the president will visit a small local business that's benefited from the paycheck protection program loans as millions of americans eagerly await another round of direct payments to ease the financial burden of a year battling covid. joining me now to kick things off, my fellow chief white house correspondent and weekend today co-host, peter alexander, who's live at the white house. associated press white house reporter, jonathan la mir, and erin haynes, editor at large at the 91. peter, i have to start with you and this messaging strategy that we are seeing from president biden. talk about it, what is the goal here and what can americans expect from this bill? because that's the big question on everyone's minds. >> yeah, first of all, kristen, you look nice at that desk here this morning. let's walk you through what's going on. we expect president biden to leave here shortly to head to that local business that's benefiting from ppp, that loan like so many other businesses across the country. so that's tuesday's effort to really make the case for why the covid relief has been so crucial and so effective for so many across this country. tomorrow, he welcomes the leaders from johnson & johnson and merck here to focus on covid, a roughly $14 billion from this covid relief plan will go to vaccine distribution. thursday, obviously, is the day to commemorate the somber anniversary, one year since the coronavirus outbreak was declared to be a pandemic. there will be the first prime-time address for this president taking place at 8:00, before on friday. he, according to white house officials, expect to sign, it's some consideration right now that they might do a ceremony on the south lawn, to really represent the significance of this signature issue for biden to this point. in terms of what's in this bill, here's one way to break it down for some families. take a family that makes $68,000 a year right now, a couple with two kids, let's say 5 and 8, in that case, they would receive $5,600 in those direct payment checks. $1,400 for each of the four individuals. and the child tax credit payment for a total of $550 a month for that family. so there's significant opportunities for families to really benefit by this, not just families, but individuals, as you see, on the screen as well, up to $75,000 in earned income, you would get a $1,400 check, as you kristen know, that begins to phase out. up to $80,000 for individuals and $160,000 for couples. kristen? >> i think that's such an important breakdown. the question on everyone's mind is exactly what are they going to receive once the president does sign this bill into law. you and i will be at the white house all week covering these big events. jonathan, what do you make of this messaging strategy? the fact that president biden clearly plans to be out and selling this bill, explaining to american people what they're going to receive. and it strikes me that this was supposed to be the relatively easier piece of legislation to pass, particularly when you compare it to his plans for immigration reform, climate change. so what does this fight say about the fights ahead? >> well, first of all, it shows that the white house may not be able to bank on much in the way of republican support. i mean, they certainly courted members of the other part for this bill. the president, as you well know, had republican senators over at the white house, he worked the phones repeatedly. white house aides on a daily basis pointed to polling that showed how popular this bill was among republican voters. but that didn't way any republican lawmakers. they were universally opposed to it. but the white house is hoping that this victory gives them momentum and may change the equation going forward. certainly, president biden has to this point not engaged in some of the big set pieces we're used to see from a president in the early parts of his term. tomorrow, i believe, is the 50-day park of the biden administration, and we'll start to see it. we'll have his first prime-time address on thursday. there's talk of his first solo news conference before the end of the month. there is also, at some point in the weeks ahead, an address to a joint session of congress. and that combined with some presidential travel will be how president biden sells this plan to the american people. tout what exactly americans will get from it, how they'll benefit from it, and giving them the momentum to tackle the thornier issues ahead, like immigration, like climate change, and perhaps next on the agenda, a very big infrastructure/jobs bill, one that would dwarf this one in size. >> and jonathan, i think it's so important that you set up the fact that this is all taking place against the backdrop of the fact that this is a country that is still battling the virus. and that is coming into consideration in all of those events that you and peter were just talking about. and we want to just update our viewers now. the president is on the move at this hour, heading to that small business, where he is going to be talking about the ppe loan protection program that peter was just talking about. we'll bring you those images as soon as we get them. but erin, you have been writing about vaccine equity. i'm going to read you a portion of what you just wrote in your latest piece. you say, the promise of equity remains illusive. individual states which are tasked with the task of getting vaccines into people's arms are taking varying approaches and not all prioritize racial equity. despite public experts warning that doing so is essential, if the nation hopes to reduce the covid-19 disease burden. why are we still seeing such a disparate approach to vaccinating america? >> reporter: kristen, before i say that, let me just say that seeing you in that chair is exactly how i want to start my women's history month, so it's good to be with you today. >> thank you, erin. >> absolutely. the president -- president biden and vice president harris came into this administration saying that the pandemic and also racial equity were going to be among their top priorities as they were confronting multiple crises upon taking office. and the racial equity and pandemic piece are inextricably linked to what this country is going to look like, what the new and better normal is going to be for americans, but especially the americans who were disproportionately impacted by and responding to this coronavirus crisis. so what we know as we look around this year anniversary mark is that the pandemic was certainly unequal. and at least in the beginning stages of this vaccine rollout, that has actually been unequal. the majority of the people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine have been white in this country. and what it's going to take for black and brown folks to be vaccinated in this country is a deliberate and intentional effort, but i think that that is something that the biden/harris administration would say is starting to take shape. i was just at the mass vaccination site here in philadelphia and already that is going to make a difference as key communities are being reached out to to make sure that black folks in philadelphia have access to that vaccine and to that process, which has gone much more smoothly and certainly giving folks a lot more certainty as we go through a process that has been uncertain and very chaotic, at least up until very recently. >> well, erin, fantastic to kick off this hour and this month with you with that important perspective. peter alexander and jonathan la mir, really great conversation. thanks to all of you. appreciate it. i know we'll all be tracking the president and his movements as he heads to that small business. but meantime, i do want to turn back to the covid relief bill. the house is set to take a final vote tomorrow. joining me now to discuss this, house majority whip, south carolina congressman, james clyburn. congressman clyburn, thank you so much for being with me today. i really appreciate it. i do want to start right there. and on the critical timeline of this, because as you know, americans cannot get this relief, those direct payments fast enough. we know the house sent the bill -- now has the bill, i should say, just got it from the senate. so when are you expecting a final vote? today or tomorrow? >> thank you very much for me, kristen. the fact of the matter is, we are working on that bill right away. we plan to vote on it at least by tomorrow. and one of the reasons is, we have to go through our processes here. go before the rules committee, bring it to the floor, have all of the discussions we need to have. we would like to do that late later this afternoon, if we can't do it this afternoon, i think we'll do it first thing in the morning. i think the house will come in session around 9:00. so we want to get this bill to the president for his signature before the end of the week. >> okay, we'll hold you to that. by the end of the week, when should americans start to see those direct payments, congressman clyburn? as you know, that's really what so many americans, millions are focused on, and frankly, relying on right now. >> i'm very hopeful that by the beginning of next week, some relief can be realized, as you know, there's a process we have to go through. we can't just, the president can't just toss the money out once he signs the bill. we've got to go through the machinery of government and be sure that is done efficiently, effectively, and i'm hopeful equitably. >> but you think some of these direct payments could start to go out next week, just to be very clear there? >> that's my thought. but you know, i used to be -- i used to run a state agency, and i know what it's like, being an administrator, we'll sign the bill, we'll be at the mercy of the administrative process, which i hope will be done, as i said, with those three es i mentioned earlier. >> i want to talk to you about the fact that bill did not get any republican sport. . and we have been listening to the criticism. a number of republicans saying, the bill just not targeted enough. it's not all targeted to covid relief. they cite the fact that some of the funds go to infrastructure projects, as well as other initiatives. so what do you say to that criticism that this bill is not targeted enough? >> i would say simply this. this bill was put together in order to rescue a lot of lives and livelihoods. in this bill, around $5 billion for black farmers. black farmers, we know, have suffered significantly over the last several years. before i came to congress, almost 30 years ago, i ran the south carolina commission for farm workers. and i can tell you, i know what was happening to black farmers that were discriminated against. and they have never been made whole. and they have had their problems exacerbated by covid-19. so just because it didn't start with covid doesn't mean that it was not affected by covid-19. so doing something for black farmers here is exactly what needs to be done and they, as i said, suffered disproportionately because of covid-19. and the same thing happens with other things, as well. so when you look at this bill, you have to be a little bit compassionate to know -- in order to do what is necessary, what we know has been in our past. so the republicans not voting for this, simply demonstrates once again that they do not wish to do right by black farmers. do not wish to do right by people -- >> but congressman -- >> yes? >> congressman, as you know, president biden has said that one of his key goals is to try to legislation passed by with bipartisan support. what does the lack of republican support here say about your chances of getting anything done along bipartisan lines when you try to tackle bigger things like immigration reform, climate change, or any hopes of bipartisanship dead moving forward. >> well, i would hope not. my republican friends are doing what they think is necessary to win primaries. what we're doing is what's necessary to do what needs to be done for the american people. 77% of american people support this legislation. and i guarantee you that that includes republicans and independents. so this legislation is bipartisan. is it not going to be held hostage by partisanship. and that's what's going on here. if my republican friends only had to worry about running in general elections, they would all be onboard, but because they know, there's a small minority that seems to have an outsized impact in their primary contest, that's why we can't get the kind of support that's needed. but the american people support what we're doing. >> let me ask you about something that is obviously a critical issue for you, and that is voting rights. the bill that passed through the house, it comes against the backdrop of 43 states considering bills that would make it harder to vote. that's according to the brennan center for justice, including in a state like georgia, where they're trying to restrict and eliminate early voting on sundays, even mail-in voting in some areas. how do you get this passed through the senate, congressman, when you have senators like joe manchin, kerstin sinema, signaling they may not be onboard with this. how do you do it without getting rid of the filibuster? >> well, i think that we have to remember that the filibuster which came in, according to my research, 1917, it was used your sparingly, the filibuster didn't start being used the way it's used now until after the 1954 supreme court decision brown v. board of education, when the filibuster started being used. in order to stop voting and civil rights. we know that. and i don't believe that kristin sinema or joe manchin are going to allow themselves to be used to stop people from voting. so they may be -- >> how do you get them onboard, congressmen? they're two critical votes? how do you make sure you get them onboard? >> appeal to their sense of fairness. and i would hope that they would not allow themselves to be party to efforts to keep african-americans, keep hispanic americans from voting. and that's what this will be all about. or to suppress their votes. i just don't think they're going to do that. and i think that joe manchin has made that very clear, that if republicans insist upon doing this, he is not going to be there for them. joe biden doesn't want to get rid of the filibuster. that's fine. but i know he wants to see african-americans vote. i know he is going to do whatever he can to ensure that there's no voter suppression taking place. and so to the extent that that can happen, you need to modify this filibuster and i'm going to be meeting with senators later today on this subject. i just don't think democratic senators are going to be in the business of denying black and brown people the right to vote. >> all right, congressman james clyburn, thank you so much for giving us your perspective on all of those critical issues. really appreciate it. good to be with you. and there's a little bit of canine controversy at the white house we want to tell you about. the president's youngest dog major involved in what the white house is calling an incident that reportedly included aggressive behavior. the 3-year-old german shepherd and the elder, champ, are currently at the family's delaware home. white house officials say both dogs will be back in the residence when the first lady returns from her west coast trip. we will be tracking that. and speaking of covid relief, a lot of grandparents are relieved to hear the new cdc guidelines on when they can see their grandkids. what they mean for a family visit. that's ahead. but first,er a day's delay, the jury selection gets underway in the trial of the former minneapolis police officer charged in the death of george floyd. while floyd's sister is overcome with emotion and had to leave the courtroom yesterday. 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is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? ...delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. jury selection is underway in the murder trial of former police officer derek chauvin, despite an ongoing dispute over the possible reinstatement of a third-degree murder charge that could delay the case. chauvin is the former police officer who prosecutors say knelt on george floyd's neck for about nine minutes. he has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter. nbc's shaquille brewster is outside of the courthouse. shaq, i know you've been tracking every single development. bring us up to speed here. what's the latest on the case and the jury selection? >> kristen, court is back in session this morning and it took a little bit of a recess of about 15 minutes, which was scheduled. and now they're on to questioning the third potential juror. so we've not seen or at least heard three potential jurors get questioned. the first one was dismissed for cause by the defense. the second juror was selected to serve on the jury. and they're now going through and asking questions of the third juror. just so you can get a sense of what this process is like, even before the potential jurors made it to the courtroom -- i almost said classroom. before they made it to the courtroom, they had to answer a questionnaire, and answer questions about how they felt about interactions with law enforcement, how they felt about the black lives matter movement? what was their knowledge about the video? and something we just heard from this third potential juror, she believes and has a desired outcome in this case and she doesn't know if she can put that aside. that's something you'll continue to hear as this goes along. this jury process has been slated for up to three weeks and opening arguments will start on march 29th. kristen? >> all right, shaquille brewster, thank you for your reporting, as always, shaq. and joining me now to delve deeper into this is new york city laws professor, melissa murray, a former law clerk to justice sonia sotomayor when she was a judge on the court of appeals. so let's pick up on one of the big sticking points right now. the judge has decided to move forward, despite the fact third-degree murder charge hasn't been resolved yet. you have the prosecution arguing, hey, wait a minute, how can you move forward with jury selection when the terms of the case haven't been set yet. talk about the thinking behind this and could it potentially jeopardize the overall outcome of the case in terms of putting it up for a retrial? >> so, that could be a really major issue going forward, could this be appealed. the prosecutor's point here is, as you say, we don't actually know what our case will be, because we don't know what charges we're going to have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. the charge at issue is a third-degree murder charge. it typical will be an described under minnesota law as a kind of extreme recklessness. so driving into a crowd, for example, or shooting into a crowd and the trial judge, when he dismissed this charge, concluded that it wasn't met to be applicable in circumstance involving just one person who was harmed. here, george floyd. he dismissed this charge. there's been an appeal. we're waiting to find out if the charge has been added. but the prosecutors have a really good point, that moving forward with jury selection in this trial may be more difficult, given that they don't know exactly what they have to face. >> in terms of what we are tracking, what we think we might see once this trial gets underway, we know that chauvin's attorney signaled yesterday that he would potentially cite what he is going to claim as drug use. he's going to argue that allegedly shoed up bills were found inside the back of the police squad car after officers had struggled to get floyd inside. could this be a compelling argument? >> the prosecutors have to establish all of the elements of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt to get to a conviction. what the defense is likely to do is show that either the cause of floyd's desk was not mr. chauvin's conduct, but rather some intervening cause, like, perhaps drug use. or trivial, the drug use could go to the question of whether there are affirmative defenses that could be lodged by mr. chauvin in here specifically, that his use of drugs made it more likely that extreme force was necessary to restrain him in order to conclude the arrest. i think that's where the drug use is coming from. it could heater be a cause issue or go to the issue of force for completing the arrest itself. >> all right. melissa murray, thank you so much for your insights. and we are going to check in with president biden, who just arrived at jenk's hardware store in washington, d.c. he's making some comments about covid-19. listen. >> she has a separate business in our building. what they do is microgreens. i'll turn it over to mary. she can describe her business a lot better than i'll be able to. >> fire away. >> sure. we moved here a few years ago and we are an urban vertical farm, located right next door. we grow salad greens, microgreens, and edible flowers. beautiful salads, we deliver them all over the greater washington, d.c. area, both to homes and we donate locally here in the neighborhood. >> now, you've been engaged in the neighborhood, too. >> we sponsor a little league team. we also have done job fairs for special needs programs to get their students to help them find employment. we've actually hired three people from those -- from that job program. it's called project search. it's a partnership between a nonprofit and the d.c. government and they do a great job training their students who are special needs to be able to work in an environment like this and be great contributors. >> have you hired any of those folks? >> we've hired three. >> three. >> i'll be darned. >> and mary participated in our first job fair. we were going to do another one, but obviously, the pandemic has halted our ability to do that. but when things go back to normal, we'll continue to do those job fairs. >> tell me, what kind of -- what hits you the hardest, when the pandemic hit? >> right, so, the biggest challenge is what were we going to do with our staff. there were so many uncertainties related to what the virus actually did. the first thing that we did is we took all of our at-risk employees and we sent them home and paid them through that entire process. that first wave of ppp loans was very helpful to allow us to do that. obviously, that was not cost effective, but we felt like we had to do that for our employees. you know, and we're still struggling, because a lot of retail businesses actually increased over the course of the pandemic. and i think people know, there's a little bit of a hardware boom. a big portion of our business is actually government sales and commercial sales. and for the first four or five months, that was completely gone, and that was, honestly, about 60% of our annual revenue. >> one of the reasons why we changed the rules for 20 days to make sure all employers with 20 or fewer employees could qualify for ppe and the reasons for that was 400,000 small businesses went out of business. they got in line, but couldn't get the help. and we found out that an awful lot of that went to bigger businesses. that in fact, weren't supposed to qualify. because there used to be a thing called an inspector general to see where the money went. and the last administration fired the inspector general, so a lot of the money went to people who shouldn't have gotten help and it didn't go to folks who -- but, you know, with this new program, and we're going donate this program. it's not only -- only businesses with fewer than 20 folks could apply for the last couple of weeks, but now we're going to keep the focus on. because a lot of minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses are increased significantly by 20 and 15%, as well as people who were, in fact, not able to get in line before. and it's hard to know how to get in line. so i hope this will continue to increase. because we're also at the point where we want to get control of this virus. we appreciate your leadership on that. one quick point i want to make is that, i said we're the oldest hardware store in d.c., and we're the greenest hardware store in america. we have two urban farms in the building, we have mary in the garage, and cultivate the city, an awesome rooftop garden. they exist on our rooftop. you're not going to be able to see it from here, but if they want to give a wave. >> i see them. yes. >> hi! >> don't jump! we need you. >> and then if i could just -- >> come on, press! come on, press! let's go! let's go, you guys! come on! come on, let's go! >> thank you guys. thanks so much. >> so you've just been watching president biden at a small business here in washington, d.c., talking about how the covid relief bill, that $1.9 trillion package will help small businesses like the one that he was just visiting and trying to make the argument that he has made a change to make sure that it targets small businesses, those who have 20 or fewer employees. this is a part of the president trying to sell this covid relief package, that is expected to land on his desk before the end of the week. it does come as we are getting breaking news from buckingham palace, finally responding to that bombshell interview from harry and meghan with oprah winfrey earlier this week. let me read you this statement in full. assist short one. the statement reads, the whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for harry and meghan. the issues raised particularly, that of race, are concerning. while some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. harry, meghan and archie will always be much loved family members. so we are getting our first response from buckingham palace, again, in the wake of that interview from harry and meghan and essentially saying that they are going to discuss the concerns about race that were raised by harry and meghan privately. those concerns just as a reminder, both harry and meghan said that a member of the royal family discussed concerns about the color their baby's skin. and that they viewed those comments as racist. we will have much more coming up. but first, the biden administration is confronting a new major concern at the southern border. sources telling nbc news that there are more than 3,000 unaccompanied minors in customs and border protection holding facilities with 9,000 unaccompanied migrant children, crossing the border in february alone. a 57% increase from the previous month. nbc's julia ainsley joins us now with more on her reporting. so, julia, let's just start with that big headline. and what we're hearing from the white house press secretary jen psaki, this is what she had to say about what's happening at the border earlier today on "morning joe". >> now we're in this tough spot, where we need to be able to find facilities, shelters, where these kids can have access to educational resources, to lawyers, to doctors, and we are also in a circumstance where we're dealing with covid. so a lot of these facilities have smaller capacity. so that's the challenge and that's what we're confronting. >> so julia, what are you hearing about the administration's plans to handle this influx of unaccompanied minors? >> well, we got a clue last week, kristen, when jacob soboroff interviewed the dhs secretary, alejandra mayorkas. and he said one of their plans is to go ahead and send personnel from health and human services to these overcrowded border processing facilities to see if they can more quickly match the children, as soon as they come across the border, with sponsors, with relatives, who can take them into their homes in the united states while they go through the immigration court process, rather than keeping them in these overcrowded border facilities or sending them to health and human services, at all. and again, those overcrowded border facilities weren't built with children in mind. they were built when our immigration system was mainly dealing with single-adult males from mexico, not unaccompanied children coming all the way from central america. >> and you obviously have senior dhs officials who are visiting the border, julia. they've been briefing the white house about all of this. and i guess the question becomes, will the white house change its approach to this issue at the border and its messaging about this issue? >> well, it's interesting. i mean, i heard the way that jen psaki framed that on "morning joe," that they want a more humanitarian approach. when at the same time, they don't want false information to get out that the border is open and that anyone should be coming. but a key thing to remember about this kristen is, right now, a lot of these children were turned away by the trump administration, which means, they already left their homes in central america, fleeing violence, fleeing hunger, fleeing natural disasters, to come to the united states months ago. and they were kept out by a provision that the trump administration used in order to say that they were protecting migrants and the american people from covid. that's something that the biden administration ended. and so now these children have their chance to come to the united states. so the question is, will this surge keep going? after they've addressed that specific pool of children, how many more might come after them? and how will the biden administration respond? another thing they're doing now is they're opening more health and human services facilities that were also closed because of the pandemic. they had to drastically decrease the capacity in order to try to keep down the spread of covid in these congregant settings. so now they're trying to reopen those as they deal with what is a very quickly emerging surge. >> there's no doubt that covid has made this crisis even more challenging. how concerned is the administration internally -- oh, you know what? we are going to go back to our breaking news. julia ainsley, thank you so much for updating us on the situation at the border. really appreciate it. again, we are just hearing from buckingham palace after the duke and duchess of sussex have spoken out, meghan and harry, their bombshell interview with oprah winfrey saying, again, let me read this. "the whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for harry and meghan. the issues raised, particularly that of race are concerning. while some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. harry, meghan, and archie will always be much loved family members. joining us now to discuss this is stacy mcandrew, who's a journalist and royal daisy, thank you so much for being with us. with this breaking news, what do you make of this statement? the headline for me is that buckingham palace does not deny any of the bombshell allegations that we heard from harry and meghan. >> i think even though it's such a short statement, there is quite a lot to read into it. obviously, there's the reference to sadness, and i'm sure that that's absolutely genuine. they will be extremely sad. as you spoke about it, the bombshell revelation about the accusations of racism. they are clearly stating that they are going to deal with that privately. now, they also go on to say that, as you said, the recollections can differ. i think it's quite easy to read into that, in that they're trying to work out who said what to who and how it could have been interpreted in this way if it wasn't intended in this way. the trouble with the accusation that a senior royal suggested to prince harry, who then repeated the conversation to meghan, that there were questions being raised about the color of the skin of their unborn children. bear in mind, this conversation was supposed to have happened before the wedding. obviously, that was a very, very shocking statement and many people have been spending the last 24 to 48 hours trying to work out who it was, who made that comment. of course, when oprah winfrey then said yesterday it wasn't either the queen or prince phillip, prince harry's grandparents, of course, that didn't help the feeding frenzy, it simply ignited it, gave it more power, if you like, because people were starting to whittle down the possible list of suspects with, and it got closer to closer and many people looking at prince charles or prince william and saying, was it them? this statement was clearly designed to try to pause or abate that feeding frenzy, to try to throw the wolves some meat, so that they can eat on that rather than trying to work out who it was who did these statements. but i'm not sure, i don't know about you, kristen, whether that's going to work? >> there was such a tremendous pressure for buckingham palace to respond, and we should say that this response comes against the backdrop of some public appearances by the royal family, prince charles visiting a vaccination center earlier today. of course, we saw princess kate, who was in a car yesterday, as well as camilla. talk about the internal mood, if you will, as the royal family tried to right this statement. we know that clearly, they put a lot of thought into it, because it's now more than 24 hours after that initial interview was released. >> absolutely. yesterday, there were rumors that a statement had been written by palace authorities, palace officials, but that it was the queen herself who paused it and said, no, she wanted to sleep on it, reflect on the interview and give the british public a chance to watch the interview. bear in mind, it was only broadcast on our televisions here in the uk last night, not sunday night, as it was for american viewers. and of course, we all knew that oprah winfrey had said that she had other unaired clips that she would be dripping out, drip feeding out over the last 24 hours or so, so i think the palace or the queen particularly wanted to see what the mood was, wanted to have time to reflect and didn't want to rush into anything. of course, that is very in keeping with her personality and her style of leadership. and i think she wanted to add a specific line in the statement about the race allegation, not to ignore it, which i think she quite rightly felt would simply make matters worse. of course, the problem with this accusation, like any accusation, which isn't -- which doesn't name a specific person, is it's very difficult to have an inquiry if the couple in question are refusing, as they say they are, to say who it was who made these comments before their wedding. so it's difficult, of course, when we look inside, from the outside, and say, well, they said they would do an inquiry into the allegations of bullying that came out last week about meghan, but they're not saying they're going to do an inquiry into these much-more serious allegations. but of course, meghan was named by those who claim that she bullied them. they are not naming the specific member of the royal family. and here in the uk, they do have a difficulty with public sympathy. i think there is less public sympathy here than there is in the states. i think the sympathy for the young couple has increased since the airing of the interview, but before the interview, there was a lot of feeling that, goodness me, can't they -- they say they want privacy, can't they go quietly. they've already turned their backs on their family. their grandfather's in hospital. prince phillip is in hospital. so why can't they keep quiet? i do think some of that has been addressed now, but not all of it. >> and i think you're right in that it will be fascinating to see how this impacts those in england and if it changes their perspective on harry and meghan, having left the royal family. really fascinating. thank you so much for being here for these breaking developments. appreciate it daisy mcandrew. finally some good news, a year into the pandemic, vaccines are moving forward and new guidance is out from the cdc that's sparking cheers from a lot of grandparents who can now see their grandkids if they are vaccinated, like 85-year-old lucy constantino of massachusetts who's ready to embrace her five grandkids. >> i've been dying to hug those kids, especially our little 3-year-old. she was only 2 when this started. and i'm sure every grandparent has felt this way. it's like, we've been out there in oblivion, just so separated from the people we love. just sd from the people we love. mes. it's powered by verizon for as little as $25 a month. but it gets crazier. bring a friend every month and get every month for $5. boom! 12 months of $5 wireless. visible, wireless that gets better with friends. ♪ got my hair ♪ ♪ got my head ♪ ♪ got my brains ♪ ♪ got my ears ♪ ♪ got my heart ♪ ♪ got my soul ♪ ♪ got my mouth ♪ ♪ i got life ♪ tide pods ultra oxi one ups the cleaning power of liquid. can it one up spaghetti night? 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(vo) starting today, nobody has to settle for less than the very best. when you post your first job because only verizon gives you 5g from america's most reliable network at no extra cost. and the entertainment you love, like disney+, hulu and espn+. and a galaxy s21+ 5g when you buy one. only from verizon. more than 31 million americans are now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. that's more than the total number of confirmed cases nationwide. and the new cdc recommendations for fully vaccinated americans have grandparents all across the country celebrating, like the wrights in orlando, florida, who finally got to see their two grandkids for the very first time since the pandemic began. scenes like that unfolding all across the country. next in line, teachers who are now eligible for vaccinations after president biden urged states last week to prioritize school staff, setting a goal of every educator getting at least one shot by the end of march. in georgia, the governor put aside the state's entire stock of more than 80,000 johnson & johnson vaccines for teachers. georgia ranks last in the country for vaccinations per capita. joining me now to discuss this, nbc news correspondent, ellison barber, who's outside of a mass vaccination site in gwinnett county where doses are set aside for school district staff. tell us about this. how are teachers reacting to the news, ellison? >> reporter: hey, kristen. they are thrilled. we've been talking to teachers as they wait in line to have their appointment. and time and time again, we hear again that they are so glad that they can now get vaccinated. i met one teacher who was so frustrated with what she felt were like unnecessary delays in educators having access to the vaccines in this state, that she went to tennessee to try to get vaccinated there. we are in gwinnett county and here gwinnett county public schools, they started vaccinating their staff yesterday. they have set aside the local county health department has actually set aside doses of the vaccines they have available at this site specifically for educators. about 600 doses a day. they say they're going to set that aside every day for the next two weeks. and if gwinnett county public school educators want to come here to get vaccinated, they can make an appointment and have access to those doses that have been set aside. in all, at this mass vaccination site, health officials we've spoken to say they are vaccinating upwards of 1,000 people a day, but they have the space and the resources to vaccinate even more than that. they say it's just a matter of the state giving them more vaccines so they can do it. kristen? >> still just remarkable to see all of those scenes of people getting vaccinated. ellison barber, thank you so much for your reporting. and joining me dr. mario ramirez, acting director for the emerging threat test department of health and human services. dr. ramirez thank you so much for joining us, really appreciate it. these cdc recommendations are really big step, and some people are saying, look, we're getting closer to being back to normal. but others make the point, hold on a minute, there could be another surge given the fact that we're also tracking these variants. so where do we stand right now? >> so i think they are a positive sign, kristen, it's hard not to look at those pictures with grandparents with grand kids and smile. we're getting closer to the end of this thing and these guidelines are getting us back to something that looks like normal. there is some risk of a surge, and it's complicated sometimes to understand. we have a situation where there are a couple of other variants out there circulating. when those variants hit about 50% of the total detected cases, there tends to be a surng that follows after that. and in some states here in the country, particularly in florida, southern california, and inching up in michigan, we're seeing some jurisdictions that have 25, 30 and 35% detection of those cases. and so we're in this race to try to vaccinate as many people as we can before we hit that 50% mark. the cdc models look like we're on track for the uk variant to become the sort of overwhelming trend so we need to try to get out ahead of that with vaccines. if we can do that a surge becomes less likely. >> it's a critical test. there's no doubt about that. and i guess the big question, as vaccinations are increasingly more available all across the country, is if you are vaccinated can you still spread the virus? i know that scientists are looking into that. are we getting any closer to an answer on that, dr. ramirez? >> i think unfortunately, you know, it's hard just to hear that answer that says we need a little more time to know for sure and part of this data comes as we vaccinate more and more people, that we really start to get a better picture, and a better answer to that question. so i think the short answer is that we're not quite there yet. we need to see how the virus behaves once we have more and more people vaccinated. it's worth noting that there's still a sizable segment of the u.s. population that hasn't been vaccinated. it's really hard to make a generalization how the vaccine is acting out in the wild. we just need a little more time. >> as you know spring break is fast approaching and there are concerns that people are going to abandon public health restrictions because more and more people are getting vaccinated. what is your message as we head into spring break and what's your biggest concern? >> so my biggest concern, kristen, is sort of that breakout of the uk variant that we talked about and whether or not we can stay ahead of that with vaccines. you know, one of the things about spring break is that it's a big travel time for families, a big travel time for young persons who are mixing and not social distancing. if those folks get together in a couple of tight geographic areas and then disburse we could be in a situation where there's a big dispersion event across the country. the message i have for folks is the same thing other folks have said. hang on a few more weeks, we're making great progress with this vaccine. if folks can hang on a little longer we're in a place where everybody feels like the country is a lot more open. >> looking forward to that day as we all are. dr. mario ramirez, thank you for all of your great information. really appreciate it. and now to a remarkable story, the fearless women who helped lead the battle against isis in syria. andrea had the details for nbc nightly news, with their ongoing fight for their rights. >> they started as young women, some still in their teens raised in a world where girls were forbidden to play soccer, go to university or choose their own husbands. transformed into snipers and battlefield commanders. syrian kurdish women in 2014, battling isis in house to house combat in the city of kobani, defending people from being kidnapped, raped, and killed. women who became known to the u.s. militia as general noruz. had you ever thought you would become a war fighter? >> translator: we were dragged into the war in a place where there was no choice for a decent life, especially for women. they took over women's mind, body and everything else. >> reporter: in injured and surrounded some blew themselves up with grenades to avoid being captured. one of the most fearless was azima who richard engel met at the height of the battle. squash buckling but outnumbered and outgunned, later wounded, her story is told in the daughters of kobani. >> she gets out of bed at the end of the battle, when isis is handed its first loss and she makes sure she's standing there to say women were a part of this defeat for isis. >> three years later they were driving out of its capital, in 2019 declaring victory over isis, earning high praise. how would you describe the women fighters? >> they were well motivated, they were fit. they rose to the occasion. they were courageous. >> reporter: defeating isis earned them new respect from their own men. >> translator: they're able to claim their rights in every aspect of life, they're able to claim their rights in political settings and family life. >> reporter: but she says there are still those who think like isis. the women of kobani are still in the fight. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >> just remarkable. and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea will be back tomorrow, chuck todd is up next with "mtp daily" only on msnbc. - a nearly invisible hearing aid from the brand leader in hearing aids with over 70 years of experience. 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