good morning. it is saturday, december 12th. beautiful live look outside at cesar chavez park in san jose. gorgeous lights, cloudy skies. as we wake up to a wet weekend

for the bay area. i'm kira klapper. thanks so much for starting your weekend with us. vianey arana joins us with a look at your microclimate forecast and we needed this, right? >> we did need this. i wish we could get more and it looks like we have another system on the weekend for tomorrow. you can see the fog on the live camera, 55 degrees right now. so this a bit of a warmer front. now, that's going to keep our temperatures sort of in the 50s versus the very cold 30s we have seen. overall, here's a look at the storm ranger tracking the last lingering showers from the initial system that made its way through yesterday. if you look out at the pacific we have some moisture that is expected to make its move in early tomorrow morning. that's going to bring another chance of seeing light to moderate, heavier pockets of rain. it is good, because that will add to our snow totals as well

for the sierras. if you had any travel plans to head up there for essential reasons i would hope, check out the road conditions. we'll have the timing on that coming up in 15 minutes. >> see you then. vianey, thanks so much. we begin with a pivotal moment in the fight against covid-19. pfizer gets the emergency use authorization from fda. the emergency use authorization for people 16 and older was approved last night and within minutes, president trump tweeted a video touting the 95% effectiveness and the safety. governor gavin newsom tweeted a video about the encouraging news. >> through our partnership with fedex and u.p.s. we have already begun shipping the vaccine to every state and zip code in the country. the first vaccine will be administered in less than 24 hours. >> which means there's 327,600 doses of the vaccine on their way to the state of california.

>> as distribution of the vials get expedited, the centers for disease control will prioritize who gets the vaccine first. and the fda is still debating whether to allow or approve use for pregnant women. front line workers and those in long-term medical care facilities are expected to be prioritized. it will take several months for a widespread rollout of the vaccine and other vaccines when they get approved. the fda also is scheduled to consider approval of moderna's vaccine as early as this coming thursday. the challenge now is transporting pfizer's vaccination safely. it needs to be stored at negative 94 degrees fahrenheit. fedex is giving us an inside look at its cold center. this is in memphis. facilities like this will be critical in ensuring the company

can precisely ship the vaccine. fedex says the shipments will take priority over any other item. the government did pay for the vaccine so it will be free, but how easy will it be to get? nbc news looked at how close the average american lives to the distribution site. the areas in blue are where more than 90% of people live within five miles of a pharmacy or a doctor's office. that's a majority of the east coast and big cities as well. the areas in red are where more people live more than 50 miles from a vaccination site. those are rural areas primarily big patches of red in the midwest. zooming in on the bay area, mostly in blue, that's good news. that means 99% of people who live in these areas including santa clara county live within five miles of a pharmacy or a doctor's office. napa is the only bay area county

not in blue. that's because only 54% of people live within five miles of a distribution site. so what happens after you get vaccinated? how do you show your employer if required that you got your two doses? governor newsom tweeted this picture. everyone will get one of these cards after their first dose. despite all of our technology, state leaders say the cards are the simplest ways to keep track of who got both covid shots. we have created a special race for a vaccine section on our website. we are posting all of the stories there. you can go to nbc bay area.com/vaccine to stay up to date. now to the covid outbreak stemming from a youth basketball tournament near sacramento. bay area teams were there and some are dealing with now dozens of cases. santa clara county health leaders say that 77 people have now been tied to the outbreak. 39 youth players, three coaches

and 35 additional contacts. there are also 17 cases in other counties. we have video from the tournament from rockland that's just outside of sacramento. the santa clara teams traveled there for an indoor tournament in early november. placer county health officials say that was in violation of health orders. an investigation is now under way. we spoke to one coach from the bay area who is at the tournament. he tells us he was under the impression that the teams were following the rules. >> at the time, the tournament was being held, we were all in the orange tier, right. so it was my understanding that, you know, being in the orange tier according to the public guidelines that, you know, it was safe so long as the safety protocols were being followed. >> the coach told us the tournament had temperature checks and required masks be worn by the players except when they were on the court. but he adds since this outbreak he's decided to stop entering

his teams into competition until infection rates come down. santa clara's assistant public health officer says, public health orders and guidance around contact sports are in place for a reason. the risk of transmission in the settings can easily result in community spread that threatens the most vulnerable among us. at the same time, california's numbers are reaching startling heights. just yesterday, the state reported more than 35,000 new cases. that tops thursday's record by more than 4,000. it also brought the highest death toll yet, 220. the state's positivity rate is also the highest level it's been since april. 9.7%. we have tripled our positivity rate in just the past few weeks. about 1 in 5 adults with covid end up in the hospital. this means hospitals are filling up. the bay area is getting closer to the 15% threshold which could trigger a regional stay at home

order not just those selected counties that have had enacted stay at home orders so far. the bay area region now has 16% of icu beds available. to see what's happening in your area, be sure to visit nbc bay area.com. that's where we're tracking cases of covid-19, county by county. and at 7:08, we have much more ahead on "today in the bay." coming up, governor newsom with an urgent call for help as hospitals run out of beds and staffing. in other news, cracking the code. has a message from the zodiac killer been solved 51 years later? we'll tell you what was deciphered.

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welcome back. it's 7:10 on a saturday morning. a live look outside at san francisco and the bay bridge covered in clouds and low fog on this second morning of hanukkah. a perfect day to stay inside

with your family. vianey arana will have your full microclimate forecast in about five minutes. now to a desperate plea from governor gavin newsom. a critical shortage of nurses and nursing assistants and to get some of them back to work the governor is offering state money. here's "today in the bay" cheryl hurd. >> reporter: governor gavin newsom stating that the icu capacity statewide is less than 10%. on top of that, he says staffing remains the number one issue. a critical nursing shortage is a fact in california. and the covid crisis is making it worse. >> we're understaffed, the nurses are burnt out and fatigued. and the acuity of the patients are much higher, so with the pandemic it's just made a bad situation worse. >> reporter: genevieve dace is director of the nursing program

at alameda. with hospitals at or nearing capacity here in the bay area, the pandemic is creating unprecedented challenges for nurses. >> nurses are working 30, 40 days in a row just to try to, you know, stay -- stay -- help people, basically. >> reporter: the governor is look for help too. the second part of his tweet put out a call for medical professionals to come back during this crisis. he says the state will pay for time and fees to renew licenses. the college of alameda is answering the call for help during this pandemic. they're offering a nursing assistance program. the tuition is very low and the students take the courses for no credits. the payoff is training that will help them get the job. >> there are about 5,000 jobs a year that can not be filled because there aren't enough certified nursing assistants and that's one of the reasons why we started the program. >> reporter: nurses on the front

line need nursing assistance now more than ever as health care workers scramble to save lives during this covid crisis. cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. much more ahead on "today in the bay." coming up, 51 years later and the code has been cracked. the words behind the cryptic message sent by the zodiac killer but questions still remain. and we've got a little bit of rain and we're waking up to some fog this morning but it looks like we'll get another round of that. coming up in a few minutes i'll take you through the full forecast for sunday morning. details coming up. stay with us.

welcome back. 7:15 on your saturday morning. you can barely make out sfo on this cloudy, rainy morning across the bay area. vianey arana has your full microclimate forecast in just about two minutes, but first,

new insights into the infamous zodiac killer who terrorized the bay area more than 50 years ago and still has not been caught. the zodiac killed at least five people in the late '60s and early '70s and one of the coded messages has finally been cracked. here's nbc's stephanie goesing. >> reporter: investigators attribute four encoded messages to the killer. crack the code and they'll catch him. responsible for at least five murders in northern california in the late '60s the notorious serial killer was never caught. and only one message was decoded. until this week. three private citizens including codebreaker expert revealed the message. 340 because of the number of symbols used. it reads, i hope you're having lots of fun trying to catch me. that wasn't me on the tv show.

arantxa said he's responding to this famous moment on live tv. the decoded message goes on -- i'm not afraid of the gas claim bear because it will send me to paradise all the sooner because i have enough slaves to work with me. the fbi confirmed the accuracy of the work. adding that the cold case is still open. the murders both sinister and confounding inspired a movie. >> who cracked it? >> a history teacher and his wife. >> reporter: the first of four ciphers was cracked quickly. the next one took 51 years to solve. >> splitting it up into three parts made the cipher difficult. >> reporter: in the end, the message reveals nothing about who the zodiac actually is. but there are still two more to go. a bay area tech giant is leaving. oracle is leaving for austin, texas. it was founded by larry ellison in 1977.

it is doing it to give employees more flexibility on where they do their jobs and also to save money. the cost of living and doing business in texas is much cheaper than california. other local companies that have recently left the bay area, hp enterprise, palantir, charles schwab, mckesson. well, for those of us still sticking around, time to check in with vianey arana for our bay area microclimate forecast. when i was driving in this morning it was rainy and windy. but we need it. >> we do. and, you know, kira with the off shore winds that's helped to keep the temperatures sort of mild this morning because it was a warm front that passed through. so some of our temperatures this morning we're getting up to the 50s. it was nice to see the rain though and i wish we could get more in terms of inches of rainfall but let's get to the timing because we have another system on the way. one thing you will notice this morning, though, it may be some

fog. san francisco right now, 55 degrees you can see that fog. might get some ground fog in some areas so let me know what you're seeing you side of your window. we definitely need ground reporting. send me a tweet, facebook, instagram, all of it works. san jose, 52 degrees up and we'll be noticing a limited visibility. san francisco is down to two miles visibility. half moon bay less than a mile. be careful out there. keep that in mind if you're headed out the door right now. visibility down to about five miles. let's talk about the microclimate highs for the afternoon. in the upper 50s and low 60s again. that initial system that passed by was a warmer front. how much rain did we get? well, right now, we have lingering showers left over from the initial system and overall a pretty dry saturday. storm ranger is up and scanning and here's a look at the rain total that we have seen so far. the ben lomond area under an

inch. san francisco actually did pretty good. not quite half an inch but almost there and san jose, typically it tends to fall in that area. so we have less than a quarter of that, and when will we see more rain? here is the next approaching cold front system. you can see it off in the pacific. this will bring a surge of moisture and since it's a cold front we are talk about sierra snow. a colder system and it will give us the possibility of seeing maybe another tenth to three-quarters of an inch. by long range, i mean the rainfall totals through sunday night. so the timing of this, when can we expect it? well, the cold front is expected to arrive some time between the early hours of tomorrow morning into 3:00 to 4:00 and between 4:00 and 10:00 is the peak of the system. with at times possibly heavy downpours. it will be light to moderate.

it will depend on how awake you are. we're talking about dangerous waves. coastal flood advisory goes into effect starting at 7:00 a.m. and through tuesday. for coastal north bay that includes the san francisco peninsula, big sur coast. a high surf advisory will go into effect tomorrow afternoon. inland temperatures in the 50s and low 60s. check out next wednesday and thursday. we have a good, active pattern. another chance of seeing more rain in the bay area. this good news for us. at least we're ending december on a happy rain note because we're in a serious deficit and the drought monitors indicates that we have dry conditions out there. kira? >> thanks. 7:21. still ahead on "today in the bay," a handwritten plea from a preschooler to help find his favorite toy. we'll tell you how workers at a

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a miracle on the peninsula for a 5-year-old boy who lost his favorite toy. and thanks to some extremely caring strangers, he got it back. "today in the bay's" garvin thomas shares the story. >> reporter: it's the one time of year kids these days actually sit down to write letters. almost of course to the very same place. this story though isn't about a letter to the north pole. it's to somewhere much closer to home a place that doesn't smell like ginger bread. this is the treatment plant's administrative assistant. she opens the mail and got a letter unlike any other.

>> it was dear wastewater treatment plant. >> reporter: it was from a boy named kenzo who used his lego down the bathtub drain and asked if they could send it back and included a picture of that. if that would help. >> it's just, you know, a crayon thing. i thought this is the best day ever. we never get action like this. so yeah, it was awesome. >> reporter: so did the staff go to work scouring the treatment plant for kenzo's lost lego? of course not. >> no, it doesn't quite work that way. >> reporter: brad underwood is the san mateo's public works worker. >> it's difficult to find things anyway so it's like a needle in a hay stack. we don't search for things like that. >> reporter: what they did do though for a boy who brought a smile to their faces was to bring it to his. after some searching, gina trackled down kenzo's family and invited them for a tour. >> this is a little lego set for

you. >> reporter: and to give kenzo some new legos. >> we got a kick out of the letter because it's something that brightened our day in this time where we're all struggling and dealing with different things. >> it kind of transformed actually everything. i kind of gave us a reset button. >> reporter: now, the moral of the story is not that san mateo public works will replace what you lost down the drain. it's that in a year that's been dominated by the grinch, santa can show up in the most unexpected of places. garvin thomas, nbc bay area news. we have much more ahead for you on "today in the bay." pfizer's vaccine gets emergency use authorization and it could arrive in the bay area soon. plus, restaurant owners in san francisco are asking the city to make one change as they struggle to make ends meet.

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good morning. it is saturday, december 12th. 7:28 as we take a live look outside at the sun shining over san francisco. many of us waking up to rain this morning. a little peek of sunshine there is really nice on this second morning of hanukkah. thank you so much for starting your weekend with us. i'm kira klapper. vianey arana joining us with a peek at your microclimate forecast. it was weird this morning, it was arching but it was warm. >> yeah. we had a warm system pass through. exactly how it sounds. basically what is kicking up right now is all the off shore winds that you might have noticed. notice how our morning lows are usually in the 30s or they have been in the past few weeks. not so much with this system. so what we'll notice is the rain chances are tapering off already. so that main system passed by last night and we have a cold front making the approach. right now in san jose, 52

degrees. because of that moisture though, you may notice the fog. san francisco, two miles. look at half moon bay. morgan hill, two miles. so if you're seeing fog outside of your window, please, please send me a picture. tag me on twitter. i want to see what you're seeing. we'd love to see some ground reports to get a good idea of what doppler radar is showing us on the ground. let's take a look at what we have ahead. we have another system making the approach. i'll go through that timing coming up in a few minutes. kira? >> see you then. thanks so much. we begin right now with a pivotal moment, pfizer's covid vaccine gets the green light from the fda. the first doses could arrive in the bay area today. "today in the bay" reports on the monumental next steps in the fight against the coronavirus. >> reporter: with news that the fda approved the pfizer vaccine, president trump tweeted out a three minute long video, followed by gavin newsom.

>> through our partnership with fedex and u.p.s., we have begun shipping the vaccine to every state and zip code in the country. the first vaccine will be administered in less than 24 hours. >> it means there's 327,600 doses of the vaccine on their way to the state of california. >> reporter: as the vials get shipped out across the country, the centers for disease control will be issuing its own approval this weekend which prioritizes who gets the vaccine first. at the front of the line, medical workers as well as residents and workers in long-term care facilities like those here at the palo alto hospital. >> a sense of a great weight lifting and life starting anew. >> reporter: that's how daniel horowitz learned his body is producing antibodies to fight off the disease. he got lightheaded and had some body aches after the second

dose, but said it was worth it and he's looking forward to people getting the shots so the world can return to normal. what's the one thing you're looking forward to in some sort of return to normality? >> i want to go fly to see my parents and have my children and my wife come with me and i want all of us to hug my 90-year-old parents. >> reporter: it will take several months for a widespread rollout of this and the other vaccines when they get approved. the fda is scheduled to consider approval of moderna's next thursday. and now, how to transport the vaccinations safely. pfizer's vaccine needs to be stored at negative 94 degrees fahrenheit. fedex is giving us an inside look at its cold center in memphis. the facilities just like this will be critical in ensuring the country can precisely ship the vaccine. fedex says it will take priority over any other item.

the government did pay for the vaccines so it's free but how easy will it be get? nbc news looked at how close the average american lives to the distribution site. the areas in blue is is where people live within five miles of a pharmacy or doctor's office and the areas in red are where people live more than 50 miles from a vaccine site. we'll zoom in on the bay area, mostly in blue. 99% of people who live in most of these counties including santa clara county live within five miles of a pharmacy or a doctor's office. napa you see is the only one not in blue. that's because only 54% of people there live within five miles of a distribution site. and we have new details now on what happens after you get vaccinated. governor newsom tweeted this picture saying everyone will get one of these cards after their first dose of the covid vaccine despite all of our technology,

state leaders say paper is the simplest way to keep track of who got both shots. you can use it to show your employer if required that you received both doses. we have created a special race for a vaccine section on our website. that's where we're posting all of our stories. just go to nbc bay area.com/vaccine. now to a covid outbreak stemming from a youth basketball tournament near sacramento. bay area teams were there, some from the south bay and are now dealing with dozens of cases. santa clara county health leaders tell us that 77 people had been tied to the outbreak. that includes 39 players, three coaches and 35 additional contacts. they tell us there are also 17 other cases in other counties. we have video from the tournament that took place in rockland. just outside of sacramento. the santa clara county teams traveled there for the indoor tournament back in early november.

placer county health officials say that was in violation of health orders and an investigation is now under way. we spoke to one coach from the bay area who was at the tournament and he tells us he was under the impression that teams were following the rules based on public health guidelines. >> you know, at the time the tournament was being held we were in the orange tier, right. so it was my understanding that, you know, being in the orange tier according to the public guidelines that you know it was safe so long as the safety protocols were being followed. >> the coach told us the tournament did have temperature checks and required the masks be worn by the players except when they were on the court. he adds since the outbreak he's decided to stop entering his teams into competitions until infection rates come down. the assistant public health officer tells us quote, public health orders and directives and guidelines around contact sports and sporting events are in place for a reason. the risk of transmission in the

settings can easily result in community spread that threatens the most vulnerable among us. meanwhile, california's numbers are getting startlingly higher. yesterday, the state reported more than 35,000 new cases. that tops thursday's record by more than 4,000. it also brought the highest death toll yet, 220. as for the state's positivity rate it's the highest level it's been since april. 9.7%, in fact, we have tripled our positivity rate in the past few weeks. all of this of course means that hospitals are filling up. the bay area is getting closer to its 15% threshold. if the icu bed shortage is under 15% that will trigger a regional stay at home order. not just the counties that are staying at home right now. the bay area region now has 15% of icu beds available. it has been nine months

since the pandemic changed everything. and now restaurant owners once again say they're being left out. some are now taking action requesting that the city of san francisco make changes. "today in the bay's" jean ellie reports. >> open up. >> reporter: bar and restaurant owners along with employees say outdoor dining on the decks is a life line during the pandemic. >> it was enough to keep the lights on. things worked a little bit when we were able to do outside dining. >> reporter: but with covid-19 cases increasing, san francisco is in the state's purple tier, closing the outdoor option. a shutdown many say makes it impossible to make ends meet. >> i haven't made any money since march of 2020 and we're through our savings. so it's a challenge. >> reporter: without more help from the government, people need to be allowed to work. >> really difficult part right

now is just all of my team, my employees, just being closed as long as we are without much support from our local, or state or federal government. >> it's been tough. >> reporter: danny baker said he's canceled his health insurance and can't cover expenses. >> pretty terrible. at this point in time unemployment doesn't even cover my rent. >> reporter: workers here say outdoor dining would give them a chance to make some much-needed money. >> we want our outdoor dining back for the holidays! open up the decks. >> reporter: and get through the pandemic. jean ellis. >> to keep track of restrictions in your neighborhood, covid cases, visit nbc bay area.com. still to come on "today in the bay" at 7:38, the san jose state spartans look to finish the first undefeated regular season in the university's history. sports is next. today's ways of working may work differently tomorrow.

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welcome back. it might be the best sports story in the bay area right now. the resurgence of san jose state football for the first time in its history. the spartans finished the regular season undefeated. because of covid restrictions in santa clara county, las vegas was the home game for san jose state. spartans against nevada, third quarter. a comeback by the spartans, nick startles to deese jr. his dad won a super bowl with the 49ers. and then the icing on the cake, nevins busts through for a 69 yard touchdown run. look at that. san jose state beats nevada, 30-20. the spartans are 6-0. they advance to the mountain west title game. congratulations to them. the stanford football team hasn't been home in two weeks. they have been practicing in oregon for the past few weeks getting ready for the game at oregon state.

cal is at washington state and we're looking forward to seeing this. the warriors take the court tonight. the preseason opener at chase center against the nuggets. steph curry ready to go after breaking his hand last year. no draymond green, no james wiseman, both recovering from covid. and we are seeing another round of rain expected to move in. yay to the rain. i'll talk about how much we're expecting and what you can look forward to headed into the workweek ahead. stay with us.

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if your gums bleed when you brush, the answer is yes. starting small can lead to something big. the clock may be ticking towards worse... parodontax is 3x more effective at removing plaque, the main cause of bleeding gums parodontax good morning. buenos dias. how are you after that little bit of a rain and hopefully it put a pep in your step. we need the rain and that's what we're monitoring for today. so let's check in with our mobile doppler radar storm ranger which has been happily sitting on top of san bruno

mountain. rain expected for tomorrow so we'll have that up and scanning. so let's check in on the actual radar now. now, taking a look, you can see we've got a couple of lingering showers. that majority is going to sort of taper off completely and we'll actually enjoy an overall dry saturday ahead with some cloudy conditions. of course we have the fog that you probably woke up to, depending on where you are. san francisco right now. 55 degrees. now, the system was a warmer system so those off shore winds helped to keep our morning lows actually fairly mild. 55 degrees right now. relative humidity is about 93%. san jose, 52 and doppler radar showcases the next approaching system. if you look out on in the pacific that's moisture surge right there. that's the cold front expected to drop in early tomorrow morning in the early morning hours to about 10:00 a.m. we'll see light to moderate rain and there could be some pockets of heavier sort of downfalls into the afternoon. how much rain are we expecting

to get out of the system? hopefully we'll get at least another tenth to three-quarters of an inch out of it. pushing the rain outlook sunday night into monday, ukiah under an inch. also, with the arrival of this cold front we're talking about sierra snow. if you had any plans to travel, it could be dangerous. make sure to check out the road conditions first. we're talking about 5 to 12 plus inches of snow expected for the sierra. if you're headed to the beach on a walk, keep in mind a coastal flood advisory will be in effect from 7:00 a.m. dangerous surf, northwest swell that will remain in effect through 1:00 p.m. on tuesday. a high surf advisory is expected to kick in later that evening for the coastal north bay, the san francisco peninsula, monterey bay, the big sur coast.

never ever turn your back to the wave. what are we expecting for the days ahead? don't wash your head until after tomorrow because we have a another chance of rain headed into the workweek. notice the temperatures will be in the 50s for inland areas and by next wednesday into thursday it looks like we have an approaching system that's going to bring back the chance of seeing even more rain. which we certainly need. we are in a serious rain deficit in california for sure. so san francisco, seven day forecast, here it is. scattered rain again, all of that is likely going to taper off. you will probably have a dry saturday and for the north bay, sunday, the rain first, and it's expected to move from north to south. so hey we have some rain on the way. hopefully you get a chance to use your rain boots if you're a kid. >> yes, my boys are excited for that. thanks. 7:47 right now. still ahead on "today in the bay," with the emergency use authorization approved for the pfizer vaccine, how to ensure

those who need it first get it first. we investigate the efforts to prevent the rich and powerful from cutting in line.

getting more than 300 million americans vaccinated against the coronavirus just may be the feat that defines this generation. california's expecting it first batch of doses in the coming days as soon as today. what's being done to make sure the state's rich and powerful don't jump to the front of the

line? senior investigative reporter has been digging into that for us. >> reporter: when dr. smiley arrives at the hospital to care for covid patients in san francisco, he can't help but worry whether this will be the day he himself contracts the virus. it's a daily fear. one he's been experiencing for nine months. >> i think i'd be lying if i said i still wasn't fearful mainly because i see the fear and i see the worry on the eyes of the patients that i care for. >> have you had other colleagues in the medical field contract covid? >> i have. i think it strikes a cord when you see somebody pouring 80, 90 hours into the week, their heart and soul and not seeing loved ones or family to see them get ill. it's really hard. >> reporter: he and his team at ucf as well as front line health

care workers are receiving the priority to receive the first batch of vaccines along with those in nurses homes. >> we'll be making sure that those with means, those with influence are not crowding out those that are most deserving of the vaccine. >> reporter: while medical workers are at the front of the line it's still a long line. there are 2.4 million health care workers in the state. remember, the vaccine requires two separate doses but so far california is only expecting 2 million doses by the end of the year. 327,000 will get here by next week and then pfizer will deliver it to medical centers and labs across the state. so health care workers can get vaccinated first at places like hospitals assisted living facilities, dental clinics and prisons. >> enormously complicated

undertaking. so things will go wrong. >> reporter: this doctor has spent 20 years researching pandemic preparedness. he says he's concerned over how exactly the u.s. will be able to get the vaccine into the arms of all those who need it. >> communities that are historically been marshalized or disenfranchised, distrust both government and people in the medical field. >> reporter: all 58 of the california's counties had to submit their own vaccine distribution plans to the state. and we reviewed it and found that most counties performed random audits to make sure that doses go to those who are expected to receive them. we have some examples of the wealthy being able to get better access. why shouldn't people expect that to be the case with the vaccine? >> so with the testing, you can go out and buy a test kit. it's pretty easy to jump ahead.

but here the vaccine is owned by the government. it's tightly controlled. so i think it would be harder to do that. nothing is impossible but i think it would be harder. >> reporter: dr. smiley says the prospect of getting a vaccine isn't just about his safety. he says he can limit the exposure to the most vulnerable. >> this is what we trained the whole careers to do and this is where we rise to the occasion to meet the needs of the patient. >> reporter: vaccinating health care workers will be california's first shot at showing it can handle the monumental task. the state will need to vaccinate more than 15 times that population. in order to get doses to the rest of the 40 million people living in the state. with the investigative unit. >> all of the information are on our website under a new race for a vaccine section. just go to nbc bay

area.com/vaccine. still ahead on "today in the bay" -- do you remember the bay area teenager who painted a picture of kamala harris and received a call? well, it received a coveted place on the cover of "time" magazine.

welcome back. giving back to those who give so much. yesterday, several nonprofit organizations organized a drive for farm workers and their families. dozens of cars dropped off more than 5,000 stockings filled with candies and books. they left from half moon bay and delivered it in monterey county. they said farm workers were essential to all of us and felt it was essential to do something special for them. the national spotlight is once again shining on a bay area teenager whose artwork is now on the cover of "time" magazine. lebron james is times' athlete of the year and the editors

commissioned 14-year-old tyler gordon of san jose to paint the portrait. gordon you may remember got a lot of attention last month when the time lapse video of vice president elect kamala harris went viral. he showed us how art helps him cope with his partial deafness. "time" magazine also named gordon a finalist for kid of the year. congratulations to him. and before we go, time now for our clear the shelters segment featuring our friends from pets in need. we're doing something different. we truly appreciate the efforts of pets in need they're a no kill shelter with two locations in redwood city and palo alto. they won a grant from the petco foundation as part of the holiday wishes campaign out of 6,000 submissions. they won because lindsey wrote a story about adopting her dog parker from pets in need and he

helped her overcome her depression from a gymnastics injury. they could win an additional $25,000 but they need you to vote. pets in need.org. that'll take you to the petco website. we hope you do it. and we hope to see you back here tomorrow morning. sic) hey dad, i'm about to leave. don't forget your hat . good morning. how can i help? i need help connecting with my students. behind every last minute save, ok, that works. and holiday surprise, thank you! a customer service rep is working unseen, making it happen. and at genesys, we're proud to help them help you everyday.

watching television that'sis educational and informational the more you know on nbc. dylan: hey there, i'm dylan dreyer, and this is earth odyssey. lava exploding, creating islands from the sea. ocean currents coming together, changing the climate, forcing plants and animals to adapt, and setting the scene for a natural paradise on earth. get ready to plunge in to one of the most beautiful, vibrant, and living places in the world, the galapagos islands. [music]