>>vaccine is falling. behind far be design long feared war. the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should. >>now if i'm president elect joe biden coming down operation warp speed after news that the program is falling far short of its goal of shifting 20 million vaccine doses by early january. thanks for joining us here on kron 4 news at 5, i'm ken wayne and i'm catherine heenan for pam

moore. >>tonight, the cdc says more than 11 million doses have been distributed to states so far only about 2 million have been administered kron four's maureen kelly talked to local health officials about the local impact of delays. >>operation warp speed is turning out to be quite a bit slower than expected. but vaccinations are continuing to roll out here in the bay area you see sss so far they've given out nearly 6,000 doses to their frontline health care workers since mid december which represents about 41% of their tier one workers kaiser permanente says they vaccinated over 30,000 health care workers in northern california and vaccinations are continuing each day with employees and doctors with the highest risk of exposure to covid-19 infected patients, given first priority well doctor at stanford says they've given shots to close to 30% of their hospital staff which includes all of their front-line workers. >>they're expecting to start inoculating those in the

second tier nationally a public health expert at brown university took to twitter to rant about the apparent slow rollout of the vaccine venting his frustration about what he sees as no effort from the feds to help states launch a real vaccination infrastructure. >>however, the new stimulus package now signed into law includes 69 billion dollars to aid vaccine distribution testing and contact tracing solano county's public health officer says he has seen no problems with the rollout so far on his aunt on an anomaly. >>seeing it because we're getting the vaccine that we're getting and then work with getting that in arms as quickly as possible. what we like or of course you and everybody would like more you know we would have liked it to started earlier but then calls or just after projections that you know you don't know reality to experience and so i'm not spending a whole lot time complaining about the pace of vaccine. i'm grateful that we have taxing so far one we've heard about is from napa county where one allocation of the pfizer vaccine may have

been shipped too cold to the queen of the valley hospital pfizer notified the hospital of the potential problem in a replacement shipment it was received soon after maureen kelly kron 4 news. well, while distribution might be slower than expected several additional vaccines are moving forward in the pipeline tonight kron four's dan kerman talk to infectious disease experts about where things stand. >>how the vaccine stand up to a new variant of the virus which initially was discovered in the united kingdom in has now made its way here to the u.s. and joins us live from u c san francisco medical center stand. >>well we can tell you as we know 2 of the vaccines are already being distributed to more in the pipeline now a 5th company is moving into the 3rd stage of trials at this point and basically infectious disease experts say this is all good news, especially when you consider there is already vaccine on the market less than a year since the coronavirus broke out. >>this is incredible right

this has never happened before in the history of the world period. >>you see san francisco infectious disease epidemiologist doctor george rutherford is talking about the speed less than a year in which scientists have come up with a vaccine to fight the coronavirus this is the fruits of all that investment that's been made in. >>molecular biology. for these last, you know several decades. >>with the pfizer and moderna vaccines already being distributed and regulators awaiting proof of how effective astrazeneca's vaccine actually is drug maker novavax is moving into the final stage of testing with its vaccine. rutherford says the more vaccines that are affective the quicker we can reach herd immunity and some type of normalcy. >>get 10% of people vaccinated in by the end of january another 10% by the end of february and so on by the end of july would be pushing up at 70%. so that would be will be relayed seriously good. >>the recent discovery of a new strain of covid-19 in the

uk is cause for concern. but medical experts say it's not surprising viruses. mutate all the time that's what their businesses. >>all biological systems mutate all the time. viruses are in a virus, especially rutherford says the good news is the piece the virus. the vaccines are attacking the spike protein appears to be constant across the strains which suggests the vaccines will continue to work. >>of course he says there must be more study about these new strains as well as how the vaccines work. but at least at this point it looks like things are still continuing to move in the right direction live ucsf dan kerman kron 4 news dan thank you very much stan just mentioned the new more contagious covid-19 variant. >>was detected for the first time here in the united states and colorado's governor has now confirmed an infection near denver. the man infected is in his 20's. he has no

recent travel history. he is now in isolation. the variant is the same one that has been in great britain, it has been detected in at least 17 other countries. >>another big story we're following tonight stimulus checks of $600 could be hitting americans bank accounts as early as tonight. that's according to us treasury secretary steve mnuchin he said the direct deposits will continue over the coming days and paper checks will be delivered starting tomorrow. here's what you need to know payments are automatic for eligible taxpayers or for anyone who registered online to receive the first stimulus payment back in april individuals who earned $75,000 or less in 2019 will receive $600 payments, couples who made a $150,000 or less in 2019 will receive $1200 payments. the irs says it will send the payments your direct deposit if your bank information is on file. otherwise you'll get a check or debit card in the mail. if

for some reason you do not receive your payment. you can claim it by filing your 2020 taxes. later in the week people will be able to check the status of the checks on the irs website. we have a link to that website on our website kron 4 dot com and we'll have much more on this story tonight at 5.30 with our political analyst michael yaki. >>well today vice president-elect kamala harris she got her something coronavirus vaccine and afterwards talk about why she believes important for everybody to get the vaccine. >>back still likes to say there's a big difference between the vaccine and vaccinations i want encourage everyone to get the vaccine. it is relatively painless it happened really quickly it is safe. the the pfizer today and the moderna vaccine. my husband is going happen today as well. i look forward to getting the second vaccine. literally this is about saving

lives. literally that's saving lives. i trust the scientists and it is the scientists who created. approved this vaccine. so i urge everyone when it is your turn. get vaccinated it's about saving your life. the life of your family members. life gets and so thank you and let's all just do what we need to do to stay healthy and safe this holiday season and every day. thank you >>president elect joe biden he got his vaccine that was earlier this month in cowell to new free pop-up testing site opened today in mitchell park library, it's a walk-up testing site. the test is self administered, but appointments are required. the site is open from 10:00am to 04:00pm on tuesdays to make an appointment we posted a link on our website kron 4 dot com.

in the east bay covid-19 testing also being offered at a church in oakland. this was the scene at acts full gospel church this morning on the city's east side. testing is available on saturdays from 09:00am to 04:00pm the testing is being focused on the black community which has been hit harder by deaths from the virus. today, california's health and human services secretary doctor mark galli announced 2 regions will remain under a stay at home order until further notice those regions are southern california. and the san joaquin valley galli said at this time for week projections do not show improvement in covid-19 hospitalizations as a reminder the stay at home order is in effect for a minimum of 3 weeks. once a region's icu capacity drops below 15%. it's too early to tell if the bay area's stay at home order will be extended as well. now to a development in a story kron four's been following for several days the sculpture that was made in honor of breonna taylor that was destroyed over the weekend

in oakland has now been stolen yet today the artist leo carson, he announced it has been stolen you're looking at the now empty pedestal where the sculpture had been on display in the broken pieces were still there. he talked publicly about the vandalism and now the theft a few hours ago i want to answer the question why does this statue and that's because black lives matter. >>because the racist who came in the dark last weekend. and hit our statue with baseball bats and and tried to destroy it and that speaks to the work being done in america that the racism and bigotry. >>there are now around where the missing sculpture is was coming up at 6 o'clock we're going to have a live report without the latest on the statue and the efforts to replace it. >>coming up stanford researchers they're turning joint unique source of

information on covid-19 what they have discovered so far. plus stimulus checks as we mentioned are on the way but top democrats are still fighting for more money higher payment that decision they ultimately come down to also the debate over the stimulus it's coming at a time when state unemployment is just under 8% the kind of jobs bay area residents are looking for. i'm meteorologist lawrence karnow what a gorgeous day around the bay area almost spring-like in some spots we've got a whole lot of winter to come storms line up we'll talk about it coming up next.

>>the debate over stimulus payments this comes at a time when the state unemployment rate is just under 8% tonight, california's employment development department says close to 1.5 million people in california are unemployed however representatives at a pair of local staffing agencies tell kron four's haaziq madyun the jobs that currently in high demand right now or in the bay area. >>although the pandemic has had major impact of the overall job market in 2020 bay area job recruiters say the time is right for job, seekers always a good time jo jo verona is the direct hire recruiter for the job shop in san francisco and employment agency that specializes in temporary contract contract to hire a direct higher staffing.

he talks about the hot positions that are currently available we are seeing a lot of like. >>legal secretaries. specialized positions that are open we had a lot of paralegal openings we several accounting rules that are open that are specific to an industry nursing positions that we have the here at a t 20 are seeing a huge uptick in hiring laurissa or lack is the head of recruitment services that one of the highest-rated staffing agencies 8020 she says tech related marketing creative and sells positions are also in huge demand here in the bay area where we've a huge increase trade any kind of digital marketing. >>anything that's going to be up on the web com or. feels related position technology, your 5 will continue to grow. >>employment recruitment experts advise that while you're in between jobs used the tide to level up your skill set taking advantage of

any virtual training opportunities and freshen up that resume resume. >>make sure it's clear make sure you know what you're looking for a good cover letter. you don't linked in profile definitely make their social media screen. people are looking at social media nowadays. >>haaziq madyun kron 4 news. police want to know if you recognize this man santa rosa police say robbed a bank of america on sonoma street yesterday morning. officers say the suspect entered the bank at 10:20am in the morning pointed something through his jacket and demanded money suspect then walked out with an unknown amount of money or at least not known to us to reward of up to $2500 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of that man. now our 4 zone kron 4 chief meteorologist lawrence karnow sarah larson i stated a pretty out or just yeah beautiful along the coastline, if you had a chance to go up there for a walk along the beach today, gorgeous skies out there.

>>but things are going to start to shift gears as it looks like, we've got a series of storms really lining up i think it's been so dry. the first part of this rain season as we get this next year will look a whole lot wetter outside right now what a gorgeous evening. in half moon bay, some people still out there on the coastline enjoying the beautiful sunset there tonight and some gorgeous weather got to watch out though we've got some big time wave developing along the coastline. so even though you saw the sunshine today, we've got some big spots storms up the coast that are generating those swells in fact you start to see some of those clouds begin to move in or to bring some rain up in the pacific northwest and some snow in that direction too we're going to be part of that storm that's going start to drop into the bay area but probably not till tomorrow afternoon meantime though the waves are building in through tomorrow probably watch as waves. coming in about 5 maybe 9 feet maybe a little bit bigger than that some of the sneaker waves dropping on by so you get them on terror beach get distance and watch out you're going to see some big time swells moving along the coastline and other servers love that, but you got to be careful, especially that undertow

temperatures right now we've got a lot of 50's outside 63 degrees though into braun very nice 61 degrees in boyle 54 now in petaluma and 54 degrees in the bottle as well as we take you through the night i'm going to be cold night out there. but we're really watching here in the long range pattern high-pressure going to kind of slide on by that frontal system going to dive toward the bay area i think by tomorrow afternoon, maybe looking some showers developing in the north bay you see it here on the models right now assist clouds start to roll in lot of clouds roll in north skies in by tomorrow morning but stay mostly dry early on that changes by the afternoon you see the showers beginning to move in by 5 o'clock in the north bay they kind of rolled across the rest this not to be a huge storm system coming in but i think this is going to kind of weather appetite what we've got coming our way not only would see this one got another one coming in on new year's day. and then the clouds really open up in a series of public. the major storms headed toward the bay area as we head toward next week, the first week of the new year some concern about those big storms. yeah, yeah there will be especially you head to the middle week, thanks a as

health leaders try to better understand the spread of coronavirus researchers in the south bay are turning to a unique source for some answers. >>kron four's u of l has more on their studies of covid-19 and human waste it might sound a little strange, but this is not a new concept, it's called wastewater based epidemiology and during the age of covid it's become more widely used around the world to track community spread but it is new is trying to interpret that data in cloud public health responses. >>to that information michael is the director of santa clara's department of environmental health. he says your stool is actually quite the tool for covid-19 detection and spread know what we are focusing on is based on the research done by stanford university. >>is what we call the settled solids and because we know. >>covid is actually in school. our focus is on the from the treatment plant as opposed to the liquid in florida. >>santa clara county is the

only jurisdiction in the state monitoring all 4 of its wastewater treatment plants for covid-19 researchers are sent the untreated waste to test for any presence of coronavirus rna universities across the country have actually already been monitoring wastewater in dormitories to try and detect covid-19 before outbreaks can begin on campuses but this method is a little different what we're doing is actually looking at it on a community-wide level. >>as opposed to an individual facility or neighborhood level stanford says the rna data they've collected from waste over the last 9 months have matched that of clinical covid-19 data in the county alia says it will take some time before this research can be a main tool for health officials but eventually it should be able to help predict a rise in cases ahead of time that could be time there could be help us prepare. >>for either an upcoming surge. you know make sure that we back to playing our resources to a particular community or in a particular

manner. the couldn't get definitely be more efficient and effective community spread is so high and the concentrations are so high that you know we we really have to see. what happens when the community prevalent starts to decrease noelle bellow kron 4 news. >>still ahead permanent changes are coming to the bay area's toll system for bridges pandemic era practice they're going to hang on to a drink with friends can turn into a few.

stop! it's easy to lose track. and getting a dui is easier than you think. plan ahead, call a cab. share a ride. if you choose to drink, choose a sober way to go. go safely, california.

a drink with friends can turn into a few. stop! it's easy to lose track. and getting a dui is easier than you think. plan ahead, call a cab. share a ride. if you choose to drink, choose a sober way to go. go safely, california.

>>the electronic toll system set up a bay area bridges that's going to become they were put in place at the beginning of the pandemic but they are now here to stay kron four's will tran reports from the bay bridge with details. >>are of the same is actually started back in march because they didn't want interaction at that the toll plaza at the bay area bridges to cut down on that interaction for covid-19. so much of the same but now it's the official title of permanent, so don't you dare stop and try to pay because you will be on what's going to happen moving forward is technology winds in this particular case because fast track obviously we'll take the money out of your account you just to be replanted replenished every month as far as the invoice if you don't have fast track. well they

will take a picture of your license plate and then send you an invoice at the end of the month and then you pay it. no additional fee at $6 or $5 depending on the time that you cross the bay bridge. if you don't pay at the end of 30 days then it's $25 for every violation. if you don't pay after 60 days it's $75 for every violation and if you're really starboard and you want to push sherlock well let me tell you the state will track you down and the state will get you in the form of not letting you renew your registration on your car or your driver's the state wants every penny. but they don't want literal pennies anymore at the toll plazas because this is the way it's going to be it's so-called temporary for now but come friday. it will be permanent, not golden gate bridge which is not state own. but they've been doing this for quite some time anyway as far as no toll takers just fast track and a

lot like trying to payments moving forward. >>next a new iphone feature could help in the fight against covid-19 how you'll soon be able to prove you've been vaccinated on your smartphone and oakland are struggling with homelessness not a new place to go how project homekey has created new affordable housing in the east bay. plus top democrats aren't giving up on increasing the stimulus payment amou

>>back to a big story we're following tonight $600 stimulus checks could reach americans bank accounts as soon tonight they say, but this comes as a plan to increase the checks to $2000 fell short in the senate today house lawmakers passed the plan yesterday but top senate republicans blocks the democrats efforts today as our washington correspondent raquel martin tells us democrats say they're not giving up without a fight. >>the house bill is the only way the only way. to deliver the stimulus checks senate democratic leader chuck schumer open the unusual made holiday session by asking to immediately pass the house bill that would increase stimulus checks from 600 to $2000 they're only a few days left in this session $600 is not enough but republicans led by mitch mcconnell said not so connecticut democrat chris murphy says president trump

asked for the bigger tax the house passed the plan with the support of dozens of republican vote the only thing that can stop $2000 payment says 52 senate republicans for fee says it's time for republicans to step up for america's working families and some republicans are warming up to the larger tax georgia republican senators kelly leffler and david perdue are among them both are fighting for reelection in a january 5th runoff but mcconnell says he wants the senate focused on overriding the president's veto of the national defense bill continue our momentum and rebuilding and modernizing our armed forces but independent vermont senator bernie sanders says the nation to not spend 740 billion dollars on defense without doing more for americans who've lost their jobs during the pandemic ever heard. >>they want health did this promise to delay the vote on the national defense bill override unless senator mcconnell allows a vote on the stimulus checks, missour