policy making -- makers making difficult judgments under conditions of extreme stress and uncertainty. sometimes, making the wrong ones. and then, there is are you being honest and transparent about what you are doing? and it's like the first are much more forgivable than not the latter. jesse mckinley, who is doing great reporting on this for "the times." thank you so much for your time. >> of course. that is all in on this friday night. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now with ali velshi in for rachel. >> good evening, thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. rachel's got the night off. for a friday, in the dark days of winter, certainly, a lot going on today. let's start with the team that president biden is trying to assemble and try is the operative word here. a month into his presidency, fewer than half of joe biden's cabinet nominees have been confirmed.

only seven cabinet officials have been seated. the senate still has not voted on the other 16. four of them are still waiting to get a hearing. and tonight, they have hit another bump in the road. joe biden's nominee to run the office of management and budget. she's worked on numerous democratic presidential campaigns. she worked in the obama administration. now, republicans have said tanden should be disqualified to run omb, essentially, because her tweets about them were too mean. which is pretty rich coming from some of donald trump's most ardent supporters. now, president biden's cabinet nominees. they don't need republican support to pass but with the senate in a 50-50 split, without any republican on-board, biden's team can't afford to lose any democratic support, either. and that's where we get the speed bump today. democratic senator, joe manchin of west virginia, announced tonight that he will not vote for neera tanden to lead omb.

zero republicans right now are expected to support her nomination. and so, barring some kind of surprise on that side of the aisle, joe biden's nominee to lead the office of management and budget appears to be doa. barack obama's nominee to run the commerce department had to withdrawal from consideration, in 2009, for this reason. due to lack of support in the senate. same with donald trump's pick to lead the labor department. as rachel likes to say, watch this space. we have also got our eyes on texas tonight where tens of thousands of people are still without power in what is turning out to be a slow-rolling catastrophe for the state. millions of people in texas are under a boil-water advisory. that's complications from these rolling-power outages that have made the water unsafe to drink for millions of people because the water-filtration plants don't have power. we are going to have a live report out of texas, in just a moment. but also, today, we got a 591-page document. reading material to cozy up with this weekend. house democrats have released the long-awaited text of their

covid-relief bill. now, this bill would provide qualifying americans with $1,400 relief checks. it would extend the federal-unemployment benefits. it would provide much-needed assistance to small businesses. the bill provides much to the states, to speed up the vaccine effort and help schools reopen safely. it also calls for increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, over the course of a few years. the total price of the package is $1.9 trillion. which many republicans say is too expensive. so today, president biden addressed those concerns about the price tag of the covid-relief bill. he said he was open to discussions about how to make the bill better, and more cost-effective. but he dared republicans to be specific about how they want to cut costs because lowering the price of that bill means depriving americans of a much-needed, financial lifeline. it means denying states what they need to start returning back to normal. so what, exactly, what republicans cut back? >> let me ask them.

what would they have me cut? what would they have me leave out? should we not invest $20 billion to vaccinate the nation? should we not invest $290 million to extend unemployment insurance for the 11 million americans who are unemployed so they can get by? while they get back to work. should we not invest $50 billion to help small businesses stay open, when tens of thousands have had to close permanently? pass the american rescue plan, 40 million americans will lose -- lose nutritional assistance through a program we call snap, the old food-stamp program. do we not invest $3 million -- $3 billion to keep families from going hungry? this is united states of america, for god sake. we invest in people who are in need. >> president biden make those remarks, today, at a pfizer plant in michigan. where they are manufacturing one

of the two covid vaccines that are currently approved for use here in the united states. he got a tour of the facility, and he reiterated his promise that the united states would have enough vaccine on hand for the entire country, by the end of july. it was just shy of a year ago that this nightmare began. and it comes at the end of a week of what was really sustained good covid news. the united states saw 29% decrease in covid cases this week, compared to the same time seven days ago. this is the steepest, one-week decline since the pandemic began. the director of the cdc said today that covid cases have been on the steady decline for the past five weeks in a row. it's too early to say exactly why we are seeing such a steep decline. it could be a passing rush of cases from the holiday season. it could be stricter-mask wearing and social distancing. the early effects of the vaccine. could be all of the above. it's going to be a while longer, though, before we can let our guard down because we need more

vaccines in arms before we do that. and today, there was promising news on that front as well. one of the logistical hurdles has been keeping it cold enough. both, the pfizer and moderna vaccines must be kept at freezing temperature before they are put into syringes, otherwise, the doses will spoil. right now, the pfizer vaccine, in particular, has to be kept remarkably cold. somewhere, between minus-112 and minus-76 degrees but that might be changing. pfizer's announced that its data shows the vaccine may not need to be stored in an ultra-cold freezer in order to be effective. but could, instead, be kept in a normal freezer. the kind that are more commonly in use. now, this would significantly untangle some of the logistical hurdles that have slowed down the vaccine distribution, so far. and pfizer has officially asked the fda for permission to allow its vaccine to be stored at a higher temperature. right now, the pfizer vaccine requires two doses, and on that front, we've got, yet, more

promising data. a peer-reviewed study out of israel found today that just one dose of the pfizer vaccine was 85% effective at preventing symptomatic cases of covid-19. 85% immunity. that's practically the whole ball game. the faster we could vaccinate people with a vaccine that's 85% effective, the faster we could achieve herd immunity and that's what they have been experimenting with in great britain. in the united kingdom, they are waiting several months to administer second doses instead of the recommended several weeks like we are doing here in the united states. the idea is to try and offer a lower -- lower level of immunity to a larger group of people. by vaccinating more people, once. instead, of fewer people, twice. that decision was controversial, at the time. but this new data out of israel seems to vindicate that strategy, which begs the question, should we be considering that, too? joining us to help make sense of this is someone who is going to advise the white house in making these decisions.

andy slavitt is the white house senior adviser on the covid-19 response. andy, this is the first time we have spoken since your appointment. thank you for -- for joining me tonight. can we talk a little bit about this? we were told, in the beginning, that's really important that you get the vaccine, the first dose. you get the second dose, at prescribed time interval. you certainly can't mix it with another vaccine. and now, we are getting this evidence about greater levels of protection than we thought. explain this to me as an expert. is -- what's the math on that? is it better to -- to -- to inject more people with one dose than it is to inject fewer people with two doses? >> well, good to be with you, ali. let me give you the bottom line, first. the bottom line, first, is that everybody should still be getting their second dose. now, it is good news to hear and the new data comes in. and i think, you know, i spoke with the fda today. i spoke with nih today. they pore over new data that comes in.

you know, multiple studies but the thing, i think, to keep in mind is not just the efficacy of the vaccine but the durability of the vaccine. and with -- with only one shot of pfizer and moderna, the current view is that the -- that the vaccine just doesn't last long enough. so the second dose is really, really important. the other thing that dr. fauci mentioned to me, today, is that with the second vaccine, you have a much-better chance against variants. the second vaccine of pfizer, as -- as we know, does pretty well against -- against the south african variant. and all of the vaccines, we know, do very well against the uk variant. but that's with two doses. so they are going to continue to look at the data. but right now, people shouldn't be confused. the current recommendation from the fda and it will be, for some time, is to take two, not one. >> andy, let's talk about that term you just used. durability. we are approaching a year, from the first case, first widespread cases. and boy, last march and april and may were a really difficult

time. so there are people who got coronavirus, then, who are now approaching a year. how -- how effective -- how long do we believe these viruses last, at the moment? >> well, the antibody protection, we know, wanes. and -- and how long it lasts. well, we can't precisely say but we do know that it -- that it lasts at least 90 days. and at six months to nine months, it's not as clear. what we, also, know, anecdotally, is that some of the variants, potentially the one from south africa, the one from -- from brazil. there may not be antibody protection from -- from a first dose. that's why the recommendation, of course, is that people still wear masks. why people who have had covid should still get vaccinated. because the vaccines offer the strongest protection. >> andy, let's talk -- let's talk a little bit about the rate at which people are being vaccinated. we are at about 1.6 million

doses a day. but it seems that, if we were not constrained by supply, we could be at a higher number than that. >> yeah. i mean, we are going to continue to ramp up the production of vaccines, and states are getting better and better at being able to -- to move through the vaccines that they have. you know, when -- when we got here on january 20th, we didn't have enough vaccines. there weren't enough -- there were no vaccines in inventory. we hadn't, yet, ordered enough and purchased enough vaccines for the american public. the president directed us to do that. there weren't enough vaccination sites. and there weren't enough vaccinators. we have taken action, on all of those and as a result, since january 20th, we have increased the amount of vaccines we have shipped to states, by 60%. we have also been -- we also started retail-pharmacy program. we're setting up 100 community-vaccination sites. and -- and we're moving vaccines into community-health centers, to make sure that we get the equity, not just that we get more people vaccinated but, that we get people fairly vaccinated.

including those that are most at risk, in vulnerable communities so that's a lot of progress but we know it's not fast enough. we know that we are still in a shortage situation. be very blunt. we are going to be in a shortage situation for some matter of time. probably, measured in months. not likely, weeks. certainly, not more than -- certainly, not beyond the middle of the year. and until that time, we know there is going to be more people that want vaccines than we have vaccines available. >> andy trks' good to see you again. thank you for joining us tonight. andy slavitt is the white house senior adviser on the covid-19 response. appreciate your time tonight. thanks, andy. another part of the biden administration covid response that is getting extra attention this week is how the storms are delaying distribution. the storms pummelling the country have delayed distribution of 6 million doses of the vaccine. but while those problems are expected to be dealt with in the coming days, residents of texas and other southern states could be feeling the effects of this weather for months to come. after living without power and heat for days on end, something

as basic as water is now a major issue in the state. in harris county, which is home to houston, county officials say tens of thousands of buildings have burst pipes. not only causing extensive-property damage and flooding, but also, making it hard to get access to clean, drinkable water. and look at what happened in san antonio. this was the scene last night after a fire broke out within the flooring of an apartment building, just outside the city. flames, quickly, consumed the entire building. after a few hours, the building collapsed. but not before cars, parked on the street and in front of the building, also, caught fire. eventually, forcing residents of other nearby buildings to evacuate. dozens of firefighters were on the scene throughout the night trying to tame this blaze. but once again, access to water became the issue. when they went to tap the nearby fire hydrants, they were all frozen. they were basically useless. the water in them didn't come out. they had to call on dozens of

water tender trucks from across the region for reinforcement. but still, hours passed before they were able to put out the flames. one firefighter told me today this is a firefighter's worst nightmare. you are there on the scene and you can't put the fire out. that's the situation in texas right now as much of the state has been in crisis every day this week. millions of residents are still under boiled-water notices. residents have to boil tap water before consuming it, which might work in a pinch if the taps worked. if water came out, if pipes weren't burst. people have been forced to wait in line to fill containers with the water they need for their families given their pipes have been shut or broken. 20% of san antonio still has no water pressure. mean while, more than 100,000 people in the state are still without power and heat. temperatures were, once again, below freezing throughout much of the state last night as they have been all week. people have been doing everything they can to get warm. wrapping themselves in winter gear and blankets. burning paper and artwork as

kindling. turning on their car engines, indoors, to try to warm up which is incredibly dangerous. that has caused a spike in carbon-monoxide poisoning. at least five people have died from it. texas is in crisis. much of this was possibly avoidable. we knew weeks ago this winter storm was headed straight for texas. texas never designed its power grid to withstand the high-demand extreme winter weather weather they get. but the board of the electric reliability council of texas, ercot, met ahead of the storm. they said they were ready for winterization. that they were ready for the storm. this is how the president and chief-executive officer of ercot began the board meeting on february the 9th. >> and one thing i want to say before i really get into the presentation is it it's actually going to be winter here, pretty soon. as many of you and those of you in texas know, we do have a cold front coming this way. we'll probably see our winter

peak later this week or in the very early part of next week. and operations has issued an operating-condition notice just to make sure everyone is up to speed with their winterization. and we're ready for the several days of pretty frigid temperatures to come our way. so, more on that, over the next few days. but it does look like we will have a little bit of winter weather to contend with during the course of the rest of this week. so, i want to go onto the next slide, if we could after that. >> a little bit of winter weather to contend with. we're ready. next slide, if we could. the head of ercot made that statement about the then-upcoming storm. took him 40 seconds. that's all he needed to relay the message about the energy grid's preparedness for the storm. 40 seconds. one of the many texas officials outraged by this story is county judge, kp george. a judge in texas the top-elected official in a county. fort bend texas is just outside of houston. earlier today, kp george, judge george, tweeted 40 seconds. years of deregulation and lack

of care led to this abject failure. judge kp george also took a shot at state officials like governor abbott and ted cruz, saying, vacationing in cancun and saying texans chose blackouts instead of federal partnerships. joining me now from ft. bend county, a huge county right next to houston, judge kp george. judge george, i appreciate your time tonight. this is what you call gaslighting for people who don't understand the term. when you go out, and you tell somebody something that's a lie. to distract from whatever it is that you are trying to distract them for. the idea that texans chose not to be part of a larger grid because they'd rather be freezing and cold and without water, than have federal involvement in energy. the idea that it was alternative energy that caused this. because of frozen windmills, you don't have power in texas. it's gas lighting. >> it is.

it is gas lighting. and -- and i tell you this. a 90-year-old senior citizens calling me saying i am on my last oxygen cylinder. a mother calling me and saying that my 4-week-old baby, i am driving around in a car to keep that baby warm. and then, people struggling with burst pipes. and people struggling to keep themselves warm. and 850,000 of my residents, i don't think not even a single one said or agreed with what that statement is all about. >> you also have a very strange situation. you got the governor and others making these statements. and then, you have got the situation where your -- your senator, ted cruz, got himself mired in a situation, which he -- which he left the state. what is -- what does the solution actually look like in texas? what needs to be done right now to get people out of the emergency that they're in, in which people are actually dying?

and what needs to be done -- done in the longer term, to accept the fact that you are going to have weather instances like this and you have to be prepared? >> i just -- i just think, you don't -- you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. also, understand that you mentioned, sir, before, we are lone-star state. and i just wanted to very -- be very clear. i just wanted to say i am so proud of being in texas. we love texas. and it's a -- it's a unique state. but at the same time, when it comes to this kind of weather events, we cannot manage it alone. and -- and also, right now, i'm -- i'm calling for a full investigation. and texans need to know why this happened. what is the reason why it happened? and -- and there should be some kind of answers coming. and also, i understand, that our legislators are in session right now and next thursday, i believe

they will take hearing on this issue. in between, governor abbott issued investigation on to ercot. and also, we asked the -- the leadership to resign. but he appointed these people. and obviously, i believe should have known better. and so, my point is i am right here at the ground. you know, i am -- i'm the -- i'm the boot on the ground. and i am seeing this. my citizens are calling me with these issues, i mentioned. and i'm -- i'm going to the shelters, and i am setting up warming centers. and -- and i'm talking to people. and they are saying, last night is the first time, in -- in a week, i -- i slept. hearing from an 80-year-old person, it is heartbreaking. and, you know, texas is a unique place. but this is -- this -- many of this would have avoided. >> judge george, good to see you. thank you for joining us. our wishes are with you and the people of texas that you stay

warm. had a couple power outages in the northeast, this winter. and we're much-better prepared for it but they are not pleasant under any circumstances. to be cold in your open own home and then to not have water. >> yeah. i, personally, got my -- my home flooded. so -- so i can understand exactly how my residents feel. >> yeah. >> thank you. >> our heart goes out to you and our thoughts are with you and our support is with you. ft. bend county judge, kp george. thank you for your time tonight. we wish you the best of luck. a lot more to get to tonight. up next. an example of republicans in another state trying to pull some slight of hand and stack the deck in their favor. stay with us for that story. makes it brilliant. the visionary lexus nx. lease the 2021 nx 300 for $359 a month for thirty six months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. (announcer) this is chet. he loves work but lives for the weekend. for thirty six months. and now, he needs a new truck. so he came to truecar

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over the past year, the state of georgia has done more than any other state to shape the political future of this country. after all, it was that grassroots-driven voter mobilization in georgia that flipped the state blue for the first time in nearly three

decades. helping joe biden become president. it was that historic result in georgia that led then-president donald trump to try and pressure republican-elected officials in georgia to help him reverse the outcome of that election. a move, that may, yet, land him in prison, as georgia prosecutors continue to investigate the matter. it was, also, georgia, where just one day before a violent, right-wing mob stormed the u.s. capitol, democrats, once again, managed to turn out voters in historic numbers. electing not one but two democratic senators, handing democrats control of the senate. every major piece of legislation that comes out of this congress and this white house, including the sweeping-coronavirus-relief package, that was just announced today. all of it is possible because of what happened in georgia in november, and then n january. and so, it makes sense, that now, just as the rest of the nation finally thought it could stop focusing on georgia. republicans in georgia are taking aggressive action to try to stop anything like that from ever happening, again.

yesterday, georgia republicans introduced a set of sweeping, new bills to limit access to polls in that state. among the provisions, in these new bills, is a move to significantly restrict absentee voting in georgia. all georgians have been able to vote absentee, since 2005, without any problems. under laws that were created, and passed, by republicans. it was all good while republicans were winning elections, i guess. but now, the democrats have won three statewide elections in georgia where the absentee ballots tended to favor democrats. suddenly -- suddenly, georgia republicans have decided to significantly restrict who can and cannot vote absentee. one bill would also end early, in-person voting, voting on sundays. days, when black churches have historically held something called souls to the polls drives to turn out their members. i will give you three reasons why republicans or three guesses as to why republicans want to

end early voting on sundays, in particular. of course, all of this comes just after georgia held two elections with record levels of both early and absentee voting. elections, where georgia's own secretary of state, has stated emphatically, there was no widespread-voter fraud. and georgia republicans do not appear eager. according to npr, the text of one voter suppression bill was introduced just one hour before it was passed out of committee giving the democrats on that committee barely any time to find out what was in it. so what happens next in the state of georgia? georgia democrats are still in the minority in the state house and the senate. so, is there anything they can do to stop these changes? joining us now is democratic georgia state representative, rhonda. representative, thank you for joining us. tell me the status of this. this is a remarkable and interesting matter, in that republicans, until this election, were all about early voting and absentee voting. they wrote that law into being. they -- they are the ones who passed these laws into being.

>> thank you for having me tonight. yes. we did receive this bill, yesterday. and today, during our committee meeting, it was a hearing in which fellow georgians were able to talk to us about their concerns about hb-531. as we know, georgia has been a leader in providing voters more options to vote than most states. so, why would they undermine -- why would we undermine our own success? and as you said, it's basically because we did win those three elections. and so now, they want to change all of the rules. >> and ostensibly, it's to stop illegal voting, fraudulent voting. but our own secretary of state. i have seen him itemize the cases they are investigating. there are very, very few. there's no evidence, at all, of widespread-voter fraud, despite the fact that that secretary of

state, a republican, is under remarkable pressure from allies of donald trump to find voter fraud. >> yes, you are correct. there is no widespread-voter fraud in the state of georgia. so, for that reason, we don't understand why, all of a sudden, we received a bill that was 48 pages. and it was a combination of all the worst bills that they could come up with. it would now prevent us -- it would limit the days for -- for early voting. it would, of course, as you said, block sunday voting. and one of the -- the very popular things that happened during our elections, what it would limit ballot drop boxes. and also, outside funding. that they don't want the election supervisors to apply for the various grants that were offered during the election season. >> there's -- there's an element in here, which is kind of interesting because one thing we have watched in georgia not just

in these last two elections but in the previous election, which stacey abrams was running. is the degree to which people would stand outside, for hours, to be prepared to vote. there's -- there is a part in it bill that prohibits the handing out of food and water to voters. it says that no person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person display or distribute any campaign material. nor shall any person give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including but not limited to, food and drink to an elector. so, people who would take water to people who were standing for hours in lines. this bill would make that a crime? >> yes, it would. but part of the bill -- yes, it would make it a crime. and those people who were passing out water were passing it out to everybody. they didn't go up and ask anybody if you were republican or democrat. and with all the changes that they are trying to do with this

bill, we would go back to having long lines. people standing in line. not -- seniors not being able to have seats. and so, with all these changes, they are trying to take us backwards, instead of forward. >> it is remarkable development. we will watch it closely with you. representative, thank you for joining us. georgia's state representative. >> thank you for having me. >> still ahead. a very real example of the change georgia voters decided on, in november. stay with us. ember. stay with us you see the invisible dirt trapped deep down. try new tide pods hygienic clean heavy duty. for a deep clean, just toss in a pac. formulated with 10 concentrated cleaning actives, that clean deep down into the fabric to remove invisible dirt. see the difference, after being washed with tide hygienic clean. for a deep clean, try tide hygienic clean! with a 100% money back guarantee! if it's got to be clean, it's got to be tide.

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if you smell gas, you're too close. leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. covid's still a threat. and on reopening schools, we know what happens when we don't put safety first. ignore proper ventilation or rates of community spread, and the virus worsens. fail to provide masks or class sizes that allow for social distancing, and classrooms close back down.

a successful reopening requires real safety and accountability measures. including prioritizing vaccines for educators. parents and educators agree: reopen schools. putting safety first. if you see wires down, treat them all as if they're hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. all right. here is proof of how much difference an election makes. during president trump's first g7 meeting, back in 2017, he was the last to show up for the traditional photo op. forcing the other world leaders to wait around for him. he was also noticeably absent when the group decided to walk through the sicilian town that was hosting the summit. you can see them walking here. angela merkel, shinzo abe, and

the british prime minister, theresa may. trump, meanwhile, decided he would go it alone. waiting behind for a golf cart to carry him the 700 yards. that's four-tenths of a mile. from there, that partnership only got rockier as the years went on. not because of his isolationalist impulses but that was part of it. trump tried to insert russia back into the g7, which when it had russia in it, was called g 8. but russia was banned from the group after invading and seizing ukraine. that didn't seem to matter to donald trump. he called the move common sense. he then said when it was his turn to host the g7, he wanted putin there. never mind the fact that canada and germany and france and the united kingdom all disagreed with that. well, today, we got a searing reminder of what a difference a change in leadership can make. president biden, this afternoon, set a new tone in terms of how the united plans to deal with

russia. with remarks that took place as he attended his first virtual, g7 summit. >> putin seeks to weaken european -- the european project and our nato alliance. he wants to undermine the trans-atlantic unity and our resolve because it's so much easier for the kremlin to bully and threaten individual states, than it is to negotiate with the strong, closely united, trans-atlantic community. that's why. that's why, standing up for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine remains a vital concern for europe and the united states. >> president biden is making a clean break with trump's america-first foreign policy. no more pandering to russia and we are not going it alone anymore. riding in a golf cart while the rest of the world walks together. this comes, as the u.s. voices a willingness to restart diplomacy with iran. and talks regarding that country's crumbling-nuclear deal. and amid this country plans to

reenter into the paris-climate agreement. there is a real sense that america is back on the world stage or at the very least, trying to put humpty dumpty back together, again, and back on top of the wall. joining me now to talk about this, ben rhodes, deputy national security adviser under president obama. ben, good to see you. i think, one can't overstate what has happened in the last couple of weeks, with respect to joe biden engaging on the world stage. but in particular ways. it's not -- it's not pink cloud to pink cloud with everybody. in fact, he had a tough conversation with israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. and the lack of a conversation with the saudi-crowned prince, mohammad bin salman. sort of setting a message to both of them, too, that america will have a clearer role, even in the middle east. >> no, that's right, ali. if you think about it, you know, who were trump's favorite leaders? mohammad bin salman was perhaps at the top of that list. the first trip donald trump took

as president overseas, he broke precedent. instead of going to one of our -- he went to saudi arabia. i think, what you see is joe biden, very deliberately, picking venues. this -- the munich-security conference where he gave that speech today virtually. that's the venue in the heart of europe signaling, you know, you are our friends, you are our allies. not these other guys. the agenda is very different. he is talking about democracy. standing up to russia. climate change. diplomacy, to get back into the iran nuclear agreement. so, both the tone, the settings, and the substance, is entirely different than what we've seen the last four years. >> so, ben, this is the moment to determine whether some of those alliances have been damaged. obviously, g7 is a -- is a key alliance. nato is one, that was undermined by -- by donald trump. is everybody happy to take america back, again? are they okay to say, hey, let's just forget about the last four years and we're -- it's back to business? >> well, yes and no.

on the one hand, it just shows you how extreme the trump policy is or was that joe biden's had to go out of his way to reaffirm, we are a member of nato. we honor commitments to nato. we are back in the paris agreement, which the u.s. led in negotiating. we are prepared to have diplomacy to go back into the iran agreement that we took the lead in negotiating. so this is a sea change. i think the rest of the world, particularly our allies, have thought, you know, on the one hand, we very much want america back. back at the table. back defending a set of values. back, working to solve problems like climate change or dealing with pandemics, where trump had been totally absent. on the other hand, they just lived through the last four years and they are looking over joe biden's shoulder and thinking, well, who are those crazy people behind you who stormed the capitol on january 6th? can we trust that the americans won't do that again, in four years? can we trust that they'll keep their word? if we want to negotiate a complex agreement, like the paris agreement was or the iran-nuclear deal, can we trust that the americans won't just tear it up? so his task is -- is much harder

than just making a speech. and setting the right tone. he's going to have to build back credibility, month by month, year by year, initiative by initiative, because of the wrecking-ball approach that donald trump took to our alliances and our role in the world. >> we shall watch to see how that goes. ben, good to see you, as always. thank you for joining us, tonight. ben rhodes, deputy national security adviser under president obama. we appreciate your time tonight. tonight's show is special because tonight we've got two big-science stories in the show. both of which, blow me away. and the first of which, is right on the other side of this break. . ♪i can't believe it myself.♪ ♪suddenly i'm up on top of the world...♪ maybe it is dirtier than it looks. ♪should've been somebody else...♪ it is dirtier than it looks. try new tide hygienic clean. it's time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. you can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. can it help me fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet. but, can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable.

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all right. i want to show you something. science is amazing but it's, also, as you know, very complicated. sometimes, we need someone to break it down into simple terms for us, lay folks, to understand. when it comes to the emerging threat of the covid variants from the united kingdom, south africa, and brazil, there is a lot that we still don't know. and i'm, certainly, not a vaccine expert or a doctor or an

immunologist. but i do understand video games. >> each vaccine is created to instantly recognize a virus, by its shape. once the vaccine identifies the shape it's been programmed to look for, it blocks it, very efficiently. but when a virus mutates, it changes shape, making it more difficult for the vaccine to identify its target. and if a vaccine can't recognize what it's trying to block, we're all in trouble. >> that was my nbc news colleague, richard engel, host of on assignment. breaking down in layman's terms, how the virus mutation slipped by the immune system. the cdc warns that these new variants spread more easily and quickly, which could lead to more cases of the virus, which would, in turn, put even more strain on the health-care

system. leading to more hospitalizations, and potentially, more deaths. now, there is some hopeful news about our current vaccines. the so-called mrna vaccines, providing protection against these mutations. there is also research showing them to have reduced effectiveness, when compared to the original strain of the virus. but, don't despair. >> but hope is not lost. science may come to our rescue. the new type of mrna vaccines, developed by pfizer, moderna, and others, are so revolutionary, they can be quickly reprogrammed to adapt, as viruses mutate. >> just a modern way of making -- making vaccines. which gave us, also, the ability to respond with an effective and safe vaccine. >> reporter: invented the pfizer vaccine. he is the ceo of biontech. >> is it almost like you are cutting and pasting like a

computer? >> yeah. a little bit. it's a copy of the virus. but in this copy, of course, there's no genetic piece of of the virus. it is just information. which is safe and which is not able to replicate. it is so easy. i -- it is, of course, not easy but it is -- it is a process that allows us to make it fast. >> so it's a copy and paste of the genetic material. >> copy and paste. yeah. >> and no matter how many times it changes, you just copy a new image and paste it? >> copy and paste. copy and paste. >> it's a transformative way of making vaccines. >> kind of amazing. it's now a race between an evolving virus and the scientists on the front lines working to make flexible vaccines. joining me now, richard engel, nbc news chief foreign correspondent and host of on assignment. this weekend, he is going to be hosting a special edition of on assignment. richard, i always appreciate you staying up so late.

you are always far away somewhere before it's the middle of the night to be with us. but this is really, really important this race between the virus that is evolving and mutating to escape the vaccine and the vaccine, that can be copy, pasted, and adapted, to the -- to the virus. who wins this race? how does it look? how does it look? >> well, so far in this race er with winning, but the virus is volcanic very, very quickly. the vaccines that we have right now that are currently available do work against the main variants. they don't work as well, but they still work. and that is the key thing to know. so it is a race to get the vaccines out before this virus continues to evolve because this is a battle against evolution. we understand evolution sort of in human terms or in mammal terms, it happens very, very slowly. you and i evolved. it happens over generations. it happens over millions of years. because we are made of dna, dna

is relatively stable, we have long life spans, relatively speaking, and there aren't that many of us, so evolution takes a long time. viruses are made of rna. they mutate more easily, and there are trillions and trillions of viruses out there and they only live generally a few hours. so with each production, each generation of viruses, there are opportunities to mutate, opportunities for improvements, and that's with a we've seen now. we've seen the virus over time because it has had so much room to replicate. it has had improvements accidentally, and those improvements are propelling themselves forward, creating these new strains. the scientists are trying to quickly adjust the technology so that they can compensate as the

virus evolves at the speed of viral evolution. >> richard, at some juncture, our attempts to get herd immunity and lots of people vaccinated, we hope, we overtake the fact that the virus is mutating and it will be affecting fewer and fewer people and we will have developed is certain immunity. is there a point at which we look like we're in control of this situation? >> well, herd immunity is a funny concept because with the variants, herd immunity doesn't always apply because -- there was a city in brazil, manaos. they had huge percentage of the population that was infected, about 70%, some say 80% of the population had the coronavirus. then a new strain came, and the fact that they had been infected before didn't help them. their previous infections gave them no protection because they were protected from something that was no longer relevant. the virus had changed.

so the most important thing is not necessarily just herd immunity. if you just let this virus go and don't battle it with the vaccines, it will continue to change and your previous infections might no help you very much. but the key thing is to drive down the numbers because the rate at which the virus mutates is a factor of how much there is out there. so if you can shrink it, if you can reduce the general amount of virus on the planet, it will still mutate, but there will be less of it. it will be much more controlled and it will mutate less frequently because there will be fewer options for it to do that. so the way to achieve the herd immunity effect is by getting people vaccinated and reducing the number of virus particles out there. >> this is amazing. i'm so grateful for the time you've taken to explain it. i set me sunday evening to watch your special.

richard engel is our nbc chief fortune correspondent and the host of "on assignment." this special hour on covid mutations airs sunday, 10:00 p.m. eastern. don't miss it. i'm not going to. richard, we appreciate you making time tonight. hope you get a little sleep before the sun comes up. >> my pleasure. coming up next, a story that both rachel and i are very geekily excited about. stay with us. for a deep clean, just toss in a pac. formulated with 10 concentrated cleaning actives, that clean deep down into the fabric to remove invisible dirt. see the difference, after being washed with tide hygienic clean. for a deep clean, try tide hygienic clean! with a 100% money back guarantee! if it's got to be clean, it's got to be tide. ♪ ♪ ♪

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politics, but indeed from this planet. but rachel and i are very excited about what nasa is doing on mars these days. today nasa released the first color images from the landing of their rover, the perseverance, on the planet's surface. now, as a lehman , this photo is definitely the straight out of hollywood winner. it shows the moment perseverance touches down, kicking up plumes of dust from the planet's surface. but after listening to nasa's team of scientists talk today, i'm blown away by every single one of the images they released. this is not the most eye-catching photo until you realize it's the first high had much resolution color photo ever taken from the surface of mars. or this photo taken from a satellite circling mars of the perseverance parachuting down to the surface. until you learn that the satellite from which the photo was taken was traveling at 6,750 miles per hour and had the time and angle itself exactly right

to get this shot in a single pass from over 400 miles away at the very moment that perseverance was as long as from going 1,300 miles an hour to 200 miles per hour as it got ready to land, and they got the shot. this photo is literally just a photo of the front wheel of the rover and bunch of rocks, but the scientists at nasa already think that the rocks right there in the upper left-hand corner, feet from where the rover landed, may be able to tell them how old the dried out area near the landing site is, giving us a huge data point about the history of mars. nasa should start to expect far more photos like that and color videos, and even color videos from a small detachable helicopter to be transmitted back to earth in the coming weeks and months. i used my phone to deposit a check the other day. i had to retake the photo because it was blurry, so color me impressed. rachel is back on monday but

catch me live from birmingham, alabama, with a special series of shows that honor black history month. you'll see my conversations with activists and ordinary citizens from all walks of life, from a city that is steeped in america's struggle for racial justice and equality. >> all we want is for you to see us as humans. we're humans. we want to be treated with the same dignity and respect that you would give somebody white or anybody else. all i did was came out of my mother's womb just like you, and trying to make the best out of this life that god has given me. >> more of that this weekend 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. i am live from birmingham, alabama. it's time now for "the last word." my friend jonathan capehart in for lawrence o'donnell this evening. good evening, jonathan. >> good evening, ali. i can't wait to see your show from birmingham having visited there many times, it's a very powerful place to visit. thanks a lot, ali.