>> you can't get away with nothing. >> nawaz: the question was when.y he was eligible, he booked a slot. >> i was relieved when they called and said i could get it. i wasn't going to turn them down and i had my mind made up. i wasn't going to turn it down. >> left arm okay? >> nawaz: on this day, turley was one of about 250 people vaccinated at a clinic in preston county, west virginia. >> alright ed, you're all finished. >> okay. >> nawaz: his home state is now leading the country when it comes to vaccinations. seven weeks into their rollout, west virginia's already vaccinated more than 12% of its population, including both doses delivered to all nursing home residents and most health care workers. now anyone 65 and older can sign up on a statewide waitlist. each week, local clinics work their way down that list, and schedule the next round of shots. this west virginia university clinic is one of several specialized clinics also in place. today faculty and staff over 65, plus younger clinical students are getting their vaccines. so here's the lay of t

amna nawaz reports on the critical effort to vaccinate america's health care professionals. >> nawaz: since mid-december, doctor kathy ferrer's been going non-stop... >> we were holding these clinics monday through friday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. so 12 hours a day. hello dr. holbrook, good to see you. >> nawaz: an infectious disease expert at children's national hospital in washington d.c., ferrer is leading the charge to vaccinate all staff who work at the medical facility. >> you better poke me with that needle and get this over with. >> nawaz: that's more than 8,000 people. and ferrer says most have gotten their first shot. but not all... >> 1500 straight out said im not getting that vaccine. >> nawaz: what were the reasons they were giving you? >> a lot of it was because they were being cautious in terms of they were like, well, this is the first time i'm not going to be the guinea pig. other folks just had misinformation. well, there's covid in that vaccine or, you know, that's going to change your d.n.a. >> nawaz: among the skeptical? nurse keetra williams. >> my first thought wa

amna nawaz has our report. >> nawaz: for 125 years, john ladd's family has raised cattle in this corneriles of his ranch run along the u.s.-mexico border. for years, ladd says his work was made harder by the steady stream of migrants and smugglers he says regularly crossed here. >> they just cut all my fences, they cut my water lines, they chase cattle around. so there's an economic impact right there. i spend about 50% of my time checking fences and water lines. >> nawaz: which is why, he says, he welcomed president trump's wall construction, and is worried by president biden's order to halt it. >> if biden carries through with what he's proping. if the law enforcement is going to be under the gun. border patrol is already outmanned. it's going to be a real serious security issue. >> nawaz: looming, gleaming, and incomplete. president trump's so-called“ new” bder wall extends 450 miles, including this stretch of the arizona desert, which advocates say has destroyed habitat for endangered species and divided cross border families and communities. much of it upgraded existing wall with t

amna nawaz: dr.apped to take over virginia's vaccine rollout, after a bumpy fit few weeks. he says a lack of centralized system put the state behind. had that kind of system been in place weeks ago, would it have gone much smoothernd faster in viinia? >> if we had the opportunity to do this over again, and we were able to anticipate just how complex the inventory management piece of this would be and the need for more streamlined, centralized, consistent registration, i think we would have started with that model. we would have really started with a large mass vaccination campaign. amna nawaz: but he says the state's now delivering vaccine faster than the federal government can resupply it. a pledged 16 percent increase from the administration this week means going from 105,000 doses a week to 122,000. danny avula: we know that we are going to get a certain amount. in fact, up until this week, we didn't know that until the week of, which made planning extremely difficult. and while every bit helps, w

amna nawaz has our report. >> nawaz: a mild late-winter day greeted president biden in houston-- a worlde shocking deep freeze that devastated texas communities days ago, and brought biden here toda- his first weather disaster since taking office. the freezing temperatures overwhelmed the system. millions lost power, heat, and water across texas and the sout and northwest of the country. the sudden and severe freeze led to at least 40 deaths in the lone star state. "boil water" orders are still in place for more than a million people. >> i think expectations on president biden are high. >> nawaz: eric stern, professor at the university at albany, studies emergency preparedness and how leaders respond to crises. >> he has presented himself as a person who has known suffering, and who can comfort people who are going through hard times. >> nawaz: as of tuesday, fema says it's supplied more than a million meals, a million gallons of water, and more than 100,000 blankets, plus support for critical infrastructure. president biden approved disaster funding for more than 120 texas counties. but

as amna nawaz tells us, the governor is now at the center of significant criticism. >> nawaz: judy, theovernor admitted yesterday that he made mistakes when it came to not disclosing key data. nationwide, by some estimates, more than 160,000 residents of long-term care facilities have died from covid-related issues. that's about a third of all covid deaths. about 15,000 of those were in new york state. but just a few weeks ago cmo's administration reporteonly about 8,500 of them, meaning thousands of nursing home residents who died in hospitals were not included in that nursing home tally. jesse mckinley is the albany bureau chief for "the new york times" who has been covering this story and the fallout. he joins me now. jesse welcome to the newshour and thanks for making the time. let's just start with why we're learning about this right now. what d to these revelations? >> this actually dates back to a report from the state attorney general letitia james about three weeks ago which showed the quomo administration had been undercounting nursing home dets by about 50%. they began to rel

amna nawaz talks to an author whose new bookpotlights a unique part of that fight. >> nawaz: in the years-long battle to retake northeastern syria from isis, a small but powerful band of fighters led the way the women of the y.p.g., a syrian kurdish force, they fought alongside their male counterparts and face to face against isis. author and joualist gayle tzemach lemmon spent years reporting on their stories, including for the pbs newshour. her nebook, daughters of kobani, tells those stories, and gayle joins me now. always good to see you. congratulations on the book. and tell us about the daughters of kobani. how did you first hear about them and what made you want to tell their story? >> thank you. great to be here. i first heard about them because one of the u.s. special operations soldiers who was part of the book i had written, "ashley's war," called me from syria in the sumr of 2016. and she said, gayle, you have to come. i'm working in syria with this partner force where women are leading in battle and they're not just leading men, but they also have the full respect of the men they

about and the equity of vaccine distribution persist. >> nawaz: judy, about 1.5 million americans arevid vaccine each day and about 10% of the country has gotten at least one dose. but the pace and supply remain far too low. andy slavitt has been at the center of the biden administration's efforts to increase those numbers. he is a white house senior adviser on the covid-19 response. he joins me now. andy slavitt, welcome back to the newshour, and thank you for making the time. i want to begin by asking you about the registration process to sign up to get those vaccines is a bit of a "hunger games" situation going on. if you can afford a smartphone and the time to sit and refresh your browser all the time, if you can afford to, you can get one of those slots. is there a federal fix to that process in the works or is this just the way it is? >> hi, amna, thank you for having me on the show. you're right, there are a couple of things we're concerned about right now, one is for the next little while we will be in an undersupply situation. that won't be the case forever, but that will be

amna nawaz has the story. >> nawaz: judy, this sweeping "new york times" report looks at the 77 days between the election and the inauguration. it examines how the then- president leveraged political, personal and media allies-- and ultimately a mob at the capitol-- to undermine the election results and the centuries-old tradition of a peacul transfer of power in america. through interviews, documents and examination of videos and social media posts, the report tells the story of a coordinated campaign. now, to look at some of the key points in that weeks-long campaign, jim rutenberg joins me. he's a writer at large for "the new york times." >> jim, welcome back tol"newshour," and thanks for being here. >> thanks so much for having me. >> let's start with november 4th, in the early morning hours after the election, president trump throws down the gauntlet and calls it a fraud, and republicans echo that claim, among them congressman mccarthy and lindsey graham. take a listen to this. >> do not be quiet. do not be silent about this. we cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes.

amna nawaz is here with a look at where these moves fit into that larger landscape. >> nawaz: judy, today'smber of executive orders president biden signed in his very first days in office, orders that immediately had an impact on thousands of people. we spoke to a few of them to get their reactions. here's what they had to say. >> my name is jose aguiluz. i am 31 years old. i am a registered nurse that is currently working in covid vaccinations, and i am a daca recipient. >> mark j. dannels. i'm the sheriff of cochise county, arizona, located in the southeast corner of the state of arizona. >> my name is karla. i'm currently undocumented, but i recently applied for daca for the first time in december. >> my name is rodolpho karisch, i go by rudy. i retired from the u.s. border patrol in december of 2019 after spending more than three decades in the organization. >> my name is haya. i am 20 years old, and i'm a first-generation american. so, my family and my sister is syrian. i am currently living in canada. we sought refuge here because of the muslim ban. >> when president biden announced t

none of us -- amna nawaz, who has been following this issue so closely. thank you.phanie: i'm stephanie sy with good evening. i'm stephanie sy with-- good evening. i'm stephanie sy with newshour west, we'll return to judy woodruff and the rest of the program, after the latest headlines. pete buttigieg easily won senate confirmation to be the secretary of transportation. indiana, mayor and presidential -- the former south bend, indiana, mayor and presidential candidate is the first openly gay person to be confirmed by the senate for a cabinet post. meanwhile, the senate veteran affairs committee approved denis mcdonough's nomination for va secretary and sent it to the full senate. the white house announced plans today to ship 1 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to some 6,500 pharmacies nationwide. covid coordinator jeff zients said shipments begin next week. >> this will provide more sites for people to get vaccinated in their communities and it's an important component to delivering vaccines equitably. sites are selected based on their ability to reach some of t

amna nawaz looks at plans being made for a bigger reopening in baltimore >> nawaz: judy, baltimore cityublic schools have reopened 27 that means that of the roughly 80,000 students who attend public schools there, 2,000 kids have returned to in person learning. the city recently delayed expanded reopening for its youngest students by two weeks, to march first. that will allow more time to address the concerns of teachers and educators. for a look at the challenges around this, i'm joined by dr. sonja santelises. she is the c.e.o. of baltimore city public schools. dr. santelises, welcome to the news hour and thank you for maybing the time. we mentioned delayed reopening now, that means thousands of students will be welcomed back into your school for the first time in nearly a year, k through 2-7bd great by march 1st, rolling in older students after that through april. based on what you have right now in terms of masking and distancing and space to distance in the school, do you have everything you need to keep teachers and kids safe when they return? >> we believe we do amna, and i think

but as amna nawaz reports, demand is greater than the federal supply, frustration is building, and questions and the equity of vaccine distribution persist. amna: judy, about 10% of the country has so far gotten at least one dose of the covid vaccine, and about 1.5 million americans are now getting a shot every day. but the pace and supply of vaccinations remain low. andy slavitt has been at the center of the biden administration's efforts to increase those numbers. he is a white house senior adviser on the covid-19 response. he joins me now. welcome back to the newshour and thanks for making the time. i want to begin by asking about the registration process sign-up to get the vaccines. it is a bit of a hunger games situation, if you can afford a smart phone and the time to sit and refresh your browser. if you can afford it you can get one of those slots. is there a federal fix in the works or is this just the way it is? andy: thank you for having me on the show. you are right, there are a couple things that we are concerned about right now. one is that for the next little while, we will be

amna nawaz talks to an author whose new book highlights part of that flight. but powerful band of fighters led the way against isis. the women of the y.p.j., a syrian kurdish force. they fought alongside mal counterparts and face-to-face against isis. author and journalist gayle zha milwaukee lemmon spent years studying it and her new book details. congratulations on the book and tell us about the duferse kobani. how did you hear about them and what made you want to tell their stories? gayle: one of the u.s. special operions soldiers called me from syria in the sum over 2016 and said gayle, you have to come. i'm working in syria with this partner force where women are leading in battle. and they're not just leading men. but they also have the full respect of the men they fight with and the u.s. special operation soldiers have enormous respect. she said, not only that, it's not just that they're fighting against isis. they're fighting for women's equality. amna: one of those women is named clara. here's part of one of your reports for "the newshour" in 2017. ga

amna nawaz reports. >> reporter: over 150-million americans under winter and ice storm warnings today as historically low temperatures blanket much of the u.s.-- including areas not accustomed to extremeonditions. >> our bedroom measured at 42 degrees, so it's cold in our house. >> reporter: in seate this weekd, almost nine inches of snow in a city that hasn't seen that much snow since 1969. in oklahoma, icy roads have led to fiery crashes. and in nashville... in kentucky, governor andy beshear advised residents to limit travel. >> we did not make it through almost a year of a pandemic to lose people to a snow or an ice storm. please, don't let the next couple of days or is week be what injures you or ultimately causes the loss of a loved one. >> reporter: the winter and ice storm advisories stretch from america's gulf coast up to new england, and span the country, and have also impacted parts of the pacific northwt. among the hardest hit so far: the state of texas, where president biden approved an emergency declaration on sunday. the deep freeze has led to ice- coated branches break