turning the tide with johnson & johnson's covid vaccine on the vurj of fda approval more supplies are on the way on a mission to vaccinate the world. this morning we kn much more about the crash that may have sidelined tiger woods for good just how close did doctors come to amputating his leg, and what is the prognosis. could your credit report be hiding an unwanted surprise? there's been a rise in errors.

we'll tell you how to find them and protect yourself. a 14-year-old boy is lucky to be alive all thanks to three state troopers who came to his rescue. you've likely never seen a mugging like this one. why whale watchers were treated to this amazing sight. "early today" starts right now good morning i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. there is hope for the pandemic, but first we must mark another grim milestone our most popular state has become the first t 50,000 deaths from the virus new york has confirmed more than 48,000 and in washington, d.c., mayor more ideal bower has revealed her only sister cecile has died from complications due to covey at the age of 64. there is hope. cvs is expanding its sites johnson & johnson's vaccine is

one step closer to being available to the public. alice barr takes off with new coverage. >> reporter: a new weapon to fight covid-19 is now part of the arsenal. >> we'll waste no time getting this vaccine into the arms of americans. >> reporter: fda staffers endorsing johnson & johnson one-shot vaccine showing it's overall safe and highly effective. that's welcome news in the medical community. >> you're 85% protected against the community disease and 100% protected against hospitalization. >> reporter: it could be approved by as soon as friday with 20 million doses released for next month a slower than projected start. >> we'll continue to work with the company to accelerate that ramp. >> reporter: the white house covim said it's on track to surpass president biden's goal of 100 million

doses in his first 100ey announ millions of masks to food banks and health centers around the country. >> giving the global population well-fitting masks. >> reporter: it comes as cases of hospitalizations and deaths are all dropping, though, they say to remain vigilant there's a race to vaccinate as quickly as possible. in washington, alice barr, nbc news. wednesday was a milestone day in the ambitious effort to get 2 billion doses of the vaccine to the developing world. nbc's cynthia mcfadden now joins us with that story cynthia. >> reporter: when it comes to the worldwide distribution on the coronavirus vaccine, yesterday was a very important day. it's been called the largest logistical undertaking in history and it finally began. >> we're in ghana, and this is

really a historic moment. >> reporter: as 600,000 doses of the astrazeneca vaccine arrived in the african nation, the first vaccine to be delivered as part of a massive effort led by the world health organization and unicef called covax, to send at least 2 billion doses of the vaccine to the world's poorest country. >> if one country is left unvaccinated, this coronavirus will shift back and forth. >> reporter: in each of the covax countries, health care countries will be the first to be inoculated. hundreds of thousands of syringes also arrived in began na, shipped to a massive storage place nearby certainly a down payment on hope but consider this. so far just over 200 million

vaccines have been administered worldwide, but nearly 50% of those, just two countries, the u.s. and china more than 100 countries have yet to administer even one dose. back to you. phillip? >> cynthia, thank you. president biden will mark a major milestone in the battle against the coronavirus today. our capitol hill correspondent tracie potts joins us. good news on the vaccine front. >> reporter: absolutely. more people vaccinated 45 million so far. almost halfway to the 100 million goal for the first 100 days plus it looks like we're about to get a third vaccine that one-shot johnson & johnson vaccine that could be approved as alice noted as early as tomorrow fda staff are recommending it. this as congress considers covid relief there's a house vote set for tomorrow, but the senate

parliamentarian is going to decide if minimum wage increases -- $15 is what the democrats and the president are looking for -- if that can actually be part of this proposal. >> if we get more people vaccinated, i think more employers are going to hire. but the laws of supply and demand, that is going to raise wages. i'm for the president's proposal because when people are coming back to work, it's important that they have enough money to make rent and buy groceries. >> the minimum wage right now is $7.25 an hour. going to $15 an hour is such a huge leap that a lot of small businesses won't be able to make it they'll go out of business and people will lose their jobs. >> reporter: and theas the effo to push out the vaccine continues, the cdc continues to

tell americans to wear masks the federal government is shipping 25 million masks to food banks an community centers around the country back to you. >> tracie, thank you. breaking this morning, the biden administration is set to release an intel report revealing the saudi crown prince ordered the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. the 59-year-old was killed and dismembered in 2018 by operatives with close ties to the prince president biden will speak with saudi arabia's king salman today and his press secretary jen psaki said the president would only speak with him. >> the intention of the government is to recalibrate our engagement with saudi arabia and to have counterparts communicate with counterparts. >> the saudi government claims khashoggi was killed accidently as the team thought to forcibly

extradite him. we're learning more about tiger woods. his doctor said he came close to losing one of his legs in the dangerous rollover accident. for more, here's nbc's jay gray. >> reporter: as tiger woods begins his recovery inside this hospital, we're getting a better idea of what doctors describe as multiple injuries to his leg. >> when they go in surgically, they have to piece them all back together, make sure they're stable. >> reporter: surgeons spent several hours repairing tiger's tibia and fibula and putting rods in place including screws and posts to his foot. he is awake.

firefighters used a pry bar to pull woods from the suv saying that he was traveling at a greater speed than normal when it hit the center median and rolled several times deputy carlos gonzalez was the first at the scene. >> i don't think he was aware if he was aware hoff grave it was at the time. it could have been adrenaline or shock. >> reporter: some are wondering if he'll return to competition but right now there's a more immediate concern. >> it's about this guy's quality of life and being there for his kids that's the most important thing right now. >> reporter: doctors say woods will spend several months in rehab and recovery jay gray, nbc news >> for more insight on those injuries and the long recovery road still ahead for tiger woods, let's bring in dr. john torres. >> each one of these injuries to his right leg is serious, but

when you combine all of them together, even more so he's got a long road ahead of him. right now the doctors are looking at making sure he can walk, he can do the things he wants do like playing with his kids that's the best-case scenario. then he wants to get back to golf but that's tiger woods we're talking about. he's surprised us in the past. caught on camera, a harrowing story of a boy stuck in the marsh he was trapped in frigid water to his waist brave subzero temperatures, three troopers pulled him out. he was brought to the hospital where troopers say he is expected to recover. good thing our temperatures have been milder here. >> yes, it has been merciful of late let's see how our luck will continue with nbc meteorologist janessa webb hey, janessa, good morning. >> hey, good morning

good morning, everyone yes, i still have the positive news for today the weather is very quiet. much of the east coast to the pacific northwest. we do have a small storm system we're watching achlz you see it hit th it' th things will pick up, mid-mississippi valley going into the evening ovoing to see 2 to 3 inches in this area we could see minor flooding. it could make its way up by friday we're still above average before cooler temperatures work their way in tampa today, mostly sunny.

78 that's your latest forecast, guys >> all right we'll hear from you in just a bit. janessa, thank you. it was a whale of a time for one group in california when one whale came up close and personal to their boat. watch the behavior this is called ce out letting at just magnificent. >> i think you need a new name. >> seems like a little more intimate when you say mugging? >> unless the whale took his wallet we don't know. coming up, a strange sighting that proves we're not alone. plus, until dishes do us part the landmark debate over the value of household chores. safer. to close, twist until it clicks. tide pods child-guard packaging. my plaque psoriasis...

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according to this transmission recorded by steve douglas on his blog deep black horizon. >> you do have any targets up here we just had something go right over the top of us, i hate to say this, but it looked like a long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile type of thing, moving really fast right over the top of us. >> controllers say they didn't see any object in that area on their radar. an american airlines spokesperson reached out to nbc news to encourage us to reach out to the fbi. >> you never know. a new post shows one in six gen z adults are lgbtq

it's up from 4.5% in 2017. more than 15,000 generation z adults ages 18 to 23 who participate in this study say they're gray 12% identify as lesbian, 12% ad. they say you can't put a price on love, butdy vors, you can. a woman received $7,700 for household labor from her ex-husband that's about $4 an hour. it's part of a civic code where they can request compensation if they've done more than half of the housework. many argue that it's too low and, of course, $4 a day is too low. >> not only that, you add on times of covid where everyone is

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berens, which was absolutely fault. >> reporter: complaints like maria's doubled more than last year it reported some loan borrowers made payments late after they qualified for six months of delayed payments through the a e against you. you could have other people's information on your credit report sometimes it can outright be fraud. >> reporter: experts recommend you regularly check your credit and if you see a problem, file a complaint with all three major credit bureaus through certified mail creating a paper trail and consider legal action if your request is denied. maria adds pay close attention to any comments in your report, too, to minimize the headache. >> the pandemic is enough, but the stress on top of it was very

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. former president barack obama is opening up about an experience with racism on the second episode of "renegades born in the usa." his podcast with rocker bruce springsteen. he was called a racial slur in a locker room. >> i had a friend, we played basketball together and one time we got into a fight and i popped him in the face and broke his nose and we were in the locker room. and suddenly blood is pouring down and i was just reacting. >> the former president touched on his childhood experience before the audacity of hope

saying it happened when he was in the seventh grade and, oh, that friend right now wherever he is in this world now looking back and say, yep, that was the guy and now he's the president. >> i don't know how proud he would be of how it went down in president.place but a shaped on wednesday springsteen appeared virtually in court and this happened back in november in new jersey. the 71-year-old facing three charges admitted to the judge, yes, he did have two small shots of tequila and his blood alcohol content was 0.02 which is well under the legal limit of 0.0 8. ultimately the 12-time grammy winner was fined $520. sir paul mccartney is gearing up to release a

two-volume memoir. the memoir will explore mccartney's life as a beatle and solo artist. fans can read about the origins of classic tunes like "yesterday" and "lovely rita" along with tales from mccartney's but great insight to hear all the behind the scenes and lyrics. >> beatles lyrics probably the most in all of music history. glad we'll get definitive actions. taylor swift has officially tied dolly partner to top the charts twice with two versions of the same song. its rerecording of her 2008 hit "love story" earned her that honor and her hit "i will always love you" hit the number one spot back in 1974. the first time swift topped the.

>> before we go, check out this breathtaking video of breathtaking video of never" i ♪ there's never a bad time to enjoy my newest sauced & loaded curly fries. try triple cheddar or spicy pepper jack, both topped with slow-smoked bacon. only at jack in the box.

♪ there's never a bad time to enjoy my newest sauced & loaded curly fries. try triple cheddar or spicy pepper jack, both topped with slow-smoked bacon. ♪ get both, only at jack in the box. right now at 4:30, putting a halt to those jumping in line. the all new steps california is taking to stop anyone from using codes to cut ahead and receive the vaccine early. and -- >> anxious to have everyone back, but we want to keep everyone safe. we don't want to go backwards. >> rewriting the rules, the steps one bay area city is taking that may differ with state covid guidelines. it's very fortunate that mr. woods was able to come out of this alive. >> tiger woods' horrific crash. the investigation and his road

to recovery