Be the biggest hack of the u. S. Government ever. Hello. Im chris jansing. We begin this hour with some major news on the coronavirus pandemic. The first doses of modernas vaccine are starting to arrive at more than 3,000 locations across the country. The rollout of this second vaccine now available here in the u. S. Means millions more americans will be getting the shots. Near lly 6 million doses are expected to be shipped out this week, with 20 million distributed by the end of the year. But it comes as cases and deaths continue to rise at an alarming rate, and as Health Officials warn it could still get worse. Especially now that were in the Holiday Travel season. Meantime, the cdcs Advisory Panel is releasing new recommendations for who should be next in line to get the vaccines. People over the age of 75 and essential workers, like first responders, teachers, postal workers, Public Transit employees, and Grocery Store workers leading the list. And the Moderna Vaccine comes as a new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus is appearing in the uk. Already, at least 30 countries have cut off uk travelers, but so far, the u. S. Is not one of them. The strain is believed to be 70 more transmissable, although public Health Officials say it isnt any more deadly. Senior international while it seems to be more easily transmissable, we do not have evidence, yet, that this is a more deadly virus to an individual who acquires it. It is no reason to believe the vaccines developed will not be effective against this virus, as well. Right now, there are no indications it is going to hurt our ability to continue vaccinating people or that it is any more dangerous or deadly than the strains that are currently out there and that we know about. Senior International Correspondent keir simmons is in london for us today. Nbcs Shaq Brewster is outside the distribution facility in the memphis area, where the first doses were shipped out yesterday. Good morning to both of you. Keir, let me start with you. What are officials there saying about the virus mutations, and how strict is this emergency lockdown . Reporter good questions. Honestly, its what they said that are causing waves around the world. Now more than 40 countries banning flights from the uk. Were just hearing new yorks governor, andrew cuomo, has said in his briefing that he has got British Airways to agree to test passengers before flying to new york. Hes asked Virgin Atlantic and delta to do the same but has not heard back. British airways testing, according to the governor, starts tomorrow. So that is part of the concerns in the u. S. , as whether this new variant of the virus will spread outside the uk. Concerns are understandable. Theyve locked down london here in a way we havent seen since really the spring. Outside of london, there isnt the same level of lockdown, and the lockdown that happened here did cause people to race to train stations, to the airport, you know, to try to get away. Already, there are signs, too, that this new variant of the virus is in various european countries. The british Prime Minister talking about what the virus is. Take a listen. First of all, let me say to everybody who has made plans for christmas, as i said earlier on, everybody who thought about it, all the care and love thats gone into plans for christmas, we, of course, bitterly regret the changes that are necessary, but alas, when the facts change, you have to change your approach. Reporter what he said in that briefing, chris, is that this new virus variant is up to 70 more infectious. In fact, though, they honestly dont know, the numbers are soaring. The numbers of infections. Itll take time to understand the biology of this new mutation of the virus and understand whether, indeed, it is more infectious and exactly by how much more. Keir simmons in london for us. Thanks, keir. Shaq, lets talk vaccine. The shipments have been going out over the weekend. Where are those doses now, and when can we expect to see them actually reaching the arms of americans . Reporter chris, we know some of yesterdays shipments have already begun to be delivered this morning. Kerry sanders confirmed that as he was down in florida, where he watched one of those u. P. S. Shipments come in. Really, when you combine the efforts we saw here at the plant in the memphis, tennessee, area, with their other plant in the louisville area, were expecting shipments to hit all 50 states at some point today. They were essentially priority overnight shipments. So those arrivals will be happening quickly. Then it depends on the health care providers, what happens and the speed with which those shots will start to go in peoples arms. But the reason why so many people are excited about this Moderna Vaccine is because it is expected to go to more places, more quickly. We watched that supply chain yesterday, and how workers were in this cold freezer room. 15,000 square foot facility, turning modernas stockpile into individual shipments. Those shipments, because it doesnt require a special freezer that has the sub arctic temperatures, can go to more places. Think pharmacies, doctors offs, those longterm health care facilities. The idea is that this vaccine can go in a regular freezer. Its available to more people. Thats why so many people are so excited when they saw that truck first ship out yesterday. Chris . Which leads us to the question, how quickly moderna could ramp up production and delivery. What do we know . Reporter they say they will deliver to the u. S. Government 20 million doses by the end of the year. You look at the calendar. That is just about a week and a half. They say the number will go up to about 100 million by the spring. By the start of summer, theyre saying the number will be about 200 million doses. We know there is some lag when they say they can hit 20 million by the end of the year. Theres some conversion period, some approvals that need to happen before those can actually be shipped out to people. You get an idea that they are definitely trying to ramp this up as quickly as possible. The need is there, and now that the cdc has laid out the next steps, the next priorities, who will get that vaccine, now youre seeing those two kind of connect all at once. Chris . Shaq, thanks so much for that. Joining me now is dr. Blackstock, practicing physician, yahoo news medical contributor x and the founder and ceo of advancing health equity. Doctor, good to see you. Here we are again, on one of these classic sort of good news and bad news days. The good news is moderna getting the vaccine out. Lets also talk about these new concerns being raised with this new strain of the coronavirus that, frankly, might be hypercontagious. The uk is acting quickly to contain it, but the u. S. Government is barely enacting any mitigation efforts anymore. Governor cuomo in new york is not happy about planes coming into jfk. What do you make of this . Are we potentially in the u. S. Going to be caught flatfooted if the strain makes its way here, or if it is here already . So, one, i think we need to step back. What the public needs to know is spontaneous mutations in virus occur very often. For there to be one that significantly the criteria needed to show the vaccine doesnt work against it or there is a higher death rate, there needs to be a lot of mutations for that to happen. I think what were seeing with this mutation, which we still need more information about, is it just shows we need to practice the preventable measures. So the uk already was in a surge around the holidays. They need to continue to mask up, physically distance. We need to also do the same. We also need to call off any traveling during the holidays. So i do think that there is reason to be more cautious. However, i want to alert the public that more information needs to be known about this viral mutation. It needs to be studied for a longer amount of time. I just want to reemphasize this, though. Bottom line is the general belief is that this vaccine will still be effective against this mutation. Absolutely. Absolutely. It takes a lot of different spontaneous mutations to make a virus or vaccine ineffective against the virus. We are not there yet at all. This particular variant is being studied as we speak. There are no signs that the vaccine will not work against it. So everyone should be aware of that fact. Meantime, the cdc has released its guidelines for who should be next in line for the vaccine, just in time for moderna to roll out. I wonder if you think this is the right call. People over 75, front line workers. You see anybody who is an essential worker who is on the front line. What do you make of that . I do agree with the phase one, the priority group. The focus should be on those at greatest risk for dying from this infection and those at greatest risk of being infected. I think that this priority group, you know, front line essential workers and people over 75 was a compromise the Advisory Group made. It makes a lot of sense. I also think in the essential workers category, they were trying to also address the Racial Health inequities weve seen in this pandemic, given that black and latino people make up a disproportionate group of the essential workers, as well as those who had been impacted by the virus. So lets talk a little bit about that. You tweeted, lets change the narrative around Vaccine Hesitancy in black communities to focus on institutional trustworthiness. How do we do that . And how much do you think of this pandemic aresponse, how ths has exacerbated distrust of some institutions in the United States . Yeah. You know, i think that there is there is a history of, you know, medical experimentation and exploitation of black communities in this country, but also theres ongoing discrimination that black people experience when they interface with the health care system, as well as the political interference that was unprecedented that we saw this year in the fda and cdcs work. All right. Thats what were working against. So i think, moving forward, we need to focus on institutions need to be very transparent about the cure theyre providing, about the accessibility of vaccines, about what a vaccine does. I think we need institutions to engage with trusted leaders in the community who know the communities well, have been doing work on the ground already. I think we also need to appreciate that these are a series of conversations. No one is going to change their mind about whether or not they should take the vaccine in one conversation. I think what were going to probably see is that people will probably take a wait and see approach, and see that other folks have got b tten the vacci and seem to be doing well. This is not about convincing people, especially black americans, to take the vaccine. This is about getting people the information and education they need to make an informed decision about whether or not to take the vaccine. Dr. Uche blackstock, always great to have you on the program. Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it. Still ahead, the massive russia hack attack that President Trump is downplaying. How he is using it to try to create even more doubt about the election he lost. And the latest from capitol hill. Lawmakers reach a deal on covid relief. But how soon could it be finalized . Finalized . If you have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, now might not be the best time to ask yourself, are my bones strong . life is full of make or break moments. Thats why its so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. Only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones from fracture with 1 shot every 6 months. Do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. Serious allergic reactions like low blood pressure, trouble breathing, throat tightness, face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. Tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen. Or new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. 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Government systems, and it now appears systems of private companies and governments across the world, as well. This was a very significant effort, and i think its the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the russians that engaged in this activity. From the information i have, you know, i agree with secretary pompeos assessment. Its certainly appears to be the russians. Welcome back. That was attorney general bill barr just moments ago, echoing secretary of state mike pompeos earlier comments, which came just hours before white house officials were preparing to release a statement, formally tying the massive solar wind cyber hack to russia. But they were told to stand down, according to an u. S. Official who spoke to nbc news. Without offering any evidence, the president on twitter is downplaying this severity of the hack, suggesting china, not russia, is actually to blame. Hes also using the incident to try to sow further doubt about the integrity of joe bidens victory. Nbc news has confirmed that President Trump held a meeting at the white house on friday where he discussed the idea of naming attorney and voter fraud conspiracy theorist sydney powell to investigate the election. Michael flynn was also in the meeting. It is notable because flynn has been publicly pushing the president to try to declare some form of martial law. Geoff bennett has the latest from the white house for us. Geoff, good to see you. You, too. How concerned are some people around the president about his apparent embrace of all these various conspiracy theories, whether its the russian hack, the election . And how successful have they been so far in talking him out of doing potentially really reckless . Reporter yeah, its a great question. I can tell you this, based on our reporting. There are some Top Trump Administration officials who are growing increasingly alarmed about what President Trump might do to try to unleash the full power of the federal government, to at least try to overturn an election he clearly lost. Based on our reporting, we know white house chief of half meadows and cipollone cut off what ultimately turned out to be the Heated Oval Office meeting, where President Trump considered elevating his fringe attorney, sydney powell, to be special counsel to look into election fraud. Fraud that we have to say does not exist. Today, the attorney general was asked about it and said, in his view, he saw no reason to appoint a special counsel. In that same meeting, reportedly, the disgraced former National Trump security adviser, michael flynn, were told, floated the notion of President Trump invoking martial law. In effect, sending the military into swing states to redo the election. President trump has pushed back on that, says it didnt happen. But the army put out a statement, making clear that the military has no role in determining an election outcome. So were at this point now where President Trump has exhausted all of the really legal avenues to steal away joe bidens election victory, and he is embracing these fringe elements. To me, its striking that this is a man whose political rise was fueled by conspiracy, right, the racist birther lie, and now it appears to be ending in more conspiracies, chris. Do we know more about the back story on saying stand down on the russia hack . Did trump not feel like it . What happened . Reporter we dont know why it happened, and we dont yet know the official who dictated that order to stand down. We do know that President Trump is an outlier here. You have now both the secretary of state and the attorney general pointing the finger at russia. You have members of congress who have been briefed on this, to include republicans who say its increasingly clear that its russia. Yet, President Trump over the weekend, in that tweet, not only really tried to downplay the severity of the hack, but then tried to deflect attention away from russia and point the finger at china. This fits a pattern. I was at that 2018 helsinki summit, where President Trump stood next to, and basically stood up for, Vladimir Putin when he was asked directly act russias election interference. So President Trump, for whatever reason, is constitutional lly unable to be critical of russia. You have to have the question, if that blind spot, as mitt romney put it, is somehow responsible for this hack going undetected for months, chris. Geoff bennett, thank you for that. Now with me, clint watts, former fbi special agent and now a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy research institute. Always good to have you on the program at times like these. It feels, clint, like weve gone into disinformation overdrive, with trump downplaying the apparent russia hack, using it to baselessly sow doubts about the election, trying to elevate these voter fraud conspiracy therapists, like sydney powell and michael flynn. Tell us, from your perspective, somebody who has been on the inside, how worrisome is this . How dangerous do