i am paula newton. i'll be back with more cnn "newsroom," in just a moment. >>> hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i am paula newton. straight ahead, on cnn "newsroom." a new year, and vaccines, giving people hope for an end to the pandemic. the covid crisis continues to grow, with cases, hospitalizations, and dehs on the rise. >>> the uk, on the brink of adding another vaccine in its fight against the virus. but the battle there, as well, far from over. >>> and the u.s. president hunkering down in the white house, preparing for some gop members' election challenge.

i am paula newton. india has just formally approved use of two coronavirus vaccines. has more than 10 million coronavirus cases, second only, in case count, to the united states. on saturday, india conducted a national drill, ahead of mass vaccinations. authorities are hoping to vaccinate 300 million people. now, johns hopkins university says more than 13 million vaccines have been distributed across the united states. but only 4.2 million have actually been administered to people. and two and a half weeks, after the first dose was given, the slow rollout and a limited supply mean it's a scramble to get in line for the shot. like, these people, you see there in front of houston's first public, covid-19 vaccine clinic. saturday was its first day open, and it reached capacity in late afternoon. meantime, the state of florida has its own approach to distributing vaccines and it's causing even more confusion. dianne gallagher has more. >> reporter: as of saturday, just over 4.2 million americans have received the first dose of one of the approved covid-19 vaccines. accord

i am paula newton. straight ahead, on cnn "newsroom." a new year, and vaccines, giving people hope for an end to the pandemic. the covid crisis continues to grow, with cases, hospitalizations, and dehs on the rise. >>> the uk, on the brink of adding another vaccine in its fight against the virus. but the battle there, as well, far from over. >>> and the u.s. president hunkering down in the white house, preparing for some gop members' election challenge. >>> yeah, i don't have to remind you, 2020 is finally over. but so far, 2021 doesn't look much brighter. in fact, it looks worse, in some ways. especially, here, in the united states. just a litany of grim figures. from start of the year, the nation now surpassing 20 million cases. more than 100,000 hospitalizations reported, for the 31st-straight day. several states, reporting record numbers of new cases, and sadly deaths. and while the vaccines offer, of course, some hope, actually getting them into people who need them has been a major problem. one republican senator called the rollout

paula newton reports. >> hello, everyone.s rod phillips -- >> it was staged as a heartwarming christmas message, complete with gingerbread decor and a cozy fire. it turned into a hot mess when canadians learned this politician wasn't home for the holidays but vacationing on the caribbean island of st. barts during the covid lockdown. he was ordered back to canada. >> i know that i disappointed a lot of people. i hope people appreciate. i disappointed no one more than myself. >> reporter: canadians weren't buying it. ontario's finance minister was forced to resign, and it was just the beginning. what followed were confessions, demotions, resignations from politicians and government employees who just couldn't resist a family visit or vacation, flouting the very guidelines they helped set. even posted it on social media. ♪ we're jammin, jammin >> there is a very lo-co individual rate in jamaica. >> reporter: only to apologize. >> i shouldn't have gone. >> reporter: one trip to hawaii became a searing flash point of anger. then

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let's get some more from cnn's paula newton who's joining us in ottawa right now. paula, what are you hearing? >> wolf, president biden choosing to call canadian prime minister justin trudeau, the first leader he'll call in his presidency. this is really not surprising. it's a return to tradition and a recognition of how close these two allies are. still in his first few hours in office, president biden signed an executive order that canceled the keystone xl pipeline. this was important to justin trudeau. important to canadians. taking canadian energy into the united states. that's dead now. a thousand jobs in canada gone pretty much on the spot. and that really is a salvo to the rest of america's allies. to say, look, while this may not be the america-first doctrine of donald trump, it is certainly a buy-american doctrine and it really shows how little wiggle room the biden administration has in terms of trying to deal with not just its base but domestic politics. having said that, president biden, justin trudeau, have a very warm personal relationship and certainl

as paula newton now explains. >> reporter: the alleged incident seems unthinkable in its deceit. officials say residents are still shaken. authorities in the canadian territory of yukon allege rodney baker, a former gaming executive, and his wife ekaterina from vancouver, chartered a plane shortly after arriving in the yukon, allegedly posing as local workers, received a vaccine they weren't entitled to. >> i think there's a lot, a lot of people that are really upset. there's a lot of outrage here, still, that people would selfishly come to the yukon and put our communities at risk. >> reporter: it happened in the tiny outpost of beaver creek, close to the alaskan border. authorities say the couple flew to the city of white horse in the yukon earlier this month and instead of isolating for two weeks, as they were legally required, they chartered a plane to beaver creek where they allegedly knew a mobile clinic was setting up to vaccinate everyone who lived and worked there. home to indigenous communities, the yukon is especially vulnerable to covid-19, with few medical facilities

cnn's paula newton is here to tell us more about who these folks are and how they managed to pull it? >> it's unthinkable to think of how scarce vaccines are right now. they're even more scarce in canada. in the middle of all the anxiety comes this couple. people have called it stupid, idiotic, shameful and that's just been the official reaction. take a listen. >> reporter: the alleged incident seems unthinkable in its deceit and residents are still shaken. authorities in the ukraine territory of yukon say a millionaire couple chartered a plane and posing as local workers received a vaccine they weren't entitled to. >> i think there is a lot of people who are really upset. there is a lot of outrage here, still, that people would selfishly come to the yukon and put our communities at risk. >> reporter: it happened in the tiny outpost of beaver creek close to the alaskan border. authorities say the couple flew to the city of white horse in the yukon earlier this month, and instead of isolating for two weeks as they were legally required, they chartered a plane to beaver creek where the

i'm paula newton, and this is cnn "newsroom."