good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington where the fda is reporting highly favorable results from a second vaccine produced by moderna and is scheduled to grant authorization to moderna. the big news for moderna this morning is its vaccine is 94% effective and appears to help prevent the spread of asymptomatic infection, unlike the pfizer vaccine. it doesn't need to be stored at arctic temperatures, which is a very big deal. how many doses could be immediately available? i'll ask the head of operation warp speed in just a few moments. but first, more images of hope this morning, vaccines administered to health care workers in new jersey, florida, and howard university right here in washington, d.c. these are just some of the nearly 3 million americans who could be vaccinated by the end

of this week. but as the vaccines are coming online, the virus continues to spread at an alarming rate. now one in 20 americans have contracted this virus. and more than 301,000 americans have died. joining me now, nbc's yasmin vossoughian is at yale new haven hospital in connecticut where they'll begin to administer vaccines to health care workers today. nbc's valerie castro is in el paso, texas, where officials just announced curfews on christmas and new year's. yasmin, i know there are high spirits there among the health workers waiting to get the vaccine. what are they saying to you? >> reporter: think about what's been taking place in this state over the last two weeks, andrea. in the last two weeks there's been more deaths in this state than in the entire month of november. they're getting 30,000 doses of this vaccine over the next two weeks or so. this hospital alone, 2,000 of those doses, andrea, we saw delivered this morning. and the staff, the pharmacy

staff, the folks that receive these vaccines at first off the fedex truck, they were elated, they were cheering as this small box was rolled in, holding almost 2,000 doses of that vaccine. in this hospital behind me, there's been 741 deaths total since march. there's three out of four beds at this point occupied, covid beds, alone. 57 patients are on ventilators currently and 433 people are currently hospitalized with covid. one of the people that is going to be getting this vaccine first is dr. obugawu, an infectious disease specialist. he was head of the pfizer vaccine trials through this entire process here for yale new haven. what does it feel like that you'll be getting this vaccine in an hour or so? >> it's hard to even package my feelings together. it's excitement. as one of the researchers running the clinical trials for

the vaccine here at yale, as a doctor caring for covid patients on the front line, even as a father worried i could take the disease back home, i'm happy on so many levels that i can hopefully get protected from the disease. >> reporter: talk about the trepidation of people, what does it mean to put yourself out there to say i am getting this vaccine? >> i hope for communities of color, to which i belong, i hope that seeing someone on the front lines of the vaccine process, eager to get the vaccine, i hope that can reinforce people's confidence that the vaccines are safe and effective as they were found to be. >> reporter: now you're going to be getting the vaccine that you worked on, that you studied and researched, an incredible moment for the doctor here, andrea. as you can imagine. he's going to be getting that shot in his arm in just about an

hour or so, on the road to stopping this upon the issues thus joined six or seven months or so hopefully when they're able to deliver vaccines to the general population. >> yasmin, what a great validater that doctor is, the researcher, a person of color, someone who knows the science and is now getting the vaccine. such a symbol of hope to all of us. thank you so much for that. and now to valerie, where in el paso the vaccine can't get to that community soon enough. so hard hit by all of this, valerie. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: andrea, el paso was extremely hard hit by this pandemic. but today there is a bright spot in all of this. the first shipment of the vaccine is expected to arrive here at the university medical center, really any minute now. we're here in the loading dock area behind the hospital. you can see some of their media there. we're waiting for that ups truck to pull in just around that corner. they were expecting 2,900 doses to be delivered in this first

shipment. of course it will arrive in ultracold temperatures, it will be put directly into storage here at the hospital. when it's ready to be used, it will be thawed out, that will take several hours. once at room temperature, it will be ready to be administered to those first front line workers. again, we talked about thow el paso was hard hit by this virus. the hospital spokesperson tells us after all that dire news, today is certainly a bit of hope in all of this. take a listen. >> we are excited. this is a day that we've all waited for. there is a palpable sense of excitement in all of our staff. we're looking forward to getting these vaccines here. as soon as the vaccines arrive in very short order, we're going to put them to use. we're going to start vaccinating our staff. and these are the front line workers, the people there day in and day out, working with covid-19 patients, the ones that

have seen the difficulty, the strive, the heartache this disease has brought on our city. >> reporter: the hospital tells us they plan to use all of those doses, all 2,900, over the next five days. that will trigger another shipment. this will all roll out in phases, of course. the first phase, as he talked about, is front line workers. the second phase will be the elderly in early 2021. and phase iii will be the general public, possibly sometime in april. andrea? >> at least some good news there for el paso, thank you very much, yasmin vossoughian and valerie castro. joining me now, dr. moncef slaoui, chief adviser of operation warp speed. big news today, moderna expected to receive emergency use authorization approval from the fda as early as friday. first, how many doses do you think the u.s. will get? what day do you actually think the first shots can be put in arms?

>> yeah, so very exciting day indeed. second day of shipment of the pfizer vaccine approved last week. thursday, the fda will be reviewing in public moderna filed with vrbpac, the advisory committee. hopefully on friday the expectation is that the vaccine will be approved. its efficacy, its safety, its performance is broadly similar if not identical to that of the pfizer vaccine. its cold chain requirements are actually less stringent in that it requires the cold of a freezer like the freezers we have at home. and those vaccine doses will start to be shipped as of 24 hours after the approval. hopefully they will be arriving next monday. about 6 million doses will be shipped to about 3,200 sites. overall, in the month of december, between the two vaccines, pfizer and moderna vaccine, we expect to have immunized 20 million of our

american people and keeping 20 million doses for their second immunization a few weeks later. >> so you're still on track for the 20 million doses that last week during the briefing are expected before the end of the year? >> yes. we are actually expecting 40 million doses to have been produced before the end of the year. we will use 20 million for the first dose, in 20 million people, and we'll keep the 20 million for a second immunization a few weeks later. >> there are some very positive indications on the americamoder least from the preliminary information they released today, not just the 94% efficacy but also talk to me about whether or not it can prevent transmission of asymptomatic covid virus. >> so, really important information released indeed, two important things. one, efficacy was 100% against

severe disease. efficacy was very high in the people 65 years of age and older, also in our diverse population, between the latinos and african-americans and native americans. so efficacy across the line, excellent. and secondly, indeed, early data showing up to 65 to 70% efficacy against acquiring infection thanks to the immunization. if you are not infected, of course you will not be transmitting the virus to others. the data obtained and described is after the first dose only, there will be more data that i hope will confirm and even achieve a higher level of protection against infection which would help us not only to protect against this disease, but also potentially eliminate the virus circulation from the population and then more quickly

impact the overall population. >> so in this one regard, if not others, is this actually a better result than what the initial results were from pfizer? doctor slaoui, can you still hear me? >> yes, i can hear you now. >> we're going to take a quick break. >> i can hear you. >> can you hear me now? >> yes. >> okay. i was asking whether in this one regard, about preventing infection, is that a better result than what was seen initially from pfizer so far? >> first, pfizer hasn't yesterday analyzed their data for protection from infection. it is a higher hurdle and therefore a better outcome, even better. my expectation is that prevention of disease by these

vaccines will last quite long, maybe prevention of infection to the level we're seeing, maybe shorter-lasting, maybe lasts three, four, six months, when prevention of disease in my humble opinion as an expert is probably going to last a year or two years, three years. but all in all, the performance frankly of these vaccines is just exceptionally good, and their safety payrorofile is ver good, very similar to that of already-approved vaccines. >> and were there any other contraindications regarding allergic reactions or pregnant women or any of the other categories that might cause some concerns? >> right. so the allergic contraindication is four people who have known

allergies to components of the vaccine. and the uk has decided that people who have severe allergies to the point that they are carrying an epipen should be careful in being immunized in a setting where they can have support in case they have a very, very severe allergic reaction. i should stress that in the clinical trials there were no such events for both vaccines. so those are likely to be very exceptionally rare events. but the statistics are such that maybe one in 100,000 events happens the first time and not when you get to the 100,000. in terms of pregnant women, the studies are starting to be able to study this vaccine now that we know that there is clearly an expected benefit to immunize pregnant women and assess the safety of the vaccine. again, the expectation, frankly, is that it should be okay but it

is important to document it and study it before it's labeled. >> because of the federalist system, the federalism system in the u.s., the governors are in charge. we don't seem to have a centralized, uniform way to report and measure where vaccines have been received and administered and to whom. there's no national system in place. wouldn't it be beneficial to have that? >> well, i mean, of course that's philosophical system. of course in the uk there is a national centralized system. here it's not the case, however we have worked to create an i.t. system that is able to connect the various data sources so that we would be able to have an integrated view of the system. i think also, frankly, the size and complexity of the u.s. is such that it would be very hard,

at least in terms of deciding where to sent vaccines, it would be very hard to have the granular view required to say, you know, let's start with this particular nursing home rather than the next one in the next zip code across all of the u.s. we realize that it's really very complex, and it's probably better done with better judgment if it's done at a more local level such as a state. >> a very renowned medical journalist, laurie garrett, has been talking about the supply chains and shortages of essential materials, components of the vaccines, which is lead to go fewer doses from pfizer so far than might have been anticipated. she was diagnosing it as, part of the problem, the same materials are needed for testing

as for the vaccine manufacture, and a big surge in testing before thanksgiving led to fewer vaccine doses. >> since the start we realized that supply of raw materials as well as supply of equipment needed to manufacture the vaccine will be a potential challenge, particularly for certain components. and this is one of the things that the operation, thanks to in particular my colleague general perna at the department of defense, has worked hard to create a priority pass through the defense production act, to ensure priority access to raw materials, to equipment, et cetera. i think the situation we're living in is one where there are many vaccines being manufactured, some of which are being approved as we speak, a week apart, some of which are

completing their phase iii trials, and some of the equipment and the raw materials that they are using are similar. so we have to ensure that we distribute these raw materials appropriately, given that the strategy is to have as many vaccines approved as possible so that we can accumulate as many doses as possible. for instance, one of the vaccines that's coming immediately after the moderna one is the johnson & johnson vaccine. it's a one-shot vaccine that comes with quite a number of advantages in terms of distribution and immunization. and we need to ensure that we are able, again, to stockpile some doses of vaccine, of that vaccine, while we are also ensuring that the pfizer vaccine is produced and the moderna vaccine is produced. we think frankly that we are able to support all the players appropriately. as you know, we is signed an option for a second 100 million doses with moderna on friday. and we are working with pfizer to ensure that similar agreement

is reached very shortly and likewise with the other manufacturers. >> and very briefly, when do you think johnson & johnson might be done with phase iii and ready to submit for the emergency authorization? >> so the johnson & johnson trial phase iii will actually close recruitment two days from now, on thursday. we expect the first readout of efficacy early in january of 2021. we expect filing, if everything goes according to plan and if the vaccine is efficacious, somewhere very late in january of 2021, and an approval in february, authorization by the fda, and we are gearing up to have enough vaccine doses as of the month of february to immunize a significant number of americans. >> dr. slaoui, thank you again. people are very grateful, of course, for the progress so far,

and the anticipation of more progress to come. thanks for being with us today. >> thank you for having me. >> you bet. and the number of people who are hungry in this country is staggering. the crisis exacerbated by the pandemic. more than 50 million americans will not have enough to eat this year, potentially including 17 million children. today msnbc is joining nbc news on all of our programming to highlight work being done around the country to combat the crisis in food insecurity, intensified by the pandemic. one organization that started fighting this problem right away in march is world central kitchen. it's already provided more than 33 million meals in more than 400 cities. joining me now is chef jose andr andres, founder of world central kitchen and the chef and owner of the food group. thank you for being with us, chef. as you know well, this national

hunger crisis is so exacerbated because of covid. what are your immediate solutions? >> well, our solution is what we've been doing since february when we began responding to covid, feeding many people that were stranded on a cruise ship in yokohama, japan. we never stopped since then. this is very simple. this is the biggest emergency as a country we've face incod in t last hundred years. we have a government agency called fema which it is emergency organization. we have a hunger crisis. we have people who have been suffering in this pandemic. why fema doesn't activate itself on this pandemic? they don't need any approval from congress. the white house can do this without any legislation. we are in the middle of the holidays, hanukkah, christmas coming. wouldn't it be the logical thing to do, to make sure that

congress and in this case the white house and fema put all their resources to feed everybody in need? we can do it, we should do it. if we are leaving americans hungry, it's because there is not the political will. >> you made this very explicit in a column in "the washington post." the federal government, you wrote, gives food banks about $20 per hungry american per year. now in the pandemic, congress is struggling just to add 80 cents to that for each member of a family of four that's literally less than a can of beans. you're saying take the fema money already appropriated because this gridlock in congress isn't going to do much for hungry americans who are going to food lines in unprecedented numbers. >> this is a very important moment, to be bold. food can be the solution and not the problem. let's make sure we build shorter walls and longer tables. why we don't change things that

they've been like this for 50 years? the last white house summit has been in 1969. it's the last time really we take a look at how we keep america fed. when we give people food stamps, if we increase for families the amount we give them in food stamps, but we have to diversify ways families can use those food stamps. why not use it in the local diners, in the local food bank, in the local supermarket? why are people already suffering in the poor parts of our cities, why they cannot be spending that money in their own neighborhoods, in the cross creating jobs, in the process creating economic growth, in the process giving people dignity they deserve, there are many other ideas we can be doing right now not only to fix the problems from covid-19 but also building more resilience with

food systems. once again, a plate of food gives dignity to americans falling behind. for some reason, the white house and in this case the senate are not putting all the resources of the federal government to make sure that every american, republicans and democrats, that are suffering right now, will be fed, especially going through this holiday season and beyond. >> you're also calling for a secretary of food asxand agricultur agriculture. do you believe the agriculture department has not put food foremost of the? the incoming secretary, tom vilsack, was the secretary of agriculture under the obama

administration. >> i believe secretary vilsack would agree with me. there were obviously criticisms of things that the obama administration and vilsack didn't do. but his experience is broad, he understands the challenge and i think he will be there for the challenge. i will say i will show my support if he is going to be bringing new ideas to keep america fed. but food is more than the usda. food is immigration. i just came from honduras and guatemala where people are suffering. if we don't do something there with the help of usaid, we'll have people coming to our borders. i believe food is so much more than the usda. that's why i'm calling for a 2022 white house food summit so we can bring people with various

ideas about how once and for all food will be the solution for many of the problems we are facing. i think president biden is going to be up to the task. a few weeks ago he gave me the opportunity to do a town hall where the main issue was food and he has shown already kind of an understanding that food should be the priority of this administration, of the biden/harris administration. i'm going to be watching, but i do believe that they are going to be putting every resource the federal government has to make sure that, again, food becomes part of the solution and not the problem. >> and of course, as you have pointed out in all of your work, helping the food distribution by helping restaurants that have been hit so hard by the pandemic. thank you for all you're doing, we will stay on this as we know you are. thanks for today. and food banks and food pantries are being overwhelmed during the coronavirus crisis. 40% of people who are going to

food banks this year have never before used them, according to feeding america. if you want to help, grab your phone, open up the camera and hold it up to the screen. the rest of the segment, you'll see that qr code at the bottom right corner. point your army at it. you'll be taken directly to today.com where you can support feeding america. for more on the people helping during the season, nbc's morgan radford is at the greater food depository in oregon. tell us how people can help. >> reporter: andrea, we're standing right now with the helpers and heroes in this warehouse. if you look around the room and see the hundreds of people who are here trying to make sure that food can get into the hands of people who need it. just to give you a big picture sense, this is a food depository. this is where everything starts. this is where people go to actually pack these boxes and distribute them to food pantries so that they can get to the people who need them. these volunteers, you can see them holding apples.

they're putting them if boxes. these boxes will then get loaded into trucks and they'll go to serve. the bottom line is, andrea, this is a need that's unlike any the people who work here say they've seen before. in fact i would love to introduce you to jim. jim, you work here, you've been working here. explain the scale of the need your seeing this year. >> the need we've seen this year because of covid and job loss is unlike anything we've seen in our 41-year history as a food bank. >> reporter: why do you think that is, what are some things you're hearing from people? >> we know this pandemic and its economic effects has deeply affected our community, people's ability to earn a living. children have been out of school in some districts. just a lot of challenges for families that were already living paycheck to paycheck. >> reporter: what does that mean for your workers and your volunteers? i understand they're putting in extra hours, working overtime, because it sounds like you guys are moving an unprecedented amount of food. can you explain that? >> we are, our food distribution

so far this fiscal year is up by more than 50% over last year. our team has been doing a phenomenal job working extra hard. and we have the help of volunteers like the folks in this room who are coming in to help us repack apples for our neighbors in need and do so many other things to keep the food going. >> reporter: and i think as jim was explaining, andrea, feeding america estimates the food insecurity in this region, in cook county, has increased by 51%. they've also seen pantry visits increase by 50%. that's just since the beginning of this year, andrea. you can see the scale of the need. what warms my heart is you can see the scale of the people who are also willing to help, andrea. >> it's really wonderful, thank you so much, morgan radford. again, you can learn how to help with this qr code. scan it with your smartphone and follow the prompts to learn more. please help become part of the

solution. biden strikes back. coming up next, the president-elect addressing the president's behavior for the first time in a prime time speech last night. and attorney general bill barr resigning after the president slammed him for breaking with him on voter fraud and refusing to publicly announce the hunter biden investigation before the election. details coming up next. stay with us. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. ty incom. we look at how much you've saved, 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.

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and breaking news from capitol hill this morning. with only 36 days to go until the inauguration, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has finally acknowledged joe biden's win, congratulating him on the senate floor. this comes after electors from all 50 states solidified by his win last night, prompting the president-elect to address the nation and the president's weeks-long attempt to overturn the results. >> 306 electoral votes is the same number of electoral votes

that donald trump and vice president pence received when they won in 2016. at the time, president trump called the electoral college tally a landslide. by his own standards, these numbers represented a clear victory then and i respectfully suggest they do so now. if anyone didn't know before, they know now what beat deep in the hearts of the american people is this: democracy. the right to be heard, to have your vote counted, to choose leaders of this nation, to govern ourselves. >> just as california was cementing joe biden's win as the final electoral state, we learned of another shake-up in the trump administration, the president announcing attorney general bill barr is departing his post early, by next week. joining me now with more, pete williams, kristen welker, and

jonathan lemire. welcome, all. pete, the tension between bill barr who had done so much for president trump with the mueller report's rollout and all the rest, in recent weeks, it was really getting pretty fierce on twitter coming from the white house's perspective. bill barr is clearly not going to put up with that the way attorney sessions had for more than a year. >> that's clearly what happened here, andrea. jeff sessions was repeatedly attacked on twitter by the president. and he continued to take it. he wasn't happy about it, i think it really bothered him, but he kept in his seat at the justice department. what we're told is that barr had a different view, it was like, why should i sit here and take this, i'm ougtta here. so he informed the white house yesterday that he intended to step down and both the white house and the just department say he was not fired, that the president was apparently willing to let him stay on even though he continued to be highly

critical of bill barr for a number of things, for disagreeing with him whether there was fraud, and for not making public an investigation into whether hunter biden was in trouble with the irs over his taxes. for all these reasons, barr decided enough was enough. >> just to put a point on that, what bill barr did was, according to regulations, justice department regulations, within a short time frame before an election, to go after the immediate family member of a nominee would have been against regulations. >> you're right, longstanding justice department policy, not so much regulations. >> policy. kristen, with a month away from the inauguration, wouldn't the president want to avoid a major personnel change like this? i guess the acting secretary is his deputy so it's not a big change, but is there anything

you're hearing coming out of justice? certainly pardons are about to happen, i assume a number of pardons. >> we're hearing there could be pardons, andrea, there could be more people who depart before inauguration day. and look, as pete laid out so well, there were tensions that have been simmering and intensifying, frankly, in recent weeks for all of the reasons that pete detailed, particularly around the hunter biden issue. and in fact you'll recall, andrea, i asked president trump a few weeks ago if he had confidence in his attorney general and he said, ask me in a few weeks. so i guess yes, this was a resignation, but we now have our answer that he was so highly critical of him publicly that ultimately barr felt as though this was the right course of action. i guess the question becomes, andrea, what specifically is it that president trump would like to see happen with these remaining days that he's going to be in office, what does he anticipate the acting attorney

general is going to do that attorney general bill barr couldn't do, for example does he want the attorney general, the acting attorney general to try to open new investigations into his baseless claims of voter fraud? we'll have to see. but the bottom line is, you're absolutely right, this is potentially a disruptive personnel shift with just days before a new president is sworn in, andrea. >> and finally, jonathan, mitch mcconnell becoming the latest and obviously the most powerful republican to publicly say joe biden did win. and to publicly congratulate him. what difference will that make in the senate? >> well, andrea, we may see other senators follow his lead. we did see some last night, finally, at tfter the electoral college voted. we've seen some republicans speak out and finally senate majority leader mcconnell today.

i'm at the white house today, inside the ap's rather unglamorous booth here. we've been waiting for president trump's reaction, so far there hasn't been any. he has tweeted, continuing think morning about baseless claims of voter fraud. he has not reacted directly yet to senator mcconnell's announcement. he has no public events on his schedule but white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany has added a briefing, the first in a while, we're expecting that at 1:00, i'll be part of that. there will be questions put to her, does senate majority leader mcconnell's, finally, acknowledgement today, will that affect the president's behavior? we suspect the answer will be no, the white house will

continue these legal challenges and try to, again, raise the false claims of voter fraud, trying again to undo the will of the people in this election. >> it certainly seems that stephen miller's comments to fox yesterday that they would try to challenge the electoral college on january 6 as well won't happen even in the senate now, with mitch mcconnell going along with it. kristen, vladimir putin also congratulated joe biden this morning, wishing the president-elect every success. how strange is it that vladimir putin, the russian leader, has at least acknowledged our election before the incumbent u.s. president has? >> it's just remarkable, andrea. and of course vladimir putin waiting until what happened yesterday with the electoral college to acknowledge 3w50bide win, but he did do so. it's significant and kind of underscores the fact that the relations between the u.s. and russia are at a particularly icy

point. but the broader question here is, does this not turn up the heat on president trump to at least try to explain what his plan is going to be to essentially leave office. what is his off-ramp? i've spoken to a number of republicans who say they really want to know what the plan is, because they feel as though this uncertainty is not good for the country, and it's not good for their party. of course there have been reports that president trump was considering announcing his reelection campaign on january 20, the same day that biden is inaugurated. but now we're being told that there are a number of republicans who are talking to him about alternate plans. what might that look like? we don't exactly know, but possibly waiting until after january 20. but the bottom line is, andrea, as you are seeing more world leaders and more top republicans come forward and acknowledging the fact that biden is going to be the next president, it

becomes increasingly difficult for president trump to try to make the case that he has any sort of a viable path, which he just does not at this point, andrea. >> and pete, briefly, you were covering the supreme court this morning. they came down with a ruling about a colorado church regarding covid restrictions on capacity. >> and then a separate one, andrea, involving new jersey churches. in both cases striking down lower court orders that had basically upheld restrictions on them. three of the liberals in the colorado case said i don't know why we're doing this, colorado has already lifted the restrictions. but this is a change, i think it's one of the biggest changes on the court since amy coney barrett came on. in the past the supreme court was deferring to health officials. now they seem to be more concerned about violations of religious freedom. >> pete williams on all things, thank you. kristen welker, jonathan lemire, it is a very humble booth but that's what the white house booths are like, as we all know.

thanks for being with us, jonathan. president-elect joe biden heading to georgia at this hour, he's left his wilmington home to try to turn out the vote in two pivotal runoffs that will decide whether the democrats will take control of the senate. democratic candidates jon ossoff and raphael warnock are participating in a rally held in atlanta. joining us now from atlanta, nbc's mike mechanimoli and pris thompson. mike, biden will be in the state trying to get out the vote. how persuasive can he be? it's all or nothing here in georgia for the easiest way to have success with his new presidency, is to have a democratic senate. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, andrea, i think that will be part of the message today. what we heard from the president-elect last night in that direct and forceful address to the nation was a reminder of

the fact that he very much thinks he has a mandate from the country to govern, more than 81 million popular votes, more than 300 electoral votes. and he wants to use that mandate, and he needs a democratic senate to do that. he's going to try to use that here in georgia, use his star power along with other star power here from the state of georgia in addition to those two senate candidates, stacey abrams and mayor keisha lance bottoms who will be joining him here today. the timing is so interesting, andrea, in light of that acknowledgement finally from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, that joe biden is in fact the president-elect. so much of what democrats need to rally their base here is the idea that a democratic senate means so much more in getting biden's agenda through, and his nominees through, than if mitch mcconnell is still in the majority. biden saying last night on a call with some of his supporters that he has already heard from some seven republican colleagues in the senate.

so this balancing act of wanting to work across the aisle but also rally the base here, which he needs to do. the biden team saying he can appeal to a unique biden constituency which is suburban women. all of this, andrea, including we're hearing from dr. fauci what it might mean for biden to get vaccinated before the inauguration. >> this is a person who very soon will be the president of the united states. vice president elect kamala harris will very soon be the vice president of the united states. for security reasons i really feel strongly we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can. we want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in january. >> reporter: and andrea, we're also getting some news this morning from the biden inaugural committee, announcing that yes, he and vice president elect kamala harris will take their

oaths of office on the west front of the capitol. they're calling for an extremely limited footprint as part of these inaugural ceremonies. dr. david kessler will be part of the team advising them on this, andrea. >> thank you so much, mike memoli, for all of that. basically a virtual parade. priscilla, it's day two of early voting in georgia. what type of turnout -- there's been a big request for mail-in ballots. >> reporter: biden's ultimate goal here is to get people to return those mail-in ballots and to get them to places like where we are, early polling sites. check out this line behind me, as you can see, it's going all the way down and what you can't see is it's wrapping around the back side of this parking lot. it's been like this essentially all day with some folks lined up here more than two hours before polls opened this morning to be among the first in line to cast their ballots. and statewide, more than 480,000 people, according to the

secretary of state's office, have either voted in person early or returned those absentee ballots that were requested. and, you know, it is -- overall voting is down around 24% compared to where it was on this day of the general election but that's to be expected in a runoff. and the campaigns tell me they are still very hopeful about the numbers that they're seeing. and i should point out that while biden is here today, vice president pence is going to be here rallying those republican supporters and getting them to the polls on thursday, andrea. >> thank you so much, priscilla thompson, and mike memoli. up next, how a tragic loss spurred one doctor into action. . and with free curbside pickup at walmart... you can get the perfect gift up until the last minute. let's end the year nailing it. ♪

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but with walmart's low prices, you still know how to do it up. and keep costs down. let's end the year enjoying more. ♪ you are all i need baby baby to get by ♪ the first covid vaccine in new jersey was given to an emergency room nurse newark this morning. it happens to be her birthday. >> thank you. thank you. >> happy birthday. >> thank you. >> nbc news correspondent antonia hylton joins us from university hospital in newark, new jersey. an emotional and jubilant moment from that nurse there. >> that's right, andrea. what an amazing birthday gift, right? i think there were some people here this morning who were a little jealous of her, and i spoke to her, and she told me

she got the day off work and was headed home after the presser here this morning to have some cake and celebrate with her family. she was so grateful for the opportunity to be the very first person in the state to get this vaccine at university hospital in newark. i think it was extra special because she is a latina nurse, and first generation. and she represents a lot of the community this hospital serves. newark is extremely diverse. there are black and latino neighborhoods here where there's a lot of distrust in institutions and fear around this vaccine. and so she was really excited to have her face out there this morning to share the message this was safe, that she felt very comfortable taking the vaccine and that she's prepared to talk to patients about it. the hospital's plan is to vaccinate about 600 people a day. their vaccination clinic is right behind me here. employees have been coming and getting their shots, taking their 15-minute rest periods. >> antonia, excuse me.

i'm going to interrupt because the president-elect is speaking right now. let's see if we can pick up part of what he's saying. >> okay? thank you. >> thank you guys. >> will you get the vaccine? >> come on guys, let's go. >> dr. fauci recommends i get the vaccine sooner rather than later. i want to make sure we do it by the numbers and we do it -- when i do it, you'll have notice and we'll do it publicly. thank you. >> antonia, just to point out what he just said. he was asked about when he'll get the vaccine. he talked to dr. fauci about it and he said he wants to do it by the numbers and publicly. and so i just want to thank antonia hylton for bringing us that birthday vaccination from newark. we want to bring in dr. chris purnell, a new jersey public health physician. welcome. we've been told that you were inspired to take part in the

moderna vaccine trial partly because of incredible loss. you lost your father to covid, your cousin. your sister was infected with long-term effects. we're so sorry for what you've gone through but you're turning it into something positive. as a role model participating in the moderna trial program. >> yes, andrea, it's very important for me to turn devastation into hope and victory. and i think it's very important for my community to see that. my community in new jersey, my community in north new jersey, my community throughout the county. my father was a research scientist, and unfortunately, this pandemic took his life away but did not take away his fight or spiritary legacy because i look to live that forward. as black and brown communities have been despacimated by this pandemic, i saw a way to be a part of the solution.

i saw a way to demonstrate accountability and to say how do we help to beat back this pandemic and to create a new na narrative, a more powerful narrative informed by public health. >> the fda is reviewing the moderna vaccine. the first shots could happen next week. as you point out, african-americans are understandably hesitant about the vaccine given the history of experimentation by the medical community on people of color, on black americans. so that was part of your motivation? >> definitely. i'm well versed in that history, right? we can talk about enslaved black women who were subjected to gynecological procedures. tuskegee. we can talk about henrietta in baltimore had tissue samples taken from her womb. there are countless, horrible stories of medical

experimentation and abuse and it's time for the medical complex and health care more broadly to be able to have honest conversations and to demonstrate trustworthiness. and public health is actually positioned to fight for health equity, to fight for racial justice because we know those issues impact and determine life outcomes and life exposures. so this was my opportunity to live forward a truer legacy around empowerment, about a sense of agency and i really jumped at that opportunity and i want to be able to have a conversation, a conversation nationally, and a conversation with my community about i hear your fears and concerns. knowing your fears and concerns, this is the truth of the science. this is the truth of the data. and to walk hand in hand, science and empathy and to walk people along this decision. >> dr. purnell, your father was a man of science. we were looking at some pictures you shared with us. a striking man. what would you want people to

know about timothy purnell? >> wow, big tim, as we called him, he was a hero. here is a man who defied the jim crow south. here is a man who defied. here is a man self-taught. my father did not go to college, but my father was brilliant. and that love of math and science led him to bell labs but he only could get a job cutting grass. he went from cutting grass to being a member of technical staff and advocating for black laboratory scientists and engineers to have access to opportunity. and i see myself as living out that mission of science and living out that mission of racial justice and health equity. and that's why i want all america to know that this is a crossroads in our nation. it's an opportunity for us to reckon with our past and to transform and define a new america, a new way forward. we can't get there without having these truthful conversations.

>> dr. chris purnell, thank you for sharing from your loss. i hope many people can benefit from this tragedy. thank you so much for being with us. that does it for "andrea mitchell reports." thanks for watching. chuck todd is up next with "mtp daily" right here on msnbc. in a land not so far away,

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if it's tuesday, another dose of hopeful news on the coronavirus pandemic. as the fda signals it will approve moderna's vaccine later this week. vaccine number two. and more states begin administering pfizer's vaccine. but sadly, the death toll does keep climbing. plus, mitch mcconnell acknowledges for the first time joe biden as president-elect saying that the electoral college has now spoken. biden assails trump's ongoing efforts to undermine the results. and finally, russia strikes again. cybersecurit