operating officer of operation warp speed. >> moderna vaccine can be shipped and stored at standard freezing temperatures and is packed at 100 doses each per container. this allows jurisdiction of flexibility to support hard to reach, small, and more rural areas. >> during that saturday press conference, perna also took the blame for the confusion in the delivery of some pfizer vaccines to at least 14 states due to logistical miscalculations which he repeatedly apologized for. as of this morning, the total number of people infected with covid in the united states has climbed to 17,724,962 since the start of the pandemic. nationwide, coronavirus has claimed the lives of 317,027 people. this morning i'm joining you from beautiful savannah, georgia, the latest stop on "velshi across america:

surviving the next wave." this state will host a pair of runoff senate elections that will determine which party holds the senate. let's begin with the latest on the americmoderna vaccine rollo. morgan chesky is standing by as the rollout for vaccine number 2 is under way. morgan, it's magic going on in the building behind you, a fedex truck is ready to load those vaccines on. and i have never cared more about a fedex truck than i have in the last seven days, every time i see one on the street i think to myself, yay, go fedex, you got vaccine in there. >> reporter: absolutely, ali, in fact there are many fedex trucks lined up behind me at this mckesson plant in olive branch, mississippi. the second history-making weekend here. we know after that cdc advisory panel approved emergency use of the moderna vaccine that the

crews inside were also busy packing up those vaccine kits, a little different than what we saw with pfizer. each kit that goes into these boxes here behind me will contain a vaccine dose, syringe, alcohol swab, everything a health care provider would need to administer that vaccine. those looking forward to it are those at smaller hospitals. the moderna vaccine packaged in 100-dose bundles, that's more than what a lot of these small communities needed. these really should be rolling out at a moment's notice, ali. we're told that all of the shipments at the 3,800 locations that have been identified for the first recipients of this moderna vaccine should be receiving it in the next couple of days or so. i spoke to the organizer of a group representing rural and community hospitals in texas, the largest in the nation. and he says by december 22, all

of those smaller hospitals should be able to put needles into arms, treat those most at risk and those health care workers that have waited so long and worked so hard to get to this point, ali. >> that's amazing. morgan, i want to point out to our viewers who may have missed it in the last hour, we're going to put that shot in the corner of the screen, that's the second room. the first room in which these vials are being packed is a freezer room, really, very, very cold. that's the room, they can only be in there for 45 minutes at a time, they're dressed very warmly. they put an ice pack or dry ice or something in with them. the second room with the people in the yellow invesvests, that' cold room. the packs are loaded from there onto the trucks behind morgan. those trucks will then pull out and start to move out. morgan, you're actually very close to memphis, tennessee, which is the fedex national hub.

>> reporter: absolutely. and there's definitely going to be some synergy there. mckesson really handling the packaging and the relationship shipping-wise with fedex, with ups, to make sure all of the moderna vaccines go out directly, whereas with the pfizer vaccine, basically being distributed directly to ups and fedex, mckesson taking it upon themselves to make sure all these vaccines are bundled up, pan packaged correctly, and shipped out. we're anticipating this to happen any moment now. there was a bit of concern, frustration rather, in achg smaa lot of these smaller communities, ali, they saw the excitement around the pfizer release but that didn't trickle down to these smaller areas. you mentioned with the packing and the ice, the pfizer vaccine had to be transported at negative 94 degrees fahrenheit. the moderna vaccine can be stored in a regular freezer that

you would have in your refrigerator inside your house. that's going to mean that all of these smaller areas are going to be able to receive this and store it for up to 30 days when it's still viable, ali. >> morgan, thank you. we'll stay close to you, when those trucks are moving, please let me know. morgan chesky in olive branch, mississippi. another big piece of news on capitol hill, a covid deal is now within reach after a major hangup was resolved. it's not yet clinched but in a late night session, republicans and democrats seemingly came to a compromise, clearing the way for an agreement potentially giving hope to millions of americans who have been crushed by this pandemic. joining me is nbc's leigh ann caldwell. i saw the headlines moving overnight, leigh ann, what's happened? >> reporter: hey, ali. there does seem to be some pretty good news on capitol hill. we've been hearing for days that a deal is within reach.

finally this morning we can say a deal is actually within reach. the reason is democrats came to an agreement with senator pat toomey, republican of pennsylvania, who was demanding some language regarding a federal reserve lending program, something that is just tangentially related to covid and does not have a lot of impact on people, but they got through that impasse late last night, and that is paving the way for all of the other details to fall into place. and so that is some potentially very good news for americans struggling to make ends meet, people who are on the verge of losing their unemployment insurance, on the verge of being kicked out of their home because the eviction moratorium is coming to an end at the end of the day month. that's also very good news for vaccine distribution too, as tens of billions of dollars are -- excuse me, up to $10 billion are going to, in this bill, help states distribute

this vaccine. and ali, this has been months in the making. it has been 6 1/2 months, almost 7 months since the house of representatives passed the h.e.r.o.e.s. act. since then, negotiations have gone through fits and starts and have been unable to clinch any deal or come to any sort of agreement. but this morning we are on the verge of that, perhaps sending relief to americans very soon, a ali. >> that's excellent news, leigh ann caldwell, live on capitol hill. congressman buddy carter of georgia, he and i have enjoyed a great relationship over the years on tv. he was vaccinated while participating in the pfizer vaccine trial. congressman carter, good to see you. >> good to see you, thank you for having me. >> in real life. >> yes. >> first of all, talk to me about your vaccination. you were part of the trial. generally when you're in a

trial, you don't know whether you got the placebo or the vaccine. you found out. >> yes, it's a double blind study so the doctors don't know, the nurses don't know, you don't know if you got the placebo or the vaccine. after my booster dose, i had some mild symptoms, i had malaise and letting letting let. they revealed to me, yes, you did get the vaccine. >> that's great. how do you feel about this? you're a pharmacist. >> vaccines are one of the most lifesaving innovations in the history of medicine, vaccines have saved more lives than any drug or anything else. it's amazing that we have it in this short a period of time. i know people have concern about the safety and especially can acy of the drug, of the vaccine, but i can assure you, it is safe and effective. i've been through this in my

profession career, the process by which the fda approves a drug. yes, they've sped it up, but i can assure you it is very detailed and this is a safe and effective vaccine. >> there is this weird confluence these days of some republicans and conspiracy theorists who don't like vaccines. have you been able to cut through that, does that annoy you that there are anti-vaxxers in your realm? >> i respect their right to not take a vaccine if they don't want to, but i think they're putting themselves at risk and putting others at risk. it's the same thing as wearing a mask, you have to think about yourself and you have to think about others as well. as a pharmacist, as a member of congress, as a member of of the doctors caucus in congress, hopefully i've helped to set an example. >> have you voted? >> i have not yet. >> got it.

what do you think? a lot of people are showing up. >> obviously we've gotten national attention. this is arguably the most important race ever in the state of georgia and arguably one of the most important ever in the nation. we get that here in georgia, we understand the importance, we understand the national implications. people are enthused and doing what they should do. we've had a record number of early votes and we'll continue to do that. >> congressman carter, good to see you as always, nice to see you in person, in your hometown. buddy carter is a republican carter who represents the first congressional district in georgia which is right where we are in savannah. turning now to the latest shenanigans of the ongoing president donald trump, as the clock ticks down on his time in office, 31 days to be precise, on saturday the president contradicted his own intelligence officials and his own secretary of state regarding russia's involvement in a major cyber hack that breached the

systems of major agencies and large corporations. trump tweeting, "russia, russia, it may be china." his tweets are said to have caught the white house staff off-guard and go against mike pompeo's statements that russia was clearly behind the cyberattack. trump floated more election disinformation saying voting machines may have been hit during that hack, information we have not otherwise confirmed. in another trump between story that goes under the heading of "it just doesn't get any crazier than this," over the past few days several news outlets are reporting on trump's efforts to lay waste to democracy and subvert the election results. "the new york times" first breaking the news that according to their sources, trump was weighing appointing the election conspiracy theorist sydney powell as a special counsel to investigate his debunked accusations of election fraud, according to unnamed sources

briefed on a friday white house meeting. now, if you dig a little deeper into the "new york times" piece, there is more worrying news about trump seeking counsel from his recently pardoned national security adviser michael flynn. nbc news has not independently verified this reporting, and again, it is coming from anonymous sources who were briefed on this white house meeting and spoke to "the new york times." the article says, quote, mr. flynn pushed for mr. trump to impose martial law and deploy the military to rerun the election. and then there's this "wall treat journal" reporting that the president pushed ken cuccinelli, his number two officials at the dhs, also known as a trump loyalist, to have the department seize state voting machines. states are in charge of the voting machines, by the way. cuccinelli reportedly turned him down, saying he didn't have the power to do so, and he's right, he doesn't have the power to do so. "the washington post" reports

all sides in the white house point to a four-year whirlwind coming to an end. aides are quietly lining up next jobs, friends are angling for last favors. advisers have reportedly begun reviewing pitches for post-presidency books. surprise, surprise, trump is up this morning and tweeting, "martial law equals fake news, just more knowingly bad reporting." helene cooper with "the new york times" and clint watts, former fbi special agent and msnbc national security analyst and the authorize of "messing with the enemy," good morning to both of you, good to see you. clint, we know you as a fbi guy and a misinformation expert. you're also an army man, i believe, a west point grad; is that correct? >> that is correct. winner of the commanders in chief trophy yesterday.

>> this is interesting, we had michael flynn on fox news on thursday, saying that in fact he is talking about martial law. when donald trump tweets "martial law equals fake news," the idea came from mike flynn who said we've imposed it 64 times in america and we should probably do it again to do something to this election. that's crazy talk. >> yeah, ali, this is completely plausible that this would be discussed in the white house because it's his former national security adviser that's talking about it, and we've watched the video, it's already out there. what is consistent across all of this is the president has not let his election defeat go and he is creating or at least discussing ways by which to perpetuate the falsehood that he won or to overturn the election. he's trying to keep himself in the spotlight and keep the drama going. and we should believe that this would go on because we've seen, what, dozens of court cases, sydney powell, rudy giuliani,

these characters showing up with falsehoods, we've seen general flynn talking about martial law. how many times have we seen trial balloons floated over the last four years for one of these harebrained ideas. we've seen the president shooting tear gas so he can have a picture taken in front of a church. these ideas are mostly for show. if we handle it right, we'll see in a month that this will pass peacefully and americans for the most part are ready to move on. >> from your mouth to the statue of liberty's ears. helene cooper, i did not know who sydney powell was six weeks ago. then i heard her say crazy stuff, hugo chavez helping joe biden win the election. i had to google, because i had thought hugo chavez was dead. trump even fired her as one of

his own lawyers. now he's suggesting, according to the reporting, making her a special counsel. and he can't do that either, he has no authority to do such a thing. >> no, but sydney, this is the latest in the long line of crazy that we've seen coming out of the white house since the election. maggie's story, yesterday in "the new york times," was sort of a bombshell, it was a result of really good reporting that she was doing up until, you know, right before the story popped. i found, like you, far more concerning in that story the snippet that was kind of right in the muddle, a little bit buried, that trump had -- president trump had brought you want michael flynn idea about mobilizing the military to sort of rerun the elections. i think what we're seeing right now is the president really testing all of america's institutions that were built and meant to sort of uphold

democracy. that's what we've been seeing for the last how many weeks has it been since the election. and so far, the institutions have largely held. the electoral college has held. the supreme court has sort of thrown back all of these trump lawsuits. but it's the military that has consistently vowed that they want to stay out of the elections, they do not want to be dragged into it. if you go to the pentagon and talk to people there, that's the last thing they want, every day they look at reports of where unrest and violence is in the country because the worry at the pentagon is that's how president trump could use the military to overturn or rerun things by getting them involved supposedly in some kind of peacekeeping role if you have riots in the streets. that's why they were very worried about december 12. now they're worried about january 6. but so far we're seeing these democratic institutions hold. the military has stayed out of

it. the supreme court has sent back these lawsuits. the worry, though, is that at some point, does something pop? >> yeah. that's exactly the worry. i cannot believe that the three of us are having conversations like this this morning. i'm grateful to you for joining me for them. helene cooper, pentagon correspondent for "the new york times," clint watts, a former fbi agent, distinguished fellow at the policy research institute, author of "messing with the enemy," and as we just disclosed, a west point grad. next, the origins of georgia's runoff system and the original intent to stifle the vote of black americans. later this morning, my friend jonathan capehart has an action packed show for you, arnold schwarzenegger and dionne warwick, 10:00 a.m. eastern on msnbc. more news after a quick break.

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we're coming to you from georgia where the whole state is fired up about its runoff elections next month. while the runoffs offer democrats a chance to retake the senate, not a lot of people know why runoffs were established in georgia in the first place. nbc's priscilla thomas takes a look at the law that's shrouded in controversy and racism. >> reporter: for more than 50 years georgia has used runoff elections to decide races from members of the state legislature to who sits in the governor's mansion. do people really know why they runoff system was established in the first place? >> i'm not sure really where it comes from. >> no idea. >> we have to determine who the actually winner is with a clear majority. >> reporter: but some experts

say that wasn't the original intent of the law. >> after the civil war, blacks were a major part of the southern electorate. once reconstruction and military occupation of the south ended, while southerners expect the rest of the 19th century squeezing blacks out of the electorate. >> reporter: white senators gave less populated but primarily white rural parts of the state more political power, i mean, while disenfranchising black voters. in 1962 the supreme court said the system violated the equal protection clause of the constitution. >> at that point, many southern states, including georgia, looked for other devices and the runoff system was one of those devices. >> reporter: enter denmark groover, a member of georgia's house of representatives, who fell out of power and he blamed,

quote, negro bloc voting for his loss. a segregationist, groover was dedicated to stop the growing political power of blacks. quote, if you want to establish if i was racially prejudiced, it was, groover would say in a deposition years later. in 1963, one year after the supreme court struck down the county unit system, groover, now back in office, proposed a new election system, the runoff. >> groover explicitly talked about how even if the white vote were divided in the first election and a black made the runoff, whites could come together as a majority to win in the runoff. >> reporter: not all runoff systems are rooted in racism. maine, for example, has a very small black population but it

uses a ranked choice system that's effectively an instant runoff if no candidate reaches 50%. but if you look at the seven states that hold traditional runoff elections, if nobody gets a majority, all of those states are in the south. as for georgia, in a year marked by widespread protests and demands for racial and social justice, the state's runoff system remains a glaring reminder of the systemic racism engrained in the fabric of america, lingering in one of the values we hold most dear, democracy. >> that is nbc's priscilla thompson reporting. we'll have more on the georgia senate runoffs when we come back. also we're continuing to keep tabs on the packing of vaccine doses in mississippi. we're just moments away from the first shipment of the moderna vaccine going out. keep it here, you're watching "velshi" on msnbc from beautiful savannah. (vo) thirteen years ago,

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as we told you a few moments ago with leigh ann caldwell, the covid relief bill is a key issue in the georgia runoffs for senate. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said privately that the senate republican candidates are, quote, getting hammered because of republicans' positions on the relief bill.

despite this, georgia governor kemp went to a party he posted about on twitter. neither republicans perdue nor loeffler, the two senate candidates in the state, neither one, have acknowledged joe biden's win after the electoral college cast its votes. >> reporter: will you ever acknowledge that biden will be president? >> look, there will be a time for that if that becomes true. but, you know, the president has a right to every legal recourse and we're letting that play out right now. >> the time for that is now. in the same press conference loeffler said she, quote, hasn't looked into being part of a last ditch effort on january 6 to formally protest the election results in congress. representative-elect and qanon conspiracy here toi itheorist g

she will object to the electoral college result. david perdue behind closed doors acknowledged president-elect blyden's win. >> we know what this change of command at the top will mean for our foreign relations. if we can keep our majority in the senate, we can at least be a buffer on some things that the biden camp has been talking about in terms of their foreign policy. >> joining me to talk georgia politics and its effect on national politics, my friend erin haynes, editor at large at the 19th here in georgia. and represent-elect nakima williams who will take over john lewis' seat in that congressional district. ms. williams, you are in a historic seat in a historic place. we still have not seen a black senator from the state of

georgia. i pointed out to my viewers that 156 years ago tomorrow, savannah was captured by sherman and we still have not had a black member of the senate. there is history in the making here and voters appear to be turning out. >> ali, we haven't seen a black senator yet from georgia, because my friend raphael warnock is on the right track and on january 5, we're sending him to the united states senate because what we know here in georgia is, these historic turnout than we're seeing in a runoff, no doubt, and we just saw the history of the georgia runoff system, but in a runoff we're seeing record numbers of black voters turn out. we're seeing record numbers of multiethnic voters turn out for jon ossoff and ravfaephael warn.

the republican candidates are living in an alternate reality that does not reflect the lives of everyday georgians on the ground. >> this is an interesting thing, mitch mcconnell, who has been relatively immovable on this issue of a new relief bill including pandering to members of his own senate republican caucus who say they don't want to run up the debt to give people checks, to stay alive. now he's saying that these two senators are getting hammered because congress hasn't got a deal. that seems to be his motivation. how does this all play out on the ground in georgia? >> well, hi, ali, good to see you down there in my home state, and this "velshi across america" tour is getting at issues that matter to voters, and the pandemic is certainly front and center for voters in georgia, especially the black voters who have been disproportionately hit by this pandemic.

we saw in the debate between kelly loeffler and raphael warnock that raphael was asking what the richest person in congress is doing to help the hardest-hit georgians in the state and is suggesting that in fact, you know, she and david perdue have not done much to help georgians during this pandemic crisis. you know, this is an issue that is very real for georgians even as they realize kind of the high stakes and national implications of these senate runoffs. the impact of this pandemic on their everyday lives is something that is motivating them as well as a recent poll i would flag for you, ali, 500 registered black voters, conducted by the black lives matter pact, that speaks to the point you were making at the top of this segment, which is that a third of those voters polled were excited about the potential of making raphael warnock the first black senator from

georgia. >> yeah, it's a big deal, and when you get down to it, you have to think about the history of the state. that's why i thought it would be important to remind people about savannah, and by the way, its ugly history, including the largest sale event of enslaved people 156 years ago right here in savannah. representative williams, one of the things that still hasn't been done is the package of the voting rights act which you as the inheritor of john lewis' legacy have decided to make your priority, which makes a lot of sense. we still haven't done that, we're still working towards making it easier and fair for black people to vote in this country. >> ali, we have one party in this state who is working to bring more people to the polls and make sure that everybody has fair and equal access to the ballot box and then we have the republican party who they understand that the more people that vote, the more people realize how much they have done to work against georgians, to work against the american people. so while we're moving forward

and honoring congressman lewis' legacy, the house has already passed the john lewis voting rights act. david perdue and kelly loeffler have held up the john lewis voting rights act. i want them to tell me why they're afraid of more people voting. they understand, they know, because they'll lose on january 5 when more people show up to vote and understand they're not looking out for everyday georgians. they're there to look out for themselves, line their own pockets, and continue to get richer while they're serving the american people. it needs to stop and it's going to stop on january 5 when voters turn out in record numbers to the polls. we're on track, look at the early voting numbers. i can't wait to come back and celebrate with you on msnbc and tell you that i told you so, we're going to have our first black u.s. senator and we're going to get that voting rights act passed. >> i'm very happy to have you back for a "i told you so" session, we'll book it now.

erin haynes, one of the things you're doing is looking at the 19th amendment through the prism of women and the role women have had in politics. when you look at voting rights in georgia, organizations to get voters out there, candidates for office, impressive people like representative williams, and stacey abrams, the story of voting in georgia right now, is it relates to african-americans and turnout in elections is women. >> ali, you're absolutely right, and i'm so glad that you said that. this is why i call you "ally velshi," because you're on it in terms of gender politics. you have people like nakima williams now succeeding john lewis in that historic seat, as you mentioned, also mayor keisha lance bottoms was a prominent sir gaurrogate for joe biden in

election. stacey abrams has been a champion for voting rights, leading the fight against voter suppression. black women have been front and center in this election. that's certainly true in georgia where you had black women organizers who were key to flipping the state blue this cycle and who are so focused on the is that runoffs, even in the midst of a pandemic, making sure voters were registered, making sure voters are going to turn out, because they know the relationship between the politics and the policy and the stakes of the senate runoff. i would also just mention, you know, with raphael warnock having the potential to be a first, you will have the first black woman to be vice president in approximately 31 days, vice president elect kamala harris, coming to swanee and to columbus tomorrow to campaign for

arrestarrest for raphael warnock and jon ossoff. so that is also yet another black woman trailblazer who, you know, was so key to the 2020 cycle who could well be a factor in these georgia runoffs as well. >> the only reason i didn't name mayor keisha lance bottoms is she actually watches msnbc and i didn't want to draw attention to the fact that i'm in savannah and not in atlanta, but i did live in atlanta and it's close to my heart, in fact i'll be going there this afternoon. what a great conversation, thank you so much, erin haynes, msnbc contributor and editor of the 19th with an asterisk, and representative-elect nakima williams, taking over the seat held by the legendary john

lewis. coming up, a look at a sector of savannah's economy that's been hit by the pandemic, and how they're retooling for success. 609 miles away in olive branch, mississippi, moderna's covid-19 vaccine is ready to ship. we'll have it for you the moment it happens. you see the loading dog at the mckesson facility. "velshi across america" from savannah, georgia returns after this. ♪ for skin as alive as you are... don't settle for silver 7 moisturizers 3 vitamins 24 hours hydration gold bond champion your skin if you have postmenopausal and a high risk for fracture, gold bond 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®.

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we're back from savannah, georgia. trucks carrying the moderna vaccine begin deliveries today. injections are slated to start tomorrow. it's going to be a few months at least before most americans start to return to some sense of normalcy and those months are critical. look at that, the back of the fedex truck is closing, i don't know if that's good, is he locking it up? he's logging cking it up. he's getting ready to move out. i don't blame you if you haven't heard of olive branch, mississippi, it's close to tennessee, the main hub for fedex. they're going to get loaded on airplanes, some distributed locally, and they are going to get out there by tonight. so there you go. the truck is closed and we will

stay on that as it pulls out. all those months, by the way, before everybody gets the vaccine, are critical for millions of small businesses in the united states that simply try to stay afloat through one of the worst economic downturns in our history. here in savannah, tourism is the game. it's a multibillion dollar industry and it took a massive hit and covid began in march. i have to look at how small businesses are catering to travelers during this time. >> reporter: the lush city of savannah, georgia is one of the most beautiful places in the south, tourism's economic lifeblood. only 144,000 people live here but roughly 14 million visit annually, representing $3 billion in revenue. there are a variety of ways to see the attractions here. trollies, river boats, even horse-drawn carriages. >> the horses in savannah are so iconic, it's just part of the

city. >> it's a good city. tourism is what lights it up. >> reporter: but thanks to the pandemic, tourism became one of the first industries to buckle in savannah, initially bringing small businesses to a full stop. carol marshall owns carriage tours of savannah. >> i think our last day of operations was around the 18th or maybe the 16th of march, and that is prime time, spring is prime time here in savannah. compared to last year, it's definitely softer. we're not taking out groups of 50 or 100 people at a time like we would typically. >> reporter: jonathan cloughton is president and ceo of savannah riverboat cruises. >> this past year, fourth of july holiday weekend, we had one cruise that got close to 500 passengers. overall, business has been off a little better than 50%. we haven't made any money but we haven't lost a lot of money.

it's important for us to keep our staff and crew together. >> skaff avannah is a majority city. a walking tour here is called footprints in savannah and the history plays a big part in it. >> i've been doing this walking door for 11 years. i'm a life learner. i didn't want to stop learning about the history of the people. when people say to me we want an african-american history tour, i said, no, this is an american history tour. what happened to the africans when they got here. and then they relax. people tell me they want to hear my perspective. i got a lot of perspective. >> reporter: even walking tours had to change, at least the way vaughnette was doing them. she was nimble and adapted her business model, taking her notable tours online. >> one day i took a stack of all of my tour scripts and realized

i had 278 pages of tour scripts. i counted them. that's how much time i had. i said, maybe i can do something else, i can possibly create a virtual tour. by may i got a call from "the savannah morning news," they said, great, we'll do a story about it. so they put it in the paper that i had this virtual tour. in july things changed, that was a game changer. there was a belated article in "conde nast traveler" but the walking tour and my phone has been ringing ever since. >> reporter: vaughnette has resumed walking tours, albeit the number of tours given and the size of the groups are limited. meanwhile, with christmas just around the corner, savannah's tourist season is coming to a close. but business owners here remain positive about their prospects. >> i'm really hopeful and very optimistic, i really don't have a dark cloud hanging over my

head at this time. i feel good about it. >> i think it is going to get a little worse before it gets better. but, you know, we're going to get through this. and we'll come out stronger at the end. >> reporter: i asked vaughnette if she has any advice for fellow business owners also trying to weather covid this winter. >> you have to reinvent yourself. that's what i had to do. i never thought i would have to do this. i have a day job, but that's another story. >> vaughnette describes herself as the queen of the green screen because she's doing these virtual tours. my thanks to the folks in savannah who helped us shoot that story. coming up, the less obvious ways that you and i can support stores in your neck of the woods to help keep them going until this thing is over. plus moderna shipments getting ready to move, a live

look at louisville, kentucky, where at me moment mckesson vehicles carrying the vaccine are expected to arrive at the ups facility, they're under police escort, it's a very secure operation. the vaccine doses are being packed, going to a fedex facility. great news this morning, history in the making. stay with us, "velshi across america" is right back. i must ♪ ♪ but come ye back when su-- mom, dad. why's jamie here? it's sunday. sunday sing along. and he helped us get a home and auto bundle. he's been our insurance guy for five years now. he makes us feel like we're worth protecting. [ gasps ] why didn't you tell us about these savings, flo? i've literally told you a thousand times. ♪ oh, danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling ♪ i'm just gonna... ♪ from glen to glen we started by making the cloud easier to manage.

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i have spent weeks through the pandemic going from state to state, speaking to americans around the country about how covid has affected their businesses and while some have had to be able to pivot to make it in this challenging economy almost all those i spoke to have said that no matter their challenges, the changes that they've made, they're still heavily reliant on customers and their communities to help them keep afloat. so what more can these small

businesses and small business owners do to do that? by the way, i'm going to be going in and out of this conversation and coverage of this truck. there we go. there you go. this is history again. this is louisville, kentucky, the way you know it's louisville is because that's louisville world port, that is u.p.s., u.p.s. is a louisville port, memphis is a fedex port. so that truck, that u.p.s. truck in front of you is carrying the first shipments of the moderna vaccine. it will be distributed from louisville. it's going out to, i think, thousands of sites, actually, not just hundreds. remember these are smaller boxes, 100 doses apiece as opposed to the much larger pfizer doses. we will stay on top of that. those vehicles that look like airport shuttle buses are mckesson vehicles that are shipping the drugs as well. so that's what we're keeping an eye on. all right. what do businesses need to do to make it through this next surge of covid while they wait for congress to finalize a new

relief deal, while they wait for people to get vaccinated? i asked you my viewers to send in tips and advice on how you help your local businesses. how they themselves might be helping their favorite spot. i'm going to be speaking with my next guest about this, kim wisel is an editor at large at inc., inc. magazine small business expert. kim, you might become a co-anchor on a vaccine rollout momentarily because that's what's going on. but i want to bring you a tip that we got from joyce who said, i switched all my prescriptions from a big convenient cheaper pharmacy chain to my local pharmacy. it does cost me a little more, but i'm happy to help them. so in this moment where we are talking about vaccines and prescriptions, i think a lot of people get used to this these big chains because they're easy and it's all on an app. there are still local pharmacies out there that can use your help. >> there are lots of local pharmacies that can use your help. you say it's easy that we get

used to the big chains, i will say from my personal experience that's not always a great experience. if you are using a smaller local pharmacy and you have a great customer experience there you're going to find that they support you, it's not just that you're supporting them. and then i would ask you when it does go well for you and you are happy with the switch to shout it from the rooftops, let other people know so that you can help create other customers for that pharmacy. >> meg said i found a ton of local artists through etsy using the shop location filter. i even had one artist from etsy drop op her amazing bath bombs at my front door. we think of it being on the internet but it can tell you you have local people around you who you can support. >> the local filter on etsy is amazing, especially with so much shipping running behind, obviously fedex as we see this morning and u.p.s. have very important things to do, you might find that that seller can drop off items at your door, you

might be able to meet them somewhere to get the things that you need and have a better shot at getting those items faster. definitely take a look at that. >> jay writes, my husband and i buy dinners for delivery to friends once a month from a local caterer. i know once a month doesn't make a huge difference, but if it helps my caterer friend and boosts my other friends' spirits, it's worth it. >> okay. it does make a huge difference because hopefully it's not just you once a month is fantastic, especially because we tend to forget, we talk a lot about restaurants, but we tend to forget about the caterers, about the photographers, about the event planners. a lot of people might not have money to do this, but a lot of people do have money and they are not having dinner parties anymore, so this is a great way to spread the holiday spirit and hopefully if you do this not with your friends but maybe with some co-workers, maybe you will inspire them to do the same thing for other groups of people that you might not know about and that you might not be, you know, buying food for necessarily. so, again, spread the word. >> and the caterer might put on

instagram or facebook that they are doing this because they're doing it for you and other people will think about t this is these little ideas. thank you so much to my viewers who have sent these ideas. i'm going to keep on doing this, keep on spreading them. i will retweet some of them because these are little changes that you can make that could make all the difference to your local businesses in your communities. kim, thanks as always for being with us with great advice. kim wisel editor at large of ink. that does it for me. catch me monday through wednesday filling in nor lawrence o'donnell on "the last word" at 10:00 p.m. eastern. you can always see me every saturday and sunday from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. eastern. coming up next, "the sunday show with jonathan capehart." my buddy has an all star studded lineup with arnold swarz negy and dion warwick. he will also have the latest on the had a rollout of the moderna vaccine. thank you for watching "velshi

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moment, millions of new vaccine doses are about to be shipped, while congress finally might have a deal on relief for a weary nation. good morning, i'm jonathan

capehart. this is "the sunday show." ♪ >> americans this morning are awaiting two major rescue missions, moderna's covid vaccine is shipping out today with vaccinations beginning as early as tomorrow. nearly 6 million doses are expected to go out, that's double the number of doses made available by pfizer last week. the second fda authorized vaccine is shipping as the virus continues to ravage the country. california alone now leads india, germany and great britain in new cases. in the depths of the crisis americans are also awaiting congress to pass a desperately needed $900 billion pandemic relief package. last night senior lawmakers finally reached a compromise over the federal reserve's emergency lending powers which