ups vice president captain houston mills piloting the first flight. >> this moment of hope and change. >> those deliveries can't come soon enough. more than 108,000 americans are currently hospitalized with covid-19. last week, the deadliest so far, nearly 100 americans lost to the virus every hour. >> i'm tired, exhausted, emotionally drained. >> health care workers, nursing home residents and staff will be among the first to be vaccinated. once out of its container within 90 seconds the vaccine needs to be moved to special freezers or put in a standard refrigerator to thaw where it can stay for up to five days. out of the refrigerator, a vial is quickly diluted into five doses that must be injected within two hours or it spoils. houston's largest health care system memorial herman doing dry runs with freezers. rush university hospital in chicago converting the lobby. recent surveys show that more than a third of americans do not want the vaccine. >> we need to vaccinate a significant number of people in this country, including those who are hesitant. >> there is a big job ahead conv

pilot captain houston mills. >>> when you went wheels down and had a smooth landing here in louisville, how did that feel? >> so, i had an air force f-16 guy with me, i was f-18. i need an air force landing, not a carrier landing. we kind of joked about that. >> reporter: mills humble stressing he's one of many doing their part to bring this pandemic to an end >> this flight in particular is just phenomenal. it was an honor to be part of this flight because we know the hope that it's going to bring to so many. >> reporter: now, i know that two of those vaccine boxes were off loaded right here in kentucky one going to a nearby hospital, another to a yet to be disclosed location all of those other vaccine dose shipments loaded into other planes and those planes should have arrived at more than 50 locations by early this morning. frances? >> can't come soon enough. morgan, thank you. >> with the virus cases and deaths consistently rising, the delivery of the pfizer vaccine is, of course, very welcome news hospitals across the nation have been waiting and preparing for this historic day fo

vice president captain houston mills. >> we know that this pandemic has just been fatiguing for everyone and it has such a traumatic impact on so many families. so knowing that this vaccine really is going to make a difference, knowing that this is this moment of hope and change that everybody's longing for -- >> reporter: u.p.s. rival turned teammate through operation warp speed, fedex, on the move too. their plane touching down at the world hub in memphis. every shipment is equipped with high-tech tracking devices, some capable of reading temperature. tonight, both fedex and u.p.s. are sorting through each arriving shipment, though deliveries to final destinations won't happen until tomorrow. >> monday would be a better first day for the launch because it's a regular business day. so you can ensure that all the administration sites were fully staffed and all of them are open. >> reporter: things will only ramp up from here. on monday, 145 locations are set to receive shipments. tuesday, that number is more than 400. today is just the beginning. tom? >> victor, thank you. >>> the first

back in louisville we met the man behind the mission, captain houston mills.hen you went wheels down and had a smooth landing here in louisville how did that feel? >> i had an air force f-16 guy with me. i told him i needed air force landing not a carrier landing. we just kind of joked about that. >> reporter: mills humble, stressing he's just one of many doing their part to bring this pandemic to an end. >> this flight in particular is phenomenal. it was an honor to be part of this flight because we know the hope it's going to bring to so many. >> morgan some of those vaccines are going to stay right there in kentucky. >> reporter: that's right. we know two of those boxes off loaded here, one is headed to a nearby hospital, another to another location. all of those vaccine shipments loaded on otherer planes, all should be at their more than 50 locations by tomorrow morning. kate. >> such a complex process. >>> just hours from now, the first vaccines are expected to be administered to front line health care workers. it cannot come soon enough as more icus are

captain houston mills flew the first batch of pfizer vaccine. have you flown cargo this important?ve never had the honor of being part of something this big. every package is a person, we always say. in this instance, it's a life- saving vaccine that can make a difference in someone's life. >> reporter: the massive delivery effort kicking off today will be divided between u.p.s. and fedex, each handling half of the u.s. tonight, u.p.s. is moving half of pfizer's initial 2.9 million doses. the approximately 75 specially designed cold boxes of vaccine, each with g.p.s. and temperature tracking, started the day at pfizer's michigan plant, rolling out with an escort of u.s. marshals. upon landing in kentucky they were unloaded for sorting and will fly out tonight bound for more than 30 cities by morning, allowing vaccinations to start as soon as monday. >> the vaccines will get first priority on the aircraft, first priority on the package car when it goes to the final destination. >> reporter: pfizer expects to ship 20 million doses this month. health and human services secretary alex

ups vice president captain houston mills piloted the first flight carrying the vaccine to the ups hub in louisville, acknowledging it is the most precious cargo that he has ever flown. >> this is definitely home. there are a lot of people who have worked long and hard to get us to this moment. >> a quarter of the places are expected to receive shipments tomorrow. another 460 sites will get their vaccines by tuesday with the rest arriving on wednesday. the first doses are earmarked for the groups most at risk, so when can they expect to see the impact as a whole? >> we need to immunize about 75 or 80% of the u.s. operation before really being established. we hope to reach that point between the month of may and the month of june. >> the reporter has more on the vaccine as they make their way to all 50 states. >>> this is like so exciting. this is history right here. >> reporter: history, hope, cheers as the first rounds of the covid-19 vaccine were loaded onto trucks sunday morning in michigan. >> it is a very good day for america and for the world. >> reporter: pfizer has been coordin

ups vice president captain houston mills piloting the first flight. >> knowing that this is this moment of hope and change that everybody has been longing for. >> deliveries to final destinations will begin on monday. >> it's a regular business day, so you can ensure that all the administration sites were fully staffed and all of them were open. >> once out of its shipping container, within 90 seconds, the vaccine needs to be moved into those special freezers or put in a standard refrigerator to thaw, where it can stay for up to five days. out of the refrigerator, a vial is quickly diluted into five doses that must be injected within two hours, or it spoils. the deliveries can't come soon enough. more than 108,000 americans are currently hospitalized with covid-19. last week, the deadliest so far. nearly 100 americans lost to the virus every hour. but recent surveys show more than a third of americans do not want the vaccine. >> we need to vaccinate a significant number of people in this country, including those who are hesitant. >> here in the bay area, it is all hands on deck at local

captain houston mills flew the first batch of pfizer vaccine. >> have you flown cargo this important?ve never had the honor of being a part of something this had big. every package is a person, we say, in the instance, it's a life-saving vaccine that can make a difference in someone's life. >> the massive delivery effort kicking off today will be divided between u.p.s. and fedex, each handling half of the u.s. tonight, u.p.s. is moving half of the 2.9 million doses. the approximately 75 specially designed cold boxes with gps and temperature tracking started the day at pfizer's michigan plant, rolling out with a escort of u.s. marshals. upon landing in kentucky, they were unloaded for sorting and will fly out tonight, bound for more than 30 cities by morning. allowing vaccinations to start as soon as monday. >> the vaccines, they will get the first priority on the aircraft and on the package car when it goes to the final destination. >> pfizer expects to ship 20 million doses this had month. health and human services secretarial exazar on face the nation defended the pace of the roll o

we had our number one pilot in our whole fleet, captain houston mills, came in at 12:00 noon and we off loaded into our sort facility. it went into the facility here. this is our largest air hub in the world and it's been dispatched into all of the outbound flights. the flights have all taken off as of now. and all ground operations have left this facility as now. and by 8:00 tomorrow morning, we'll start to off load and we'll see shipments of vaccines starting to arrive as soon as 8:10, 8:15 in the morning. >> thank you for being with us. best of luck as this journey continues. >>> we're following more breaking news. russian government hackers have targeted u.s. government agencies. what could they be after and what could this reported escalation mean. details now. you're live in the "cnn newsroom." tonight...i'll be eating a falafel wrap with sweet potato fries. (doorbell rings) thanks! splitsies? ♪ oooh...you meant the food, didn't you? it's velveeta versus the other guys. clearly, nothing melts like velveeta. ♪ introducing the new sleep number 360 smart bed. clearly, nothing melts l

we get a chance to hear from the man in the cockpit, captain houston mills. you're a marine pilot from the past, you flew in desert storm, but today put this one flight in perspective for us. >> i served in desert storm on the ground back during desert storm, but this flight in particular is just phenomenal. i haven't served our country in the marine corps for nine years. the fact that this vaccine is going to mean so much to so many people, it's really going to bring hope. the holiday season is all about bringing things together and hope about what the future bring brings. it's an honor to be part of this flight and what it means. >> reporter: is it incredible to think what a part of history you've been? >> we know the fatigue the pandemic has caused the last number of months and what it's done to families. to be part of this phenomenal warp speed effort, this public and private partnership that means so much, we're so grateful. every day we have the opportunity to deliver over 50,000 life-saving medicines all around the world. we have such tremendous capabi

touching down at the company's louisville hub with captain houston mills at the controls.o you feel like you were delivering hope? >> absolutely. it's going to make a meaningful difference in the lives of so many. >> reporter: the approximately 75 specially designed cold boxes, each carrying 50 pounds of dry ice and 20 pounds of vaccine, have gps and temperature tracking as the vials have to be kept at negative 94 degrees. moving through 155 miles of conveyor belt at u.p.s.' world port, the vaccine is sorted and loaded on planes bound for more than 30 cities with deliveries starting around 8:30 this morning. the entire logistics effort is tracked in realtime inside the company's covid command center. >> are these the most important shipments you guys have ever moved? >> absolutely. in my opinion, yes. >> reporter: wes wheeler is the president of u.p.s. health care. t. gets on the plane first, off the plane first. the drivers and pilots both know that they are carrying vaccines. >> reporter: to speed deliveries, the country has been divided between u.p.s. and fedex with vac

actually my favorite pilot actually captain houston mills is the head of our flight operations. lly flew the plane in, so, and i knew houston well, but it was a life-changing event for me after four or five months of planning. we finally had the vaccines arriving here, the first vaccines that will go to the american public. it was amazing. >> you said four or five months of planning. i know you all actually did trial runs. is everything working the way it's supposed to? they arrived yesterday. where are those vaccines now? >> right now all the vaccines that we were assigned by "operation warp speed," they're all sitting at market, which means they're sitting in either the aircraft that landed last night or they're sitting at a dock at a ground operation this morning. as soon as the crews arrive this morning, they'll be offloading those jets and those docks and they'll be delivering with our traditional brown trucks this morning to their vaccine locations. >> now, they, once again, they are getting on those brown trucks, that's amazing that this whole -- through the whole pandemic

mill stead. from deep. he grabs it, jammed it, rocked it. the usf women knocked off cal last night in berkeley 67-62. we'll get out of here with golf. women's u.s. open outside houston. amy olson with eight iron, par three 16. track it, track it, boom. that's why she leads by a single shot after the first round. get this, there were actually two holes in one in that first round. that will do it for sports this morning. stay safe. i'll check in with you later. >> thanks. >>> take a look at this dazzling display. this is in san jose. check out these lights. this was the scene on emory street last night. it is all set to music piped to passing cars through the radio. it took homeowners three weeks to set this up. visitors can drop off a donation for second harvest food bank or drop a letter in the magic mailbox. pretty cool. >> very cool. >>> 4:56. robbing entire neighborhoods. in our next half hour, unprecedented plan that will bring a covid test right to your front door. >>> we are tracking approval process for the pfizer vaccine. we are days away from final approval. i have a live report from alameda. >>> taking a live look outside before we head to break from our e

mill stead. the defense created the offense here. jamari, jammed it. rocked it. they roll 107-62. check it out. the usf women knocked off cal berk ri 67-62. women's us open outside houston, amy ole olston. track it. track it. boom. that's why she leads by a shot after the first round. there were actually two aces in the first round. and ken, as we go back to you, you were a high school jock, you have ever have a hole in one? >> never, vern, never even got close, man. >> i'm shocked. >> well got close a few times i guess. thanks well researchers who set out in search of a particular type of whale may have actually stumbled on to a whole new species. they were looking for beaked whales off mexico's pacific coast when they spotted a pair that looked and sounded different than any known species. beaked whales are relatively small with dolphin like noses. researchers took water samples in the hope of obtaining some environmental dna to test. >> what i hope is if our wishes come true and if this truly is a new species of beaked whale, it will inspire future generations of scientists to want to go out and discover ú . >>> beautiful shot of coit tower there. the late show with

2018, found out we knew each other when we were kids and his dad worked for a big paper mill and went on to houston. the houston oilers now play one hour from my home in nashville. so we're proud to have the hopies still cheer for them -- i hope he still cheers for them in nashville. he's a year older than me, his birthday is today. we had the same second grade teacher. he goes, did you have ms. lekates? i had her. the story about her is this, from the time summer was out that pete olson left and before school commenced that i went into second grade with ms. lekates. something momentous happened in her life. her son was killed in vietnam. and it's really the only name i personally know on the wall when i go. you've heyward of people, but the only person i had a personal connection to. every time i go to the wall, i told him that, every time i go to the wall, i look at robert lekates and i look at his name and it reminds me to this day that there are people who sacrifice their lives doctor lives for us to be here, for us to do what we're doing and we need to conduct ourselves worthy of people who ga

chance to speak to the man who was in that cockpit during that one of a mission today, captain houston mills, a former marine pilot, now with u.p.s. for the past 26 years. and he reflected on the fact that she's just become a piece of history. take a listen. >> this particular moment is a continuation of what we've been doing. you know, as i mentioned, we've got 10 million square feet of facility spread out over 32 countries from around the world. we've got significant cold storage capability to store these vaccines and to help others. we're just very grateful for this process. >> reporter: grateful and humble. you could hear him talking about the logistics of the mission, rather than really sharing the sheer impact it had on him. an important thing to note is that he says that this is just the beginning. we acknowledged the importance of this one flight, but we know there are going to be hundreds if not thousands of more to come. sharing these doses of the vaccine, we know that the plane that he landed here, taxied a short distance from where i'm standing to a hanger where those boxes were