Life saving shots to other hospital staff. Cnns locorrespondent has more where this country stands. Im santa claus. He is definitely an essential worker. He keeps the joy and keeps everybodys spirits up. Reporter its a christmas like no other. You ready to open presents . Reporter Holiday Cheer dampened by the coronavirus pandemic. On wednesday, the nation reporting more than 228,000 new covid19 cases. The death toll surpassing 3,300. Cases on the rise across six states, the number in california alone surpassing 2 million. Deaths also on the rise in 18 states. Right now, covid19 is the single leading cause of death in the United States on a daily basis. Thats how tragic this is. Reporter a preventable tragedy. More lives would be saved in january if every state did a mask mandate, than will be saved by vaccine in january. Reporter there are more dark days ahead. The university of washingtons influential coronavirus model projects more than 500,000 americans will die of covid19 by april 1st, despite the vaccine. Meanwhile, the shots of hope keep on coming. More than a million doses administered. U. S. Officials promised 20 million would be vaccinated by the end of the year, but theyre expecting to fall short of their goal, with the head of operation warp speed acknowledging those doses wont get there until january. Despite the warnings, americans keep hitting the skies. The tsa screened 1. 2 Million People on wednesday, a new pandemic record. We werent really torn. We want to see our family. Reporter the nations top Infectious Disease expect leading by example. I definitely feel sad, this is the first Holiday Season, christmas and my birthday, that i have not spent with my daughters since they were born. I need to practice what i preach to the country, and my message has been, we should, you know, curtail travel to the greatest extent possible. Reporter in california, where hospitaliz iize iicus rem near capacity. I dont see them curtailing some of those activities. So youre prepared for some dark weeks . Were prepared for the worst, hoping for the best. The number one offense is people dont travel. Reporter as you heard there, california surpassing 2 million covid19 cases, just a staggering number. And new numbers out from the state moments ago. More than 39,000 cases reported today alone. Deaths also up more than 350. And all of this is from that thanksgiving surge. Theres a lot of concern whats going to happen after these upcoming holidays. Enjoy your christmas eve, but do it safely. More dark days ahead. Lucy, thank you. As we mentioned, thousands of americans are lying in the hospital infected with covid. Joining me now is dr. Crisphris pernell, she participated in one of the Coronavirus Vaccine trials. Thank you for coming on with us. You suffered a very personal loss in this pandemic when your father passed away from covid this year. What is your message right now to those traveling for the holidays and not heeding officials advice . You know, its the same message that i gave for thanksgiving. I would give anything to have my father still with me, and i would give anything for the hundreds of thousands of americans who have lost their lives and even more who are struggling with the morbidity of this disease. And i will only say these pure simple words, hold the line. Ive said that before, and im sure people are saying, dr. Chris, its a broken record. But there is nothing else we can do but hold the line. The alternative is too catastrophic. I think people are fatigued. I think people dont think coronavirus will happen to them. They think coronavirus will happen to another family. But there is no safety other than those Public Health measures that we have been preaching from the mountain tops. So i only hope that they prevail. Hold the line, such an important message. Again, our condolences for the loss of your father. The pfizer ceo just said, and came out saying hes cautiously optimistic that their Coronavirus Vaccine will work against this new variant thats emerged in the uk. You were part of a vaccine trial. Does that give you confidence when you hear that . You know, im confident. Im cautiously optimistic, just as he is. What were actually seeing is mutations in the amino acid sequences. Weve seen these mutations before. There was a mutation back in the spring, and were really confident that the vaccines that are out to market right now, both mrna vaccines, able to produce an antibiotic response. So i think were covered. But as we wait to get that vaccine out to the broader public, we need to do the things that we know work. Many people dont have a vaccine yet. I dont know if i got a placebo or the active candidate. Ill know that soon. But what i can do to keep myself safe and what others can do even as these mutations happen, we can wear our masks. We can practice physical distancing and frequent hand hygiene, as well as avoiding indoor gatherings that are very crowded. Look, these are not hard asks. And so much is on the line here. Dr. Pernell, thank you so much for being public about this and speaking out. I know this must be a very difficult Holiday Season without your father. So our condolences again. Thank you. Thank you. Well, theres a pandemic raging and millions struggling to get by, the president has gone to florida after throwing the covid relief bill in jeopardy, issuing new demands in the 11th hour that run counter to what the gop is asking for. Its not the first time hes split with his party and hes refused to acknowledge bidens election victory and gone over governors over their States Election results and vetoed a massive spending bill. With me now is a reporter from the Washington Post. Great to have you on. You have now reporting that the covid relief bill is being flown to maralago for the president. He can sign it wherever he is to end this all. What more can you tell us . Reporter exactly. The ball is literally kind of in the white houses court now. So the president can take his time and sign it as maat any moment he chooses. But we dont know hes going to do that. Hes shown no signs of stepping down. Hes shown no willingness to back off his position from that extraordinary video where he called this bill a disgrace. We know theres just so much confusion all around. We saw House Republicans try to move a little bit this morning to placate President Trump by pushing a measure that would reassess the foreign aid measures in that separate spending package that was tied to the covid relief bill that the president was so angry about. But we dont know whether he will sign this bill or not. And usually while a bill has typically ten days to be signed once submitted to the president for his signature, that time frame doesnt really apply here, because remember, the government shuts down after this monday. And even with that major deadline, we have jobless benefits expiring for millions this coming saturday. We have a really important moratorium onvictions for renters expiring. There are all these little time bombs and the president is the only one at this point that can prevent that from happening. And the consequences are dire. I dont have to tell you that. You wrote in the Washington Post yesterday that this fight between the president and the gop doubles as a fresh political weapon for democrats in the two Georgia Senate runoffs. How much is chaos on capitol hill fueling democrats chances in georgia . It certainly is something that worries republicans working on those races right now, particularly on the Economic Relief issue, because the political upside that republicans saw could benefit their candidates in georgia was one of the motivators in getting them to agree to even 600 level stimulus checks in that package in the first place. And the two republicans in that race, Kelly Loeffler and david purdue, proudly touted their ability in securing those checks for georgia voters. And then with one message, the president undercut what they were saying and handed their Democratic Candidates who said we told you those checks were too small. President trump agrees with us, what are you groing to do . So far theyve been relatively silent. Whenever theres this chasm in the gop, its easy for the democrats to exploit. Never a dull moment. Thanks for breaking news with us. We appreciate it. Well, up next, a look at the unprecedented nature of President Trumps pardon spree. Were joined live with some perspective. Plus, concerns about getting the Covid Vaccine to people who need it most. What happens in communities where a pharmacy just suspect clo isnt close by . And were tracking santa on norads live feed. Thats coming up. D more than an education. So thats what we give you. Introducing Career Services for life. Learn more at phoenix. Edu or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can become your big moment. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. For psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. 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Run payroll in less than five minutes with intuit quickbooks. Fixodent ultra dual power provides you with an unbeatable hold and strong seal against food infiltrations. Fixodent. And forget it. The immediate consequences of a pardon filled week as the president s allies and supporters get free passes. But the potential longrange impact on the American Government and the functioning of american democracy is a different question. Joining me now, cnn president ial historian and former director of the nixon president ial library, tim natali. Thanks for coming on. What was your initial reaction when you saw these latest pardons come down . I wasnt surprised, i have to say. President trump has been signaling for some time that when the moment was right, he would start issuing pardons for people he thought were victims of a socalled witch hunt. So i wasnt surprised. Of course, i was displayed. They fit into a category of bad pardons. There are historically some bad pardons in the modern era, but President Trump has managed to accumulate in a short period of time more bad pardons than any previous modern president. And by bad pardons, im using the definition that was written by chief Justice William howard taft in 1925, and basically he didnt call it a bad pardon, but he talked about pardons that would undermine the deterrence thats built into our judicial system. In other words, if you use the pardon to give mercy to someone who has done something very bad and does not deservers in mercy are undermining the judicial system. And look, you talk about bad pardons in the past. Of course, mark rich comes to mind, pardoned by president clinton. Most people frowned upon that pardon, but it was just a sliver of the rest of the pardons that president clinton handed down. The difference here, somebody took a toll and said some 80 or 90 of all the paddrdons the president has dolled out is related to an investigation he was involved in. What kind of precedent does this set, in terms of President Biden who moves forward, should he or should something be done about this . Well, the only way to fix this problem is to amend the constitution. There is a system in place that previous president s set up which, for a normal president , would be enough. Ordinarily, the Justice Department oversees the whole pardon process. Only the president can decide to issue clemency or pardon. But usually the Justice Department receives applications from people. Usually, the president doesnt even know the people theyre pardoning. The president is pardoning people on the suggestion or at the suggestion of the attorney general. Thats the way the systems a been throughout the modern era. Most president s pardon people who not routinely, but regularly, and most of the people they dont know. What makes the trump era so different is that President Trump is personally connected to so many of the pardons hes issued, and all of them are for political reasons. Now, after bill clintons pardon of mark rich, there was discussion in congress about amending the constitution to fix this problem of lastminute pardons. A lastminute pard op on is a problem because the president theres no restraint any more on the president. Hes not going to run for office again, its done. And barney frank, a member of the democratic leadership, suggested a constitutional amendment to make it impossible for president s to pardon after an election. Well, of course, that went nowhere, and its hard to amend the constitution. But its not like this is the first time people have been talking about. What makes this moment so different, though, is that President Trump is doing it on such a scale never before imagined. Richard nixon dangled a lot of pardons to firm up the coverup after watergate. He didnt issue a single one of them. He used it as a tactic. President trump has not only dangled pardons but authorized him in order to maintain a coverup. Thats just unprecedented in our history. We always look for precedence when we talk about these things, and we may have hit a wall where there is no precedence, not even comparing to richard nixon. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Thank you. Happy holidays. You, too. Coming up, the Pfizer Vaccine has now arrived in several latin american countries. The first shots in mexico being administered today to Health Care Workers. But here in the u. S. , there are concerns that communities without easy access to pharmacy could miss out when the doses are sent nationwide. Cnn is in one of those neighborhoods in chicago, up ahead. 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And the barriers to getting a vaccine are taking shape, ranging from distance to pharmacies, confidence in health care, and even personal safety, as austin is among the cities most violent neighborhoods. Is it even worth the time . You hear gunshots, you know, and if you dont feel safe, you just dont do it. Reporter just dont the street, this hospital was host of the citys first covid19 vaccination. The first to set up a testing site back in april, one they plan to soon turn into a Community Vaccination site. In order to stop this virus, we all have to do our part and we want to make sure we involve everybody. Were experiencing three pandemics, violence, racism, as well as covid19. Reporter its an issue leadership continues to wrestle with. Where any part of the city is not supported enough, it indirectly impacts the entire city. Not that this is make sure we treat covid, but what are the root causes that have made these neighborhoods, these subgroups in chicago more vulnerable. Reporter parts of the Downtown Chicago area have a Life Expectancy of up to 90 years old according to an analysis out of nyu. Then just