>> brennan: welcome back to "face the nation." nebraska medicine is known as a leader in infectious diseases, they cared for is ebola patients and treated some of the first covid-19 patients back in february. c.e.o. dr. james linder joins us from omaha this morning. good morning to you, doctor. >> doctor: good morning, margaret. >> brennan: we heard a very sobering warning from the c.d.c. director, when he said that the country is about to face the most difficult period in the health of our nation, and he said it is because of the stress that will be put on the health care system. what does that mean for frontline workers at your

hospital? >> doctor: we've been dealing with a public health crisis for 10 months now, and our health care workers have been at the tip of the spear in battling the pandemic, in dealing with short supplies, and dealing with a patchwork of policies that could control the virus. i think if you look at the hospitals in america, many of them are at the breaking point. some may have broken. we have had some challenges in the last couple of weeks in nebraska, but by working together, we were able to navigate that to make sure that care was available to everyone. >> brennan: a video from one of your nurses went viral last month. in it she describes the staffing shortages, and her own personal frustration that she can't just rush in to help a covid patient. it takes time to put on the p.p.e. required to even enter the room. can you describe what it is like to be a covid patient right now?

>> doctor: everyone should want to avoid being a covid patient. not only for the experience that they are in the hospital, but for the potential long-term consequences of this virus. the staff has done a remarkable job in working together and using their personal protective equipment to minimize any risk of personal exposure, but it is a very challenging time. when we talk about hospitals and hospital beds, that's a very concrete number. but those hospitals and beds are not of any value unless you have the nurses, the physicians, the pharmacists, the technologies, to deliver the care that makes people well. and those people are really stretched to the limit. i'm fully aware of the stress on the entire country and the entire world, but there is always a sense of security and peace in knowing that health care is available, but we are challenging that right now.

>> brennan: we're challenging that just because of the shear numbers overwhelming the system, is what you're talking about. can you say what that means practically speaking? are we talking about doctors having to make decisions on who to treat and who not to help? >> doctor: i think that first we should realize that prior to the pandemic, many hospitals were running near capacity. and then with the addition of 20% more patients requiring care, that makes it very challenging to take care of the cancer patients, the heart disease, the stroke, the trauma that has not gone away. so health care providers are faced with the challenge of dealing with 80% of the patients that have those other conditions, and 15, 20, 25% more, depending on geography, of patients who have covid. so there are areas of the country that are what are in what we call crisis standards with care, where

the actual standard of care has changed because there aren't adequate staff, supplies, or other resources. we have plans for that in nebraska, but we are not at that point right now. i want to make that very clear. it is a very challenging time for all of health care. >> brennan: and you have suspended elective surgeries. would you advice other hospitals to do that now? >> doctor: what we have done is postponed those procedures that could safely be postponed for, say, four to 12 weeks. the term "elective surgery" is too broad a blanket. because if you have a tumor, you could maybe postpone the removal of that for a short period of time, but mentally that patient wants the operation to remove that tumor. so the covid pandemic is affecting all aspects of health care. >> brennan: nebraska's governor said that he expects to get about 100,000 doses of the vaccine during the month of december. do you know when you will

receive it at your hospitals, and what is your plan to distribute it to your employees? how do you decide who qualifies? >> doctor: well, we have begun the process of assuring which health care workers want to take the vaccine, and our policy would be to deal with the frontline workers in our hospital. a lot of that is depend on the number of doses we receive for distribution either next week or the week after. >> brennan: you don't know that number yet? >> doctor: no, we do not. >> brennan: but how do you decide? when you say you're asking if people are willing to take it, are a large number of your employees unwilling to take the vaccine? >> doctor: no. our surveys indicate well over 90% of individuals are going to roll up their sleeves on day one and be able to take it. we have to stratify the distribution of the vaccine because if there are any side effects, we don't want too many people who will be home for a day

or two. >> brennan: when you say you're prioritizing health care, what does that mean? who goes first and who goes last? >> doctor: that's a wonderful question, margaret. we will be first dealing with the people who are in the room. your nurses, your drrgs, doctor, your patient care techs, the environmental service, the people who have to turn rooms over. those are the people who should first get the vaccine. we anticipate, though, that perhaps by the end of december, if the state does receive 100,000 doses, almost every health care provider in nebraska, and most of the individuals who are in long-term care environments can be vaccinated. but the supply chain of the vaccine is still not followed. we just are preparing for delivering it to everyone, but we'll see what we get. >> brennan: we wesh you we wishu

good luck, doctor. and we'll be right back with former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. gottlieb. don't go away. sit! renew active. only fro♪ lift it althcare. ♪ press it ♪ downward dog it ♪ watch it ♪ sweat it ♪ bend and stretch it ♪ track it ♪ share it ♪ compare it ♪ think it ♪ solve it ♪ try and crack it ♪ breath it ♪ calm it ♪ and renew it renew active from unitedhealthcare gives you so many ways to be healthy. powered by aarp staying sharp and fitbit. and included in unitedhealthcare medicare plans. unitedhealthcare. get medicare with more. [cheering and waving] ♪ [hip hop holiday music plays] ♪ ah, ah! woo! hold on a sec, hold on, hold on, hold on! [gulping water]

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>> brennan: and we're back with former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb, who also sits on the board of directors at pfizer, one of the vaccine-makers awaiting approval here in the u.s. he joins us from west port, connecticut. not only are infections spiking, so are deaths. the c.d.c. director put it at 450,000 people debt by dead y february. that is double where we are. do you agree with that forecast? >> doctor: i think we have a worsening situation around the country. we're not likely to see a peak in the number of infections until the end of december or early january. we'll see a peak in deaths and hospitalizations probably in the middle of january. so i think by the end of the year, we'll be at probably 300,000 deaths. by the end of january, we

could be pushing 400,000 deaths. we're going to see consistently probably 2,000 deaths a day. and as we get into january, towards the peak, we'll see 3,000 deaths a day, unfortunately, and maybe get close to 4,000 deaths a day. this will get a lot worse before it starts to resolve. right now the statistic is 1.7% of diagnosed cases will succumb to the infection in 24 days. there is a grim future ahead of us for the next six weeks. people really need to protect themselves. >> brennan: understood. we obviously urge everyone to protect themselves. last week we saw the largest surge in deaths in long-term care facilities. this is the largest surge since june. this is the elderly. if someone watching at home has a loved one in one of those facilities right now, what do you recommend they do? >> doctor: look, i think that you need to protect the elderly in these facilities by probable the not visiting right now. not having people go into

those facilities. the facilities themselves really need to be vigilant about their staff, testing their staff, making sure the staff don't walk the infection into those facilities. in many cases, that's how it is getting into these institutions. people are bringing it in, either visitors or staff. right now visitors aren't allowed in most of these facilities. hopefully we'll be able to vaccinate these individuals and the staff very soon. the vaccines will be prioritized to these staff. and one dose can be partially protective, especially in younger individuals. so the vaccines could start to have an impact right away. >> brennan: it is interesting you say that, because i asked dr. slaoui about that idea of whether to vaccinate 40 million people out of the gates, versus the more conservative plan of going with 20 so they have two doses set to go, keeping one in reserve. dr. slaoui said to be careful in case of manufacturing issues. do you think that was the right call?

>> doctor: look, i would be trying to push out as much vaccine as possible. you have to take a little bit of a risk that the supply is going to be there in 2021, to give everyone a second dose. this is a crisis, we need to get as many vaccines as possible in arms, in my view. you might want to hold a little in reserve, but not much. the first dose is partially protective, probably. the data does suggest that. i think we want to spread as much vaccine as possible. if we can't get two people whto peoplewho get their first e the second dose in 2021, we'll have much bigger problems. so we need to take a bit of a risk. >> brennan: scientists at the university of washington estimate that vaccines will save 9,000 lives before april, and 14,000 more could be saved if there is a scale-up

among high-risk individuals. what does a more aggressive push look like? >> doctor: the supply will ramp as we get into 2021, but there is no way to accelerate that between now and say march. if you want to maximize preservation of life, you vaccinate older americans and americans with co-morbid conditions that if they do get covid, they're more likely to have a bad outcome and die from covid. those decisions will be made very soon about who the second trench of people to be vaccinated is. i think governors will prioritize the older populations. and where certain communities are hit especially hard by covid, they'll go in in make some targeted decisions. >> brennan: pfizer said they're not going to hit their 2020 manufacturing target. does that mean an actual shortage of vaccines? >> doctor: no. what happened was the manufacturing got delayed. there were some supply

chain issues. but the vaccine they intended to produce in 2020 gets pushed into 2021. this is a supply chain that ramps very quickly, so every time a week gets pushed, you lose a lot of supply in 2020, and that supply gets pushed into the next year. the supply stays the same, it is just not going to be available this year. but the doses that have been promised right now have been made. pfizer as said they'll have 50 million doses available globally in 2020. those doses, by and large, have been made. and in the u.k., right after the authorization trucks rolled into the united kingdom, they're sitting there ready to go, and they're going to start vaccinating on tuesday. they may be able to vaccinate 800,000 people in the first week. >> brennan: the idea that a u.s.-based company will start vaccinating in another country caused some consonation.

would you run this process differently? >> doctor: the f.d.a. made some deliberate decisions, i think for sound reasons, that delayed this by not months, but probably weeks. they committed to have an open advisory committee. that probably added a week or two to this process. they also required that manufactures have at least two months of safety data on 50% of the patients before they even filed their applicaions. that delayed the availability to file the applications until december. the first data showed that the vaccines were more than 90% effective, but the manufacturers had to wait because of that. they wanted to provide a greater degree of public assurance, but it did delay it by a couple of weeks, at least, so we had to accept that. >> brennan: so, in other

words, yes, you would have done a couple of things differently. dr. gottlieb, thank you, as always, for your analysis. we'll be right back.

>> we're investigating, there is always a possibility, i get it, and you have the right to go to the courts. what you don't have the ability to do, and you need to step up and say this, is stop inspire people to commit violence. someone is going to get hurt. someone is going to get shot. someone is going to get killed. >> brennan: that was gabriel sterling in the state of georgia warning president trump about the potential impact of his continued unsubstantiated claims of a vast conspiracy. yet last night the president repeated many of those same claims at a rally in the state of georgia. we want to go now to the former director of cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, chris krebs. good morning.

>> good morning, margaret. >> brennan: you watched that rally, and you said it was an active, coordinated, disinformation campaign to undermine confidence in our elections. why do you think the commander in chief is doing that? >> look, i don't know if it is intentional or if it is willful blindness, but the results of the 2020 elections is clear: the key states certainly have certified over the last several days, and will continue to certify in a runup to the seating of the electoral college on december 14th. this race is over. we've got to get ready for january 20th and the next administration. >> brennan: but just 27 congressional republicans have acknowledged joe biden's victory. that's 27 out of 249. why are the majority of republicans remaining silent on what you're describing here as a security risk? >> i, again, can't speak to what their motivations

are, to those that have spoken up. it is the right thing to do. i think the rest of them have to acknowledge that the system in place to conduct the election was legitimate, particularly in the house. they've accepted their outcomes and their races. i don't see any difference here between the presidential race. it is well past the time where all leaders of the republican party need to accept the outcome of this race and move on and accept that joe biden is the president-elect. >> brennan: when you say a "disinformation campaign," you're looking at this from a national security point of view. where you were trying to stop foreign governments from off-minin undermining confidence in our elections. where do you think the president of the united states is on this? >> i think it is cu corroding

the confidence in the elections. you're trying to convince the loser that they lost, but to do that, you have to have willing participants, that are honest brokers. and we're just not seeing this right now. every court case or filing has been rejected by the courts. and so any fraud claims, any security claims, any sorts of things along those lines, we're just not seeing supporting evidence. it is time to move on. you should have confidence, particular georgia voters, should have confidence in the elections, and they need to get out for the january 5th e runoffs. >> brennan: you have described yourself as a lifelong republican, you served under president bush and president trump. why do you think the party is scared to do all of the things you're laying out? >> again, i don't know what is behind this, what their motivations are. but, again, it is time for

leaders in the national security community and the republican party to stand up, accept the results, and move forward. we cannot allow this to continue. certainly not past january 20the past four years. any sort of lost-cause movement would be horribly destructive to democracy. >> brennan: in your former agency, before president trump fired you, you had a variety of responsibilities on the cyber front. and you talked about disinformation online around the vaccine, for example. we know that the state department has quietly called out russia for spreading disinformation about the vaccine. why isn't homeland security, right now, launching a campaign to educate the american public about a vaccine being safe? >> so early on in covid, in fact, it was march 13th was the day i think

the world changed for most folks, we launched an effort to help the vaccine developers, as well the public health care, institutions, hospitals, the protective equipment manufacturers, and, yes, the therapeutics and vaccine developers -- we launched a campaign, a cybersecurity-focused campaign to secure their businesses and their enterprises. but at the same time, we saw some disinformation emerging related to the coronavirus, including just claims like 5g towers spread the coronavirus. we saw vandalism in the united kingdom. fema did launch a similar rumor of control effort on the coronavirus. we're going to have to do much, much more going forward to counter the vaccine claims that we're going to hear, the

anti-vaccer claims. they will be supported angn powers that don't share our same interests. we need to get mechanisms like that up and running fa. >> brennan: how much of that is foreign and how much is domestic. >> it is hard to say. there is certainly both. but the more we get professionals, like dr. gottlieb, out there describing the facts about the vaccine, that is going to be one of the critical aspects going forward. >> brennan: homeland security disclosed that cyber attacks are under way a government organizations distributing the vaccination. ibm went public, saying they were very fi sufficient, and indicated that possibly another government was behind it. who has the ability and the intent to do something like that? >> the traditional powers, the big four, russia,

china, iran, north korea -- we have seen to some extent all four of those countries doing some kind of espionage or spying, trying to get intellectual property related to the vaccine. and, in fact, just how we're doing as a country, policy-wise and in terms of health impact. what we had been thinking through at sisa was not just the vaccine developers, but their entire supply chain, and trying to look for the critical weak spots. we called it for the ball bearing strategy, looking for the key elements that could cause the entire process to collapse. that is going to be critical going forward. so it is not just about moderna and some of the others that are developing the vaccine. it is their supply chains, the distribution channels, public health institutions, those are the folks we have to continue to spread cybersecurity support from the national security chinese and from the private sector. >> brennan: important

message over the coming weeks. thank you, chris krebs, for joining us today. and we'll be back in a and we'll be back in a moment. you don't need to be a computer expert to be great at this. these are skills lots of people can learn. i feel hopeful about the future now. ♪ i feel hopeful about the future now. hey! yeah!? i switched to geico and got more! more savings on car insurance!? they helped with homeowners, too! ok! plus motorcycle, boat and rv insurance! geico's got you covered! like a blanket! houston? you seeing this? geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more.

>> brennan: that's it for us today. thank you for watching. until next week, for "face the nation," i'm margaret brennan. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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monthly subscription. >> and that's the "cbs overnight news" for this monday. reporting from the cbs broadcast center in new york city. . covid surges from from national crisis, to calamity, infections top 200,000 a day. america's death toll, the worst. california confronting sweeping new restrictions. >> it's frustrating and it's all for the best reasons. >> small businesses worry they will not survive. >> i have had enough. my staff cannot survive. >> the world watches as russia and britain starts mass vaccination. alternative real estate, president trump rallies in georgia, pushing false election claims. >> if i lost, i would be a very gracious loser. >> and weather woes, new fire