vaccine, possibly with health advisories for specific groups. all this ahead of the first shots being administered in the u.s., according to hhs secretary on abc today. >> in the next couple of days, probably, as we work to negotiate with pfizer, the information doctors need to prescribe it appropriately, we should be seeing the authorization of this first vaccine. we will work with pfizer to get that shipped out. and so we could be seeing people getting vaccinated monday, tuesday of next week. >> even after the vaccine becomes more widely available, though, the cdc director says the devastating increase in covid cases and deaths that we've seen over the past week are likely to continue at this pace for up to three more months. the current surge and what could have been done to prevent the pandemic from getting this bad, plus important new information about the vaccines are all part of special coverage on our website today, combined with in-depth reporting on all our msnbc programs.

our team is in place across the country. nbc's morgan radford outside the fda headquarters in maryland. nbc's gabe gutierrez outside of pfizer's manufacturing plant in michigan. and nbc national correspondent miguel almaguer with exclusive access to the critical care wing of the burbank hospital. morgan, first to you. the fda is where all the action has been. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. this is the million-dollar question. we're outside fda headquarters, sort of in that nail-biting waiting game. they issued a memorandum, telling the cdc to get ready to prepare to distribute that vaccine. but we have not received the official authorization yet. the question now becomes, andrea, when will we see that vaccine delivered, and to whom? we know that as soon as that authorization comes down, the first batch of doses, that's 2.9 million doses, will be distributed 24 hours later to various places across the country. we also know that elderly patients in long term care

facilities as well as front line health care workers will take top priority. but then, andrea, the question becomes who will be that second tier. and that is the subject of that advisory cdc panel that you mentioned that is meeting as we speak. they'll determine based on various agency and health care conditions who should be next to be eligible to receive that vaccine. but andrea, that's something that, you know, i personally found really interesting and important that came out of the fda advisory panel yesterday, because they were discussing that minimum age. those who voted yes, voted yes for the vaccine. but those on the panel who voted no had questions about whether the vaccine was really effect in 16 and 17-year-olds. as we wait for that authorization, there are still outstanding questions. the fda could tweak it and say we authorize this for 18 and above or perhaps 16 and above. and that's what we're waiting to find out, andrea. >> that as well as any special warnings for individual groups,

people with allergies and the like, after those uk results, those two nurses, indeed. morgan, thank you. let's turn to michigan, nbc's gabe gutierrez. gabe, how are pfizer and their suppliers coordinating the shipments of millions of vaccine doses that of course have to be refrigerated at subzero temperatures? >> reporter: that's right, andrea. this is pfizer's largest manufacturing facility. there are an incredible amount of doses here at the ready, ready to go. there's another facility as well in wisconsin, but this is the main hub where we expect those trucks to start rolling out within 24 hours of the fda approval that morgan just mentioned. the question is, again, when will that happen. as she mentioned, 3 million doses initially. but different states are getting allocated a certain amount of doses based on population. california, for example, getting more than 300,000 doses initially. smaller states, the smallest getting around 5, 6,000. we have been speaking with

people who are part of the supply chain. and andrea, it's an incredible feat that they'll need to produce in order to distribute this vaccine across the country. we smoke with one small dry ice company here in michigan who right now is scrambling to prepare for that fda approval. take a listen to what the owners had to tell me. >> it's going to be huge once they start to ship. that's the uncertainty right now. we've got calls from tri-state area, people waiting for shipments, they don't know exactly what day they're going to get it. they don't even know necessarily what they're going to do with it once they get it. >> reporter: each of those boxes will have up to a thousand or so doses of the vaccine. 30 to 50 pounds of dry ice per box. now, hospitals across the country right now are preparing to potentially get their first doses as early as monday. but again, the timing on this is very fluid. it could come later today, it

could come into the weekend. but again, you just heard the hhs secretary say they could expect those first doses potentially as early as monday or tuesday, andrea. >> thanks so much to gabe and nbc's miguel almaguer, you had exclusive access to a southern california ward, speaking with the doctors and the nurses on the front lines. miguel? >> i've had patients come in not requiring any supplemental oxygen, just high fever, don't feel well. within 24 hours, they're intubated. >> i don't get to see my mom because i'm scared they might get something from me. so we're all doing our part and we're just hoping everybody will do the same. >> miguel, joining us now from l.a., miguel, talk to me about the pressure, the stress. you've been covering this throughout the country for the past nine, ten months. >> reporter: andrea, it was really devastating to see this up close and personal.

obviously, as you mentioned, we've been covering the pandemic since march and actually before that when it first started to unravel overseas. for us, we've been hearing these stories and seeing them unfold across the country. for our team to be inside that icu yesterday and to actually be inside a negative pressure room with a patient who still actively had covid and had not seen his family for more than a week, he told us he felt like he was drowning when he first got diagnosed with covid. that's the reason he went to the hospital, he couldn't breathe. staff members that you just heard from say they too feel like they're underwater in this crush of a continuous wave of covid patients. their message is people need to take precautions to make sure they don't end up in hospitals and inside icus. after our firsthand experience, i can tell you, that is certainly a place you do not want to be. the hospital wing we were in was

completely full. they said they can deploy extra beds down the hall, but staff is spread so thin across that area, it's not a place you want to end up in. many of those people are spending 23 1/2 hours a day alone in those rooms because staff can only go inside for a short amount of time to treat them. in some of the video we showed you, the doctors are communicating with staff through glass doors because of all the precautions they want to take to make sure not only that they don't get infected but also to not use too much ppe. it's a devastating thing to see firsthand. >> it's just extraordinary. thank you so much for your reporting, to morgan and gabe as well, thank you all. dr. zeke emanuel is the vice provost of global initiatives at the university of pennsylvania and a member of the president-elect's covid-19 advisory board. thank you for joining us. breaking news, governor cuomo just announced that indoor dining in new york city will be

stopped, stopping all indoor dining, again, starting on monday. i want to get your reaction, whether you think this is warranted, given the surge. >> well, look. we know there are certain things to stopping the surge. first, we need to limit indoor activities, because that's where the spread happens. we need to limit our crowds. we need to limit, you know, coughing near other people. and we need to wear masks. those are critical activities to stopping the spread. and we can actually get our arms around this case. if you look over in europe and france, they were able to keep schools open, parks open, people exercising, and in a month they took it from about a maximum of 80,000 cases per day down to around 10,000, in four weeks, by introducing these measures and

adhering to them carefully. but the key will be these public measures and doing them as we're rolling out the vaccine. >> and so let's turn to the vaccine, because there are a lot of myths out there about what is in the pfizer vaccine, what it can do. take our viewers through what you think are the most important things they need to know about the pfizer vaccine, the safety issue, the two-phase process, how it will work. >> right. so the pfizer vaccine is an mrna vaccine. it's been developed, new technology, proven very effective. 94% of people actually look like they're protected by this vaccine. we still don't know whether it prevents transmission. we know it reduces severity of the illness and almost no one gets really, really sick with it, which is tremendous news. it also doesn't seem to have a lot of serious side effects in the sense that most of them are

related to pain in the arm, fatigue, once you get it, for about 24 hours. obviously it needs careful monitoring because in the study there were only about 45,000 people and now we're going to be giving it to millions of people. there were two episodes of people with a lot of allergies in britain who had some more severe reaction to this. this is kind of what you expect. and we need to monitor that and regulators need to look very carefully at what happened there to prevent further cases of that. but all told, this really looks like a very safe vaccine. and as is reported, it will begin being distributed to health care workers and residents in long term care facilities. that will probably take about two full months. it's a two-dose vaccine, andrea, to emphasize. you get dose one, and then three weeks later you get the second dose of the vaccine. >> and secretary azar said today

that they were considering working on -- using the defense production act if they need to for the supply chain. pfizer has conceded they have some problems on the supply chain and they're not going to have as many doses as they originally thought. complicating that, of course, the trump administration, it turns out, passed on contracting with pfizer for vaccine doses, apparently they didn't realize what a good bet it was. so pfizer sold it to europe. there's nothing much the u.s. can do about that, correct? >> we don't know the full details. we haven't been briefed fully on the distribution plan and all the purchase agreements that have been put into place. we're trying to get to the bottom of that and get all of the details. we will work with the companies carefully. we've already been in contact with them to try to get maximal production of vaccines. i would say also there's a piece of really good news, which is that, you know, it looks like

johnson & johnson will have enough patients and enough events to report early in the new year on their vaccine. and having multiple platforms, the pfizer vaccine, the moderna vaccine, maybe the j&j vaccine, that gives us a lot of potential supply. remember, the real issue now here is going to be about distribution and being sure that the distribution system, which we haven't been fully briefed on, can actually deliver the vaccine to the facilities and then administered to people. having a vaccine in a syringe does no one any good, it has to be in people's arms. and that's a complicated issue, as your report made out. >> to that point, are you finally getting enough cooperation from the transition officials, from officials in the administration, for your transition team so that you can meet the president-elect's pledge of 100 million vaccinations in his first 100

days? >> as the president-elect has said, we haven't gotten detailed distribution plans. we have been fortunate enough to talk to some of the companies about that. we are working diligently to make sure that we can make that pledge, 100 million doses is something that can be done by the may 1st, i have no doubts about that. we're working very, very hard. there could be some major glitch that no one anticipated, but we have a very, very good team in the transition team, we are getting -- trying to get the information we need to make sure we have a plan that can effectively realize that very important objective of the vaccinations and making sure that we have enough so that we can do things like open schools and educate students.

>> tpresident trump tweeted and continued to pressure the fda today to hurry up the approval process, tweeting to fda commissioner hahn writing, "get the damn vacation ocines out no hahn." you're reaction to that? >> look, we've got to stop politicizing the vaccine issue. we've had a very serious, thorough evaluation by this independent advisory committee yesterday. the fda needs to go over that and make its final choice. as your reporter mentioned, there are some important issues. do we give it to 16 and 17-year-olds, which there haven't been a lot of them evaluated, or is there too little data on them to do it safely? there's an ongoing study with the pfizer vaccine involving kids 12 and over. so these are important questions. and it's really important that the fda takes the time and we

depoliticize this issue and rely on the science and the medicine. it's not a political issue. it's a wanting to keep americans safe when they get this vaccine. and that is what president-elect biden has been committed to from day one, depoliticizing the vaccine issue and making sure it's safe for all americans. >> dr. zeke emanuel, thank you so much, thanks for being with us today. in a good year, less than half of americans get the flu shot. so how hard will it be to convince the people to get the covid vaccine once it's ready? we'll talk to the governor of kentucky, andy beshear, next. and later, caring for the americans who are isolated because of the pandemic. there's a lot of side effects of that. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. tchell reports" on msnbc. how much you'll need, and build a straightforward plan to generate income,

even when you're not working. a plan that gives you the chance to grow your savings and create cash flow that lasts. along the way, we'll give you ways to be tax efficient. and you can start, stop or adjust your plan at any time without the unnecessary fees. talk to us today, so we can help you go from saving...to living. tal((boy)r)today, hhelping kids.s. (dad) helping families. (women) helping pets. (vo) these are the lives subaru retailers have impacted in our communities, through our support of over fourteen hundred hometown charities. in fact, subaru and our retailers will have proudly donated over two hundred million dollars to national and hometown charities through the subaru share the love event. (vo) get 0% for 63 months and subaru will donate 250 dollars to charity. we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away.

usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa so this aveeno® moisturizer goes beyond just soothing sensitive skin? exactly jen! calm + restore oat gel is formulated with prebiotic oat. and strengthens skin's moisture barrier. uh! i love it! aveeno® healthy. it's our nature.™ help the world believe in holiday magic.thing and this year was harder than ever.

and yet, somehow, you all found a way to pull it off. it's not about the toys or the ornaments but about coming together. santa, santa, you're on mute! just wanted to say thanks. thanks for believing.

kentucky broke the state's record for new coronavirus cases thursday with more than 4,300 new infections and cases rising by nearly 30% since thanksgiving. the state is preparing to begin covid vaccinations as early as tuesday. joining me, kentucky's democratic governor andy beshear. thank you for joining us today, governor. people in long term care facilities account for 66% of the deaths in kentucky and

they're first in line to get vaccinated. take us through exactly how you're planning to roll this out. >> we expect to begin vaccinating individuals here in kentucky this coming tuesday. and that is incredibly exciting. all across this country, we have been at war with this virus. while we still have a long way to go, victory is in sight. so now what we have to do is we have to prioritize this vaccine for those that need it most. for us, per capita, our deaths have been a lot lower than most other states. but our long term care community has been hit really hard. 66% of all of our deaths here in kentucky due to covid-19 have been in those facilities. so we will be one of the first if not the first state to activate the cvs/walgreens plan to vaccinate members of the long term care community from acute nursing homes all the way down

to assisted living. our goal starting on tuesday is to get that entire population vaccinated hopefully by the 1st of march. if we're able to do that, meaning in the next 2, 2 1/2 months, to vaccinate that entire group, it will abe total game changer in kentucky and it will ensure that we don't lose people at the same rate moving forward that we have thus far. at the same time, we're vaccinating our front line health care workers. i believe within the next ten days, we are going to have vaccines to every acute hospital across kentucky where they can prioritize their er staff, those on the covid wing, those that are working oh, so hard to protect those around us. and by doing that, we can protect our health care capacity. this is really exciting. but we will have to preach patience. patience to all those americans and kentuckians that really want this vaccine. just let us get to those first, who are the most vulnerable to

this virus. there will eventually be enough for everybody. >> once you get to the general population, governor, if the flu shot is any indicator, getting all i ckentuckians vaccinated w be a challenge. >> the changes in our lives, how covid has turned things upside down, what we're seeing now is just about everybody has lost someone or knows someone that has lost someone. we see impacts on our lives in terms of school and work and leisure. we see the health impacts all around us. so i believe there is significantly more appetite and willingne willingness to take these vaccines. and i think the efficacy of the pfizer and the moderna vaccine changed everything. and when you look at an

influence vaccine being 60, 66% effective, that's one thing, maybe you could say i could get by. but when you're talking about 95% effective and we as a country are talking about truly defeating this virus, that changes things. again, we'll have to build confidence in the vaccine, no question. but i'm seeing a shift where i have less concern about building the confidence in the vaccine and more concern about everybody having patience, patience about when it will reach you. >> governor andy beshear from kentucky, thank you very much, good luck with the rollout. more than a hundred house republicans now siding with the president as he doubles down on his efforts to invalidate the presidential election even though it is a long shot to say the least. more on the turbulent times with the man who has held every job in washington, just about, leon panetta, coming up. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database so you can start hiring right away. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home.

area homeowners learn how your neighbors are accessing $100,000s

with a reverse mortgage loan from the bay area's #1 reverse mortgage lender. lemme tell you something. i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior. or worse, that it was some way to take your home. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan like any other. big difference is how you pay it back. discover if a reverse mortgage loan is right for you. use it to eliminate monthly mortgage payments pay of credit card bills, medical costs and more. with a reverse mortgage you can pay whatever you can when it works for you, or you can wait and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. find out more, call aag for your free information kit i'm proud to be a part of aag. i trust 'em. i think you can too. call now!

with time running out before the electoral college meets on monday to ratify joe biden's victory, president trump is feverishly tweeting for the supreme court to take up a last ditch challenge from texas to overturn the results in other states. texas' attorney general is asking the high court to overturn the balloting from four key swing states and throw the election to mr. trump. now 18 states and more than 100 house republicans have signed onto that long shot lawsuit.

joining me now is shannon pettypiece, senior white house reporter for nbc digital. shannon, thanks so much for being with us. shannon, the president is tweeting up a storm on this. first of all, 106 house republicans joining something like this, how do you explain that? >> reporter: i would say look at some of the poll numbers we've seen lately, andrea, that ask people about whether or not they think the results of this election are legitimate. and consistently, at least 70% of republicans, the vast majority of republicans, continue to say that they don't believe the election results are accurate, they don't believe they are legitimate. also look at the president's fundraising numbers since the election. the president has raised hundreds of millions of dollars off this idea that the election was rigged or fraudulent in some way. so clearly it's something that's a fundraising motivator and driver. so even as we hear other attorneys general coming out and saying that this lawsuit by the texas attorney general and the others who have joined on is

nothing other than a publicity stunt, the political calculus for these house members, these attorneys general in these deep red states appears to indicate that at least in the short term they view it as politically advantageous. >> and the president's other target today includes attorney general bill barr, his own attorney general, for not disclosing the hunter biden investigation before the election. the president reportedly furious. could this trigger him firing bar? he's obviously been displeased with him in the last couple of weeks. >> reporter: our reporting indicates this is something the president has been weighing and discussing. when my colleague kristen welker asked the president last week if he had confidence in the attorney general, he said ask him in a few weeks, clearly indicating he was in a wait and see mode. but the issue that the president has now and that he has run into with past instances when he has been upset with a cabinet official is who would he replace attorney general barr with.

in order for a replacement to have any sort of legal standing he would have to be senate confirmed or have been at the doj for at least 90 days under the vacancy act. if he fires barr, who else will he put in there who will be more likely to carry out any agenda he wants to see done in these final weeks? >> i should have mentioned the attorney general in texas apparently is under a justice department or an fbi investigation himself. so there is a lot of speculation as to what his motivation is on this suit that has very little legal merit. but it might position him very well with a president who has pardon abilities, at least 40 more days. shannon pettypiece, a lot there going on at the white house behind you, thank you very much. not a lot on covid but a lot certain on all of this other stuff. joining me now, leon panetta, former cia director and secretary of defense in the obama administration and former white house chief of staff to president clinton. secretary panetta, mr. panetta, thank you so much for being with

us. first of all, the president is ramping up his pressure on the supreme court to try to overturn joe biden's victory. our legal experts, pete williams and other legal experts, say it's such a long shot. but how does this hurt joe biden's ability, you just heard shannon say that so many people believe the election was fraudulent as well as damaging america's reputation for the peaceful transfer of power and for our democratic institutions overseas. >> well, all of this is incredibly harmful to the ability of our democracy to function as it should be functioning. there should be a peaceful transition of power going on. there should be cooperation between this administration and the incoming administration. there should be no question as to who is going to be the next president of the united states. all of that is the way our democracy has functioned in the

past. and to raise these issues that have no foundation in truth or fact, and to constantly challenge the results of this election, send a terrible message not only to the incoming administration that's trying to get to work, to deal with the problems that face our country, but it's sending a terrible message abroad to both our allies and our adversaries that there are serious questions about the ability of our democracy to function. >> the white house has directed its staff to retain certain records to ensure a smooth transition. so is this an implicit acknowledgement at least by the chief of staff and others that they know that the president did not win this election? >> obviously they're all operating on the fallacy that

somehow what happened on the election did not happen. and i think for most people, they understand that after 150 million americans went to the polls, a record number of people who went to the polls and voted, which was very encouraging, frankly, because the american people, despite all of their polarization and differences, all recognized the importance of their power to vote. and there is absolutely no evidence that there has been any fraud. there is absolutely no evidence that there has been any failure of the system to properly count all of those votes. and so for the president and for the chief of staff, for others, frankly for 100 or more republicans to pretend that fact is not fact and that truth is not truth, raises real questions

about the ability of our government to function the way it should. i mean, we've elected a new president. it's time to move on. everybody recognizes that it's critical for our country to be able to deal with covid, to be able to deal with a recession, to be able to deal with the challenges we're facing abroad. we have got to move on. we have got to accept reality. we've got to accept truth. and most importantly, we have to accept the reality of how our democracy is supposed to function. >> the choice by the president-elect for the incoming defense secretary, his nominee at least, is retired general lloyd austin, who has not been out of uniform for the required seven years, requiring a waiver, as you know. it would be the second time in a row that a defense secretary, because it was done for jim mattis, would require the waiver. what about the principle of

civilian leadership? do you think it's important in this case or should it be waived? >> i'm a believer in the principle of civilian leadership. i think that was built into the law, the national security act. there was a recognition that there should be civilian oversight, there should be a civilian control with regards to the department of defense. but the law also provided, unfortunately, for a waviver. and that waiver was granted not only to george marshall but it was granted to jim mattis. and i find it difficult to say that it's okay to grant a waiver to jim mattis but somehow intt' not okay to grant a waiver to the first black secretary of defense in our history. i do think, however, that the congress needs to consider whether or not ultimately they should get rid of that waiver, because we have got to return

ultimately to the principle of civilian leadership at the department of defense. >> they are now voting, the senate is finally voting on the defense authorization act as we speak. the president has threatened to veto it in part because it includes changing the names of those army bases, mostly army bases in the south, named for confederate military leaders. what do you think about, first of all, getting rid of the confederate names, and shouldn't that have been done a long time ago? >> well, the time is long overdue to go back and try to recognize that it's time to move into the 21st century and to look at those names and try to rename them, you know, to the heroes of the 21st century, not the heroes of the past. so i think the congress is taking the right step, the

former secretary of defense supported that change, the committees supported that change. and i feel very good about the fact that the house of representatives overwhelmingly passed the defense authorization bill with that language. and i'm confident that the senate will do the same. it will send a signal to the president that the rest of us have to move on into the 21st century and not live in the past. >> leon panetta, thank you very much for being with us, enjoy your weekend. thank you. for the next few months, promising to be some of the most difficult in american history, msnbc.com is devoting his home page to the coronavirus pandemic, including a houston area doctor who actually gave his life for his patients. his story is next. stay with us.

you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. you're watchil reports" on msnbc. [ engine rumbling ] ♪ [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] ♪ uh, you know there's a 30-minute limit, right? tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. we started by making the cloud easier to manage. but we didn't stop there. we made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. no matter what it does, or how it changes. and we kept going. so you only pay for what you use. because at dell technologies, we stop...at nothing. ♪

- i'm szasz. because at dell technologies, we stop...at nothing. [norm] and we live in columbia, missouri. we do consulting, but we also write. [szasz] we take care of ourselves constantly; it's important. we walk three to five times a week, a couple miles at a time. - we've both been taking prevagen for a little more than 11 years now. after about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didn't notice before. - it's still helping me. i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. if you have type 2 diabetes and risks for heart disease, you could land in the hospital with heart failure. for people like you, farxiga does more than lower a1c. farxiga also helps prevent hospitalization for heart failure. do not take if allergic to farxiga. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing. stop taking and seek medical help right away. tell your doctor right away if you have red color in urine, or pain while you urinate, or a genital area infection,

since a rare but serious genital infection may be lifethreatening. do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems or are on dialysis. other serious side effects include dehydration, genital yeast and bacterial infections in women and men, urinary tract infections, low blood sugar, and sudden kidney problems. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of ketoacidosis, which is serious and may lead to death. answer the alert. ask your doctor if farxiga could do more for you. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. oh my gosh you made it! oh shoes! i thought y'all got lost or something. did you put some ah, kale in the greens? oh thank you! we didn't forget about you! welcome to the family. thank you. wooooow. i love it! (laughter) thank you dad!

let's be honest. quitting smoking is hard. like, quitting every monday hard. quitting feels so big. so try making it smaller, and you'll be surprised at how easily starting small can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette. diddeodorants onlysome alumask odor? starting small can lead to something big. secret aluminum free helps eliminate odor instead of just masking it. and is made with 3x more odor fighters. with secret, keep it fresh every day. secret.

for nine long months, brave doctors and nurses across the country have been risking their lives, fighting against the coronavirus. one doctor was one of them, treating critically ill covid patients in texas, sleeping in the icu in case he needed to intubate patients. he contracted the coronavirus in october when cases in texas started to surge. when his condition worsened, he didn't want to go to the hospital, telling his partner, i'll go when i think someone else doesn't need the bed more than i do. he did need that bed and ultimately the disease he spent months fighting took his life on november 30. one of the doctor's patients told nbc news she is alive because of him, saying, for him to die from the same thing he saved me from, i don't think you can make a greater sacrifice. joining me now, nbc news

investigative reporter who reported this story for nbcnews.com which is dedicating its entire home page to coronavirus coverage today, and an emergency physician at columbia university medical center in new york city and a yahoo! news medical contributor. mike, this is so heartbreaking. our sympathy with the doctor's partner and his family. unfortunately this is not a rare occurrence in the pandemic. >> that's right. and first of all, thank you very much for spotlighting this story. i think what struck me while reporting it was just the selflessness of this position and many other health care workers throughout this pandemic. the doctor was a critical care specialist and a pulmonologist, so he was in high demand. he was so committed to his patients, as you said, he slept at the hospital for weeks on end early in the pandemic, even on

the weekends, so that he could be near the icu in case one of his patients deteriorated, he could intubate them or provide other lifesaving treatment, weigh up eight, ten, 15 times a neat for nearly two months straight. and of course his family, his loved ones were so worried for him. at one point his partner said to him, aren't you afraid of getting this? and she says his response was, i'm not afraid, i was born for this. and when you take -- when you hear someone say something like that and to have them then months later turn up and be in need of one of those beds, in the same beds where he had treated patients, knowing what he knows about what this disease can do, you can just imagine the fear he may have felt as he understood the path that he was on. i don't know what you can say about something like that other than it's just a tragedy. it's heartbreaking.

>> and it's absolutely heartbreaking, he's so young, so selfless. dr. kass, you're one of the front line workers in new york, you contracted covid yourself, thankfully you recovered. >> i'm fine, obviously, from my infection, it's obviously not an issue. this case, this story is reminiscent of so many we've seen across the country, it's happening everywhere, when you're in an er and you have a member of your staff, a member of your community, sometimes somebody in charge, coming in critically ill and now you have to take care of them. they know what will happen, they know what's on the other end. it's heartbreaking. it is by far the hardest thing we do. and it lasts with us. all the people i know who passed from this in our hospital, it reminds me how long we've been doing this, and the pain we're going to deal with when this is

over. >> and now we finally have a vaccine, it is going to go to health workers first, thank goodness. mike, you're reporting that the doctor's partner got an email from the hospital this week that she can sign up for the vaccine. that's probably bittersweet now that he's gone. her loss is so deep. >> she got the email offering the vaccine to her as a health care worker one day after his funeral, on his 52nd birthday, and all she could think was, if he could could have only avoided this virus for a couple of mormomore months, then she may have been setting his favorite black suit aside for a night on the town to celebrate his immunity instead of delivering it to a funeral home. >> dr. kass, the governor of new york, of course, has now said that indoor dining will be shut down again in new york.

the surge having, you know, gotten out of control. will that help? do you agree with that? >> yeah, i definitely agree, we need to do everything in new york that we can do to keep this virus under control. we still have a lower positive test rate and a lower spread than most places in the country but it doesn't mean we aren't dealing with an overwhelming number of cases and an increase in our hospitalizations. every step matters. the governor also said we would continue to keep children home from school as long as we can. i'm impressed that he's using data and science and reasoning to address the things affecting the spread. it's the at-home events, the dinners, the christmas parties, the thanksgiving dinners, that's spreading this virus. we need to look at this holiday season as different than ever before. >> dr. kass, continued good health for you. mike, thanks for bringing this to us. read mike's article and many others at nbcnews.com where you

can explore interactive data and graphics, the extent of the pandemic, even telling you where the nearest pharmacy is that you can get the vaccine. we'll be right back. or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity.

coto build a house, you need ary ststrong foundation. [music playing throughout]

the same is true for building a business. black-owned businesses are an integral part of america's foundation. they lay the groundwork for other black businesses like mine - that turns concrete into something beautiful. i'm kimberley robles, and i'm the owner and founder of robles concrete design. the citi foundation is helping our community partners facilitate more loans to black-owned businesses. we look at what you've saved, what you'll need, and help you build a flexible plan for cash flow that lasts, even when you're not working, so you can go from saving... to living. ♪ let's go perhaps no group of people have been hit harder by the coronavirus than residents of long-term care facilities. they account for more than 100,000 of the 293,000 covid deaths in the country. and many have spent months

isolated from their loved ones, now they find themselves at the front of the line for the vaccine that could be just days away. ann thompson spoke to residents at one facility in new jersey about what that vaccine could mean to them. >> reporter: if you're wondering why nursing home residents will be among the first people to get the vaccine, consider this. america's long-term care facilities have less than 1% of the population. but have had 40% of the covid deaths as of the end of november. >> when you heard about the vaccine, what was your reaction? >> hallelujah. finally we are getting something that will hopefully improve everyone's life. >> reporter: she speaks for many of her fellow residents at the assisted living facility in new jersey where isolation is a side

effect of covid that everyone has endured. ronald and joyce have been married 65 years, they have three children and six grandchildren. what's been the toughest part of the last nine months? >> not being able to see our family. because that -- we do miss our kids. we can speak to them on the phone and on the zoom, but not really see them. >> reporter: what is that ache like when you can't hug your grandchildren? >> it's lonely. and we miss them. >> certainly i want to see all of them again. and god willing we will. >> we will. >> we'll live that long. >> reporter: how important is that human touch? >> extreme. extreme. if you don't have someone touching you, after a while you begin to feel as though you're not approachable. it's not a good feeling.

you want to be loved. you want to be comforted. and without someone holding you or hugging you, you lose that. the light goes out. >> reporter: at 91, shirley is optimistic. is this kind of a second chance at life this vaccine? >> i think so. i think so. with all the people that are dying from it. if it can help people and go back to a normal life, i think it's wonderful. >> reporter: they lost six people at this facility to the virus. but celebrated each and every one who survived. what's your wish for the new year? >> i wish that they would get rudd of this virus. i just want everybody to be

healthy. >> reporter: a wish that at last could one day come true. >> and nbc's ann thompson joins us now. hallelujah was the way one woman put it, it's obvious that's the way they were all feeling. it's exciting to have some hope finally after this long stretch. >> yeah. it really is andrea. you know, every one of the people i interviewed said they would gladly take the vaccine. they see it not just as something that would help them but would help everyone, especially their community, and after seeing all the suffering in their community, and all the hard work the staff has put in to keep them safe and healthy, they are eager to get the vaccines. >> and certainly the health care workers there, the toll on them has been just so dreadful. >> it has. i mean, can you imagine you go to work and just by going to

work, you're risking your life and your family's life. and then the people who you're caring for, they're so dependent on you. and, you know, no matter how hard long-term care facilities have tried they can't help but become incubators for covid because it goes through them so quickly. and then the people who are there are those who are most vulnerable to the virus and to its lethality, so it's been really tough for those health care workers. >> thanks for bringing that to us ann. that does it for this week for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports". please be safe out there, wear a mask. and happy hanukkah to those celebrating. y hanukkah to those celebrating. because when caughty stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard.

i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'll do it. good plan. i'll do it. research shows people remember so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. wow! what'd you get, ryan? it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual! what does it do bud? it customizes our home insurance so we only pay for what we need! and what did you get, mike? i got a bike. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

to severe plaque psoriasis uncover clearer skin that can last. in fact, tremfya® was proven superior to humira® in providing significantly clearer skin. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. uncover clearer skin that can last. janssen can help you explore cost support options.

people are saving hundreds skin on the most reliable in a land not so far away, network with xfinity mobile. they can choose from the latest phones or bring their own. and choose the data option that's right for them. they even get nationwide 5g at no extra cost. and since they are on the carrier rated #1 in customer satisfation, they live happily ever after. again, again! xfinity mobile. your wireless. your rules. your way to stay closer together. click, call, or visit an xfinity store today.

if it's friday, the fda could approve emergency use of the pfizer covid-19 vaccine any time now. we're live as the company prepares to distribute the vaccine across the country. and the challenge of distribution and fear, especially among black americans, the fight to make sure black americans not only have access to vaccine, but will they trust the medical system that has failed them in the past to deliver it? plus sta