i want to go back to ellison barber, who is in front of that pfizer factory in portage, michigan. ellison, we've seen several trucks leave. tell me what you saw from your perspective and what's going on now. >> reporter: right, so we were told that two trucks would be leaving this morning. we saw three leaving. a fedex, a u.p.s. truck, and a third truck with boyle was the name on the side. we're not entirely sure what was in that third truck. we're trying to get a little more clarity on that. but we do know that there were shipments of the vaccine that were heading to states east of the mississippi and also states west of the mississippi. that initial shipment, we were told, there were 189 boxes of the pfizer covid vaccine going out to states. we expected at least one, if not all of those trucks to head to lansing, michigan, to go to the airport there, to then make their way towards the distribution centers in memphis, tennessee, and louisville, kentucky. but obviously, as the trucks drive, we will eventually see where they are going and have more clarity on that fairly soon. they

ellison barber is live for us, just outsize the pfizer plant in southwest, michigan. let's go to her right now, ellison? >> kendis, yes, we're watching from inside as this process starting in the freezer area where they're taking out the vaccines, to then start packaging them and getting all of that dry ice, getting everything scanned and to make sure these are ready to go. a critical part of this for pfizer is making sure that this vaccine, while it is in transit, that it stays at those subzero temperatures. you can see just watching the people inside here, how every single task is done with so much care from taking out the trays with the vials to setting them inside the boxes, to making sure there's hot glue so they stay put in place. if you look in the corner at some of these as they move these boxes through, there's a little bit of a cord in. that i believe is part of the thermal probe, the device put inside these boxes so that they can have a temperature monitoring system outside of the boxes so that someone can keep track of this as it is in transit. this is a hu

ellison barber, out of kalamazoo, washington. we'll check back with you in a little bit. >>> you saw the trucks, throughithrough i throwing competition out the window. teaming up to ship millions of doses across the country. they're going to divide and conquer. prioritizing and tracking the delivery of that cargo. cori coffin is live in the fedex hub in memphis. how are they preparing for the massive undertaking. are you seeing activity there. >> reporter: i thought it was interesting as we hear ellison talking about ramping up. here, it's what she was experiencing the day before. what they told me about that, is everybody has been ready. they've been ready since november. they are ready to go. once the shipment gets here to start the distribution process, the likelihood of us seeing something is 50/50 because they're not telling us. they're keeping mum on what time things will start to get here in memphis at this hub and where exactly it will be. for example, we're here at the cold chain facility that has the ability to house th

nbc's ellison barber is at a hospital in springfield, missouri, where vaccine distribution hit a brief snag. hey, ellison, i understand that hospital is getting a second shipment of the moderna vaccine after logistical errors left them thousands of doses short. what happened to make this first day of distribution go wrong? >> reporter: yes, so 7,000 doses, that's how many they were expecting to get yesterday. >> wow. >> reporter: and they did not get any of the 7,000 doses at this springfield hospital. things did get back on track, though, this afternoon, or late this morning, about an hour ago we watched as a fedex truck arrived carrying those 7,000 doses of the moderna vaccine. the vaccine was in white boxes, packed with ice packs all around it. another group of boxes, the brown boxes, those had kits from mckesson with syringes, needles, and alcohol prep pads so they could administer those vaccines. they will start the afternoon clinic of vaccinations at this hospital within a few hours. but what happened initially is they were expecting to get the shipment of 7,000 doses of the mode

nbc's ellison barber is outside a brewery near detroit. ellison, good to see you.ions extended? what's that brewery doing to avoid having to permanently close its doors? >> reporter: the governor and state health officials say while they've seen some progress in terms of new covid infections, those have dropped in the last two weeks, it wasn't enough because covid hospitalizations and the death rate, those numbers are still high. they need to see some sort of stabilization across the board. they also say they needed the extra time here to assess what the potential impacts of thanksgiving gatherings could be in terms of the numbers. this place, the brewery we're at, royal oak brewery, they have been around and opened since 1995. at this point they say they're just struggling to survive. >> i think it's easy to say, well everybody should just shut down and we should all wait this out. the problem is, people who have put their heart and soul into small, independent family businesses all across this country, are potentially going to lose those businesses. we don't want

ellison barber is standing by. across the united states, medical centers like the one you're at, ellison, waiting for the first shipment of that moderna vaccine. talk to me about what's happening where you are. >> reporter: yeah. i mean, at this hospital, it is like we've seen with pfizer vaccines in the last week. everybody is kind of just waiting and seeing. it's a little bit influx as it has been with other shipments, in terms of exactly when the vaccine will arrive. cox medical center says they expect to have shipments of the moderna vaccine and begin the process of vaccinating approximately 7,000 people by the end of the day. among the first to be vaccinated at this hospital will be covid-19 nurses. we spoke to a few of them earlier this morning. listen here. >> we are taking the ability to get this vaccine very seriously, and we're the first ones to sign up for it because we want a change. >> i hope it works, but i'm terrified that if it doesn't work, and people get it, then still go on with their daily life

ellison barber is in bridgeton, missouri. : hey, craig. this is a hospital where they now, as of last week, have a makeshift morgue that they are unfortunately having to use here. in the st. louis area, this hospital, ssm health, has been hit by the pandemic. we were able to go inside to see one of the icu floors and speak to nurses and doctors there. most of the patients on that floor were positive for covid-19. most of them were sedated. some were lying, placed on their stomachs in what's called the proning position because it was the only way they could breathe and get enough air in their lungs on their own without the help of a machine. others were on ventilators. you could tell who was covid positive or who wasn't by these signs outside each door. green meant covid positive. red meant covid negative. while we were in there, one of the patients who was not covid positive coded. what we'll show you next is hard to watch, it is graphic. if you need to take a minute and not watch this, that's okay, but we're showing this beca

craig. >> ellison barber starting us off in springfield. ellison, thank you. let's turn to stephanie gosk in new york. starting today british airways passengers would need a neg ti covid test before getting on board a plane from united kingdom to new york. new york's governor is calling for an outright travel ban, right? >> he is. he's calling for an outright travel ban. he doesn't have the legal authority to do that. he wants the federal government to step in. in lieu of that band, he's asked airlines to take part. delta and virgin atlantic say they're willing to give peeft tests, show they're negative before they travel to new york. this corridor between new york and london is one of the most important ones in the world for business and banking. but you have local leaders here in this state very concerned after what happened here in the spring. the idea of having a more virulent strand of coronavirus on the streets of new york city has a lot of people concerned. they're only just barely keeping a lit d on the numbers here. you had mayor bill de blasio threat

and that's where we find nbc news' ellison barber. good to see to you, ellison. how are you? >> hey, jason. we expect to start seeing those vaccine shipments leave this pfizer plant in portage, michigan tomorrow morning. then the shipments will start to make their way to distribution centers in memphis, tennessee and louisville, kentucky. one of the big challenges for pfizer is making sure that this vaccine stays really cold. we know this vaccine needs to be kept at negative 94 degrees fahrenheit. so what does that mean? it means they're going to use a whole lot of dry ice and also put devices inside of the packages so that someone can monitor the temperature as these vaccines start to make their way to all of the different states and u.s. territories. we know that the u.s., they allocated the first 6.4 million doses of this pfizer vaccine to states and territories based on the size of their adult population. but all of that is not going to go out immediately. as you said, we expect about 2.9 million doses of the pfizer vaccine to go out initially. pfizer is holding back abou

nbc's ellison barber is at mid michigan medical center, one of the pre description sites with more onhat happens. i want to know what you're seeing now, ellison. this is something we talked about from the very beginning, how do we get the vaccine outside of major urban areas. what are you seeing? >> reporter: things have been moving very fast in the last 30 minutes. they got that shipment from the u.p.s. truck, moved to it the pharmacy and started the process to get this out to other communities. you said it. the thing that is tricky here is we know this pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at negative 94 degrees farenheit. if we walk this way, i'll show you what they're doing here. for the vaccinations that will take place in midland today, they have those in this cooler. they're getting the syringes out and getting things ready to vaccinate people here. the other thing they're dealing with is they need to get this vaccine to other communities, rural communities that are further away and don't have that vaccination type of storage container, if you will. what we saw earlier, they got th

let's bring in nbc's ellison barber, outside the pfizer plant in portage, michigan. ellison, tell us what's been happening so far. >> reporter: hey, ali. you can see over my shoulder, there is another truck that has arrived here at this plant, a fedex truck. we were told earlier this morning there would be two main trucks leaving in the initial group of trucks. we actually saw three leave. we were told the two trucks would have shipments of the vaccine, one of them for states west of the mississippi, the other for states east of the mississippi. about 189 boxes filled with the covid vaccine made their way out of this plant in the last hour. those 189 boxes will be making their way to all 50 states. what i am thinking this fedex truck is here for, what we're expecting at some point later this morning, later today, is for another shipment to go out containing vaccine shipments for the four u.s. territories. so that will be it for today. once that actually does happen. and then there will be obviously another shipment going out tomorrow and another one day after that. th

msnbc correspondent alison barber is covering this angle. ellison, good morning. there's a lot of ambulance services, especially those in more rural areas, tell us that they are at their breaking point or potentially past it. this ambulance service that we have been with the last 2 1/2 days is jamestown area ambulance. they have a total of four ambulances. three of them are staffed 24/7. the other one is an extra surge ambulance. they say right now they are getting more calls than ever before. the majority of them related to covid-19, and they're having to drive and make a lot more frequent trips to further big cities to get patients beds and the care that they need. and we saw that firsthand yesterday. at one point, one of the ambulances went out on a call to pick up a patient from one of the smaller hospitals in the area here who had covid-19 and was on a ventilator. the hospital asked for them to come and get that patient, to move them to a bigger hospital about 100 miles away in fargo. that trip alone took that crew at least five hours. they say they are reall

ellison barber in lansing, michigan, thank you.see you this morning. >>> want to bring in dr. amiche adalja from the bloomberg school of public health. good to see you. thanks for joining us on this. gosh, seeing that footage between the father and daughter, it's so emotional to see and you can understand, especially for the patient, the benefits of having a family member visit them when they are just oh, so sick. we've talked so many times about so many patients having to die alone during this pandemic. and how it could help to have that human connection for them, that family connection. what do you make of this? >> i think that this is something that hospitals can do and i've been working at hospitals where we've had visitors that have seen covid patients and you can do this in a safe manner as long as you have the appropriate personal protective equipment for the visitors and you have it supervised and make sure there's no one being put at risk by this visitation. but it is something that you're going to see hospitals increasing

nbc news reporter ellison barber was able to go into depaul hospital in st. louis this week, specifically to their icu to talk to their staff there. and all of us right now in this country are looking at the same numbers, looking at the same statistics, feeling scared about the weeks ahead. the people who are going to try to get us through the weeks ahead, though, they are already rocked back on their heels right now by how much they're doing already, by how big the problem is right now, before we get into what is about to be the worst of it in these next few weeks. >> once they get to us, we're not seeing a lot that make it out of here. so it's just like a day in and day out. i don't know. i just wonder in the end how, you know -- if things are going to be different. i don't know. >> how much patients have you lost? >> i -- i don't even know our numbers. there's days when it's three and four a shift, so it's -- it's hard. >> and how many hours is a shift typically? >> 12 hours. >> in a 12-hour period, there's some days where you're losing three or four peopl

and ellison barber at pfizer's largest manufacturing site in portage, michigan. morgan, we heard from the hhs secretary alex azar with that hopeful news that the fda informed pfizer they intend to grant that eua, emergency use authorization, in a matter of hours. what do we know about the timing of how all of this would play out? >> peter, that is the million-dollar question. just this morning, when the fda released that statement, they effectively said that we will, quote, rapidly work to authorize this vaccine, and they essentially told the cdc to get ready to distribute. but then the question, peter, becomes when and to whom. we know if that official authorization comes as early as today, that the first dose of 2.9 million doses of vaccines will go to americans all across the country, possibly as early as this weekend. but the question of who gets it is a little bit trickier, peter. because we know the elderly and frontline health care workers will be prioritized. but one of the most interesting things i heard come of that advisory panel just yesterday was the

nbc's ellison barber joins me from the rural jamestown, north dakota. the pandemic continues to pose unique problems, in rural parts of the country. i was in south dakota, last week, where people are very far, in many cases from hospitals, what are you seeing? >> yes, this is the only ambulance service in jamestown, north dakota. they have a total of four ambulances and the paramedics would he have spoken to here, they say they are running more calls, the majority of them related to covid-19, and a lot of those calls are taking them further and further away. we saw that firsthand yesterday when one of the ambulance crews here got a call from one of smaller hospitals in the area, asking them to move a patient who had covid-19 and was on a ventilator to a bigger hospital, about 100 miles away, in fargo. that trip, from beginning to end, took that crew at least five hours. the people that we have spoken to, they say not only are they really running on fume, but they are having to spend a whole lot more time getting ready to go out on these calls tand takes

nbc's ellison barber at pfizer plant in portage, michigan, where the vaccine is produced. what are you learning at the moment right now? rollout scheduled to happen tomorrow, right? >> reporter: yep. that's right. inside the plant right now workers are already packaging and loading boxes with the vaccine, a key, key part of this, of course, is that they make sure that the vaccine stays cold going to the states and territories. this vaccine needs to be kept at negative 94 degrees fahrenheit so pfizer has the containers that will be packed with dry ice and monitored as it makes it way to states. they have a thermal probe in the box to track it making the journey and make sure that the temperature does not drop below that sub-zero freezing cold temperature that the vaccine needs to really stay effective. so we expect to see trucks leaving this plant within about 24 hours and when they do we expect that they will be loaded up with the vaccine in the loading docks just over the shoulder. from here to distribution centers in memphis and louisville. the army general leading "warp

>> ellison barber with that incredibly powerful glimen fufu the hospital there. taken by a doctor at a hospital in reno, nevada, is going vie value on social media, after president trump used it to per pech wait that the coronavirus pandemic is a hoax. he used it to take another baseless swing at the election result, misinformation that was spread to the president's 88 million followers. nevada's governor condemned the president's attack and called on leaders throughout the state to join him in doing so. the ems doctor who took that picture joins me now. dr. jacob keeperman. dr. keeperman, thank you so much, i appreciate it. you've had about 24 hours to absorb what has happened since this has all kind of blown up on social media. what is your response to the president's attacks on you? >> thank you, amin. you know, i just relocated from st. louis, missouri, where you showed that last segment, and i've been living it first-hand. i was sad and disappointed that our leaders aren't understanding the seriousness and the reality of covid-19. this is real, this is a hum

but ems services warned it's still not enough to keep them afloat nbc's ellison barber live in jamestownnorth dakota. ellison, what happens if some of these companies just go under? >> reporter: well, shep, you could call 911 and ask for an ambulance and not get it or you could wait an exceptionally long time for one to arrive this right here is the only ambulance service in jamestown, north dakota they have a total of four blanks they say right now not only are they running far more calls than normal, the majority of them are covid-19 they also say they are having to make a lot more frequent trips further and further away listen here. >> now we've gotten to a point where hospitals are filling up in smaller areas and we need to transfer these patients out to larger area, not necessarily because they need a higher level of care or higher level of capacity hospital, they just need a bed with the same level of care they would reach here. we just don't have the room for them so there's times when we're, you know, taking two covid patients at one time. very long distance across the state. >>

across the country, i want to bring in ellison barber in springfield, missouri, where moderna vaccinations began last night. and kerry sanders in florida. clearwater, florida, where they started today. and stephanie gosk here in new york city covering concerns about this new strain coming from the uk. kerry, what's going on in florida? >> well, i'm at day care health system here in clear -- >> i think kerry -- >> i just lost him. >> right behind -- >> kerry -- ellison, do we still have you? >> you have me. >> all right. ellison, we have you. take us. the first delivery didn't go quite as planned. what's happening. >> yeah, that's right. so we were at the loading docks at this hospital yesterday, stephanie, waiting for what felt like hours trying to catch a glimpse of a fedex truck bringing in about 7,000 doses of the moderna vaccine. that fedex truck, those doses, they never came. this hospital found out later in the afternoon that for reasons still not entirely clear, their shipment of the moderna vaccine was delayed. a couple hospitals nearby, smaller hospitals and more rural areas withi

allis ellison barber in missouri. bill neely in an empty london. tom koz tell lcostello in busy .g for 24 hours about a deal and a vote. i've been watching the emails trickle in, and it seems we are very close here. >> reporter: ali, we are extremely close. we are waiting for the text of this legislation, which we are told could happen soon. these negotiators have blown through every single deadline they've created themselves so far, so i'm not necessarily holding them to that. this

nbc news ellison barber live outside the hospital now you spoke to nurses there. what did you hear? >> reporter: yeah, shepherd, i want to show you it is a triage tent set up outside of the emergency room the hospital hasn't used this yet and they are hoping they don't have to, but inside they say their resources are stretched incredibly thin. we were able to go inside and be on one of the icu floors many of the patients objen that floor had covid-19 many of those covid-19 positive patients in icu were sedated we saw them having to flip patients from their stomach or on to their stomach to put them in the proning position because it was the only way for them to get oxygen into their lungs to keep breathing on their own without the help of a machine. we saw other patients who were on ventilators but not all of the patients on that icu floor had covid-19. there were some non-covid patients other emergencies are still happening even as covid cases and hospitalizations continue to rise, and we saw that firsthand when a non-covid-19 patient coded on the icu floor we are going to show you

ellison barber in janestown, north dakota and mike memoli covering from wilmington, delaware. dr. anthony fauci is accepting a new role in the incoming biden administration with a lot of discussion about the first 100 days with joe biden and what he's going to ask americans to do. >> reporter: yeah. this was a conversation months in the making. you'll remember that as far back as june, joe biden said one of the very first calls he planned to make as the president-elect was to dr. anthony fauci to ask him to serve in his administration in the same role. and finally, yesterday we knew dr. fauci was going to be speaking with members of biden's landing team, the teams going across the administration to meet with the sitting officers across the federal government. as part of that conversation, he also spoke with vice president biden, now the president-elect. he said biden, did, he asked him to serve in his administration as the chief ep deem yolgs but even as a chief medical adviser. savannah guthrie had the first chance to ask him about that conversation. let's listen. >> he also said

. >>> let's head to ellison barber in detroit, michigan. what's the status where you are? >> hey, stephanie. beaumont health has everything set up and ready to go for the moment that they get their shipment of vaccines. we just watched a few minutes ago, they got a new fridge to store the vaccine and you watched as they wheeled that fridge inside. there's a lot of moving parts, a lot of last-minute work to make sure everything is ready to go. they say they are prepared here. they have already paired off pharmacy techs and nurses so as soon as they get the boxes of the vaccine, they can work together to take it out, get it ready to go and inject it within minutes. >> gosh, i never thought i'd -- >> what i feel is hope for a different 2021. not only in our hospitals and clinics and health care but for people's personal lives as well that have been so impacted by this pandemic. >> so, across eight hospitals, beaumont health says they've identified 11,000 employees who are considered high priority. they work with covid-19 patients. they're in the emergency room. they're the ic

nbc's ellison barber was there for one of the very special reunions. eeing a loved one struggle to breathe, then rushing them to the hospital and having to leave them at the door. hundreds of thousands of americans have experienced that over the last ten months. it might be the absolutely cruelest thing about this virus, that when someone is sick and needs their person more than any other time, this virus forces us to send them away. but sparrow hospital is trying to find another option because of covid-19, it's been t while since this man, popovich, has held his daughter's hand but on this day, that is about to change. ivana popovich is a daughter she's also a nurse at the same hospital now treating her dad for covid-19. but she works on a different floor in a different unit. some days, she feared the worst. >> you hear codes going off, an you're like, oh, my god, what room >> reporter: it's part of a new effort to help covid patients at sparrow hospital reunite with family members. ♪ happy birthday to you >> we have the ppe we have the resources. >> r

nbc's ellison barber is outside the pfizer facility in portage, michigan, where she's been for the last 48 hours or so. how about the latest on what's happening there right now? we saw all of the dry ice and the vaccines being loaded and packaged today. pretty extraordinary. what's going on in that building behind you now? >> reporter: very, very busy morning turned into a quiet afternoon outside of the building, though after the trucks initially left this morning, we know and we were able to see workers still packaging and preparing shipments of the vaccine to go out tomorrow. pfizer says they have shipped about half a million doses of the covid-19 vaccine today. all of it coming from this manufacturing plant, just over my shoulder in portage, michigan. they say another 2 million doses of the vaccine will go out and be shipped by the end of this week. this was a huge moment for science, for the country, and for this community of portage, michigan. there were a bunch of people, a little less than ten, not a bunch, but a decent little group that came by this morning. they came out, many