everywywhere. evererywhere. everywherere. everywywhere. everywhehere. watch cbs in bay area with the kpix 5 news app. captioning sponsored by cbs >> brennan: i'm margaret brennan in washington. and this week on "face the nation," the u.s. hits two devastating benchmarks: half a million dead and one year since the fibers reported coronavirus death in the u.s. but there is hope on the horizon. last week began with a sobering tribute to a staggering statistic: 500,000 american lives lost due to covid-19. that's roughly the population of the city of atlanta. >> we often hear people described as ordinary americans. there is no such thing. there is nothing ordinary about them. the people we lost were extraordinary. >> brennan: but as the

weekended, there is reason for optimism. last night the f.d.a. authorized a third vaccine, this one from johnson & johnson. it requires only one dose and is 100% affective in preventing coronavirus hospitalization and death. as the race to vaccinate americans picks up speed, even scientists concede that we could soon be nearing normal. we'll talk to dr. anthony fauci and former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. and as the nation prepares to send kids back to school, kentucky is the state where teachers are first in line for vaccines. we'll talk to its governor, democrat and andy beshear. and as former president trump prepares to take center stage as a republican gathering, is the republican party still the leader?

>> do you think president trump should still be the head of the republican party? [inaudible] [laughter] >> let me tell you this right now, donald trump ain't going anywhere. >> if the president was the party's nominee, would you support him? >> the nominee of the party? absolutely. >> brennan: ronna mcdaniel, kristi noem, and adam kinzinger, will all weigh in on the future of the g.o.p. it is all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ >> brennan: good morning, and welcome to "face the nation." we've got a lot of news this morning, and we want to start with our nior national correspondent mark strassmann. >> reporter: shipping alall over covid amemerica this week, nearly four million doses of johnson &

johnhnson's new single-shot vaccine, approved saturday by the f.d.a. this third option boosts hopes for mass vaccination. by the end of march, vaccine-makers predict they'll be able to fully vaccinate half of all u.s. adults. success against covid is a science but also an ongoing struggle. >> we may be done with the virus, but clearly the virus is not done with us. >> reporter: multiple variants spread worry and worse. the u.k. variant accounts for 10% of the u.s. cases. the c.d.c. sees it as a predominant threat within two weeks. and a va caveat comes wrapped inside even seemingly good news. hospitalizations down drastically, and deaths have dropped in the last four to six weeks. >> pro tes potentially leveling off at still a very high

number. >> reporter: more than half of americans say they want the shot, but no one has discussed the vaccine for the politics of covid. >> for god's sake, wear your masks. >> reporter: 15states states have no mask mandates. >> we have to show people how arbitrary these restrictions are and the coercion and the anti-liberty steps the governments take to enforce them. >> reporter: at the cpac listen to reaction when they were asked to obey the rules of the hotel. >> you should still be wearing a mask, so if everybody could go ahead and work on that. i know, i know, it is not the most fun. [yelling] >> reporter: that's one reason immunologists say worried as all three vaccine-makers ramp up production. 70 million americans have had at least one shot, 23 million have been fully vaccinated.

but even with three options, there is still not enough of anything. margaret? >> brennan: mark, thanks. we turn to the president's chief medical advisor, dr. anth. good morning to you, doctor. >> doctor: morning, margaret. >> brennan: we had this good news on the johnson & johnson vaccine being green lit, but the coordinator said he was disappointed in the slow pace of manufacturing. how many doses will be available and when will they be available to the public? >> doctor: as soon as the e.u.a. is essentially formalized when doses can come out, you'll see a few million doses, literally a handful. but by the end of march, there will be 20 million. and then there will be a total of 100 million as we get probably to june, as we get half way through the year. >> brennan: is johnson & johnson an inferior vaccine particularly for older americans? >> doctor: no -- you can't say that. we now have, margaret,

clearly three highly efficacious vaccines. they're highly efficacious in many ways, including preventing severe or critical disease. if you look at all three of them, they're really very good. the j & j data that just came out and was just examined by the f.d.a., when you have advanced critical disease, there were no hospitalizations and no deaths. that's good news, margaret. so i think rather than parsing out subgroups here, let's look at the totality of this. we have is a really good vaccine. >> brennan: supply is increasing, but americans are still having a hard time getting access to it. there is still some confusion around communication. listen to how "saturday night live" captured that challenge. >> the vaccine rollout is going strong, but it is also very confusing. who can get it, how, when, where is it? do both doses came in the same arm or dist a different ars or what? i don't know.

>> brennan: that was you. [laughter] >> brennan: since i have the real you, what is the biggest hurtle to getting the vaccines out there? >> doctor: the hurtles are the lodge jichtion of logiso getting it into people's arms is going to be getting better and better. it will be getting to the pharmacies with many more doses into the pharmacies, and mobile units getting it into the hard to access areas. and you've got to have people to get those vaccines into the arms of individuals. and we're employing national guards and others, retired physicians and nurses, etc. we're getting the capability, literally getting better every single day of making this much more smoothly than it has gone in the past. it is going to get better, i assure you. >> brennan: the c.d. director said there is a very concerning shift in

the trajectory of the virus. it is because of the california and new york variants that you're now more worried? >> doctor: you know, i'm not sure. it certainly could be that because we do have some worrisome variants in california and in new york. if you look at the decline of that slope, margaret, it was really sharp and very encouraging. if you look at the rate as it goes down, but over the last several days, it has kind of stopped at around 70,000 and lingered there for a day or two. that is concerning because the thing we don't want is to have it plateau at 70,000 per day. that's exactly the thing that happened during previous surges. as it peaked and then started to come down, people withdrew some of the intensity of the public health measures and it kind of stabilized at a very high level. that is very dangerous, particularly given the fact that we have these variants around. >> brennan: what is your guidance to those americans who have been

lucky enough to get both vaccinations, two doses of the vaccine? can they still transmit the virus to others? >> doctor: theoretically, and probably in reality, yes. we don't know the exact incidence of that. but let me tell you the reason why we say that, and stipes it confuses people. the end point of efficacy of the vaccine is preventing clinically apparent disease. which means that you could get infected, have naso pharynx virus in your knows and mouth, but because you're vaccinated, you could feel perfectly well. the issue is now then can you transmit it to others? until we prove that is not the case, that's the reason we're recommending when people are vaccinated and are in the presence of unvaccinated people, to put a mask on to prevent them from infecting others. >> brennan: i'm going to ask you about something one of our upcoming guests said, governor kristi noem

of south dakota, who delivered a speech yesterday, and she touted her decisions, and she got a standing ovation when she said she ignored the medical advice of experts, and specifically you. >> we never focused on the case numbers. instead, we kept our eye on hospital capacity. dr. fauci told me on my worst days i'd have 10,000 patients in the hospital. on our worst day, we had a little over 600. [applause] >> i don't know if you agree with me, dr. fauci is wrong a lot. >> brennan: how much of an impediment is sentiment like that to the nation's recovery? >> doctor: it is unfortunate, but it is not really helpful. because sometimes you think things are going well, and just take a look at the numbers. they don't lie. we see, margaret, what happens when you pull back prematurely. you're going to have individual incidences of situation where people may not have and didn't see a

rebound right away. but you have to be careful, particularly now that we have variants in this country that seem to spread more efficiently, and maybe even more dangerous. so i'm sure you can get a standing ovation by saying i'm wrong. but the fact is when you look at the scientific facts and follow what we neneed to do, as these cases are coming down, the thing we don't want is for them to do this and start plateauing as a level that will give us a lot of trouble. go back and look historically at what happened when we tried to open up the economy and the country. we saw a variable degree of adherence to the public health measures by different governors and different mayors. and what do happen? it went like this and went right back up and we had yet again another surge. we just don't want to see that. we don't want to continue to prevent people from doing what they want to do, but let's get down to a good level. let's get many, many more

people vaccinated, and then you can pull back on those types of public health measures. but right now, as we're going down and plateauing is not the time to declare victory because we're not victorious yet. we will be, margaret, i can assure you, but we're not there yet, particularly with the variants that are circulating in various parts of the country, such as in california and new york. >> brennan: dr. fauci, >> brennan: dr. fauci, thank you for your time this morning. we'll be right back. excessive daytime sleepiness due to obstructive sleep apnea. lness in adh sunosi worked for up to nine hours at 12 weeks in a clinical study. sunosi does not treat the cause of osa or take the place of your cpap. continue to use any treatments or devices as prescribed by your doctor. don't take sunosi if you've taken an maoi in the last 14 days. sunosi may increase blood pressure and heart rate, which can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, or death.

tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure. sunosi can cause symptoms such as anxiety, problems sleeping, irritability, and agitation. other common side effects include headache, nausea, and decreased appetite. tell your doctor if you develop any of these, as your dose may need to be adjusted or stopped. amazing things happen during the day. sunosi can help you stay awake for whatever amazes you. visit sunosi.com and talk to your doctor about sunosi today. >> brennan: and we're back with the governor of south dakota, kristi noem. she is attending the conservative political action conference in orlando, florida. good morning to you, governor. >> governor: governing, margaret. >> brennan: we heard from dr. fauci who said it is too early to peel back restrictions. how do you want to respond to him? >> governor: i would like to respond to

something you said. you said i ignored medical advice, and i didn't listen to my health experts. i most certainly did. in south dakota we took this virus very seriously. what i did was tell my people the truth. i gave them personal responsibility over decisions for their family's public health, but also gave them the flexibility they needed to keep their businesses3 open, and to take care of their businesses and costumers. i do believe that as this virus has spread throughout this country, people needed that flexibility. south dakota is doing well. we've had some tragic situations, but i know respecting them and in my role as goverr has been incredibly helpful to get through this troubling time. >> brennan: in that speech, you also said you never instituted a mask order, shut any churches or businesses, or even defined why a essential business. the c.d.c. says your state has the eighth highest death rate per capita in the u.s.

rate of deaths per 100,000 residents. don't you think your decisions as an executive contributed? >> governor: south dakota's infection rate peaked earlier than a lot of other places in the country. we're definitely on the downward trend, and peaked earlier than what you're seeing happen across the country as well. you can talk about masks. you can talk about mitigation measures, all of that -- >> brennan: these were c.d.c. numbers as of today,. >> governor: but what i am against is mandates that will tell people what they have to do. i want people to make those decisions for themselves. we've seen the c.d.c. change recommendations over and over and over again. in fact, we've seen them do it just based on political pressure. we follow the science, the data, and the facts in south dakota to make ur our decision. >> brennan: i was asking you about the death rate as of today according to the c.d.c., not the infection rate.

west virginia's governor jim justice held up your state as an example of what not to do, when it comes to his decision to institute a mask mandate. he said, i don't want to be south dakota. why do you think your state got hit so hard? >> governor: our state peaked earlier than other states, than his state, than new york, than california. they certainly are seeing much higher infection rates, much higher hospitalization rates and much higher deaths to date than we are. that is how we've seen this virus spread across the country. what i would like to know, margaret, why aren't you asking cuomo these questions. are you talking to newsom -- >> brennan: when both of those governors accept an invitation to coming on this program, i really hope they say yes and i appreciate that you did to our invitation. that's why i'm asking about your state. they have not said yes. for your state, you have, if you look at starting in july, after that spring

peak, you have the highest death rate in accumulative covid deaths per million in the country. the c.d.c. says you have the eighth highest death rate per capita now. i'm not talking about infection rates. i know your a conservative and you care about the sanctity of life, so how can you justify making decisions that put -- >> governor: those are questions you should be asking every other governor in the country. >> brennan: i'm asking you -- >> governor: i'm answering you, margaret. i'm answering you. regionally, we have seen the virus hit the country very differently. and it hit the midwest earlier than it did the south, and now the east coast and the west coast. we're still dealing with this virus in this country. south dakota went through our highest rate of infections and implications earlier. and the rest of the country is dealing with much higher numbers today. and that's really what this means.

what we should be looking at is did the mitigation measures help? did mandating distiller these actions in these states -- did knee make a difference? it is people have the ability and flexibility to look at this virus and how it hits their health, and how does it impact their well-being? their economic well-being, pay their bills, keep their kids in schools, that has been incredibly challenging. >> brennan: there is a $12 billion price tag that has been pegged to the impact and fallout from the stur sturgis motorcycle gathering. in that late summer through the fall. do you take personal responsibility for that? >> governor: that is completely false information. that is -- >> brennan: it is the

san diego state university study -- >> governor: and it is not based on facts. we tracked people who came to the rally, they reported back to us cases that came from that rally. it was less than 100 case that we could track to that. and we did testing in that community and throughout the area for weeks after. listen, what we did was allow people to make decisions for themselves. we gave them all the information on this virus, how to protect their health, and then we allowed them to make decisions on what they would do. my question is, if we mandated people had to stay home, that businesses had to be closed, would that have made a difference? and i would argue that it wouldn't have. we allowed people to -- >> brennan: trump's covid czar said those people who atten attended sturgis, if they had worry maworwore,it would have saved l.

when you talk about personal responsibility -- when your personal choices put others at risk, isn't that the opposite of responsible? >> governor: it has been an incredibly challenging year for so many people. and everyone across this country knows someone we have lost to this virus. i think we need to examine the actions that we have taken and see if it allowed people to make decisions and honored our rights and freedoms in this country in a way that respects what makes america special. making decisions in one state, dr. fauci just said, might be very different than another state should be doing. i have one community that may need to make a different decision on what they would like to do than another community that may be a different size, be at a different infection rate or hospitalization rate. that's why i gave them that flexibility. we took this virus very seriously, but i also let them look locally at what was the best actions to take to protect their health, but also keep

their businesses open and protect the economy they were dealing with. >> brennan: ronna mcdaniel is coming up shortly, the chairwoman of your party, she said the former president did not meet the moment with his words on january 6th, the siege of the capitol. do you agree with her? >> governor: i think we were all just heartbroken about what happened on january 6th. it was a tragic situation. going forward, i'm hoping we can focus on facts, ways to unify this country and bring us together and really make sure that we're pursuing -- >> brennan: was it avoidable, if the president had met the moment? >> governor: i think there are always times we don't like, different words that have been chosen. i worked with this president when he was in office to do some big things for the american people, and he did some things that i certainly appreciated that were beneficial for my state. >> brennan: do you see him as your party's nominee in 2024? would you support him? >> governor: i think that as we go into the coming years, we'll see

who decides to jump into that race. i'm focused on south dakota, what is best for our state and letting our people make the best decisions for their future. >> brennan: governor, thank you for coming on the program today and taking quuestions. i appreciate. we'll be rigight back wiwith aa lot morre "face ththe nation." stay w with us. good mornining! the four w way is a destinatation place. right hehere, betweeeen these walls, is a lot of history. we tried to operate a decent, respspectable plplace that anyy wouldn't feel bad to walk in. i amam black. beautiful.l. i mumust be respspected.

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♪ ♪ ♪ >> brennan: we're back with the head of the republican party, r.n.c. chair ronna mcdaniel, in northville, michigan. good morning to you. >> good morning, margaret. great to be with you. >> brennan: good to have you here. we know there is a lot of eyes and what is going to happen when president trump takes that main stage later today. the rrp republicans in the minority in the house and the senate and you lost the white house. why are you doubling down on donald trump as the future of the party? >> it is up to the voters. the voters are saying overwhelming they agree with what president trump did in office. as you see joe biden took away energy independence

and take away the pipeline, and as you see him say i'm going to prioritize opening borders versus opening or schools and economies. these are the types of things that voters are saying they saw happen in the trump administration and now they're seeing the biden administration strip those things away. >> brennan: it sounds like you think the unity is in the opposition, rather than in the party. state parties in arizona, wyoming, illinois, they're centering other republicans for insufficient loyalty to president trump. it looks like your party is getting cut into thinner and thinner strips here. >> you know, we can have division within our party. you can have state parties saying i disagree with that vote, but overwhelming our party agrees with each other more than we disagree with each other on. we want to see our schools open. you hear democrats use this mantra, follow the

science. well, mental health rates are skyrocketing with young kids, and you're seeing suicide rates up. schools need to be open. republican governors are following the science and keeping the kids safe and healthy getting them back in schools. >> brennan: we have a democratic governor ahead who is going to talk about how he is opening schools this week, and we'll dig into that more indepth later on in the program, but we do need to take a short break k and contitinue our conversatation withh ronnnna mcdanieiel in just a a momement. 're going hybrbrid with ibibm. a hybrid c cloud approroach lelets them ususe watson a i to mododernize witithout rebuiu, anand bring alall their papartnd customomers togethther in one e. that's why busisinesses from r retail to b banking are gogoing with a a smsmarter hybrbrid cloud using the e tools, platfoform and expxpertise of .

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