President elect. In total, a half million doses have been administered. The rollout may take longer than previously promised. The tsa says it screened more than a million passengers each of the last three days in a row. Thats a pandemic first. Cnns Martin Savidge reports one in every 217 americans was infected with covid19 just last week. Reporter the battle against coronavirus gets another shot in the arm. Patients begin to receive the first doses of the new Moderna Vaccine. I think it is a great milestone. Reporter now with two covid19 vaccines green lighted, they plan to accelerate it this week. We have a long way to go and we want to be better and better and better. Reporter meanwhile, vaccine advisers for the cdc recommending who should get the injections next, following Health Care Workers and residents of longterm care facilities. Phase 1b prioritizes adults and front line essential workers. C is people 16 to 64 with high risk medical conditions and other essential workers. The vaccine help so desperately needed with the u. S. On the brink of surpassing 18 million covid19 cases. In just one week the country added over 1. 5 million new infections. Thats one in every 217 americans testing positive. Another symptom of the pandemic, hunger. In florida, cars lining up before dawn for a food give away, some waiting up to five hours. We are in need like everybody else out there. Reporter in tennessee, warnings of whats to come. Thousands of our neighbors are in the hospital tonight. More than 100 people are dying each day. We are in a war. Reporter officials are pleading with residents to limit holiday gatherings to their immediate household. In texas, too. Instead of holiday cheer, it is holiday fear. The next six to eight weeks, as we discussed before, i continue to think are going to be the darkest weeks in modern american medical history because people are not listening. Reporter the latest indication many are not listening coming from the tsa, reporting they screened more than 3 million passengers from friday through sunday. The largest number since march. Emory University Hospital in atlanta like hospitals across the country, pamela, are working to vaccinate as many of the front line Health Care Workers as they possibly can knowing that they face a very grim holiday season. Pamela . Grim is right. Just hearing the doctor says six to eight weeks, next six to eight weeks will be the worst in american medical history in this persons opinion is stunning. Thank you so much. We appreciate it, martin. The u. S. Still allowing travel with United Kingdom even though dozens of countries shut it down. Max foster reports it is attempt to block a new variant of coronavirus in the uk, one that appears much more contagious. Air passengers stranded, truck drivers, too, after cargo was banned from crossing into france. Some brits reacted by lining up outside shops to stock up. The government forced to reassure them food wont run out. All of this because of a highly contagious variant of coronavirus, spreading rapidly throughout the country, especially in and around london. The transmission is increased, we cant say exactly by how much, it is clearly substantially increased. Reporter dozens of countries have banned uk visitors. Prime minister Boris Johnson following crisis meetings, including with his french counterpart, was unable to say how long it would last. I have just spoken to president macron, we had a very good call. We both understand each others positions, want to resolve the problems as fast as possible. Reporter will the u. S. Join the growing list of countries banning british travelers . Dr. Anthony fauci told cnn he is not advising that to the white house. The u. S. Must without a doubt keep an eye on it, fauci said, but warned we dont want to overreact. The u. S. Is monitoring for outbreaks. It could be in the United States and may not have yet detected it. Reporter the uk has been put in quarantine by the rest of the world. Governments try to protect their citizens before they can be vaccinated. Some developments on the u. S. Side, Governor Andrew Cuomo saying delta, British Airways agreed to require passengers on uk flights to test negative before they board a flight to new york. Some restrictions starting to come. Well see how it develops over your side of the world, pamela. Max foster, keeping an eye on this. Thank you so much. Joining me, former Harvard Medical School professor, thank you for coming on. Lets talk about the new variant we are learning about that max laid out for us. Head of operation warp speed said theres no evidence to suggest this variant in the uk is more deadly. You heard dr. Anthony fauci say that he is not recommending the u. S. Shutdown travel to the uk now. What do you think of that . I respectfully disagree with both men. I looked carefully at the data, theres a lot of data that came up. Three things strike me about the new strain. First of all, there are a lot of changes that happened in one strain. That makes it more transmissible. You can look at the mutations that make it more transmissible. Two, its evolved to escape immune suppression, to escape immune reactions. There are three or four different mutations we can point to. Finally, there are at least three mutations that look to me to make it more dangerous. So i would recommend that we stop flights from Great Britain and i would not be sang win that this is not more dangerous that it can escape our immune systems and that it wont be more deadly. When you look at what it does to cells and culture, it is different from standard strains. From a vie roll gist point of view, this looks really different. I think we know how it came to be, too. I want to take a step back, breakdown more of what you laid out there. First of all, you said from what you studied, it can escape immune responses. The question that raises what about the vaccine from pfizer and moderna in the u. S. , could those vaccines not be effective with the new variant . I think that remains to be seen. It is not known yet. What you do know is this virus adapted itself to grow in people that were given convalescent serum, which would normally clear the infection. Serum given to the people in which the virus most likely arose, the virus learned to escape it. Whether that means it will escape a vaccine which is slightly different from what happens in convalescent serum is not known but i would say what it does say, what happens in one person can happen to the whole population. This is looking more and more like the flu than it is like other kinds of viruses. It looks like it is more of an escape artist than we thought. So why do you think it is more dangerous in particular . You heard others, other Health Officials say theres not evidence now to support the idea it is more deadly. Why do you think it is more dangerous . If you look at some of the mutations, one near whats called a cleavage site, between two pieces of the outside of the virus, thats what makes the virus in good part more dangerous than others and theres a mutation at that site in what it looks like evolution of this virus to keep growing, despite constant immune pressure from convalescent antiserum, probably how this arose. It had to do several things, had to escape the immune system and grow in a different environment. When you put this onto cells and culture, it eats them up in a different way from the standard virus. Those are hallmarks of a more dangerous disease. We dont know that yet because we havent seen, have seen some younger people get sicker than they might ordinarily be. To drill down, when you say more dangerous, can you be more specific what you mean by that . Were all learning about this together, and i think it is important to be specific what you mean by more dangerous, besides the mechanism. More specific. More transmissible, easier to catch with lower numbers of virus. More easily able to escape immune system already built in some ways to escape our immune suppression, and number three, capable of more destruction once you are infected. Got you. So you have a highly contagious strain that could be in the u. S. For all we know. The tsa says it screened more than a Million People every day for the last three days in a row, a Record Number during the pandemic. How concerned are you about the spread of coronavirus during the holidays . Im extremely concerned. It is hard toll tease out what the thanksgiving bump was, certainly we are worse off than we were before thanksgiving, and we all know christmas is a time where more people travel than they do through thanksgiving. Theyre away longer, meet with larger numbers of people. As you reported now it doesnt look like americans are getting the message that theyre putting their lives at risk, their family at risk and the community. This is not a time to travel and gather with friends. However much we would like. I join them in urging people not to do what they want to do, not even to do what they plan to do. With regard to the question is this already in the United States, it would be shocking to find this was not already here. This virus started to circulate in september. Wave we had millions of people come in from england and europe in that time. It would be very, very surprising if it werent already here. Talk about the timeline for the vaccine. That gives people some hope, right, that there are ways to suppress whats going on with this pandemic. You have bidens pick for Surgeon General suggesting it may be until mid summer or fall for the general population to get a vaccine. Do you think thats a more realistic timeline for folks to look forward to, and what about the group of 75 and older . First of all, i do think that the late spring, early summer is probably the right time. It takes time to manufacture this in bulk, takes time to line people up. It is probably late spring, early summer before most people can get it. In terms of the decision of the fda to say they prefer people 75 and older to be one of the next groups of people after front line Health Care Workers, i think that makes sense because those are people that are most likely to die if infected. Do you have a sense when they might get that vaccine . It is fine if you dont, just want to be clear on that. I think that will probably start late this week, early next week. I dont see why it shouldnt. But theres another group were concerned about, essential health workers. Those are largely minority, underrepresented classes of people that have to go to work, have to take public transportation. Thats a population that gets infected more heavily. I would hope after 75, thats the next group to get it. Thank you so much. William hazeltine. Alexandra field is at long island hospital, one of the first moderna vaccinations happened there, tell us about it. Reporter moments ago, in a place they know consequences of covid all too well. This was hit hard in the early part of the pandemic. They started giving the Moderna Vaccine to front line workers. The first volunteer was arlene ramirez, registered nurse that works in the emergency department. She watched her own father suffer from covid in the icu of this hospital for more than a month before he lost his life, and she fought covid herself. Before getting the shot, she says wondering whether or not she was going to make it was a horrible thing, something she couldnt imagine putting her family through again. We heard from her again just after she had the shot moments ago. This vaccine is very meaningful to me, very important to me. As a nurse with the emergency department, as a health care worker, seeing what we saw, death after death, having endured all at the same time illness of my fatherinlaw, being severely ill myself, 36 days of my father being in intensive care unit here. This vaccine is hope. Its hope that we will cease the pandemic, live a better life. We shouldnt be afraid of the vaccine. We need to be afraid of covid. It definitely changes peoples lives and takes and destroys life. So powerfully put. Shes one of 6600 front line workers to have received the first dose of the vaccine from pfizer and moderna. There are some 54,000 front line workers within the hospital system. A long way to go, pamela. Just hearing the nurse talk, to hear her emotion puts in perspective why this is so significant and not just for her but for everyone else waiting in line for this and those that received it. Thanks so much, alexandra. Covid relief expected to be approved by congress sometime soon. When theyll vote, more importantly, when you will see the 600 checks. Up next. Poison and underwear, one of Vladimir Putins biggest enemies tricking one of russias secret agents in a story youll only see on cnn and hear the audio tape. Thats coming up. Lets get checked for a full range of conditions. Lets get fast, accurate results. Introducing letsgetchecked Health Testing you do at home. Know your health. Know yourself. Order now at letsgetchecked dot com light it up like dynamite this is ah light it up like dynamite so watch me light the fire and set the night alight alright shining through the city. If you have type 2 diabetes and risks for heart disease, you could land in the hospital with heart failure. For people like you, farxiga does more than lower a1c. Farxiga also helps prevent hospitalization for heart failure. Do not take if allergic to farxiga. Symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing. 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Moments ago, president elect joe biden got the vaccine. His wife got hers earlier today. Joining me, jessica dean. Why did the president elect want to get the first round publicly . He wants to instill confidence in the American People that it is safe and effective, he said so after getting that vaccine. He said he is doing it to show people theres nothing to worry about, be prepared to get the vaccine when it is your turn. He gave some credit to the Trump Administration for operation warp speed, getting the vaccine to this point, thanked Health Care Workers and scientists. Take a listen. People who put this together, front line workers, people who give the clearance to work, just amazing. He will get that followup vaccine, he got the pfizer vaccine, he should be fully inoculated before he takes office january 20th. We also know that Vice President elect Kamala Harris and her husband are getting their first round of the vaccine next week. Thank you so much for that. Lawmakers will soon vote on one of the largest relief packages in u. S. History with barely a glance at the fine print. Congressional leaders reached a stimulus deal last night, spent the day putting final touches on the 900 billion bill. Lets go to manu raju on capitol hill. Any chance the bill will not get to the president s desk tonight . Reporter it is unlikely to get to the president s desk tonight because of how big the proposal is. 5,593 pages. Just introduced it this afternoon. The process goes like this. The house votes to approve the bill this afternoon into the evening, into the night. Then the senate will likely pass it as well sometime late tonight but they need to get all of the paperwork together to send it to the president s desk. That will take time. Congress meantime will pass a seven day stop Gap Resolution to keep the government open another week to give them time to get the paperwork done and to the president s desk. It will take time to be signed into law. The president indicates he will sign it. Well see when that will happen, though. What exactly is offered in the bill for Many Americans . This is a significant proposal, 900 billion plan is attached to 1. 4 trillion spending package. In the covid relief plan includes a number of key provisions that could help americans that are struggling now. There will be a 600 direct payment given to individuals who make less than 75,000 a year. Each person in that family could get 600. A family of four could get 2400, for instance, depending on income level theyre at. Also, 300 a week in jobless benefits, money for schools and colleges to the tune of 82 billion. 25 billion for rental assistance. It would extend Eviction Moratorium until end of january. 20 billion for purchase of vaccines. More