the popular vote nbc news already projected a win for the president-elect in pennsylvania the latest count puts him up 45 votes. georgia is too close to call but looks blue arizona also too close to call president trump trails by about 15,000 votes this morning the biden transition team is already hard at work focused on tackling the pandemic nbc's ali vitali joins us with the latest good morning. >> reporter: good morning. president-elect joe biden

leading the charge on the coronavirus. the first day and he's already putting in place a task force with more than a dozen experts in science and public health to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. this comes after months on the campaign trail when his entire pitch to voters hinged on tackling the pandemic in order to get into other crises like the economy. now that he's president-elect, he's showing this is a key priority for his administration. this will help them hit the ground running on day one. but the other thing that will help hit the ground running is staffing up. we're told the biden transition has about 4,300 appointees they're going to prioritize roles for those who have the responsibility for tackling the pandem pandemic we see cases spiking across the country, americans very tuned into this issue. actually when the biden team launched their website, the page

that got the most views was his plan for tackling the coronavirus. it goes to show you people are aware this crisis is ontario getting worse. they're looking for a president-elect who will actually work on stopping it we've learned today he's going to give remarks on health care, this as oral arguments begin in the supreme court that could strip some coverage from obamacare. frances? >> thank you. president trump is still refusing to concede in the race for the white house, leaving top aides worrying about lasting damage to his degree legacy and the republican party the fears only exacerbated after the president fired several top officials. nbc's tracie potts joining us with the latest from d.c mark esper got the ax via twitter. >> right, phillip. we found out on twitter he was

being fired after preparing for his resignation, mark is sper, the secretary of defense, telling the military times he had burned back against the administration on a number of things including the use of military to deal with demonstrations, but he may have pushed too hard. another change in the administration, we know the top climate scientist who was the director of the research program is being demoted, going back to his old job at the department of energy he's the individual who reports to the white house and is in charge of the climate change assessment, but he's being replaced by someone who's been working with climate denial groups all of this change is happening as president trump continues to deny the election results and allies on capitol hill says he

has the absolute right to challenge those numbers. >> our institutions are actually built for this we have the system in place to consider concerns, and president trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options. >> now t trump campaign is organizing a massive effort to put together rallies and lawsuits, and they're asking supporters for money for those lawsuits in states that are still counting the vote. phillip? >> tooth and nail, still holding on thank you. let's get an update on this relentless hurricane season after eta made landfall. overnight more than 800,000 power outages were reported. now, there's another threat to keep an eye on nbc's janessa webb is tracking

the hurricane season janessa, what's brewing this morning? >> it continues go this is tropical storm theta it will transition into a potential hurricane as we go into midweek the good news for u.s., it's going back toward africa, so a completely different direction burke still a relentless season. there's another system we're going to watch starting to form in the caribbean the next couple of days. first i want to talk about theta, our 28th named storm. now a tropical storm, it goes backe upper midwest. a temperature divide that

continues to happen for florida today, 88. atlanta, 75 today. it's time to transition, lose the a.c. we'll talk about when the colder air comes back. >> we're in november after all thank you. we don't need old town roads where we're going. michael j. fox teams up with lil nas x. and a here rowe who helps combats wounded in battle. ♪ wild thing i... think i... you know what i think? i think you owe us $48.50... wild thing. if you ride, you get it. geico motorcycle. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. shh! i took mucinex dm for mye phlegmy cough. if you ride, you get it. geico motorcycle. what about rob's dry cough? works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long?

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fellow soldier nevins lost both legs below the knee after two years at kwal ter read hospital and a grueling 36 injuries, nevins physicality wounds were gone, by pawn remained inside. he tried yoga. now he's an instructor teaching other veterans and those with limb loss. >> what did yoda do for you emotionally? >> it hoped me not cope with individual wounds from war but heal from them. >> i would have loved to have been able to really push myself to do some good poses. >> reporter: the stories of transformation, his best reward. >> i've had notes from people's spouses saying whatever you d did -- sorry, but whatever you did for my husband, thank you.

>> thanks to a combat veteran with a new way to heal. >> he's still fighting and making such a huge difference to those families >> what an amazing soul. >> we say thank you. coming up, pfizer's coronavirus vaccine gives them a in the arm to the stockmarket. keeping an eye on apple ahead of today's big event what to expect from the big titan. you know what else isn't cool? those cheap leaky diapers. because with luvs, you get the pro-level leak protection you're looking for. luvs. parent like a pro. visibly fades the dark spots away. new neutrogena® rapid tone repair 20 percent pure vitamin c. a serum so powerful dark spots don't stand a chance.

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stocks finished at record highs on monday. the dow gained 834 points, its biggest rally since june 5th the s&p hit the highest whieg big tech dragged the nasdaq 181 points lower. here to reveal all, cnbc's julianna tatelbaum good morning >> good morning. the big news yesterday wasthe rotation we saw in u.s. markets out of the tech stocks and stay-at-home winners that have benefitted the last few months into the more value-oriented cyclical parts of the market we saw the s&p 500 and the dow versus the nasdaq. energy was the best performing sector within the s&p 500. now looking at u.s. futures, we're looking at a relatively

muted start to trade we're expecting to see further performance of the nasdaq versus broader u.s. markets, so that team firmly in focus for another day. apple, you mentioned, we got news coming out of apple the one more thing event is due to take place today and analysts are expecting to see the kpaem announce its first max that will run on apple silicon chips instead of the intel processors that the company has used since 120 2005 big news for tech watchers, so keep an eye on that event. guys >> julianna, thank you. >> when we come back, janessa is checking it snooall. recently, that's taken on a new meaning. staying home has become essential.

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would you l'eggo your eggo? a blast of immune support that's more than just vitamin c. it's a unique crafted blend of vitamins, zinc, other minerals, and herbs. take on your day with airborne. your daily dose of confidence. okay, east coast we've had a good run of sunshine and temperatures there's going to be a rain and snow mixture, even stormy conditions we'll watch across chicago today. one more, mid-atlantic and boston area, tomorrow a complete washout. we're going to see widespread rain, even a few storms with warmer temperatures in place, and then we start to see a break by thursday. along with that comes cooler temperatures guys >> it's a payback for the great weathewer 've had.

>> thank you. coming up, "jeopardy" honors the legendary alex trebek. ou go. it cleans grease five times faster on easy messes, just spray, wipe, and rinse. on tough messes, the spray-activated suds cut through grease on contact, without water. just wipe, and rinse. get dishes done faster dawn powerwash dish spray. spray. wipe. rinse. when panhe doesn't justs mmake a pizza. he uses fresh, clean ingredients to make a masterpiece. taste our delicious new flatbread pizzas today. panera. vicks vapopatch. easy to wear with soothing vicks vapors for her, for you, for the whole family. trusted soothing vapors, from vicks

in today's "quick hits," two scholar ships at payne college will be dedicated in his name and he will tee off from augusta to kick off next year's masters. two brewers players were named rookies of the year. it marks the first time two black players won the awards in the same season. blue ivy carter is set to

record the audio for the book "hair love." one day after the passing of beloved "jeopardy" host alex trebek, the show he hosted since the early '80s aired a touching tribute to the tv legend. >> over the weekend we lost our beloved host alex trebek this is an enormous loss for our staff and crew, for his family and for his millions of fans on behalf of everyone here at "jeopardy," thank you for everything, alex this is "jeopardy. >> the show has not announced plans for a new host but will airline his final 35 episodes throughout christmas day the "jeopardy" fans out there to be finally see alex trebek in his final days, their christmas. >> i love the fact he got to see the outpouring of love

there was the long die know sis he had and we were with him throughout the journey. hulu is making holidays a little more inclusive. >> there's something we should talk about. >> hi. >> i didn't tell my parents i'm gay. >> you're so brave. >> it's called the "happiest season" who's been outspoken. >> i love it can't wait to see it and all the familiar seasons. and also lil nas x drops by for a single kwl holiday" starring michael j. fox. ♪ ♪ hey, it's the holiday --

>> whatever you do, naz, don't go to 20. >> even with those beeps and sensors, he's going to stay on the nice list with santa. >> and marty mcfly good stuff. >> a hundred-year comet... did i miss it? but you can't sleep through my breakfast. because it's served all day, every day! thanks, jack. try my $4.99 french toast sticks jumbo breakfast platter. part of my all day, everyday breakfast.

tv: this is the greatest play i've ever seen! what'd i miss? but you can't sleep through my breakfast. because it's served all day, every day! thanks, jack. try my $4.99 french toast sticks jumbo breakfast platter. part of my all day, everyday breakfast. right now at 4:30, supreme court test. what's on the mind for millions of californians as the supreme court takes up the affordable health care act. plus -- >> and the spike in cases is due for people gathering for halloweens and private gatherings. why don't you police that instead of small businesses. >> covid-19 cases starting to surge across the bay area. the warning for local leaders and potential reopening rollbacks that could be coming to many counties. plus, making it in the bay. despite the