remarkable to finally love how i love myself. paige is currently starring in the netflix series "the umbrella academy," and i will say, the overwhelming support you saw on social media for elliott paige on those statements, who also recognized that the transgender community is under attack. "new day" continues right now. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. this is "new day." alisyn off this morning. erica hill with me. nice to see you. >> quiet morning. the breaking news is this. just a few hours ago, the united kingdom became the first country to grant emergency approval for pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. immunizations will start there next week for the people who need it most. the u.s. could be just days behind. the fda meets next week to take action. obviously, the news from the united kingdom is a big development that raises major

questions here. what does this tell us about the efficacy and the safety of the vaccine? what can we learn in the short-term from the united kingdom? why did they go first? what does the president think of that? we have new information this morning on who in the u.s. will get this vaccine first. plans approved overnight for front line workers and nursing homes. at this moment, the pandemic is at its worst stage in the u.s. record hospitalizations overnight. nearly 2,600 deaths reported. that's the second highest day since the pandemic began. >> there is also a lot of breaking news out of the white house this morning. cnn has learned in the past month, president trump has discussed preemptive pardons for several people close to him, including his own children, his son-in-law, and his personal lawyer, rudy giuliani. this is in addition to potentially pardoning himself. we're also learning unsealed court records reveal that the justice department is investigating a potential crime related to the funneling of money into the white house or related political committee in exchange for presidential pardons. we will get to all of it.

we want to begin with max foster on this breaking news out of london. max, good morning. >> erica, the prime minister, boris johnson, has just left downing street with a spring in his step. he's about to address parliament in this huge moment. this morning, the british regulator, the equivalent of the fda, the mhra, announced that not only is the pfizer vaccine 95% effective, it's also safe. let's hear from the head of that group. >> this vaccine has only been approved because those strict tests have been done and complied with. and everyone can be absolutely confident that no corners whatsoever have been cut. >> boris johnson, as you can see, speaking to this. we'll bring you the highlights of that speech as they come through. but the regulator here described how they were able to carry out

all sorts of tests on this new vaccine in parallel to each other, as opposed to one after the other, which led to this extraordinary moment where a drug has gone from concept to reality in just ten months, when it would normally take ten years. so now we have a situation where boris johnson has confirmed the rollout of this vaccine will start next week. 800,000 doses made in belgium at the pfizer factory on their way over here to the united kingdom. a very delicate operation, although pfizer says it is ready. they've created this special containers that keep the doses at minus 94 degrees fahrenheit, which is vital to keep this drug safe. once it gets to the united kingdom, it will be taken into key hospitals, and then the injections will begin. starting off with people in care homes and their careers, and then front line health care staff. also, people over the age of 80. they've drawn a list of who gets the vaccine first. but this will be a six-month process to get the nation

vaccinated, so they're very much warning everyone in the united kingdom not to get too excited, but to stick to those safety rules at least for now. >> yeah, now is certainly not the time to let down your guard when you know that it is so close at time. max foster, thank you. meantime, here at home, cnn has learned the first shipments of pfizer's coronavirus vaccine are set to be delivered in two weeks, and the cdc's vaccine advisers also have recommended who should get those first doses here in the united states. cnn's sara murray live in washington this morning. so fill us in more on this recommendation from that advisory panel at the cdc. >> yeah, so, look, this is going to be a huge logistical challenge ahead. here's what we know. we know that the cdc has recommended that health care workers be at the front of the line, and we know that it could be as soon as december 15th, pending fda authorization, that these start to get shipped out. they go out within 24 hours from pfizer. and it's really up to states to get them into the arms of these front line health care workers.

we know that even in this first initial round, there aren't going to be enough doses, even to do all of these front line health care workers. states have already thought about, how do you prioritize within those priority groups? for instance, if you're a health care worker that's working every day with covid-19 patients, you are probably going to be at the front of that line. the federal government has taken this 10,000 foot management view on this. they're talking to states about what they might need. you know, do you have enough cold storage. these pfizer vaccines need to be kept in ultra-cold freezers. if not, do you have enough dry ice. they're helping states acquire enough dry ice so they can keep these vaccines cold. but a lot of this really does fall to states. and one of the things we're hearing that states really worried about is making sure that people come back, not just for the first dose, but obviously for the second. less of a concern with health care workers, which most of these states expect will be very eager to get the vaccine and also very responsible in terms of getting both doses. but states are saying they need more money from the federal government in order to make sure that they're appropriately

tracking everyone who comes in for vaccine number one. and then, following up with them and encouraging them to come get vaccine number two. no state wants to waste any of this vaccine, because that will also impact how many doses they could get from the federal government in the future. >> great points. >> sara murray, thank you so much. obviously, a ton to discuss, joining us now, dr. sanjay gupta. great to see you. let's start with this news out of the united kingdom. the significance of that country granting emergency use approval to the pfizer vaccine. the significance, why are they a week ahead of the united states? is that even the right framing? >> yeah, i think that's going to be something that a lot of people ask about. so i think it's a very fair question. i mean, the data -- the data from pfizer was received by this regulatory authority, mhra, just a couple of days after the fda received their data. so it's really a question of how quickly do you analyze this

data, and we know, you know, this regulatory authority in britain typically does tend to move pretty quickly, quicker than the united states. things often do get approved in europe and specifically the uk faster than they do in the united states and that's always the subject and that relies, on how much of the analysis do you, do you start from scratch and analyze all the methods and the raw data yourself? i was talking to some folks this morning about exactly what the process was in the uk. but it's a good process. i think it's really good that there were no big red flags that jumped out. keep in mind, the only folks that have really seen this data up until now have been the company. that's all -- when we hear the 95% number, we're hearing that from the company. so now this is evidence that there is another body, regulatory authority that says, hey, we've looked at this. we feel confident to go ahead and move forward. it's a huge move.

and i think it really does telegraph thal we't we're going see that in other places, including in the united states and with the fda and the rest of the european union in pretty short order. people have said by the middle of this month, that still seems to be what's on track. >> it was noteworthy, too, out of the uk, they went out of their way to say, look, this authorization meets international standards. >> right. yeah, because that is the question. and all right, as i was on a call this morning with a few different folks, that is lar little b already a little bit subject of a debate. were any corners cut? i'm not suggesting that and i don't think anyone is suggesting that, but this did move quickly. and again, is there an increased reliance on the company's data. how much did you start from scratch? but i don't think anyone necessarily that i was talking to this morning suggested that it did not meet international standards. just moved fast, and it's probably going to be a signal of what we see here in the united states. so overall, i think what we're

seeing in the uk is good news now for the rest of the world. because it's likely that those types of approvals will start happening all over the place. >> maybe next week. i mean, in the united states, it's coming very quickly here. i don't think people should get overly anxious that it's there, but not here yet. something did happen overnight in the united states, which is the cdc advisory panel put together guidelines for who gets the vaccine first. and as expected, the front line medical workers come first. also people in nursing homes. when it comes to front line medical workers, sanjay, what does that mean, exactly? and i suppose it's not just medical workers, it's people who work in these medical settings, i suppose is a better way of saying it. but what does it mean. who specifically does that cover? >> yeah, this is a really important point. and some of this -- sara murray may have just alluded to this, but this may come down to not just the states making these triage decisions in terms of who's getting the vaccines first, but even individual

institutions, hospitals, for example, exactly as you're saying. for example, i'm a neurosurgeon. there have been times when i have taken care of patients who have covid, but that's not the primary purpose they're coming to see me. they're diagnosed with covid after coming to the hospital. for doctors, nurses, staff who are taking care of covid patients on a regular basis, they're likely to be first in line, because they're most at risk. it makes sense. and obviously, in the beginning, there's not going to be enough. you saw the numbers here. we're talking perhaps on a rolling basis, 40 million or so doses if this all goes well available by the end of the year. that's 20 million people. there are 21 million health care workers alone. so, obviously, there's going need to be triage done. on top of that, you have some 3 million long-term care facility residents and staff that will also be at the front of the line. so there will be some triage decisions made. there are some states that may focus more on nursing home staff and residents, because they have more of those types of patients.

so it's going to vary from state to state and we'll track that and see how that's going. i should also point out, with regard to the authorizations, the vaccine's already pre-purchased right. so these authorizations shouldn't affect where the vaccine is going. we know how much is likely to be available in the united states versus the uk, versus other places around the world. >> and we've started to hear, too, from states and even hospitals about what they're preparing for in terms of doses they expect to get. as we look at all of this, it is such great news and so good to focus on that light at the end of the tunnel, but we can't ignore the reality of the situation we're in. the staggering number of deaths reported overnight in this country. this open letter from the american medical association, the nurse's association, the hospital association, pleading with americans to stay vigilant in the weeks and months ahead. as you look at these two moments, it is more important now than ever that we keep doing what we're doing, sanjay. >> yeah, you know, this has been

the thing. and i think for now, a few weeks, a few months, really, this anticipation of this very good news regarding vaccines, at the same time as very, very awful news in terms of where the numbers are. that's what people are hearing. they're hearing both of these at the same time. some people will say, well, the vaccines are coming, therefore, you know, we're done. this is over. it's not. and there's just a pragmatic nature to this. we talk about the vaccine going to health care workers and long-term care facilities. those are institutions that may be able to accommodate and administer the vaccine more quickly. for everybody else, this process is going to take a while. in part just because the vaccine is being manufactured inand distributed sort of at the same time. usually off huge stock supply and can surge demand quickly. that's not the case here. this is happening realtime. and as a result, most people really aren't going to be able

to get to the vaccine until late spring/early summer. and even then, there'll be a period of time where you're still building up that herd immunity in this country. these are all terms and strategies that people have heard now for the next several months. it's starting to unfold, but it's still going to take time and there are so many lives that can still be saved in the interim without a vaccine, without any new therapeutic. we hear this all the time, but 100,000 lives could still be saved if people were diligent about simply masking, avoiding large public gatherings and avoiding being in indoor, clustered sort of locations. just those three things, if we did those for the next few months, even aside from the vaccine, would make monument aa difference. we have evidence that shows that to be the case. >> the hospital figures, nearly 99,000. that's grim and continues to be head in the wrong direction this morning. much more with you coming up. thanks so much for being with us, sanjay. >> okay. a quick programming note.

anderson cooper and sanjay will host a new cnn coronavirus town hall on friday night. tune in at 9:00 p.m. eastern to get your vaccine questions answered. so sources tell cnn that president trump is discussing preemptive pardons for his children, his son-in-law, and rudy giuliani. maggie haberman reports that giuliani has been lobbying for a pardon. she joins us next. tired of overpaying for your prescriptions? try optum perks. it's a new way to save up to 80%.

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breaking overnight, a source tells cnn that since the election, president trump has discussed preemptive pardons for several people close to him, including his children, his son-in-law, and his personal lawyer, rudy giuliani. joining us now, maggie haberman, who broke the story last night in "the new york times." in some cases, you may think, that's not entirely surprising, but it really is in a lot of ways. because there are not really allegations of crimes for his children, so why these preemptive pardons, if we start first with his kids? >> if we start with his kids,

erica, we're not clear whether there's some specific thing that he's worried about. what we understand, mike schmidt and i, from our reporting, is that the president is worried, and he has been for many, many weeks, he has talked about his fear of the prosecutors if he lost the election were going to come aggressively, not just at him, but at his children. and so he believes that there is a chance that there will be some effort for some kind of retaliatory prosecution by the biden justice department. it's not clear that he's worried about one specific thing. we do know that there have obviously been investigations that have touched on his family over time. there's certainly state investigations into aspects of his own business that could impact his children. those are state prosecutions. it's not like a federal preemptive pardon would do much. and it's not clear that a federal preemptive pardon is going to have much legal standing, but that is what's on his mind right now, as he's heading into the final stages here. >> that's the kids. now, rudy giuliani is a different matter. what exactly is rudy giuliani

asking for? >> so we know they discussed it. not clear who brought it up. giuliani, we should note, despite ignoring our requests for comment and despite his own advisers not denying it is now denying it on twitter, just to give him his say. but in our reporting in the past week and over times, giuliani has discussed some sort of preemptive pardon with the president. again, we don't know specifically what he is worried about. what he could be worried about is the fact that there has been a southern district of new york investigation into former business associates, lev parnas, igor frumin, of rudy giuliani, and there had been, i believe to be, at least some investigators looking at giuliani in that context. whether there's more, we have no way of knowing that right now. whether there's something that went dormant over the trump years, we have no way of knowing that. but the concern is somewhat similar with giuliani, john,

which is that under a biden administration, something will be getting a different look, as it relates to the former mayor. but it sets up this very unusual situation, where you have the lawyer for the president, you know, said to be in this kind of a conversation. it's unusual. >> yeah, in other words -- it's a hell of a thing. i was just going to say, it's a hell of a thing when you have the guy who's asking for $20,000 a day to -- >> which he also denied and which was in writing, we should just make that point. >> exactly. but he's out there asking for $20,000 a day to argue that the president can overturn the election results. i mean, he's out there arguing for the election to be overturned and asking the president for a pardon at the same time. it creates this just incredible reasoning loop. it's hard to get your arms around. >> yeah, i mean, look, we've seen this repeatedly with giuliani, as you know, over the last couple of years. he was one of the people who represented mueller during the impeachment investigation. but that was after an

impeachment investigation. excuse me, he didn't represent the president during the impeachment investigation, he represented ethe president durig the mueller investigation, which he did help to push public opinion, a couple of ticks in the president's favor and away from mueller. on impeachment, he helped kick off the impeachment battle, because he was so convinced that he was going to find evidence of corruption involving the bidens and that ended up ensnaring the president. and yet, every single time, rudy giuliani is who the president turns to when he is having a problems and we are seeing it again now in the campaign. >> it is remarkable how consistent that playbook is in many ways. speaking of pardons, any new rumblings, any new reporting on the president considering a self-pardon this morning, maggie? >> we know it came up in the context about whether he could pardon himself during impeachment, when they were looking at all kinds of different scenarios. mike and i do not have reporting

that this has come up again more recently, but there are people close to the president who think that it will likely become a discussion in the couple of weeks. again, whether he does any of this, erica, is a big open question, as is, you know, many of the questions related to this president's final weeks in office. but it is certainly something that has been around the white house and i think will continue. pardons are going to be a big story across the board, whether it's these or something else over the next six weeks. >> no question. look, if sean hannity is talking about these preemptive pardons, you know it's being considered. and it's happening at the same time that there's this remarkable release of information yesterday that a federal district judge in washington, d.c. more or less asked the doj to investigate and doj did investigate an alleged pardon conspiracy. let me read you what chief judge

barely howell of the u.s. district court for d.c. wrote. a bribery scheme in exchange for a presidential pardon or reprieve of sentence for redacted, using redacted as intermediaries to delivery the proposed bribe. bribery for pardon scheme. so a bribery for pardon scheme there, maggie. what's your sense or what's the -- i know michael schmidt has the by line on this. but what's "the times" reporting on this? >> we have what you have, which is court papers that are pretty explosive in terms of what they're alleging and tantalizing in that we have no idea who's behind the redacted names, but it is all coming together again to underscore what we just said, which is that the pardons are going to be a huge story going forward. the president, john, tweeted last night, i think, just before midnight, this is a fake news story. he didn't specifically talking about this. it appeared to be what he was talking about. this is coming from his own justice department. now, we have no idea given that it was unsealed whether this is

still an active case, whether this is something that is still an ongoing investigation. but still, it's a remarkable and naked allegation of a pay-to-play scheme. >> it really is. we also learned a fair amount from this interview with attorney general barr by the ap. not just that he admitted that there -- you know, there's nothing that's going to overturn this election. the facts are the facts, they are what they are. which, of course, he was immediately catching some blowback for from a number of supporters of the president. but he also noted that back in october, he had a special counsel, which keeps him in place. >> absolutely. it codifies, at least for a time, the existence of a prosecutor looking into the thing the president has been the most concerned about, which is

whether there was impropriety involved into the investigation of russian officials and the trump campaign. that investigation had not turned anything up that would result in charges before this election. we know that the president and some of his allies were very frustrated by that. so this is a way of pushing it forward. >> we'll have to wait and see what happens with this. if it makes him more likely t l issue a report. >> we don't know but it is going to -- it is yet another way in which donald trump will create some kind of permanent route or at least semipermanent route of his time in office as biden comes in. >> we're going to talk to senator angus king in a second and get a sense of what people on the other side of the aisle think of all of this. no small thing, what else barr said in this interview with the ap. and it may very well be that the durham drop of news was to sweeten it for his audience of one, the president. the other bit of news was that barr announced that the justice department had not uncovered any

evidence of widespread fraud that would change the results of the election and more specifically said there was nothing to substantiate this bizarre, bogus conspiracy theory that the president has been fomenting on voting machines changing votes. >> well, it was stunning because people had been waiting to hear from barr on this issue. barr has often been alined with the president on the president's pet issues. this is one where people were waiting to hear from him. and what he said was very much at odds with what the president had been saying. the president's campaign put out a statement saying, essentially, barr doesn't know what he's talking about. and it began with the usual disclaimer from when an insult is going to follow, with all due respect, to bill barr. as you say, this durham announcement came basically at the same time as this ap interview and at the same time bill barr was at the white house yesterday for a meeting with the president's chief of staff and may have seen the president. i do think that barr was aware of how his comments were going

to be received. the president on his twitter feed insisted barr was wrong. i don't think barr saying this is going to change the mind of the president. and it is really breathtaking, john, how ingrained the president's conspiracy theories about the election have become in the minds of his supporters, who are talking about barr in one case, as if he's part of the quote/unquote deep state, as he see as people against the president. there's this clear dividing line. >> and how quickly that all changes, right? >> exactly. >> this last one we want to get your take on. john and i are both into this last story. our kaitlan collins tweeting about the christmas parties at the white house and the president talking about four more years. he is all in, and if it's not going to be a second administration for him starting in january, he says, well, there's always 2024. >> so, erica, i think he's some in. i think he's going to say that he's running. he may trigger the fec rules, by which you have to have a

campaign committee paying for your activities. he can do that and then he can just say he's suspending his campaign in three years and not actually really run and go ahead. i think he is going to say that he is running, i think he's going to act like a candidate and do thing with the appearance of being a candidate, irrelevant to raise money, to pay for activities, and to frankly be able to say things like ongoing investigations are political, which some of his allies have said they expect him to say, but whether he actually is on the ballot when 2024 primaries begin, i think is a real open question. >> the exact quote last night was, we're trying to do another four years. otherwise, i'll see you in four years. >> it's the big stay tuned donald trump reveal, right. >> if you're marco rubio or ted cruz or tom cotton, this has got to bug you. it really does. you're sitting here carrying his water and he's going to block you out for at least the next three years. interesting to see. maggie, thank you for sticking with us so long. really appreciate it.

>> thank you. president-elect joe biden and vice president-elect kamala harris will join jake tapper for their first joint interview since their election victory. it's a cnn special event. tune in tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m., only right here on cnn. a new proposal to help millions of americans struggling during the pandemic and we'll speak with one of the senator who is just introduced a bipartisan relief bill. that's next. ♪

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in a matter of days, millions of americans are set to lose extra benefits they have been receiving thanks to coronavirus relief legislation. this is going to happen even as the pandemic gets worse here. a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a nearly $1 trillion relief plan, but as of now, mitch mcconnell not getting onboard with that proposal at all. joining us now, one of the lawmakers part of the plan, independent senator angus king of maine. thanks so much. let me lay out what's in this plan. $160 billion for state and local government funding. there is additional money for an

extension of unemployment benefits. also money for small businesses. why is this $900 billion plan with bipartisan support the right one? >> well, it is the right one. and it was worked out on a bipartisan basis, importantly, john, not just by a group of nine senators, but a group of house members from both parties. we now have announced 50 supporters in the house. 25 democrats, 25 republicans. we have four republicans, four democrats, and me in the senate. and we really tried to come to a middle ground. and we got tired of waiting, frankly. and i don't understand what the majority leader's problem is. but john, there's an important thing about the majority leader that isn't in the civics book. and that is that he or she has absolute power or what comes to the floor of the u.s. senate. we could have a bill supported by 99 senators and if the

majority leader said, i'm not going to bring it up, it doesn't come up. and there's no mechanism seriously to make that happen. so, he's got to listen. and i'm hoping he's going to listen to the members of his caucus saying, look, we need to do something, it's urgent. people are going to be losing benefits. people are going to be losing their places to live. they're going to be evicted. schools are going to have really serious problems. we've got to do something, and we've put forward a good faith effort to make that happen. >> you say, i don't know what the majority leader's problem is. his plan that he's laying out is half, if that, of what you're suggesting, doesn't include any state and local government aid at all. if that's the only thing that gets to the floor, is that better than nothing? >> that's a decision we'll have to make. this business of no help for the states and localities, i don't get. what we have here, john, is a natural disaster.

it's a biological hurricane, if you will. and it's striking some states more seriously than others, although i just looked last night, there's something like 25 republican-dominated states, red states, that are in serious financial difficulty, both in their localities and in their states. it's not just a blue state problem. but what really bothers me is, you know, i betcha i voted on 10 or 12 or 15 or i don't want know how many natural disaster bills for various parts of the country, and it never occurred to me to ask, well, is this a blue state or a red state that's going to get this money? if florida gets hit by a hurricane, we give them some help. and we're one country and that's really what this is all about. and somehow at the beginning of this, senator mcconnell got into his head -- he used the term blue state bailout. and it's simply trying to help states and localities that are struggling to keep, for example, first responders on the payroll.

otherwise, states can't borrow like the federal government and they'll have to either raise taxes or cut expenditures, which means laying people off. and that's just not a practical alternative. i really wish the majority leader would take a broader view of this and realize, this is really important. and what we're proposing in this framework is less than half of what the national governor's association said we would really need. >> and half of what the president said he would accept months ago. joe biden did an interview with thomas friedman overnight and talked about mitch mcconnell going forward. this is what biden said. he said, i think there are trade-offs that not all compromise is walking away from principle, biden added. he knows me, i know him. i don't ask him to embarrass himself to make a deal. so president-elect biden is holding out hope to be able to work with mitch mcconnell. how much hope realistically do you have that that will be successful?

>> well, i think that the real question is, what does his caucus think? and if he gets enough members of the republican caucus -- and by the way, we had a number come forward yesterday saying, we think this is a good plan, we would like to be involved. so if there's sort of a growing momentum there, you know, he's going to work with his caucus and i hope that he understands that this is really something important for the country and that the issue of assistance for state and localities, look, they're really hurting. and many of them -- and ironically, there's a lag here where states that are just going into the real crisis mode will see the fiscal impact in a month or two. they may think they're okay now, but then they'll find out their revenues are collapsing. this should be an essential part of this. it was a hard-fought in our

group. >> we learned remarkably overnight that the attorney general william barr has appointed john durham to be a special counsel to investigate the origins of the russia investigation. now, you supported a bill in the last congress that would make it harder to fire a special counsel. now that john durham is a special counsel, a, what do you make of that decision, and do you still stand by the idea that it should be harder to dismiss a special counsel? >> i believe that if you appoint a special counsel, they should have some protections so they're not able to be removed politically, wherever that political motivation is coming from. so, yeah, i stick with that position. i don't understand the appointment. john durham was appointed months and months and months and months ago to look into the origins of the russia investigation. apparently, he hasn't found anything, i don't know what

he'll find in another couple of months. as you know, john, i worked on this for over four years now with the senate intelligence committee. i can tell you, there's nothing for him to find. there's been investigation on top of investigation that found that the russia investigation had a solid basis and they had to go forward with that investigation, based upon the information they had in the summer of 2016. so i don't know what this appointment means, except, perhaps, to just be a burr under the saddle of president biden. but i don't think it's going to go anywhere, because there's nowhere for it to go. >> senator angus king, we appreciate you being with us today. thank you very much. >> absolutely, john. >> so it's not just a risk to their physical health. front line medical workers are coping with the emotional toll of the pandemic. >> i don't want to say it's been harder for us than it has for everybody else, but the truth is, it has. >> nurses and doctors share

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hospitals in colorado are buckling under the weight of coronavirus cases. hospitalizations in that state continue to break records daily. and the pandemic is taking an emotional toll. a huge one, on front line workers. doctors and nurses are fighting the good fight, but they've been doing this for months. and they are struggling to cope. cnn's lucy kafanov is live in denver with more. it is so important that we hear from them, lucy. >> reporter: it really is, erica. hospitals here in colorado and across the nation are struggling with new levels of strain amid a continuing surge of this virus. and, you know, even though we've been talking about a vaccine potentially coming around the corner, the health care workers on the front lines who have been on the front lines for months of this pandemic, they're bracing for another surge. >> we might not show it if we're interacting with you, but it's so hard.

>> reporter: the words of a colorado physician who's had enough. dr. shannon tapia is one of thousands of health care workers on the front license of the coronavirus pandemic. >> sleep is on short supply right now. >> reporter: a geritrician and a single mom, she switched to telehealth to keep herself and her family safe. >> reporter: what do you want to people to know about the experience of these patients and yourself working under covid? >> we might want talk about it, because we know people don't want to hear it. we know everyone is struggling. we know covid changed everybody's lives. it's just been so hard. and i don't want to say it's been harder for us than it has for everybody else, but the truth is, it has. it has. it's -- it's not the same and it's not the same when you feel responsible for people's --

whether it be their life or their quality of life, because you care. >> colorado is in the midst of its third pandemic surge. cases and hospitalizations have been breaking records. >> what matters now, in colorado, 1 out of 41 people are contagious. it could be anywhere. >> reporter: more than 14,000 coloradans have been hospitalized since the pandemic began. among those faces the brunt, doctors and nurses like allison burner. >> as an er nurse, i haven't cried a lot on the job. you hold that back and you want to stay tough for the family and stoic, and there's been a lot of tears shed in er rooms during covid. because we are treating that person dying like our loved one dying because they don't have anyone else and they need that grace and that human touch and need someone to be there when they're taking their last breath. >> reporter: before the pandemic, she said work had never caused her to lose sleep. now, she regularly has nightmares. >> how has the covid crisis impacted nurses and yourself on a personal level? you're seeing this day in and day out.

>> yeah, on a personal level, it's hard. we lean on each other. it's the holidays have been rough for a lot of us. we're not seeing our families. we're doing everything we can to keep the public safe, and so it's extremely frustrating for us when people are not doing that. >> hear on the front lines, this virus is incredibly real. >> reporter: with cases climbing, her employer, sentura health, released this psa. >> please, let's have each other's backs. >> a message dr. tapia shares. she's seen firsthand the devastating toll on residents of long-term care facilities, who account for 40% of all covid-19 deaths in the country. many die alone. >> it's so hard on their loved ones and their families, because they can't grieve it the way they should be able to. >> reporter: she's found new ways to cope. a puppy, therapy, and antidepressants. but with the virus raging unabated, she worries how much more she and other front line

workers can take. >> and i think there's going to be a huge reckoning when things calm down and people get to really process what's happened >> dr. shannon tapia is in who is if i say and geriatric care. she is no stranger to death, same goes with that er nurse. these are people trained to help humanity in their darkest moments but nearly nine months into this pandemic there are still folks who are not taking covid-19 seriously enough. these doctors, these nurses, they've been pushed to their limit. erica. >> they absolutely have and the hardest part of course is that it's continuing and they know that that fight has to continue for a number of months ahead. lucy, such an important piece. thank you again. president trump's fight meantime against the election results. it may feel like it's about him, but the reality is that impact is wide and it is dangerous.

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- [announcer] meet the make family-sized meals fast. and because it's a ninja foodi, it can do things no other oven can, like flip away. the ninja foodi air fry oven, the oven that crisps and flips away. a remarkable statement out of georgia about the cost, i'm talking the very real cost and risk of the president's lies about the election. it's not just what the president says, it's the people who watch in silence. john avalon here with a reality check.

>> georgia election officials gabriel sterling had a stunning message for president trump. >> stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. someone is going to get hurt. someone is going to get shot. someone is going to get killed. and it's not right. >> he's right. and it isn't hyperbole. trump's desperate attempt to overturn a democratic election is inflaming hate in our country. it's spreading like wildfire through the ranks of his hard core supporters, some who are now making threats against election officials. trump's legal team loses every major court case because there is no evidence of fraud except in their own hyper partisan fever dreams. one of the trump campaign's lawyers joe digenova said chris krebs who trump fired about telling the truth about election security should be executed. digenova came back with a trumpian defense that he was being sarcastic about killing krebs but the head of the government accountability

pointed out threats like this trigger an avalanche, that avalanche has been triggered. no less than six election officials around the country, many of them republicans, have received serious death threats to date. georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger requires security, his wife getting messages on her cellphone that read your husband deserves to face a firing squad. his deputy gabriel sterling is getting threats while an election technician was accused of treason and sent a noose. in arizona secretary of state katie hobbs has received a deluge of death threats including a post on a conservative social media site, it reads let's unburn her house down and kill her family and teach these fraudsters a lesson. protesters shouted outside her home tr we're watching. al schmidt a republican received a barrage of death threats while his deputy got anti-semitic abuse as well and listen to the dlark county registrar. >> i can tell you my wife and

mother are very concerned for me but we have security here. yes, i am concerned for the safety of my staff. we will not allow anyone to stop us from doing what our duty is in counting ballots. >> these election officials and no doubt many more are getting death threats simply because they're doing their jobs with integrity and it's part of a pattern. dominion voting systems employees received death threats as a result of trump's conspiracy theories. steve bannon pondered beheading dr. fauci and fbi corrector wray as a, quote, warning to bureaucrats. in milwaukee health inspectors are getting police escorts after death threats at a pro trump rally. trump's threats against the cia whistleblower or tr lawyers aligned with lynn wood calling for martial law and a new election yesterday. this is all the opposite of law and order and tone comes from the top. donald trump is doing violence to our democracy with his refusal to respect the election and now some of his supporters

are threatening to do real violence on his behalf, unlike the republican senators who are remaining silent, they actually believe his lies because they've been fed a toxic diet of disinformation in safe space echo chambers where they're told political opponents are the enemies of the people. it's got to stop because we are playing with fire here. as voluntarily tear once said those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities and that's your reality check. >> that's the point here. this whole thing is so clearly a sham but it's a sham that's putting people at risk, real physical risk. what the president is doing is overtly and in public trying to overturn the results of an election. >> it's that simple and people are getting threats because of it. it's not a game, folks, it's our democracy right here. >> thank you very much for that. >> thank you. all right. we have major news on the coronavirus vaccine. "new day" continues right now. >> announcer: this is cnn

breaking news. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. this is "new day." erica hill in this morning for alisyn. >> always good to be with you. >> you are here for some serious breaking news. the first coronavirus vaccines just days away from being delivered. the united kingdom announced overnight they will begin vaccinating hundreds of thousands of people next week. the uk granted emergency use approval to the pfizer vaccine. so who is first in line for the shots and when will the vaccines be administered here in the united states? the chief science adviser for operation warped speed believes we may be just a week or so away. >> i would expect the fda to reach a similar conclusion, things will follow their course, but i hope by the 10th or 11th of december the pfizer vaccine is approved. >> all right. and this just into cnn, the white house coronavirus task force has issued an extremely dire warning saying, quote, we are in a very dangerous place

with the pandemic. in a moment we will speak about who gets the vaccine first in the united states with the head of the cdc advisory board that just voted on the recommendations. also breaking overnight a potential pardon spree in the final weeks of the trump administration. cnn learning the president is considering preemptive pardons for his immediate family after his personal attorney rudy giuliani, also unsealed court records revealing the justice department is investigating a potential crime related to the funneling of money into the white house or a related political committee in exchange for pardons. attorney general bill barr breaking with the president, shooting down claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. a lot to get to this morning, obviously let's begin our coverage with max foster who is live in london with this breaking coronavirus vaccine news. max, good morning. >> reporter: erica, huge excitement here in downing street, the british equivalent of the fda approved this vaccine from pfizer earlier this morning