to this end. >> reporter: he tracks progress in what he calls deep dives with leaders in the military and department of health and human services. and he does not want to hear happy talk. >> it's not about a facade of everything is good. we need to understand what is not right, and we need to get it right. >> reporter: he works out of a non-descript washington office with none of the trappings that usually go with four stars. >> these are all the meetings i'm doing today. i'm already up to number eight with you. >> reporter: he describes himself as a hardworking b student on a steep learning curve to master the jargon of the pharmaceutical industry. >> you've got a cheat sheet over here. >> i do, i do. >> this is all the drugs. >> it is. i started five notebooks of things. i listen every day to what's being said, and then i spend a good part of my evening googling these words so that i can

participate preferably at an intellectual level. but at least in an understanding. >> reporter: on his white board is one possible scenario, the all-important approval by the food and drug administration of the vaccine developed by pfizer, followed by approval of another by moderna. >> what is d-day? >> the day we deliver the first round of vaccine for pfizer. >> reporter: that's when it would start to get complicated, because if approved, the pfizer vaccine would require patients to receive two separate shots 21 days apart. >> we know it's a two-dose vaccine, so we want to ensure that we can manage the delivery of the first dose and ensure the delivery of the second dose while we simultaneously integrate new rounds of doses being delivered to the american people. >> reporter: on top of that, the pfizer vaccine, which could be ready next month, has to be kept

very cold until it is used. >> minus 80 degrees celsius which is 94 degrees farnt height, very hold. >> reporter: paul is a west point graduate who retired from the army this summer and became a civilian deputy. >> we have to make sure we send the vaccine to the right places that had the capacity or the ability to do the dry ice to keep it cold. >> marianne wicker who came from making tanks for the army showed us the go/no-go board for what parts of the country are not ready to handle an ultra cold vaccines. >> virgin islands has already reported in they don't have ultra cold freezers -- that's okay -- and they don't have the ability to transport dry eye. >> the more i hear you talk, the bigger the operation gets. >> absolutely, sir. >> it's not just delivering vaccine. >> we wish it was that easy.

>> this country did not do a good job of containing the virus. why should we expect you to do a good job of distributing a vaccine? >> because we've learned from the past and we're hopefully going to do a heck of a lot better job this time. >> are you ready to go if a vaccine is approved tomorrow? >> yes, we are. >> what's the first order you're going to give? >> the simple command of execute. >> once you say, execute, how fast does it get out there? >> within 24 hours. >> do you have doses of vaccine already stock piled? >> yes, we do. >> how many do you have stock piled. >> i'm holding on to that number right now because i want to not create anxiety, and we need to work through the details. a month from now i'll have more. >> operation warp speed is also stock piling kits of the needles, si ryme yringes, and a

swab needed to give the shot. mckesson has already provided kits. because this is a once in a century pandemic, the vaccine is already being manufactured in bioreactors inside sterile facilities like this one at emergent biosolutions in baltimore. even though it has not yet been approved by the fda. vice president sean kirk says it can take up to six weeks to produce a single batch. >> it then leaves here and moves to another facility where it gets filled into the final presentation you're used to seeing when you're getting a vaccination from the clinic. >> reporter: emergent is shipping most of the vaccine to what's known as a fill finish line run but catalan and its chief commercial officer carol flynn. >> you're basically the bottling plant for vaccines. >> that's correct.

it's a very sophisticated operation. >> reporter: one of catalan's lines can bottle up to 400 viles a minute with each vile containing five to ten doses. >> the situation we're facing now is what we call the need for paid. >> how many shifts are you running right now? >> we are running 24/7, 7 day ace week. and really it's an all-out effort to keep the lines running. >> are you worried about the security of the stock piles? >> we have taken extraordinary precaution in this area not only for maybe some nefarious effort but also natural. hurricane, tornado, et cetera, right? it's such a commodity to us, we're taking the full steps to make sure the vaccine is secure. >> armed guards? >> yes. >> armed guards at sites where the vaccine is stock piled? >> yes. >> once it starts moving, whether on a truck or a plane, is it going to be under guard?

>> yes, that's as far as i'm going to talk about it though, right? because we don't want to lay out all the plans. but the answer is yes. >> reporter: most of the viles will be shipped by the same companies that deliver packages to our homes every day. >> we'e prepared to deliver to every zip code in this country. >> reporter: richard smith runs fedex express in the u.s. which is already operating at peak volume to handle the surge in online shopping caused by the pandemic. >> you've got another peak coming because of christmas, and you've got another peak on top of that because that's when we expect the vaccine -- >> correct. >> -- to start being distributed. >> and yet i'm still sleeping at night. >> you've got to have concerns. >> i'd be crazy if i didn't say this is a herculean effort and didn't recognize how monumental it is. ♪

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♪ you make my heart sing ♪ ♪ 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. kamala harris is about to become the first female vice president in u.s. history as well as the first black person to hold that office and the first asian-american. this isn't the first time harris has broken barriers in her career. here's nikole killion. >> reporter: as president-elect joe biden claimed victory, he and his running mate made

history. >> while i may be the first woman in this office, i will not be the last. >> reporter: vice president elect kamala harris heads back to washington as the first woman on a winning presidential ticket. >> what a testament it is to joe's character that he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country and select a woman his vice president. >> reporter: she was born in oakland as the daughter of two immigrants, crediting her mother for paving the way. >> when she came here from india at the age of 18, she maybe didn't quite imagine this moment. but she believed so deeply in an american where a moment like this is possible. >> reporter: harris graduated from historically black howard university where she pledged alpha kappa alpha. from there she blazed a trail of firsts as san francisco's

district attorney, then california's attorney general. and in 2017, she became a u.s. senator. >> a child of immigrants, she knows personally how immigrant families enrich our country, as well as the challenges and what it means to grow up black and indian-american in the united states of america. >> harris has said she often draws her words and inspiration from political power house shirley chisholm, the first black woman from a major political party to run for president. >> i am not the candidate of black america, although i am black and proud. >> reporter: only two other women have run as vice presidential nominees as a presidential party. >> i would be honored to accept your nomination for vice president of the united states. >> reporter: republican presidential candidate john mccain selected sarah palin as his running mate in 2008. and in 1984, democratic

congresswoman geraldine ferraro made history alongside walter mondale. >> america is the land where dreams can come true for all of us. >> reporter: nearly 40 years later, harris hopes to inspire a nguyen ration. >> to the children of our country regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message. dream with ambition. lead with conviction. and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they've never seen it before. >> reporter: one of harris' close friends told me she is over the moon. another cried on the phone. harris' husband will be first to serve as a second spouse. dr. jill biden will be the first first lady to work outside the white house. and president-elect biden will

be the second catholic president and the oldest to take office. >> that was nikole killion reporting. lest we forget the bide s will b

there is less than 51 weeks until the next halloween, and steve hartman has the story of one young girl who is already counting the days. >> reporter: a search for hope at the end of this anxious week led me to this humble bundle.

zoe, now 3, is the proud product of t.j. and kourtney thomas in atlanta, georgia. >> look who's here. cameo. >> reporter: back in february, zoe was diagnosed with leukemia. and because her immune system is now compromised, she couldn't go trick or treating with all the other kids n. fact, her parents even had to put up a sign to keep others away. sorry, no candy, child with cancer. >> the whole purpose was so that we wouldn't have to keep telling kids sorry and have disappointed kids. never expected anything like this. >> reporter: never expected those little ghosts and ghouls to be such saints. >> i immediately started crying. >> reporter: there at the foot of the sign, trick or treaters left their halloween candy for the child inside. doorbell camera footage shows kid after kid making the same character-defining decisions,

mostly on their own. we tracked down a few the angles. >> she dumped her whole bag. >> your whole bag sf. >> i wanted to give back to them. back to them.i wanted to give >> it's somebody's little girl. >> reporter: the empathy we heard and saw kourtney says was just the medicine her family needed. >> during this crazy time with everything going on in the world, just the gesture of we're all in this together and just to remind each other that there's still hope and love. >> reporter: still hope, love and much better role models than the ones we obsess over. steve hartman, cbs news on the road. ands that the "overnight news" for this tuesday. for some of you the news continues. for others, you can check back later for "cbs this morning" and you can follow us online any time at cbsnews.com.

reporting from the nation's capital, i'm jeff pegues. it's tuesday, november 10th, 2020. this is the "cbs morning news." transition trouble. president-elect joe biden is hitting roadblocks days after he declared victory in the election. why the formal process can't even begin yet. 10 million cases. the coronavirus virus is surging across the u.s., but there could be some hope with an experimental vaccine. the lost children. a new twist after the government says it cannot find the parents of hundreds of migrant kids. good morning. good to be with you.