>> with this shipment we start to see our ability to preserve life and protect our people. we are going to defeat covid and it starts right here.

>> humbling experience to be a part of this because it is going to save a lot of lives. but, yeah, i am honored to be a part of this. some good news. >> i feel hopeful today. relieved. i feel like healing is coming. i hope this marks the beginning to the end of the very painful time in our history. >> i feel relieved. i'm just happy to be part of the solution. >> i have no qualms at all about getting this and i want people to see that if i'm standing here getting this then you should, too. >> welcome to a historic monday as the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine are being administered to health care workers across this country. i'm kasie hunt in for chuck todd.

it is an extraordinary split screen day in america. we are watching the first covid vaccinations as the u.s. death toll is about to surpass 300,000 people. we are also watching members of the electoral college gather across the country to formally select joe biden as the next president of the united states. it is effectively the end of the road for president trump's efforts to overturn the election. although president trump and his allies remain defiant. we're going to have much more on that later on in the show. but we're going to start with the images, those striking images of this historic moment in the fight against the pandemic. just a few hours ago came the first video of pfizer's vaccine being publicly administered here in the u.s. to sandra lindsay a critical care nurse at long island jewish medical center. we since watched front line medical workers inoculated in new york city and in connecticut we saw a nurse receive the

vaccine in florida at the governor's press conference and medical workers at an ohio hospital are being inoculated right now and also today we've seen images of governors like ohio's mike dewine and kentucky's andy grating u.p.s. deliveries of the vaccine at local hospitals. they are part of this first shipment of nearly 3 million doses. federal officials are hoping for 20 million vaccinations by the end of this month and up to 100 million by the end of february, if all goes according to plan. but, we are still months away from achieving any kind of herd immunity here in this country and some enormous logistical and political challenges remain including convincing enough members of the general public to take both doses of these vaccines. this all as covid continues to kill more than 2,500 people every day and as it's overwhelming hospitals across america. in providence, rhode island, where the first shot is about to

be administered there and in new york city where we just mentioned the very first vaccine in the country was administered this morning. and my friend ali velshi is in houston mohome of the world's largest medical center and medical contributor and infectious disease specialist badillia. i understand that you are awaiting the first vaccines there where you are. i think all of us have been looking at these images through the day today and feeling maybe a little bit overcome with emotion after such a difficult year. what are you seeing there? >> it's been incredibly emotional, kasie, to see what is happening and the last ten months and built up to this moment and what we were seeing early in new york. we are seeing one of the first people to get this vaccine. he just took a seat. he was standing right next to me

to get an ineterview but he was ushered over there to get the first vaccine in the state of rhode island. 785 doses and going to be delivering vaccines to their front line health workers. i interviewed her a couple hours ago and she was on the subcommittee in helping approve the vaccine in the state of rhode island. they had an extra check in approving this vaccine after the approved from the fda and cdc. now we are awaiting that moment, kas, in which we'll see that vaccine delivered to the doctor over there who is an emergency medicine physician. he has been on the front lines of this thing from the very beginning over the last ten months and seeing thousands of folks dying in his emergency room and now having the opportunity to get this vaccine and being able to safely treat patients. i've heard from so many doctors one of the reasons why they feel like this is such an incredible day and that is the beginning of the end of this pandemic and also allows them to feel safer when they're treating so many

patients because it is still very much a long road ahead. this thing is not over. it's going to take months for the general population to be able to get this vaccine. as so many health care professionals have said throughout the last couple days as we've been interviewing them. >> pretty incredible and right now we've got, yeah, no, go ahead. >> i was just going to say, kasie, you see the medical professional there administering and getting ready. speaking with the physician, with the doctor and administering this vaccine. asking him some questions and walking him through the process. i think it's important that we kind of just take a moment and watch this thing happen as it plays out because we've waited so long for it to take place. >> we really, absolutely have. and while they're finalizing here, tell me little bit about what the hospitals in rhode island have been dealing with. i know their icus have been

pretty overwhelmed as they grapple with this crisis. >> yeah, i mean, think about just since friday. they have updated numbers in rhode island but as of friday 500 patients hospitalized throughout the state. nine hospitals total in the state with a population of a million people. there are almost 50 people in the icu and 25 of those on ventilators, two field hospitals. almost 50 patients inside that field hospital. so, you think about what this state has been dealing with for the last ten months. they are at capacity. a month ago they told me they would be at capacity. >> here we go. >> he's getting the vaccine now, kas. >> and some cheering there, as that coronavirus vaccine is administered and, we're stopping with you and everyone else in that room. such a great reminder of how far we've come and, obviously, so

many thousands of americans who are still struggling who are hurting to save lost loved ones or grappling with loved ones that they can't see in the icus this a glimmer of hope and here's also hoping that being able to see these health care workers going and doing this is going to give people confidence in the vaccine and. yeah, what are you seeing there? >> i just want to say, i don't know if you saw the doctor, he actually took a deep breath. i don't know if you saw that. i am not sure if joel got a close up on that. but he took a deep breath after he got that shot in his arm. ten months he's been working in this e.r. and seeing thousands of people die throughout that time. how are you feeling, dr. alvarez. >> i represent all the high-risk health workers who put their lives on the line and for all the patients and communities this is such a special moment and we're all so excited to be safe and keep our families safe and continue providing care for

our communities. special message for our communities of color. it's really important that you get vaccinated. this is how we're going to stop the spread. it's safe. i want to make sure that you understand that. it's just so important. it really is a historic moment and i just felt that. >> i saw you take that deep breath. >> i took a deep breath. i was trying to be present, in the moment. >> thank you, appreciate it. good luck to you. >> you saw the elation and his emotion. i feel like we're all feeling it and now he's walking out of this room to let him recover for 15 minutes or so. they want to make sure to have no after effects after getting this vaccine. they want to observe him before they allow him to go back to work because we know all these health care professionals in here getting this vaccine and then going back to work. they have more work to do as we just talked about the numbers and the numbers at capacity. a real paradox of what is

happening across this country. this vaccine, this light, this hope but hospitals at capacity. >> great work and it's a great reminder that those health care workers like the doctor that you just spoke to have been, they are burned out, they are exhausted. they have been heroes for this entire year for all of us and it's really just incredible to be able to see this kind of a moment. thank you so much. ahmen, let me go to you. what have you seen throughout the day? what are they planning? a huge hospital system. when they are going to start doing what we just saw and how do they plan on rolling it out across the system? >> yeah, kasie, a lot of important questions you raised up here. i think right now two very important themes taking place in new york city. one is quality control. two is scalability. when you talk about the questions you were asking, when

is it going to start, that is a very important question. we know that as we have now seen and the rest of the country has seen the first dose was administered here in new york city earlier this morning. it's not necessarily for all hospitals. hospitals are getting those doses and they've gotten those doses and a lot of it begins with quality control and that's what we're seeing happening at the hospital behind us on the upper west side of new york city. the mt. sinai health system practicing dry runs over the weekend. so much of this has to be perfected to make sure those doses are effective. that's what hospital workers, staff workers, those that are going to be administering this vaccine to the front line workers, if you will, have to get perfect. they're not taking any chances of it. we are expecting that to ultimately get beefed up in the next couple hours and perhaps even seeing the type of images that we just saw there in rhode island. the front line workers the doctors and nurses and all getting dose. and an issue of scalability. once you now have that rolled out to the front line workers and nursing homes, you have to

deal with a very dense city, very populated city, a city with very mixed backgrounds and attitudes about this vaccine. and that is something that is not lost on officials here as they begin to roll out and try to get those numbers of those that are vaccinated to a very high number. they want to get it up to 75%, 80%. a lot of symbolism about what happened in new york and the image we saw today. a lot of people, obviously, remember new york was at one point the epicenter of the covid virus and the death toll staggering and hurting one of america's iconic cities and as a result of that, officials here want to make sure they also not repeat the mistakes of early on. they want to communicate the signal and importance of getting vaccinated to communities of color, different languages and all of that is making this a very, very uphill effort, if you will. but for the time being as we've seen here in this hospital right now it's about making sure they get the practice and the science of getting those doses down to a tee so nothing is lost once that process gets under way. kasie.

>> we've come so far from that now infamous image of the new york nurse who later died of covid wearing trash bags in new york city hospitals to this moment. ayman, thank you very much. ali velshi, let me go to you. you're in texas and some similar challenges to what ayman was describing and some different issues, as well. you were talking to officials about what to do especially in rural areas where the logistics of keeping this vaccine cold is important and the importance of convincing skeptical communities to take it. what have you learned on the ground? >> texs sias is the second most populous state but really a country. the geographic diversity and here in houston this is home to the texas medical center. the biggest hospital complex in the world. it's a number of hospitals

together, hospital system. but they are getting, they got the coronavirus vaccine today. 19,500 doses came to houston and san antonio and dallas and austin. they're going to get another 75,000 doses or so tomorrow. another 100,000 through the course of the week. now, of the 224,000 doses coming to texas, houston is getting about 59,000 of those and they will not start putting them into people's arms until wednesday. when you get to other outlining places you have three different populations who have problems with the vaccine. fi first of all across the country african-americans have skepticism because of experiments that were done and things done to that community. acceptance race in the general populations are between 60% and 70% and amongst african-ameri n african-americans in the low 40s. hispanic population across the state but in the rio gran grandevalley where multiple family units and also a distrust of government-led things and they have been suffering for a

long time with higher instances of coronavirus than the rest of the state. the third thing you've got is areas that are very, very rural where they've got two problems. one, not a lot of pharmacists and doctors and there aren't a lot of places to store minus 70 degree centigrade vaccine, but also a lot of people who are not really into the masks and not into the mandates and, you know, there's that problem, as well. so, texas is going to have a logistical challenge in getting this vaccine to everyone but they do have the infrastructure generally speaking to do it and the vaccine will start going into people's arms on wednesday, kasie. >> i'm sure that the health care workers down there who have been waiting for so long are going to look forward to that day now just two days away for folks down there. ali velshi, thank you. in fact, let's just start with your reaction and your feelings in seeing the pictures of these shots getting started here.

>> so, kasie, i'm getting a little teary eyed to say that the health care systems in this country have been, highly affected and devastated in some areas is an underestimation because we as health care workers have been there every step of the way. witness to how painful this has been to our patients' families and to our patients and to see this, it is a sea of public health and science that we are where we are and probably receiving my own vaccine in the next couple weeks and i'm taking it because i've been convinced by the data that the fda has put out from the pfizer study and i've been convinced that the transparency that the fda pursued and because i think that it's going to make a difference making sure that we have both health care workers now and long-term facility folks getting the highest risk vaccinated. i hope what this does is build confidence in the rest of our population. seeing us take it and seeing us take it and knowing that it's

safe and it's showing to be effective. >> it's such an important point. and on that very point, you i know have focused on and people will have to start to make this decision in their own lives. what am i doing? we heard some positive news from our health officials in the last two days that they think the general public may have access to this as soon as late march early april. how do you address concerns people do have about the vaccine. a new technology known as mrna technology. how do you explain to your patients and others about why you're confident in that technology? >> yeah, kasie, there are a couple things people are worried about when i talk to them about this technology. one they're worried, how do we get the vaccine so quickly and just to explain, i think this is a technology that we've known about for almost a decade. right, we've been perfecting it and really gained from the knowledge of sars and mers and what really got us to where we

are is at-risk manufacturing and the cost or the government sort of paid for the process so companies could move forward with the trials. the trials themselves did not cut any corners. that's one element. the other questions i get about the technology it is fl. what is a messenger rna and gene based vaccine and i want to clarify an instruction that you get via this vaccine that you're one of the many of your cells take inside your cell that is away from your own dna, not in the nucleus. there you have your cells machinery that preproduces that protein and that protein is released and your body basically has the combat simulation. your immune system gets used to that protein that is supposed to be found in the virus and you build that immunity and the only thing that lasts is that immune memory.

>> such an important point. it is, as you point out, very complicated and difficult process to explain but it's why it's so important that we have you here and that people talk to their own health care providers as they look forward to getting this vaccine. doctor, for families who are thinking about this, what do you say to pregnant women and to children or parents who are concerned about when they should vaccinate their children. what is your thinking or advice to those groups of people? >> kasie, for the pregnant women this weekend the cdc advisory committee says that, you know, they should discuss this with their physician. pregnant women are not excluded at this time. pregnant women were included and that there was no safety issues with some of the earlier studies that were done with this vaccine, as well, in pregnant women. so, right now they say the pregnant women should speak to their physician and if you

already have covid-19 that some of the other questions that have come up over the weekend are, what if i already had covid-19 and what the cdc says is that you can still get the vaccine unless you have covid-19 right now in which case you just need to recover from that and be at the end of your isolation and then you should qualify to get it. however, we think most people might be immune for those three months. you won't get a reinfection. you want to delay until three months after you had that infection. but kids we need a little bit more data. a few more studies put together by the manufacturers and regardless given that they're at lower risk, they're likely to be at the end of the line anyway because, you know, we have essential workers after health care workers and then we have patients who are 65 years or older or other medical comorbidities because they have the greater chance of having a more severe disease. >> all right, dr. bhadelia, thank you so much for being here. i'm sure we will be talking to you really soon. we appreciate your time and your

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>> former vice president joseph biden has received 20 electoral votes for president from the great state of illinois and kamala harris received 20 electoral votes for vice president of the united states. >> here we have six votes for donald j. trump for president of the united states and six votes for vice president of the united states. >> the electorates have cast three votes for president of the united states and three votes for kamala d. harris for vice president of the united states. welcome back. some of the sights and sounds from the electoral college voting that is going on across the country today. it's a ritual of our american democracy that doesn't usually

get a lot of fan fare. i'm not sure i have seen it like that before, but it is, of course, taken on an added significance this time around as president trump continues to try to overturn those election results. per the constitution, electors in all 50 states and d.c., 538 in total, must meet on the same day to cast their electoral college ballots. that day is today. and by the end of the day, joe biden will have crossed the 270 electoral vote threshold and will be officially the president-elect. moments ago, electors in wisconsin and pennsylvania officially cast their votes for biden. joining me now following the president-elect in wilmington is mike memoli. mike memoli, let me start with y you. we're expecting joe biden to

deliver a primetime address to mark this momentous day a day that usually passes without a lot of fanfare but considering we have a president that has still not conceded it has taken on that additional significance. what should we expect from him tonight? >> well, kasie, really interesting. we saw the biden transition team yesterday do something they haven't done in weeks really since that initial week after election day but before we had a declaration which is talk about the election results. we saw his chief strategist laying out what they called a historic victory in terms of victory that they believe we sort of underappreciated in terms of the mandate they believe joe biden has. since the fight really moved from the ballot box to the courtroom, the biden team and biden himself have been really rather silent about this. the trump team talking at all times really and tweeting regularly about what we're seeing play out in the courts. so, the biden side letting the courts do the talking and tonight i think is an indication

of how joe biden himself used this moment. it's a moment for him to finally speak in a real way to the whole country about what he has promised to do really throughout the campaign which is try to unite this country. the biden team also saying on friday that they believe that this is a really important milestone as it relates to reaching out to republicans trying to get nominations moving on capitol hill. meetings with senators and it was interesting we heard yesterday from lamar alexander saying he believed this was a moment where he hopes the president will begin to acknowledge what has happened. but importantly, kasie, as you well know, lamar alexander a retiring republican senator and it's unclear at this point we'll hear more from the president-elect tonight in terms of what his message is specifically for republicans but how this moment will pass for the republicans who will remain in congress, who will remain in the senate and that biden is going to have to be having to

work with. seems like at all times they say they will look to this moment as a moment that might turn the page. but the president shows no sign of turning the page. >> that is for sure. yes, you're right, a different set of rules seem to govern republicans who are leaving versus those who are staying. interesting test whether the senate is senate or if we've entered a new hyperpartisan era that is really here to stay. to this question, monica alba, does the president be willing to acknowledge he lost the election? >> no indication of that, kasie. if his twitter feed is a prediction he spent time fuming and deflecting blame as he did about the incredible news of the vaccine distribution process starting in the united states today. so that shows you a little bit of where the president's head is at. he is still fixated on this

issue. he continues to repeat baseless claims of election fraud when we know those are unsubstantiated and i just pressed white house press secretary mcenamy whether we will hear from the president and she did not give us any other clear picture as to the president like the incoming one, will be reflecting on this electoral college result today or whether he'll even accept it. she didn't even want to take that question on. i think that's extremely telling. this is a president who likes to counter program and counterpunch but we don't know if he has plans to speak this afternoon or evening. i think in many ways when you're going to hear from joe biden later tonight, this is a speech about signaling to the country it's time to move on. but there may be a very particular audience and the current occupant of the white house who has yet to accept that for himself. kasie. >> well, i guess we will find

out. we will be watching his twitter feed, as always. and, of course, i want to go to vaughn hillyard on this. real-world consequences. this is not just something that he is sending out into the either. the michigan capital received credible threats of violence and, vaughn, my understanding is now that this is going to be closed to the public essentially because they're so worried about everybody's safety. what are you expecting in lancing and how is what the president has done with his supporters in trying to convince them that the election was fraudulent. how has that actually affected people out in the states who are having to do this voting today? >> exactly, kasie. you're right. as monica was talking about the president of the united states, we should note this is more than just one man who is not giving up the fight. well, the president maybe said over the weekend, quote, it's

not over. that is what you're also hearing from the likes of folks on the ground. i talked to a gentleman who i first met four years ago and talked to him on the phone on the way in and he said the decks have been against this president and as far as we're concerned as an electorate, we'll continue to stand by this president. that is a message here. that came down, i think in a very uncomfortable way here. there is a state legislature here in michigan this morning, kasie, that appeared on a local radio interview and suggested that next hour there will be a, quote, as he called it, hail mary effort. some way of stopping this electoral college meeting here in michigan from taking place. what does that look like? it's not clear. but that particular state legislature would not tamp down expectations that could include violence. the republican house speaker here immediately removed that state legislator and said no tolerance for violence.

that meeting in michigan slated for the next hour. you said it, a legislative official who told us credible threats of violence here. that is why members of the house and senate here in michigan were told do not come to work today because these capital grounds had been closed to everybody but those 16 michigan electors as well as the likes of that other officials and the chief justice of the michigan supreme court. so, yes, this is more than a ceremonial act. this is very real here this afternoon, kasie. >> indeed, it is. vaughn hillyard, mike memoli, thank you for being here. appreciate it. the electoral college is not the only voting today. today is the first day of early voting in the georgia senate runoff races. start of three weeks of early voting before election day on january 5th. as people wait in line to vote

in person today, we also know 1.2 million absentee ballots requested for this race. almost as high as the number that was requested at this point for the general election. all of the candidates will be hitting the trail this week and democrats will be getting a boost from president-elect joe biden. he's campaigning in georgia tomorrow. coming up next here, with time running out, the bipartisan group of lawmakers trying to get a covid bill passed has not one but two proposals set to be released today. plus, keeping our eyes on locations across the country as front line workers start getting vaccinated today. we'll talk to another one of them coming up ahead. #1 for psoriasis symptom relief* and #1 for eczema symptom relief* gold bond champion your skin introducing the new sleep number 360 smart bed. now temperature balancing, so you can sleep better together. can it help keep me asleep?

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question. later on today, a bipartisan group of negotiators are going to release the details of two proposals they agreed on over the weekend. a friday deadline to pass legislation and despite this weekend's break through among the small group of negotiators, democrats and republicans remain divided over the size and focus of any relief bill. joining me now is nbc correspondent leeann caldwell and ali velshi from houston where he has been talking to people struggling economically. clearly, people are trying to figure out how to get past these two big issues. democrats wanting state and local money. republicans wanting liability protections for companies. but it's not clear to me yet that the path toic atually getting this done has been cleared. what's your latest reporting where we stand is the. >> yeah, hey, kasie.

it's complicated and the reason is this bipartisan group of negotiators are trying to fill a vacuum of lack of discussions and talks between leaderships. after weeks of working on their own proposal, they ran into the same problems that was vaccine leadership. they cannot agree on how to move forward on these two issues, the liability protection which is what republicans want and the state and local funding which is what the democrats are demanding. what are they going to do? they're moving forward today and unveiling legislation but they're separating their proposal. they're releasing a $750 plan of everything that people do agree on like unemployment insurance extension, small business loans, money for vaccine distribution and then they're introducing a second proposal that includes these controversial components. but the question is as you posted at the top, where does it

go from here? nothing moves forward without the support of house speaker nancy pelosi and senate majority and none have given their backing behind this proposal. we'll watch closely what they say and how they act around it and, of course, this other third dynamic which is the president and the white house. the president has been indicating that he wants direct stimulus checks included and that is not part of this proposal, kasie. >> all right, leighann caldwell on capitol hill. unfortunately, ali, we crossed a grim milestone. 300,000 americans dead from covid-19. just updated crossing that really, really awful milestone. so many families who are going to be without their loved ones this holiday season. so many others who are fighting

for their lives in icus right now and, of course, so many people who are hurting because with this spike, there are inevitably more restrictions and more fear in terms of going about activities that would help people keep restaurants and bars open and i want to make sure and the focus i know leigh ann's great reporting but the people you are talking to, these are the people who need help from their government to try and get through these months of the pandemic before the vaccine can really take hold. what are they telling you about what they need and what are their demands, frankly, for lawmakers that have let them down so far? >> i've been doing this every week going out and talking to people all over the country and small business owners and america's business is unique in that small businesses employ so many people. and their stories are very similar. i went to a place called katie,

texas, 30 miles west of here and a young woman, a marine vet, who runs a winery there. she opened up a winery named erma rose winery and named it after her two grandmothers and started the business in 2018 and really got things up and running in 2019 and then covid hit. here's a little of what she told me. >> those first two weeks were very tough. i had to furlough some employees and it was sad. i didn't know if i would have my business at the end of the day. >> do you feel like you can make it to the other side? >> i hope so. i feel confident i can. i have a loyal customer base and i hope that it grows and continues to grow. >> you made it this far. what is your advice to people who are struggling right now who are having the exact same thoughts you are whether they will have enough money to buy their supplies and enough money to pay the rent and pay their employees. what is your message to them? >> take a mental and physical break. don't think about it 24/7. i know at first i did that, but

i had to remind myself to take a break. >> you know, so, these people are hoping. they're so excited that the vaccine is coming out but they know that you've been reporting, average people who are not in a nursing home or front line workers may not start getting this thing until february or maybe later. maybe the middle of summer before everybody gets this. when does it get back to normal? these people have to pay rent, workers, insurance, suppliers all the time. they're waiting for this plan that leigh ann is talking about but in there there is not support for small businesses. a lot of companies say you can't take a loan if you gave it to me because i don't know how i would pay it back. we have to focus on this. the good news i'm hearing, kasie, customers are stepping up. people are thinking about the businesses in their communities and say how can i help you in the other end? they are thinking of buying small to these businesses that

can't make it to the other side. there is light at the end of the tunnel, but pretty far for a lot of small businesses. >> it is. and there are a lot of communities that are going to lose valuable pillars in their communities as this drags on and on without much help. ali and leigh ann thanks for all your reporting. still here on "mpt daily." continue the reporting on day one of vaccine distribution. i'll hand the baton to my colleague with a doctor who is expecting to get the vaccine any minute now. stay with us.

welcome back to "meet the press daily" everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin. outside mt. sinai hospital a vaccine being delivered and across the country. kasie hunt will be back with us in a few moments. first 170,000 doses of the vaccine in new york. you know, they were received, they went out to some of the state's largest hospitals this morning. no hiccups on that front. u.p.s. delivered these vaccines to new york university medical center just a few hours ago and, of course, the first front line health care worker there scheduled to start receiving their shots. that is supposed to get under way in the next hour or so. vaccine doses also went to long island jewish medical center in queens where the state's first

vaccination took place just a few hours ago and, of course, we also expect to see vaccinations start not too long before in the hospital behind me here in mt. sinai. i'm here with dr. lagom who runs the emergency room and he's the chair of the department. great to have you with us. let's talk a little bit about what we know so far in terms of the rollout of this vaccine. can you give us an update to when we can expect doctors to likely get vaccinated? >> i will be getting the vaccine tomorrow. i actually just found that out about an hour ago. it was done in a way that we turn to the department and we had the highest risk departments first, the emergency department and icu and it's across the entire department. so, it's doctors, nurses and it's techs and it's our environmental services. anyone who is really patient facing. it's just arriving and a large, logistical work to do to get it rolled out and by tomorrow by early tomorrow afternoon i think we'll be giving it out and i'll

be one of the recipients. >> let me ask you this about how you're feeling. a lot of people are watching this. you are by the very definition of the word, a front line worker. you work in emergency medicine and people coming in and a lot of them, obviously, you're dealing with a lot of covid patients and i'm front line worker. i'm curious about how it will change your reality. >> i didn't know until this morning and i was excited. i think it will make us feel more comfortable. we're still in for a couple tough months, but i think as providers out there, the faster it gets out the more people get it and the mother we're we're a comfortable. >> how do you go about your professional or daily life. a lot of people say this is the beginning of the end. there may be a false sense of security, a desire to get back to normal as quick as possible,

and i'm curious to get how you feel about that change. what will change about the way you do your job? >> it's the beginning. so initially there is probably very little that will change how we do our job. from the data that we have we believe it is safe and very effective. we don't know yet is it effective at completely eradicating disease? can you not get it at all? so until y we know that we're going to take the same precautions, wear ppe, do the same social distancing, and it's not going to change right away. i think it will give us a sense of the chance of getting covid being severely affected go way, way down. i think that will make us feel better. >> you said you deal with a lot of folks that are asking you

about a vaccine. what are you telling them to give them some confidence about it. >> i didn't know i was going to but i signed up right away. i believe the science is sound, i believe the data is good, and i believe the safety profile is appropriate. so i'm more than willing and happy to go early. i think i need to understand my side effects. it is not no side effects, there are some, but it is limited and relevant. so they're asking me all sorts of questions about that. while not necessarily a vaccine expert i can read the update data and translate back that this is what happened, this is why it is safe, and this is what i believe.

>> thank you for all of the work, all of the information you're sharing. thank you. >> that was dr. eric lagome, kaci, back to you. >> thank you for that. as the first vaccines are being administered, we're following estae hesitation that some communities have over taking it. antonia, good to see you, there is a good reason for the distrust that many in communities of color have of the medical system. how are the nurses that you talk to handling it and what is their message to their community? >> this is the site where the first person in the state of new jersey will get vaccinated

tomorrow. only 50% of them feel ready to take this vaccine. as you speak to them, and the factors are many people have lost loved ones and they're hidden. they have less trust in the institutions they believe are supposed to fold them. there is a long history of medical abuse of black patients throughout this. there is a political element here, too. black people in newark are not the biggest fans of president trump. they believe it was rushed, blit sized, and they feel his association with it makes it sound more risky, frankly. take a listen to this

conversation that i had with the nurses here. >> show your hand if you will take this vaccine. >> eventually. >> if it is approved. >> why is there a lack of trust? >> our history. similar ways, spearmints of black women. when you don't see people of color you don't know who to trust. >> so i was pretty surprised to see right there in front of my face that only half of them raised their hands, but that traus piece will be key. he told me he expected that trust issue to be the major

bottle next as they cry to get people here fvaccinated. they're trying to fix it by sending black health care workers and faith leaders into the community, but they have to take their time and listen. you can't fix hundreds of years of hurt and fix that with one conversation. >> thank you very much for that reporting. thank you all of you for being with us here this hour. chuck will be back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily." if you're up early check me every morning on "way too early" don't go anywhere, we will continue our coverage with katy tur after the break. ade a cloude 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.

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good afternoon, it is 11:00 a.m. out west, 2:00 p.m. on the east. mark this day on the calendar of american history. for the first morning in nearly a year we woke up to something more than just optimism. we woke up and threw the first punch back against this pandemic. right now coronavirus vaccines are going into people's arms in the united states. after all we have been through we're at the very beginning of the end of t