trip to atlanta taking on a whole new significance. >> the president will offer his support for the aaip community in georgia and across the country. >> they'll look into what led to a mass shooting spree that left eight dead including six asian women. >> it has been such a challenge, we're actively looking at guidance to update it. >> the president promised 100 million shots in 100 days. >> it's outpacing the ability of our vaccines to work. welcome to our view ers in the united states and all around the world. it's 6:00 in new york. alisyn is off. erica is here. >> just here to help. >> this morning vice president harris will meade with asian-american leaders in atlanta, offering support to their community grappling with fears and frustration after a deadly shooting spree in three spas around the city. police are working to determine the gunman's motive and they say nothing is off the table in the investigation. the shooting sparks a rise. protesters outside one of the spas calling for justice, demanding the police call the attack what they say it is, a hate crime. now, this is a time when you think all americans could come together to speak out against this kind of racism, which is why the grandstanding against congressman chip roy spoke out. >> meantime the biden administration will meet its goal of 100 million vaccine shots in arms that. is 42 days ahead of schedule, the u.s. now averaging 2.5 million vaccinations a day. nearly 35% of the population is vaccinated. there's a major change that could help get more students back into classrooms, but we do want to begin with our top story. it's the latest in the atlanta shooting investigations. cnn's natasha chen joins us live. natasha good morning. >> reporter: good morning, erica. we're in cherokee county where the suspect is being held in a detention fa sillcility behind . as you mentioned, later this afternoon president biden and vice president harris will be meeting with members from the state legislature and local advocacy groups to discuss the next steps in how to support the asian community after such violence has affected them. outside three atlanta area spas, demonstrations of solidarity. >> i'm here to stand in solidarity with them, let them know that the country is with asian-americans. >> reporter: the suspect is in jail this morning and charged with eight counts of murder. >> nothing is off the table for our investigation. >> reporter: the suspect fr frequented the two spas in the city. >> we had four asian females that were killed, and so we are looking at everything to make sure that we discover and determine what the motive of our homicides were. >> reporter: the sheriff attended a vigil for the four people killed there. >> we don't want to leave any stone unturned. we're committed to a sloolid killer. >> it looked like a hate crime to me. this was targeted at asian spas. six of the women who were killed were asian. what we know about the definition of a hate crime, it can also be based on someone who targets women. >> reporter: today she'll meet with president biden and vice president harris and state leaders. >> what started out last january, dirty looks and verbal assaults, has escalated into visible violence against asian-americans. >> reporter: congressman chip roy said this. >> who decides what is hate? who decides what is the kind of speech that deserves policing? >> reporter: but when democratic lawmaker pushed back. >> this hearing was to address the hurt and pain of our community, to find solutions, and we will not let you take our voice away from us. >> reporter: the four people killed here in cherokee county have been identified, but in atlanta, the four people killed there, all of them asian women, their names have not yet been released. atlanta police say part of the difficulty is reaching next of kin. erica. >> natasha with the latest for us. more shots in arms this morning as the race between vaccines and vaccine variants intensifies. the biden administration is set to hit its goal of 100 million vaccinations. since taking office, that goal will be met today. athena jones live in hoboken, new jersey, which is loosening some of its restrictions today. we're seeing a lot of that around the country, athena. >> reporter: good morning, erica. we are. new jersey is increasing its capacity limits like restaurants, gyms, and barbershops to 50% and slightly increasing gathers indoors. these changes are coming not just in this state but new concerns about the coronavirus variants. >> 100 million shots of vaccine in people's arms. >> reporter: today the biden administration expects the u.s. to reach its goal of 100 million shots in arms in his first 100 days in office. the administration is crossing this goal on his 58th full day, 42 days ahead of schedule. and while biden's vaccine goal is above schedule, the reopening plans for schools is in flux. there's a recommendation from six feet in distance to three feet. >> this is urgent, don't get me wrong. >> reporter: the united states will experience another surge in coronavirus cases. 11 states have seen an increase in new covid cases since last week, with blame seeing a rise by more than 50%, the increase coming in part because of the spread of coronavirus variants. some states are rolling back coronavirus restrictions and easing mask requirements. those vaccinated are urged to continue to mask. there's a clash on capitol hill between dr. anthony fauci and senator rand paul. >> what studies do you have that people who have had the vaccine or have had the vaccine are spreading the vaccine? you have a vaccine and you're wearing two masks. isn't that theater? >> here we go again with the the theater. let's talk about the facts. when you don't wear the masks and keep down the variants, that's an entirely different ball game. >> reporter: paul's home state of kentucky has a mask mandate in place but easing restrictions and upping restaurant capacity up to 50%. fauci says paul is dead wrong in his assessment of masks and reinfection can occur because of variants increasing. >> rand paul says let's not wear a mask. they could get reinfected again and get into trouble. >> reporter: and this potential or expected change to guidelines for social distancing in schools from six feet to three feet is important for two reasons. one, it's a recognition that many schools across the country, six feet in distance has been hard to achieve. changing the recommendation with everyone wearing masks is going to make it more possible for children to go back to school. >> among other things, it's about strengthening. it will absolutely change the landscape for so many schools. so this morning the type of diplomatic tension you almost never see in public, top u.s. and chinese officials in their first face-to-face meetings -- this is happening in alaska -- it was an on-camera conversation with tony blinken talking about china. >> we'll discuss china including hong kong, taiwan, cyber attacks on the united states, economic coercion toward our allies. the alternative is might makes right and winners take all, and that would be a far more violent and unstable world for all of us. >> to say it set off an unusual back-and-forth would be an enormous understatement. the back and forth between the chinese and united states still going on as we speak, david. this is as clear of a signal as you can get on how this relationship standing right now and and what it will be going forward. >> reporter: john, it's also a major acknowledgement they're no longer dealing with the trump administration. you saw what secretary blinken said there, his prepared remarks. the response in that moment from the chinese was really quite aggressive, quite strong. they say as of a few hours ago that it was the u.s. who provoked this, the u.s. was coming in and being aggressive and taking more time than was agreed on. but i want you to listen to what the chinese official had to say vsvia translattranslator. take a listen. >> reporter: isn't this the intention of the united states judging from what -- or the way that you have made your opening remarks that it wants to speak to china in a condescending way from a position of strength. >> reporter: so they come off very strong in there. but the chinese seem to approach this as though they were dealing with the prior administration and going after, for example, secretary of state at the time pompeo, who would come in with harsh rhetoric. they did not encounter that in this moment. it almost seems they were planning to go up against ego, if you will, and instead they encountered secretary blinken who in his response, which was offscript, was very self-aware, acknowledging that the u.s. is transparent and they're open and a self-awareness to say that's how you get to a better union or more perfect union in his words by being clean about it, acknowledging it in the open. the chinese now have to reassess and look at this at a different approach. in many ways it's very challenging for them. they have to figure out how do you recalibrate and approach the biden administration? and if it feels like it's all heated rhetoric with no substance, one senior official said twbehind the scenes there more substance. there is no question that right now the chinese are probably having to figure out how to reassess the u.s. going forward because they seem to have gone into this, john, quite frankly, looking for the domestic headlines, and the domestic headlines for state media, controlled media are reflective of that. they say the chinese officials went in and held the u.s. to account and the utah.s. was cond condescending, but it seems there is hope for some constructive back-and-forth. >> the u.s. headlines say tony blinken stood up going toe to toe with china, both countries playing each other's sides. very notable. david culver, thank you very much as always for your reporting. so six asians gunned down in georgia, hate crimes spiking across the country. so naturally republican chip roy of texas seems to think the biggest victim is him. that's next. ♪ comfort in the extreme. ♪ tsome say this is myf greatest challenge ever. ♪ but i've seen centuries of this. with a companion that powers a digital world, traded with a touch. the gold standard, so to speak ;) hi sabrina! >>hi jen! so this aveeno® moisturizer goes beyond just soothing sensitive skin? 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>> it was a stunning statement. the reference to lynching, proudly referencing lynching, but then on top of that, the callousness of not recognizing you can criticize a country, of course, but that's not what we're talking about. we're talking about words, racism, discrimination, that is targeted toward a group of people and that incites violence and hate across the country. you know, john, just a couple of weeks ago in a budget hearing, i think it was. some of my republican colleagues continue to use the term china virus, which we all know is a racist slur. the w.h.o. said don't tie the virus to a country, that is not accurate. i spoke up and asked them not to use that because i think that all of these ways in which asian-americans are depicted is why we see a rise in crime. they continue to do it. we were all stunned by chip roy. we're stunned by what happened in georgia. and the intersection of racism, classism, and sexism altogether is stunning. >> what stuns me is we're clearly at a moment when asian-americans feel they're under attack. that's undeniable that they feel they're being singled out, you are being singled out. as i was watching that, i kept wondering where's the empathy? i mean where is the outreach? where is the sense that i acknowledge this is a moment of real pain? >> there was really very little of that if any from the other side. in fact, at one point one of the republican colleagues said, oh, the statistics are not that bad, and proceeded to say, well, it's only "x" percent for asian-americans versus "x" percent for latinas and blacks. it was really stunning that somehow that was okay. and in the wake of georgia, it made it so much worse. i think my republican colleagues are so call up in the racist terminology that has been made popular, mainstream by donald trump and his administration that they are not able to see that compassion anymore, they're not able to see as my colleague said later, the tar against that they're putting on our backs, on the backs of our elders, children, our neighbors, they're just unwilling to see any of that. >> on a separate suspect, kevin mccarthy yesterday, the house republican leader, had an interesting exchange with cnn's manu raju. let's play this out. >> i disagree with the premise of your question. if you challenged pennsylvania and arizona, would that have changed and lowered president biden's numbers below 270? >> he would have -- >> no, no, no. you ask me questions every week. i'm just asking you a question. if you removed arizona -- not removing it, but you were asking about it. if they were removed in an electoral college, would president biden's number be below 270. >> no, but donald trump said -- >> no, no, no. i'm not donald trump. you're asking me the question. let me answer your question since you asked me. let me follow through. so you gave a premise that's not true. >> they tried to overturn the results in congress and that's not true. >> let me show you how your premise is not true. i'm showing where your question doesn't hold merit. >> but you supported the texas lawsuit. do you support that? >> no, i don't. do you know why? >> did you or did you not support donald trump's plan to overturn the election in congress in. >> no. >> we played out the whole thing so you could see the gymnastics of what's going on there. what's your takeaway? >> he's a rabbit hopping from one side to the other, rewriting history. kevin mccarthy is trying to play all sides when he clearly was supporting turning over the election, he's continuously been supporting donald trump by going down to mar-a-lago. at the same time he doesn't want to be seen that way because he knows it's wrong. i think it's absurd for him to try to rewrite history, but honestly, john, very little surprises me these days about republicans. they continue to be obstructionists. they have decided they're going to continue down the same path they were on for the past four years, and if that means the republican embraces proud boys and discrimination against asians and tries to rewrite history about whether or not they -- you know, whether or not they supported overturning the election, they don't care. there is no truth anymore on the other side, i'm sorry to say that. >> congresswoman pramila jayapal, we appreciate you coming on. >> thank you, john. italy and france locking down. new lockdowns there. they've missed their chance to stop a third wave. it is fully on. so how will the reintroduction of astrazeneca help? 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how do you rebuild it? >> there was a very rare event suggested to be associated with vaccination was looked up very quickly by the regulators in all 27 countries and came to a view yesterday that really there was no concern, and that's exactly what the british regulators had seen independently in an even larger sample size. so this process, which is normal in the deployment of any new medicine including vaccines is really important to enhance public confidence. now, there are challenges always with vaccines that are given to healthy people that are greater than with drugs that are used to cure disease, so people need to keep working on this because this is an extremely important vaccine. it's the global vaccine against covid. it's going to be more widely distributed than any other vaccine. it's in 71 countries at the moment, i understand, so it's absolutely crucial that processes like this are followed through, ideally very quickly, but thoroughly to restore public confidence. >> but in terms of restoring public confidence, is there something you would see in, perhaps, a change to the messaging? >> so the messaging is being worked on continuously. it's more challenging in the low income countries where this vaccine is being very widely distributed at the moment, and, you know, 30 million people in india have already been vaccinated with this vaccine. and, by the way, there were only two cases in 30 million of the suggested issue in india, so that was really reassuring. so, yes, it is an ongoing work in progress that astrazeneca are working on. the public health authorities have been working on it. there was work done in january. it was approved for all age groups. there was a discussion about that. but there's no magic bullet except what we found in the uk was pretty reassuring. those surveys you mentioned, initially 60% to 70% wanted the vaccine. once it was available and people were invited, the uptick is about 95%. hopefully we see that in france. as you know, there's a supply issue in france. >> absolutely. as you point out, the vaccine here in the united states, you haven't applied for emergency use authorization, but we have three vaccines going into arms. the smooth rollout hasn't gone as anticipated. in a call, trials have quietly been stopped according to reporting from "the new york times" two days after the call. the fda found out about it after the new