. good morning. it is saturday, december 12th, i'm ali velshi. breaking news as the food and drug administration officially authorized pfizer's covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in the united states. the treatment, the first of its kind given a green light to combat the deadly coronavirus which has woven a path of destruction across the landscape

the last ten months. "the known and potential benefits of the vaccine outweigh potentials risks for people 16 and older. refrigerated transport trucks are expected to begin shipping nationwide today, the first doses expected to be administered early this week, ear marked for frontline workers as well as staff at long-term care facilities. this is a life-changing facility. we're awaiting an fda news conference. as soon as that happens, i will interrupt what i'm doing and bring that to you live here on msnbc. we are waiting for it. covid-19 cases continue to climb nationwide. the total number of individuals infected in the united states is over 19 million while the death toll inches closer to 300,000,

296,189. gabe gut yierrez is with me fro outside the pfizer plant in michigan. it is raining and wet. that is the picture of history being made. >> reporter: good morning. the expectation is that the doses will start rolling out of here sometime this week. the latest information we have is that workers here at this plant, which is pfizer's largest manufacturing facility will pack the doses today. again, the timing is still fluid but but we expect they'll begin who willing out this week. we're awaiting the fda news conference where the commissioner is expected to give us the latest details on how all this will work out. this is very complicated process, the massive challenge to get the initial rollout of

nearly 3 million doses over the next week and across the country. once they leave this facility, they will head out on ups trucks and planes around the country. some of the shipments under high security, escorted by u.s. marshals. now, the states are being allocated, the doses based on population. large states like california, more than 300,000 doses initial live at least and then smaller states such as wyoming, hawaii, getting around 5,000, 6,000 doses. >> i'm going to interrupt you for a second. the fda press conference is beginning. we're going to go to the fda press conference and listen in. i'll get back to you afterwards. >> we applied our high standards of review in reviewing this product so americans can have trust and confidence that the vaccine meets fda rigorous standards for safety and effectiveness. with this authorization we know that our federal partners are already moving to distribute the first doses of the vaccine throughout the country.

the fda's authorization is a significant milestone in battling the pandemic that has affected so many families in the u.s. and around the world. we are near the end what has been truly a year up like any other in modern times. while it has been marked by sadness, tragedy and sacrifice, it has generated unparallel scientific achievement. scientifics processes traditionally take years. what we have seen is an historic partnership among the private sector, academic researchers and federal government to find efficiencies in the scientific prot p pr processes and the dead came of time in the development of a rapid goal.

efficiency does not mean any cutting of corners. medical products are still undergoing rigorous study and clinical trials. important safety checks remain in place. the fda's review teams continue to comb tluhrough the data by companies submitting medical products. developers, researchers and regulators have found hopefully enough and lasting ways to be dedicating. we found ways to cut the red tape and reduce regulatory burden on medical product sponsor when possible. one important tool we have used during this pandemic including for this vaccine action is the emergency use authorization or eua, created by congress specifically to provide us with a means to respond rapidly during a public health

emergency. for an eua to be issued, fda career sicientists conduct a current investigation about the product and it must be known the known and potential benefits outweigh known and potential risks. for vaccines potentially to be given to millions of americans, we at the fda set high expectations. the fda's career scientists conducted a fast but incredibly thorough review involving manufacturing data, quality control data, safety data, effectiveness data and more. our career staff and scientists have been working around the clock, including holidays, weekends and late nights to do this evaluation to meets our recognized high standard for

review. i will absolutely take this covid-19 vaccine pending availability and distribution because i have complete trust and confidence in the fda's career staff's evaluation. to ensure all americans have have trust and confidence in the fda review, we have made the review process as transparent as possible. we held a public advisory committee on thursday about the biontech application. it consists of experts who reviewed information from pfizer and biontech's sub misses and provided their own recommendation to the fda concerning the date a and safet and effectiveness of the product. the committee overwhelmingly agreed the benefits outweigh the risk. we also made clear the information a developer should provide to us for their covid,

helping americans understand what data we would be looking at during our review process yesterday we also posted important information to help health care providers understand the benefits, risks and proper use of this fda had much authorized vaccines, including instructions for use, the lirts -- letters of authorization. we also intend to post the decision memorandum, which outlines the basis of our decision. all of this information helps the public understand the importance of our thorough and diligent review of the pfizer bionte biontech vaccine and helps health care providers decide if a person shouldn't take the vaccine, such as an allergic reaction to any of the vaccine ingredients. our transparency is arming

health care providers with the tools they need to make decisions about what is appropriate for their patients in this transparency should also help assure the public this vaccine met the fda's rigorous standards for quality, safety and efficacy. science and data guided the fda's decision. we worked quickly based on the urgency of this pandemic, not because of any other external pressure. this die signatures was based on the strongest scientific integrity and i am so proud of the work our career scientists have done. i'd like to conclude with an important reminder. while our federal partners are already taking steps to distribute this vaccine, we remind the public to remain vigilant as inoculation will take time. wear a mask, wash your hand and remain socially distant when possible. protect yourself, the vulnerable and others. thank you for joining us today. and now i'd like to turn to

dr. peter marks, our director for the center for buy logix evaluation research for a few remarks. >> thank you, dr. hahn and thank you to all joining us on this historic take to discuss the fda's action. as dr. hahn mentioned, the fda authorized the pfizer vaccine for individuals over the age of 16. this makes pfizer's vaccine available in the united states and holds the promise to alter the course of this pandemic. it's a truly remarkable achievement of vaccine development made in less than a year's time. with science guiding our decision making, the available safety and effectiveness data support the authorization. pfizer biontech vaccine because the known and potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks. the data met the fda's

expectations explained in our june and october guidance documents. efforts to speed vaccine developments have not sacrificed scientific standards or integrity of our vaccine evaluation process. in making ourdetermination, we have conducted a thorough investigation of the manufacturing, safety and quality of the information. >> okay. our team is going to continue to monitor this press conference and questions and bring you information as it comes along. we'll continue to monitor that. maybe i'm going to ask my director, maybe we can put it into the bottom corner of the screen because i want to have a conversation about what we've been hearing, particularly from peter hahn, the head of the fda. i want to bring kathleen into this conversation, the former health and human services secretary during the obama administration, the former governor of kansas, not texas.

that's what i call an inside joke. thank you for being with us. i'm so excited, the last 24 hours have been so exciting for me. i'm so proud. i'm so hopeful. but i have a little bit of prep dag -- trepidation. for the last nine or ten months when we've gone to a press conference about coronavirus, more often than not it was filled with lies. that didn't seem to be. that seemed to be pr tfrom the about the vaccine. >> i think you're right. i share your trepidation because what we haven't heard a lot is the science. what steven hahn just did, head of the fda, and followed by peter marks is describe the

process, that the fda will open their books and the information they looked at. they made the advise riory live stream to people. nothing could be more important. in spite of the fact that donald trump once again tried to screw this up within the last 24 hours by threatening to fire steven hahn if he didn't do certain things and tieing it to politics. the fda resisted the political pressure. >> we now have peter marks in the window at the bottom. we'll monitor that. >> the latest poll indicates that 63% of americans say if the

vaccine were available and at no cost to them, they would take it. that number is up from about 61 earlier in the week and the 50s before that. are you worried about it? i'm not worried about it. i think once it gets distributed and everyone is honest and transparent about whether there are allergic reactions or how you feel after a day or two, i think it will be safe. i think that number will move into the 70s, which is kind of what we need for herd immunity. >> i think we're about to see a flip, ali. we're in desperately terrible times in terms of the health crisis. 3,300 people died yesterday. we have more people in the hospital than ever before. we have a surge of cases around the country. in my state of kansas, it took seven months to get to the first 1,000 deaths. tragically it took six weeks to have the second 1,000 kansas residents die. that's a terrible benchmark and it shows the trajectory of these cases that are just spiraling

out of control. hospitals are full, health care workers are desperate. so the great news is that the vaccine is now approved and will begin to be distributed slowly. i think what we're going to see is a battle to get in line. people will be desperate to get it because this will save lives and we have to be patient. it will be spring before the vast majority of americans can actually receive an effective and safe vaccine. but that's record time. this is science triumphing. where we see a public health tragedy and the scientific remarkable milestone. >> so here's the question i have for you. you were the health and human services secretary who was of tn our lifetime to flatten the field, even the field of health care access for people.

but we have a structural health care access problem. we have health care deserts, poverty, people who are not covered, people who have lost their jobs during coronavirus. it never been an equal world for the provision of health care. how does the incoming administration guerin teearantee living on indian reservations, people with high incidences of co-morbidity. >> it's a great question. i think the good news is joe biden has a plan for just those contingencies. that must get into the arms of

people and, as you say, vulnerable populations without a lot of health care, living in remote areas. so their covid task force would get up every morning thinking about nothing other than this vaccination campaign and keeping safe and secure in the meantime has a chairman in charge of equity and distribution looking at everything from the logistics of getting to travel community and getting to remote areas, who is going to make that available, put the shots in the arms? how are we going to overcome the cultural and racial barriers where they dis trust the government trying to give medicine to people. they don't want to be experiments, understandably because we have a terrible history. so the money right now to provide this vaccination effort to stand up culturally competent

health care workers and make sure there are adequate resources on the ground to get the communication plan out ahead of the vaccine distribution is essential. congress is sitting on that bill. right now we've had $10 billion of united states money spent on vaccine development. that's good news. that has produced a record-changing operation where we now have a safe and effective medicine. the bad news is there's been about $340 million with an "m" passed out to try and execute this vaccination campaign. that's not nearly enough money. we need money, we need a clear and consistent message, which again the biden team is all about. but to your point, the based contribution, the gathering of community, culturally competent folks to validate this is not a political trick, this is not tied to somebody's experiment but this will keep people alive

is an e senssential component ts never happened before in the history of the united states. >> kathleen sebelius, the former governor of kansas. while history is being made with have vaccine roll out, donald trump is on a tweet storm expressing his displeasure on the supreme court ruling on the baseless suit claiming election fraud and he attacks joe biden, his son hunter and bill barr. that's no different on a normal saturday morning in the trump era. joining us is an msnbc contributor, the co-author of "a very stable genius." she's working on a new book

titled "dealing with trump's final year in office." donald trump said interesting stuff. 30 minutes ago he swetweeted "w have just begun to fight." he retweeted someone's tweet who said attorney general bill barr should be fired by the end of business today. he retweeted that, calling it a big disappointment. what's going on with the president while history is being made on two front, between the supreme court and this virus. >> ali, i feel like today may be an important moment, if not a chapter in our future book, the book that phil rutger and i are planning on. everything is going against him and this is not what he hoped for. three out of four of his tweets this morning have been factually

disputed. they claim that he won, as he said in all caps that he won the election in a landslide. disputed. they claim that two governors, republican governors in arizona and also in georgia need to be fired because they let fraudulent voters steal the election in those states. disputed. they claim that bob barr should be fired because he didn't make sure that hunter biden was criminally exposed. again, a lot of facts in question there. that one isn't disputed yet by twitter. it's just a fascinating morning because as the president heads to the army and navy game, he has a lot of cards falling against him. the supreme court decision yesterday was based on law that is so broad that all nine justices basically said they would rule against it.

the best paraphrase i can give you is seven of the justices said get the heck out of here and two others said we'll let you come close but we're never going to let you actually come in the door. all nine said no because texas has no standing to question over state elections. the fact that the president hinged his hopes on this tells you a little bit how desperate he and his white house are at this moment. >> right. he was very clear on the fact that his last supreme court nominee, this election was somehow going to show up in front of the supreme court and this was his last fire wall. john meacham last night was talking to me and this may be relevant to you, he says often these moments in history on a day when something big happens, you find some parallel, you find some moment. if tv we call it a split screen where you got two stories going on at the same time of great

import. yesterday and today are days in which you don't have to dig hard for that moment of import. there is this vaccine that will end this pandemic that donald trump never acknowledged was really going to be a pandemic. it was going to miraculously disappear and democracy walked up to the edge of the cliff and was held back by its belt strap by the supreme court. >> absolutely. and, you know, one thing that's been so interesting to me as an historian on the run, in a sense, i'm not looking back 50 years but i'm just looking over the last four years, one thing that is so interesting to me is how much donald trump was able to test and undermine key elements of our democracy, but one part of our branch of government was keenly immovable. it stuck to the law, it couldn't be moved on those issues of

reflecting and honoring the constitution. and that was the judiciary. you know, the legislative branch, a number of republicans signed on to this lawsuit, which raises serious questions. they kept basically fueling and enabling a flawed legal strategy, one that was not just dubious, it was false on its face. and the president has used many elements of the executive to do exactly what he wants and reject facts and challenge democracy. but the judiciary seems in this historic moment to have held strong. >> carol, good to see you as always. thank you. i look forward to your book. you always make sense of these fast-moving, i like the historian on the run analogy. she is the co-author of "a very stable genius, donald j. trump's

sting of america." last night support for the lawsuit among republicans points to the fight on disinformation is far from over. more "develvelshi" after this. m more "develvelshi" after this ♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ if only in my dreams

♪ 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. ♪

you're choosing to get connected to the mosties, weto xfinity mobile,. reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $400 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings.

stop in or book an appointment to shop safely with peace of mind at your local xfinity store.

this week more than half the republican congress signed on to a texas lawsuit asking the supreme court for an emergency order to invalidate the ballots of millions of voters in four battleground states, despite

having zero evidence of voter fraud. this is shocking but sadly not the least bit surprising. last night the supreme court, including all three of donald trump's appointees to it, rejected the case. but one wonders whether it would have been more useful for the court to have heard the case and then decided against it. i'm sure i won't find many takers for that idea but there is a much larger matter at play than whether or not trump's tactics worked. a poll out this week indicated 70% of republicans believe there was fraud in this election and while most of that comes from donald trump himself, he's the spark. the fuel is all around us. the momentum is fueled by fringe fiction, not facts. months ago on this show i warned that congressional candidates who hold dangerous fringe views could potentially be elected and they were. and i thought that was going to be our biggest problem moving forward. candidates whipping up conspiracies to divide voters and get elected. i failed at the time to recognize the dangers are far

greater. since november 3rd, elected members of the gop and their constituents have pushed actual lies, setting their highly selective outrage on anyone not in favor of overturning the election. it's one thing if biden's victory had been like trump's, an electoral college win, even though one person or more people voted for his opponent but 7 million more people voted for joe biden and more than 50 cases filed, not one court, not a single one, has found a single instance of vote are fraud. no multiple voting, no dead people voting, just people not voting for donald trump. to this conspiracy theorists and congressional enablers, it doesn't matter there's no evidence of voter fraud and count after recount has shown biden to be the winner each

time. they continue to fight for himself who apparently will fight for anything as long as it benefits him and has nothing to do with covid.behavior is histo. i mean hysterical and i don't mean in a funny way. from the ridiculous to increasingly dangerous steel movement that is encouraging americans to take the election into their own hands to the consistent undermining of the coronavirus, donald trump and his enablers have brought the fringe into the middle of the most important issues that this nation faces. trump empowers these fringe thinkers and they support his every distorted and dangerous idea. trump doesn't seem to care. he continues to test our norms, the constitution and freedoms under his manipulative,

fact-prebfact-pr fact-free but still substantial weight. he is, after all, still president of the united states. joining me, my guest who has been exposing and debunking information on the internet. and roger mcinnamy. you have both warned us about disinformation and misinformation but, roger, the coming together of these weird anti-coronavirus masks as a civil rights issue with in fraudulent election of which there is no proof of fraud is mind boggling to me. 70% of republicans believe this election was fraudulent? >> so, ali, the danger in this whole thing as you point out, trump is the beginning. he's the center. he's the one who starts all this

stuff. but without social media, specifically facebook, youtube, twitter, the amplification would be trivial in comparison to what it actually is. fox and oam and newsmax are also playing a role. so what happens is this environment that was created by facebook where each person is isolated in their own truman show with their own set of facts, where opinions are considered to be facts, that whole world has jumped from the onliner environment to every day life. it's going to be very hard to put this genie back in the bottle. it's going to require for the country some sort of truth and conciliation so we recognize as a country we do have shared values and a shared set of facts. we had one piece of great news this week, which was the

anti-trust case filed against facebook both by the federal trade commission and 48 states, which really is a brilliant document and i think is an example of what can happen when we put our better angels together on a problem like this. >> brandy, you warned us about this months and months ago, even before there was talk about a vaccine. there were already rumors spreading about coronavirus. i'm still thinking back to february and march where the president said it going to go down to zero and miraculously disappear. we've now seen the legitimate mizization our friend on the carpet. they are filing lawsuits. 12 of -- 126 members of congress joined that crazy texas lawsuit. how do you have disencontinuita

from this and get us back to normal or do up have the view that's not possible now? >> it's a dangerous loop between the president and what he calls his digital soldiers, it's a multi-headed monster of anti-vaccers, libertarians and monster of information that have biltd their audience and community on these platforms, just as they were intended. what we do now to combat any of this is positive messaging, correct messaging, relevant, timely correct information. but also the promotion of voices that can counter those spir sires effectively. with covid the big thing we're focused on is this vaks teen. there are tons the claims that it's the market of the beast or some big statement government

control operation. people bleach this stuff. so how do we counter that? i think we actually do have an opportunity right now to meet people, people of color, women across all races who are hesitant to take this vaccine with that positive messaging. there is a black anesthesans a a anesthesiaworker. >> you have mentioned that social media may be incompatible with democracy. it don't seem all that hyperbolic a stadium anymore.

>> when i first said it, people really challenged it. i think we do have to have a debate about whether this business model violated the constitution. these platforms are taking away people's ability to make their own decisions and allowing people to profit from this disinformation. it's a staggering lack of leadership at facebook and google and twitter. all of this, this is our problem today. we have to make a decision as a country, do we value democracy and if so, we have to get together and fix these things. >> i hope you are right. thank you for joining us. thanks to both of you.

coming up next, as we wait for pfizer to ship out the first batch of its covid vaccine from michigan this morning, we'll speak to dr. jim yeah kim makes sure each and every person gets the coronavirus, regardless of their wealth and standing in society. alth and standing in society. your home insurance, here's something you shouldn't try at home... look, liberty mutual customizes home insurance so we only pay for what we need. it's pretty cool. that is cool! grandma! very cool. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

you work hard for your money. stretched days for it. juggled life for it. took charge for it.

so care for it. look after it. invest with the expertise of j.p. morgan, either with an advisor or online, through chase. after all, it's yours. chase. make more of what's yours. the fda approval of pfizer's coronavirus drug means vaccinations may get under way hours from now. the u.s. approval comes shortly after the united kingdom began the vaccination process with elderly patients and health care workers. despite this massive step, there are concerns domestically and globally about the vaccine not reaching some who need it the most, those in areas with little access to health care and in poorer countries.

in fact, according to the gates foundation's chief executive, it may be too late for any kind of fair distribution of the vaccines because of the deals already made by rich country. just this week president donald trump signed a largely symbolic and toothless executive orlds sayi -- orders saying the united states will get the vaccine befores or. joining me is co-founder of partners in health. he has a unique position. during his time at the world bank he folk efforts on launching new financial tools to help address infrastructure needs, prevent pandemics and help refugees around the world. dr. kim, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thanks for having me, ali. it's great being with you we're already seeing signs that point to an imbalance in equitable distribution of the

vaccine globally. what's your sense of a plan to mitigate this concern or is this going to play out exactly how we expect it to play out, poor people in vaccine and those who do get it will die a lot sooner than the rest of us. >> my organization that has been working mostly in developing countries but now is working in the united states, partners in health. in massachusetts what we've learned is it's the topoor peop, living five to a one-bedroom home. they are the ones that need the most help in ensuring to stay safe. if someone is infected, arranging for them to quarantine effectively required lots of social input. we always thought building that public health ground game is a great way to tackle the social injustice issues. one of the great things about

the vaccines is we found they work very well in hispanic populations, in obese people. one of the more interesting pieces of data coming out is that 100% efficacy in african-americans in this particular trial. so the vaccine is great, but even in the united states, if we don't improve our public health ground game, being able to track people, we won't even deliver it here. but in developing countries, you've got accessibility issues, just the fact that deals have already been made, logistical issues, how are we going to find dry use and keep vaccines below zero centigrade. this is going to be a major issue. eventually, just as it came up with hiv drugs, we're going to have issue of intellectual property and whether or not we can find ways of making the same vaccines that are being made by pfizer and moderna, if there's

some way we can come to an agreement so they'll be widely available in developing countries. >> the interesting thing here is nobody's surprised by this pandemic. bill galts spotes spoke about i have prepared for it in the past. smart people knew there was going to be a pan ddemic and nobody thinks another one is not going to come. so this is the moment to fix all of those things we're talking about. i'm not convinced we're doing that. fundamentally people who don't have access to health care, we're not shifting it enough that they're going to have access to health care because of this. people who don't trust health care provision aren't necessarily going to learn to trust it through this. >> that's right. ali, this is what i've been saying from the very beginning is that, look, folks, there is a successful strategy in the world. there have been variations on it but the successful strategy in

the world has been that we build a public health response that's able to test, trace, isolate and quarantine and when you do that, there are so many creative ways that you can keep the economy going. korea has been in the news a lot. this is the country in which i was born. what they have done is so interesting. studies out of korea are among. most fascinating and illuminating because they're actually tracing every infection. so what if another version of this coronavirus that's not -- that doesn't -- that the vaccines don't work against, what if that happens? can that happen? absolutely. what if there's another flu virus? there is a way to deal with this, which is to build public health infrastructure. if you do that, that is also a huge glow for social justice. let's bring the tumultuous events. last year together. if we're concerned about social justice and concerned about covid and concerned about economic growth getting back to work, investing in public health

now is really important. i think there's great news under the biden administration, tony fauci being back in. in is really the all-star team. these are fantastic folks. they're going to have to now remake with the world health organization. they can remake the relationship with the multi-lateral investigations. and take on this great challenge. you did ook at it and you can make a case against the pandemic and for sougs justice. it's been p by building a system that keep even the poorest people healthy. i'm really worried but now i'm also really en$ that couraged w such a great team in place. >> is a new administration that actually takes us seriously going to help the situation?

you talk about south korea. you never had the problem in south korea of a leadership that didn't believe that you should do everything you should do to fight this. so thank you for that. jim, thank you for that, co-founder of partners and health, former president of the world bank and former president of dartmouth university. we'll be coming to you from another "velshi across america" special tomorrow from houston. hope is on the horizon. horizon. and i'm still going for my best. even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i'm on top of that. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. what's next? getting out there. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding.

don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. ask your doctor about eliquis. and if your ability to afford your medication has changed, we want to help. your medication has changed, ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

if you have postmenopausal and a high risk for fracture,

now might not be the best time to ask yourself, 'are my bones strong?' life is full of make or break moments. that's why it's so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones from fracture with 1 shot every 6 months. do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. serious allergic reactions like low blood pressure, trouble breathing, throat tightness, face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen. or new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. speak to your doctor before stopping, skipping or delaying prolia®, as spine and other bone fractures have occurred. prolia® can cause serious side effects, like low blood calcium, serious infections, which could need hospitalization, skin problems, and severe bone, joint, or muscle pain. don't wait for a break, call your doctor today, and ask about prolia®.

i'm in houston, and houston hospitals are some of of the first in line to receive the covid-19 vaccine upon emergency. i'm going to be here tomorrow as well, unpacking the trials that face the state. hope is on the horizon. as you know, the fda has authorized pfizer's vaccine for emergency use, meaning millions of the most vulnerable people in

the country will receive doses soochblt it couldn't come at a more dire time with nearly 16 million coronavirus cases confirmed across the world. pfizer is preparing to ship almost 3 million doses of the vaccine with states and hospitals at the ready to receive it. the pharma pledges so many by the end of the year. remember right now there's no plan by the federal government with how the vaccine will be distributed. we're going to get the latest from the ground in houston tomorrow with another velshi across america, surviving the next wave. and before we go, all eyes are on georgia as early voting begins monday in two races that could determine the fate of the united states senate. democrats raphael warnock and jon ossoff are setting their

sights on it. the runoff is january 5th. if you're a small business owner or worker facing a rough winter, send us your questions and concerns. our business experts may answer them on air tomorrow. and finally a programming note. this is a big weekend with two brand-new shows premiering on msnbc. jonathan capehart is going to be joined by eric holder on the a.g. pick. that's tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern. but that's tomorrow. don't go anywhere. my buddy tiffany cross joined by three members of the squad on the very first episode of "cross connection." that is next. you are watching msnbc. (vo) thirteen years ago,

subaru created the share the love event. where our new owners could choose a national or hometown charity. and subaru and our retailers would proudly make a donation. but now, in times like these, companies are having a hard choice to make. but subaru is more than a car company. and as charities struggle, we cannot just stand by. which is why we plan to donate over twenty four million dollars, again this year. the subaru share the love event, going on now. if you ntry gain flings. to fresh laundry they have more freshness ingredients compared to bargain liquid detergent. they have 3 super powered ingredients that fight stink oxi boost febreze odor remover and concentrated detergent. try gain flings and smell the difference. ♪

irresistibly smooth chocolate. to put the world on pause. lindor. made to melt you. by the lindt master chocolatier. man 1 vo: proof of less joint pain woman 1 oc: this is my body of proof. and clearer skin. man 2 vo: proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 2 vo: ...with humira. woman 3 vo: humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number one prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. avo: humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems,

serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. man 3 vo: ask your rheumatologist about humira. woman 4 vo: go to humira.com to see proof in action.

♪ good morning. and welcome to if very first edition of the "cross connection." look, there's a lot of breaking news this morning, and we're going to get to all of it, i promise, not the least of which the food and drug administration late friday night approved the first covid-19 vaccine, meaning americans will begin receiving it within days, and this news comes as we move closer to

300,000 americans dead from this pandemic with nearly 3,000 americans dying on friday alone. and you undoubtedly have a lot of questions about this vaccine, and we're going to be answering them throughout the show. but first i really want to tell you about this. my new home, our new home. not only is this the beginning of a dream 20 years in the making, but what a time to kick off a show like this one. it is our time. i know much of 2020 has been straight garbage, and like you i am over it, but just for a moment, i do have to say we've reached some milestones this year. we just got the news about the vaccine, so we may be able to see our friends and family again soon, i hope. we're going into a new year with one of the most diverse congresss this country has ever seen with record numbers of women of color, openly lgbtq folks, and