‘Dateline NBC: Race for a Vaccine’: NBC’s Lester Holt reports on COVID-19 vaccine plans

(NBC News) – As COVID-19 cases surge across the country, we all want to know the latest plans to get a vaccine and what challenges we can expect.

In an exclusive interview for the special “Dateline NBC: Race for a Vaccine,” NBC’s Lester Holt spoke with top executives at Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson about how they plan to quickly distribute the vaccine.

Here is a preview of Holt’s report:

LESTER HOLT: And if you are given approval, how fast will things snap into motion? How– how fast will the distribution begin?

ALBERT BOURLA: We are aiming hours within the approval, after the approval to be able to distribute.

LESTER HOLT: Once approval comes, how quickly does Moderna spring into action and begin shipping the product?

STEPHEN HOGE: So like the others– we’re partnered with general Perna and his team at Operation Warp Speed. I’ve been told they want trucks rolling within hours, if not a day.

Tonight, Holt also asks about the process these companies went through to ensure no corners were cut so the public can trust the quality of the vaccine.

Watch the hour-long special tonight at 9 p.m. on NBC 10.