americans. this more than, there's reason for hope. more than 95 million vaccine doses have been administered. more vaccines are being delivered. despite this, the message from our nation's top health experts remains the same. we can't let our guard down. we are covering this historic day from every corn are of the united states, because there's no place the virus hasn't touched. we start this hour with nbc kerry sanders in fort lauderdale beach, florida. dr. gupta is in seattle. godi, i will start with you. one story line is how much more deadly and vicious this virus has been for minority communities, especially. what's california doing to fight that part of it? >> reporter: it's the minority communities that are often the essential workers. some of the disparities we have seen here in los angeles have really spurned authorities to try to make sure that those underserved communities and the essential workers are getting vaccinated first. what we have seen in the past is a little bit of an older demographic that's been getting their vaccines. right now, we are at this site. you can see in line it's a mix. you have young people, old people. they are opening up that tier system to essential workers like bus drivers, waiters, people in the food service industry, agricultural workers. these people right here, they are waiting in line to get their vaccine. i want to tell you about this stat we just heard when it comes to this particular site. you have this area right here, then you have a level below, a level below that and a level above us. this site is capable of processing about 5,000 vaccines a day. right now this site only has 2,000 vaccines. right now, it's not an issue of distribution. it's an issue of supply. they don't have enough supply to ramp up to where they want to be. these are people here that have come down to get their vaccines. we understand that the county has also been issuing about 15,000 vouchers for uber rides to get here. this is close to a hub -- a transportation hub. what they are hoping is people can drive here or people can come via uber or they can walk up. this is one of the areas where we are at the intersection of downtown los angeles. you have south l.a. this is one of the drives that's trying to target the underserved communities. >> kerry sanders, california and florida, taking vastly different approaches to pandemic control. california has been fairly restrictive. florida has been, shall we say, fairly open comparatively? what's working there in florida? >> reporter: let's look where we are a year later by going back first, craig. remember this? shortly after the pandemic was announced as a worldwide pandemic, florida's beaches were empty. nobody knew, would it be safe to be at the beach? let's get everybody off the beach. nobody should be near anybody. about 5 1/2 months ago the governor in florida, who has been very different, than the governor in california, decided, things are going to open up. look at restaurants in florida. this is what it's been like for some time. restaurants are open. people are out. the governor of florida, who was vilified for many of his decisions, is now taking what amounts to a victory lap. >> florida got it right and the lockdown states got it wrong. there aren't a lot of floridians who are itching to move from florida to lockdown states. but there are thousands and thousands of people who are seeking to leave the lockdowns behind for the greener pastures here in the state of florida. >> reporter: let's compare a little bit about how florida did it and how california did it out where gadi is. it's two very dramatically different approaches. as we look at, for instance, masks. in florida, i'm wearing a mask. it's not required by the state. in california, you must wear a mask in public. restaurants in florida, no restrictions. in california, there are capacity restrictions. then just look at disney. the disneyland remains closed in california. here in florida, it's open. next week, it is sold out for spring break. can the governor claim victory? did he do the right thing? when you look at the actual numbers here on the per capita basis, it's about the same. florida has per capita one out of -- [ no audio ] in california, one out of 10.93 people have been infected. it becomes an economic question about who made the right decision here. on a medical question, we posed that to a medical expert about whether governor claim victory. this is what our medical expert had to say. >> if you just look at the actual numbers, you cannot make the case that we are better than california. unfortunately not. >> reporter: the governor has been doing that? he has been saying, florida did it right, didn't shut down, california and other states shut down and look at the success in florida. you are saying the numbers say something else? >> i'm giving you raw numbers as they are. these are the values from the center for disease control. you are looking at twice our population but not twice the confirmed cases and not twice the confirmed deaths. a lower testing positivity. >> reporter: lower testing -- >> those are the real numbers. >> reporter: as we look at the differences in the way different states have handled it and compare florida and california, go vastly different approaches with the shutdowns. at the end of the day, the numbers per capita, about the same. again, craig, it's important to point out, this has been a learning process for the medical community and politicians have made decisions based on not only what the medical community, the cdc was telling them, but also, quite frankly, what their guts were telling them. in every state, the governors' guts were telling them different things. we see how differently it's been approached with what appears to be at least in this comparison similar results. >> kerry sanders in florida. i want to turn to the dean of brown university school of public health. this morning, dr. fauci who spent time with with savannah guthrie on "today" and they talked about where we are right now. >> when you look at the previous surges that we have had in the late winter, early spring of 2020 and then the summer, when you get down to a plateau that's as high as it is, 57, 60,000, that means the virus is still very much circulating in the community. when it is, then you get the possibility of being another surge. that's one of the things we are concerned about. it is plateauing. i hope it starts -- i think it will, start going down at a less steep decline but continue to go down. >> at one point in this pandemic, we were seeing more than 300,000 new cases every day. now we are at about -- if i'm not mistaken, about 60,000 new cases every day. this idea that we may be approaching another surge, is that accurate? >> first, thanks for having me on. i am not worried about another major surge. we do have this one variant out there, the one from the uk. when it takes hold, it has tended to cause surges in every country. it will become the dominant one probably in the next two, three weeks in the united states. we have to keep our eye on it and keep public health measures in place. we're going to see a bump in cases, but i don't think we will see a massive surge. what that means is that the worst of the pandemic should be behind us at this point. >> it sounds like you are also of the opinion that the light is at the end of the tunnel and we are getting very close to the end of the tunnel? >> absolutely. the light is there. it is bright. we have some tough days ahead. this variant out there continues to concern me. we just have to be careful. what i'm talking about is the next four weeks, maybe six. by that time, we will have all the high risk people across the country hopefully with at least one shot. and life after that really should start getting meaningfully better. we should see hospitalizations down, deaths down. the economy starting to open up in a way that's hopefully permanent. >> you mentioned vaccines. let's talk vaccines. according to the administration, one in four adults -- one in four, 25% of the population, now vaccinated. still a long way to go. this is what andy slavitt said this morning about vaccinations specifically on "morning joe." >> the states need more vaccinators, more vaccination sites. then we need to bring vaccines to people. we have been playing a massive scale game. we have been building large scale vaccination centers which helps get people vaccinated. increasingly, we need to reach people who may not have the ability to get to these kinds of places. they may have questions about the vaccines. states will need to set up mobile vans, more community accessible vaccines. >> what do you make of that assessment from andy slavitt? >> andy is right. he is thinking two steps down the road. right now, it feels like the problem is supply. we don't have enough vaccines a at these sites. that's not where we will be a month from now. in the next two, three weeks, supply is going to ramp up. we will be able to hopefully get people vaccinated rapidly. we have people who can't get to the sites who have issues around confidence. we need a different approach than just the mega sites. i'm a big believer in them. mobile vans, community efforts, all of the above to reach a large chunk of the population that needs to be reached. >> this pandemic has been especially hard on nursing home residents. many have been isolated from their loved ones for a full year. members of my family, they haven't been able to see loved ones for a full year because they are in a nursing home. the biden administration updated its guidelines. guests can go inside and see their loved ones regardless of whether the visitors have been vaccinated. how big of a deal is this? >> yeah, look, i think it's the right call. there are people who will be nervous about that. i understand that. i think it's the right call. the key here is that the residents who are super high risk. all residents who want a vaccine should be vaccinated by now. that means that we have to open things up. this year has been so isolating for so many of our seniors. it's been horrible. i even look at my parents who have largely been isolated for a year. the impact on them, it's the same impact that people across the country are feeling. i think people need to be able to get back, hug their loved ones, spend time with loved ones. we need to get back to our lives. it's so important. >> it is fitting on this one-year anniversary of the start of the pandemic that we would be talking to you. your voice has been so comforting over the past year. that being said, it would be nice a year from now if i didn't have to talk to you on tv. >> i would love to get together for a cup of coffee and have a conversation about something other than covid. let's make sure we do that. >> yes, let us make sure we do that. thank you, my friend. do you have questions about the vaccine, the new guidance from the cdc for people who are vaccinated? maybe you have a question about what's in the new covid relief bill for you or your small business. we want all of your questions. we are going to give you all of the answers tomorrow. big hour here at 11:00 a.m. eastern. we are going to assemble a team of doctors, experts, reporters to answer those questions. the information on your screen for folks listening on satellite radio, it's talk@msnbc.com. you can tweet us if you are so inclined. #msnbcanswers. president biden will give his first prime time address as president. president biden talking about this year in lockdown that we have lived. what we can expect to hear from him coming up. speaker pelosi talking about the covid relief bill and how democrats should let people know that help is on the way. she's talking about a big vote the house just took on a gun background check bill. the vaccine is finally helping grandparents get back to normal or back to getting hugs. this is 71-year-old vera in orlando, florida, who you can see hugging her 4-year-old granddaughter for first time in more than a year. not just little kids though. 27-year-old sara in phoenix, arizona, shared this video of hugging her grandmother. she said that they had seen each other distantly. it was never the same. they both just really needed this hug. guy fieri! ya know, if you wanna make that sandwich the real deal, ya gotta focus on the bread layers. king's hawaiian sliced bread makes everything better! ♪ (angelic choir) ♪ and here's mine! age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. what's the #1 retinol brand boost® high protein also used most by dermatologists? 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>> reporter: this will take place at white house, the first prime time address at 8:00 this evening. we are told by senior administration officials that president biden tonight is going to try to strike a tone that's somber and hopeful. hopeful in that he will try to deliver a message about the progress that we have made and the direction that we are now heading. he will demonstrate the light that is ahead for americans right now. he will note the sacrifices. more than 525,000 americans who have lost their lives. his first action when arriving in washington, d.c. before taking the oath of office was going there to the lincoln memorial as they lit that beautiful site up. he will focus about the successes and what needs to be done in terms vaccinations. more vaccination sites. the progress we have made to this point. as it relates to the covid relief bill, nearly $2 trillion, i think it will get mention today. when he signed it tomorrow, that will be the formal celebration. it will precede a road trip for the next several days and perhaps weeks. we know that next week, president biden is going to delaware county, pennsylvania, to sell this stimulus plan. the vice president, kamala harris, will make stops in las vegas and in colorado as well. this is part of a strategy, a lesson learned from 2009 after the recovery act, that he was then vice president biden. last week, he talked about how they lost the opportunity to take a victory lap. as joe biden described it, they were too humble. they had too much humility. they lost the opportunity to explain to americans what they had just done. that's something they promised to do this time around. >> cross-country victory lap. leigh ann, speaker pelosi is in the middle of her briefing on the heels of the house passing that major relief package. a live look here at the speaker. she's touting a gun background check bill in the house. what's the house pursuing next? where is the next fight, do we know? >> reporter: craig, that's right. the house just passed moments ago one of two gun bills they are voting on today. one they just passed and voted on was an expansion of the background checks to include all private sales of firearms. democrats are thrilled with that vote. this is a big priority for them. in fact, eight republicans voted for it. that is five more republicans than voted for this bill when they voted on it in the last congress. this is a pretty significant development here. house speaker nancy pelosi at her weekly press conference just a few seconds ago touted that. let's listen to what she had to say. >> if you are afraid to vote for gun violence prevention because of your political survival, understand this, the political survival of none of us is more important than the survival of our children. >> reporter: the other bill they are going to vote on any moment is to close the charleston loophole, referencing the nine people gunned down in charleston, south carolina. that one is expected to pass. i will watch how many republicans vote for it. then it heads to the senate where it has bigger problems than it did in the house of representatives. >> leigh ann, the speaker said they should pursue raise the minimum wage again. that was at one part point of the covid relief bill. it was taken out. what's the plan for that? she lay out specifics on raising the minimum wage? >> reporter: she doesn't seem to have a specific plan. she did say that it's still a big priority for democrats. it's not really a problem in the house of representatives. the problem once again is in the senate. only 50 democrats there, the filibuster in place, that 60-vote threshold. democrats are still trying to figure out how best to get that minimum wage increase to $15 an hour by 2025. >> some democrats in the upper chamber also skeptical about raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. peter alexander, thank you, as always. leigh ann caldwell, thank you. tonight, watch for a special hour around president biden's prime time address. chris haze hosting "all in america." live from the lincoln memorial. we will look back at the last year and also take a look at what is going to be a hopeful year ahead. that's tonight 8:00 eastern, only on msnbc. this covid relief bill will help boost vaccinations. right now, some of our most critical workers in the country are still not able to get a dose. that includes the folks responsible for the meat that we all buy at the grocery store. we are talking meatpacking workers. the cdc recommending they be prioritized. that's the recommendation. only 12 states have done it. a third of the 3,700 workers, a third tested positive for the virus by june of last year. why is there such a lag in getting these workers vaccine priority? what are they telling you? >> reporter: a lot of what we have seen during the pandemic is the differentiation in state by state guidance. that's the big problem here is that states aren't prioritizing the workers despite the cdc guidance that they should be put ahead because of the conditions that the workers are in. they are tightly packed still on assembly lines working in very close quarters to make sure americans can get their meat across the country. to give you some context, the union that represents the workers said that nearly 22,000 workers across the country had either gotten exposed or contracted covid-19 over the last year. more than 130 of them have died. here in south dakota, which was the epicenter of one of the initial hot spots we saw, they are not prioritizing the workers until after teachers, after funeral service workers. i spoke with sandra, a worker here for 15 years. she talked to me about how she got sick working on the line and what it feels like to see her state is not prioritizing her and her co-workers. listen. >> when people ignore us like that, we feel alone. want to keep this running, they have to give us the vac