Top of the hour, good morning, everyone. Im poppy harlow. Im jim sciutto. Two of the nations top medicalec perts will testify in just a matter of minutes. Thats a live picture from the hill. The director of the National Institutes of health and the Surgeon General will address the role vaccines play in preventing Infectious Disease outbreaks and protecting Public Health, but this morning there is a new obstacle in the race for a vaccine. Drug giant astrazeneca is completely pausing its global trials of their Covid Vaccine after one of their volunteers became unexpectedly sick. This halt, they say is normal. Its a normal precaution as the company gathers more data to find out what it was that made this person sick. The National Institutes of health made their plea for more testing. Their message, test, quote, as many people as possible. Lets begin with our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. Well get to the news which is really significant in a moment, but just explain why ast
Hospital where he is being treated for coronavirus. We as a nation are no closer to knowing the truth about his health. What we know is his doctors and closest aides cant seem to get the story straight. Yesterday, dr. Sean conley admitted he wanted to, his words, reflect the upbeat attitude trump and his team wanted to convey about his condition. Even as the president had at least two significant drops in oxygen which conley did not disclose in a saturday briefing. Even as conley refused to give specifics on whether damage has been done to the president s lungs. Another thing we know is that the president has undergone multiple treatments. This includes steroids to help his oxygen levels and an antibody cocktail that is not yet approved by the fda. As for his mood, courses say he is done with the hospital, demanding to go back to the white house. What happens that inspired his joy ride outside walter reed where he waved to reporters from a hermetically sealed suv, jeopardizing the safe
Administration it will be, i guess time will tell. But i can tell you, this administration will not good to a lockdown. Who knows . Well, we know the man set to replace him in january president elect joe biden is hitting back, saying, quote, urgent action is needed today, now by the current administration, starting with an acknowledgment of how serious the Current Situation is. So we begin tonight on the ground in two hard hit parts of the country. Msnbcs Corey Kaufman is in oclare, wisconsin. And reporter Valerie Castro is standing by in el paso, texas. Thank you both for being here. Cory, i want to start with you. Things so bad in wisconsin you actually have the Health Department there declaring an entirely new category. Tell us more. Yeah, Health Department officials are stunned over this. So the previous high category was very high, and that was about 350 people or cases per 100,000 people. All counties in the state of wisconsin passed that to the point at which they had to create
Of this week. But as the vaccines are coming online, the virus continues to spread at an alarming rate. Now one in 20 americans have contracted this virus. And more than 301,000 americans have died. Joining me now, nbcs Yasmin Vossoughian is at Yale New Haven Hospital in connecticut where theyll begin to administer vaccines to Health Care Workers today. Nbcs Valerie Castro is in el paso, texas, where officials Just Announced curfews on christmas and new years. Yasmin, i know there are high spirits there among the Health Workers waiting to get the vaccine. What are they saying to you . Reporter think about whats been taking place in this state over the last two weeks, andrea. In the last two weeks theres been more deaths in this state than in the entire month of november. Theyre getting 30,000 doses of this vaccine over the next two weeks or so. This hospital alone, 2,000 of those doses, andrea, we saw delivered this morning. And the staff, the pharmacy staff, the folks that receive the