asian-americans are coming together in mourning, but also demanding change after a deadly shooting spree that shocked people around the world. very different protests are happening in many parts of europe as people push back against new covid restrictions. plus, we'll show you the dangerous journeys migrant children make to get to the united states, and explain the outrage over what's happening to them once they get here. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to all of you watching here in the united states, canada and around the world, i'm kim brunhuber.

this is "cnn newsroom." in cities across the u.s., the pain and shock are still raw from this week's deadly shooting spree here in the atlanta area. people joined rallies across the country on saturday to mourn those killed in three spas and to denounce violence against asian-americans. authorities are still investigating the motive behind the shootings that left eight people dead including six victims of asian descent. the 21-year-old suspect from georgia told investigators the shootings weren't racially motivated, but community leaders and anti-racism advocates say the violence is added to fears asian-americans already felt crimes against people of asian descent in the u.s. surged with

racist rechetoric since the pandemic started. some have been blamed for covid-19. meanwhile, we're still learning more about the victims of the deadly attack. cnn's natasha chen has that part of the story. >> reporter: four of the eight people killed were here at two different spas in atlanta. the south korean foreign ministry identified them as being of korean descent, one of them a south korean citizen who was a u.s. permanent resident, the other three believed to be americans of korean descent. the third location, one of the victims was xiao, i sat down with her family and talked about her story. she built the american dream for herself. she came from china and first came to the u.s. to florida as a nail technician, worked her way up, moved to georgia, and ended up buying businesses, first one spa and then a second. she was known as a very hard worker, sometimes working seven days a week, always saving her

money. made quite the impression on her customers and fellow business owners nearby as being an incredibly friendly person. i want to share with you something her daughter said about the experience of tuesday and waiting to find out the news about her mother. and after you hear from her daughter, jamie, you'll hear from michael webb, her ex-husband, talking about how fiercely tan defended the legitimacy of her business. >> i was just hoping it was not my mom, not my mom. i was having this hope that maybe my mom got shot and somewhere else, like, maybe, somewhere it wouldn't be, like, took her life away. >> she never knows what goes on behind closed doors. she made sure that she trained them, they had meetings every week, they had signage, she

didn't allow locks on the doors. she wanted to know where her employees were, who the customers were, she used to tell me a lot of times she would throw customers out because they would come in and think that they could have sex and she would -- she said get out of my business, you know, and she would throw them out. so, you know, she -- she was -- she was -- she was a strong mother hen over that business and the people that worked there. she protected it. >> i had to ask them about their feelings on this possibly being a hate crime, which is being debated so heavily. michael webb told me he wants investigators to complete their work and didn't want to make a judgment on that. now, jami, her daughter, said

she does understand where the asian-american community is coming from as far as the feelings of fear and anxiety in this climate. but, again, they wanted to emphasize that they would rather have the authorities make that call without making a statement on that ahead of time. natasha chen, cnn, atlanta. as we learn more about the victims, hundreds rallied in downtown atlanta on saturday demanding justice for them. georgia's two u.s. senators support the crowd. warnock slammed an official saying the earlier remarks about the suspect having a really bad day were out of line. >> i'm not interested in whether or not he had a bad day. talk about a bad day? >> we all have bad days. >> that kind of speech comes when you don't see the humanity of the people. and so i just wanted to drop by

to say to my asian sisters and brothers, we see you. this is georgia. this is georgia. hatred and murder do not kdefin us. we stand resilient in defiance of hatred and murder. this is georgia. this is love. this is compassion. this is the best of us and this is what defines the people of our state and our nation, not those who kill or scapegoat or engage in racism or hate speech or hate crimes. >> in california, on saturday, rallies were held across the state in response to the shooting rampage in the atlanta area. it comes as legislation is being introduced in california to make it easier and safer to report hate crimes. cnn's paul vercammen is following both stories. >> reporter: you can hear the sounds of a march behind me, the drums. this is little tokyo.

and there are 1.5 million asian-americans or people of asian-american descent in los angeles county. what leaders have been telling us, whether their root are in the philippines, korea, china, japan or other countries is that they have been feeling this target on their backs during this wave of anti-asian violence. they say there is a remedy, the legislative process and one assemblyman is looking to pass a bill that would put in place a hot line, a hot line where asians who may be culturally reluctant to report a crime can call the hot line anonymously. >> one of the biggest problems in fighting hate crimes is that too many of the incidents are not reported. many of the victims may be reluctant to deal with law enforcement. they may choose not to report incidents, even when they're victims. so we want to make it as easy and as safe as possible for people to even be able to report incidents anonymously. there are many people in the

immigrant community, some that are undocumented, and so we want to make it as easy and safe as possible for people to report these incidents of hate crime. >> reporter: this vigil in little tokyo focused on the treatment of asian-american seniors, specifically japanese seniors, in some retirement homes. there was an inordinate amount of deaths in two of these homes. they don't want to see japanese americans transferred or lose their place in any of the homes due to eviction. one thing is for certain, though, we're starting to see this community coalesce, this asian-american community in los angeles. that was evident by what happened on the streets of los angeles today. reporting from little tokyo, paul vercammen, now back to you. >> russell jung is the co-founder of stop aapi hate and a professor of asian-american studies at san francisco state university. thank you so much for joining us. i want to start with the report by your organization found nearly 3800 incidents of bias

over the course of the year during the pandemic through a self-reporting portal. most of those instances i understand were name calling and almost 70% of those instances were against women. i understand your wife is among them. tell us what happened and what it says to you about the motives behind many of these incidents. >> right, so thank you for having me, kim. of the 3800 cases, women are harassed 2.3 times more than men and people think or attack those who they think are more vulnerable. so my wife was running on a trail, and someone deliberately blocked her path, and then coughed in her face. and this is just an incident that is similar to hundreds of cases that we found, actually found so often in the reports that we created a special category for being coughed on

and spat upon. it is really debasing, abhorrent behavior and people are asking has the racism increased? and we answer -- we weren't tracking whether people coughed on each other or spat on each other's face, but because of the pandemic, because of the fear and the anger, and because people treat asians now like objects, as outsiders, they feel free to attack us in such dehumanizing ways. >> i mean, that's clearly horrible, you said that many of the incidents don't come from a place of racism necessarily, but from fear. so, you know, presumably because of the pandemic. so do you expect, you know, once the pandemic is eventually over that the number of these incidents should go down? >> you would think so, and we thought after president trump

didn't win office that the racism might abate a little but it continues. and i think, you know, the fear and the anger now that has been directed toward asians is still there because we're still in quarantine, people are still sick and dying from covid-19, and so now that we're actually interacting more with the public as we come out of the pandemic quarantines, i think you'll see actually a rise in incidents because we interact more with people. during the shutdown, we had less contact, even in the limited contact we were, again, harassed, pushed and shoved, and even shot at. >> yeah. i mean, the -- you know, the scale of the violence, i mean, is it increasing, i wonder. i mean months before the horrible murders, i think in april, you said in an interview that the dangers of the stigma and vilification, let me get it

the quote here, could have genuine life or death consequences. do you feel that, you know, early warnings like yours about the seriousness of this issue have been ignored? >> i think it was ignored. president trump insisted on using the term chinese virus, the republican party in this campaign continued to scapegoat and blame china and bash china and that china bashing opened the way for the bashing of chinese people and those who look like them. so it was dire warnings early on. our worst case scenario that people would be so angry and have their anger directed toward asians that we would have something like a mass shooting and our worse fears have been realized. >> finally, i want to turn to the search for solutions. the president, when he was here in atlanta, said americans must change our hearts. but how do we do that? you lobbied for a state wide in california anti-racism ad

campaign. is that the type of thing you think that could be scaled up on a national level and is there any evidence that this could actually change hearts? >> i think so. so we advocate education, right. if you get to students younger, k through 12, with ethnic studies, then they learn empathy, they can learn how to work in unity, and they can learn the roots of racism. so ethnic studies really does get at both the minds and hearts. i think expanded civil rights protections are needed because people are -- we're not getting all attacked with crimes, we're getting attacked with the coughing and spitting, with verbal harassment that is so traumatizing that our respondents showed prolonged depression and hypervigilance. we need civil rights protections that are expanded to stop that harassment. we need model of community safety, more funding for mental health to prevent these street

crimes from happening. so we are calling for changes to get at the roots of racism and not just sort of band-aid things. >> yeah, let's hope that happens. well said. thank you so much for joining us, russell jung, we really appreciate it. >> thank you, kim. we want to tell you about a one-hour special on cnn. amarah walker, anderson cooper will look at a disturbing trend, violent acts against people of color. they'll also discuss possible solutions to the problem. it is called "afraid, fear in america's communities of color" and it airs monday at 9:00 p.m. eastern and 9:00 in the morning on tuesday in hong kong. still to come on "cnn newsroom," president biden is scrambling to contain a worsening crisis at the southern u.s. border. thousands of unaccompanied children have been taken into custody. plus, angry protests across europe over new covid restrictions. we'll have a live report from england just ahead.

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the annual spring break for college students has turned into a nightmare for southern florida. miami beach police say they made

about a dozen arrests saturday night after the city suddenly imposed a curfew. the mayor says the city had to act because packed streets of partiers is more than the city can handle during the pandemic. he says many visitors chose miami beach because it is one of the few places in the country not closed by covid restrictions. >> we have had very challenging spring breaks at other times. we're a city that is 92,000 residents, but will sometimes have 200 to 300,000 people here. the problem is that this particular time and i think it is because of the pandemic, almost no other destinations are open. so we have been beside ourselves. we're having issues not just on weekends, but on week day evenings. we have been arresting many, many people every single day, more than most communities will arrest in a month or a year. it is just creating disorder and danger to our cops, to our arrestees, to bystanders. we just had enough of it, frankly. >> vaccinations in the u.s. are

gaining momentum after initially slow rollout. right now an average 2.4 million vaccinations are administered every day in the u.s. the centers for disease control and prevention says 43 million americans have now been fully inoculated. that's about 13% of the population. 79 million americans have received at least one injection. top health experts say it is now a race to get as many people vaccinated before new covid variants can take hold and cause another wave. dr. anthony fauci for one is optimistic it can be done. listen to this. >> vaccines are coming on really well because 2 million and 3 million doses per day are going into people. if we can just hang on a bit longer, the more people get vaccinated, the less likelihood there is going to be a surge. >> in europe, vaccination efforts have taken a hit because of lingering controversy over the astrazeneca vaccine.

even though european regulators have reaffirmed the drug is safe, many people are still convinced it isn't. cnn's melissa bell has our report. >> the astrazeneca vaccine, if it was offered to me, i wouldn't take it. i wouldn't get vaccinated with this vaccine, that's it. >> reporter: but at least some of the 8 million astrazeneca shots in europe are once again being put into arms in places like france, germany and italy, after the european medicines agency declared on thursday it did not increase the risk of blood clots. >> i'm not sure. i'm not a doctor. but i ask my doctor, he says it is fine, i should do it. so i follow his instructions. >> reporter: in milan too at a vaccination drive-in, the astrazeneca vaccine was once again on offer. >> listen to the experts. they say there is no correlation between those tragic events and the administer of the vaccine. so you have to trust them. >> reporter: the french prime minister trying to instill

exactly that, some trust, by getting the shot himself, with a new poll showing that only 22% of french people now have confidence in it. after it was suspended in several countries, its rollout ground to a halt in italy on monday. the very day the country entered a new partial lockdown. here at this vaccination center just outside of rome airport they have been delivering the astrazeneca vaccine. but just as we arrived, officials here were given the word that they were no longer allowed to distribute it. >> translator: we were vaccinating 200,000 people in italy a day. and so this really slowed us down. we know we will have to recuperate that daily number of vaccinations. but we may have to double the speed. >> reporter: by wednesday, under the pressure of the third european covid wave, the president of the european commission criticized astrazeneca, not over safety, but supplies. >> we also know that astrazeneca

has unfortunately underproduced and underdelivered and this painfully, of course, reduced the speed of the vaccination campaign. >> reporter: for now, though, europe's fully inoculated less than 4% of its population. its aim is to get to 70% by september. melissa bell, cnn, paris. new lockdowns and restrictions have provoked angry protests across europe. scuffles broke out in london as police tried to get demonstrators to go home. three dozen people were arrested. saturday's protests in switzerland, germany, sweden and elsewhere were among the largest in months. the new restrictions were imposed due to fears of a rising third wave of infections. let's go to cnn's phil black in essex, england. there were protests, anger, in the uk, in europe, stark contrast between what is

happening in the uk and eu. >> reporter: that's right, kim. there is two pandemic stories playing out in europe at the moment. one on the mainland continent where as you have been hearing there is a new grim phase of the pandemic under way. new wave where countries are locking down, tightening restrictions. on top of that, added frustration among those living through it because there is a sense it did not necessarily have to be this way because the vaccines exist, they're out there the european countries do not have sufficient supply to control and drive down transmission through vaccinations alone in the near future. meanwhile, just a relatively short distance away across the english channel here it is a very different situation, where the vaccine program is rolling out pretty quickly. uk government announced hitting a key milestone yesterday. half the uk adult population has received at least one dose of a vaccine. that's almost 27 million people.

and crucially that breadth in the rollout is now being reflected in key indicators. things like hospital admissions and deaths, well, those numbers are now falling steadily. so on one hand you have european countries locking down, tightening restrictions, france is doing that, italy is doing that, germany is talking about moving that way. here in the uk, things are moving the other way, the government believes it is on track to effectively open up within just a few months and have every adult receive at least one dose by the end of july. the mood here is very different. people are looking forward to pubs reopening and being able to take holidays, domestically at least. overseas, they hope. the eu leaders are really frustrated that they are not receiving the supplies they believe were promised and they are talking about perhaps even entering something like a vaccine trade war with the united kingdom. inspired by the fact they

believe there is injustice that the eu produced vaccines are moving into the uk, but uk-produced vaccines under commercial contracts are not yet flowing into the eu. >> all right, thanks so much, phil black in essex, england. appreciate it. the second hardest hit country in the world wants help to protect its citizens from the virus. brazil says it is negotiating with the u.s. to buy spare vaccines. astrazeneca shots are currently sitting in warehouses in the u.s., since regulators here have yet to give it the green light. matt rivers is in rio de janeiro. >> reporter: well, rio de janeiro is known for one thing, it might be here, copacabana beach, on a normal weekend would be packed with people at this moment. as you see behind me it empty right now. that's because rio de janeiro authorities have closed this beach due to the surging number of cases and deaths from the coronavirus. they also closed other beaches in the area and what is happening here is playing out all across the country with a

terrible situation ongoing with this covid-19 crisis in this country. according to a cnn analysis, over the past two weeks of all the coronavirus deaths, recorded in the entire world, nearly a quarter of them have come from brazil alone, from march 5th to march 19th, nearly 30,000 deaths registered as a result of the coronavirus here. and unfortunately it doesn't look like things are going to get better anytime soon and every single state across brazil, icu occupancy rates are at or above 80%. some of them are at or above 90%. and the vaccine situation doesn't look great either. health ministry data says that roughly 1.5, 1.6% of all brazilians have been fully vaccinated against this virus. that is an extremely low number. and to that end, brazil's foreign ministry said on saturday that they have been negotiating with the united states since march 13th to try and get their hands on any extra

vaccine doses the united states might be willing to share with this country, no word yet on any progress from those negotiations. but what is clear is that those vaccines are desperately needed in the country where the situation of covid-19 is truly horrific. matt rivers, cnn, rio de janeiro. covid vaccines have been proven to work, so why are a large number of u.s. military members reluctant to get them? ahead, the unexpected fight facing the country's military leaders. plus, alone and detained at the u.s. border. why are so many children making the dangerous journey to america? we'll have their emotional stories next.

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welcome back to all of you watching here in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. you're watching "cnn newsroom." there is an alarming and growing number of children being held in u.s. custody at the southern border. new documents obtained by cnn show there are more than 5,000 unaccompanied children in the care of customs and border protection. hundreds of them are being held in jail-like facilities for several days longer than the law allows. many of the kids are going days without seeing sunlight or bathing. the influx of the border is putting pressure on the biden administration, officials admit they didn't anticipate this many people trying to get into the united states. some of those child migrants made dangerous journeys just to get to the u.s. border. cnn's rosa flores traveled with one group for the last few miles of their trek and shows us what

they went through. >> reporter: -- used by thousands of migrants like these unaccompanied teenagers from guatemala to make their way into the u.s. and sometimes they encounter deputy constable dan broil as he patrols the border with mexico. 16-year-old kevin gets emotional as he shares that he's been traveling for a month, sometimes without food or water. his father waits for him in pennsylvania. 17-year-old alan's voice breaks as he explains his grandma who takes care of him stayed behind in his gang-ridden neighborhood. border authorities in the rio grande valley are encountering about a thousand migrants a day according to a federal source. many of them unaccompanied minors. evidence mothers and children are on the trail litter the landscape, diapers, children's clothing, and masks. documents left behind by some of

the migrants tell part of their story. in this case, it looks like a 34-year-old mom from honduras and her 2-year-old son, they both tested for covid before leaving their country and tested negative. what do you look for when you patrol? >> what i'm looking for is flashes of color that don't blend with the brush. >> reporter: he looks down the paths that lead to the river for signs of life. >> this is an indication -- >> reporter: and shows us the arrows posted by border authorities. >> that's a homeland security bag. >> reporter: and this one that reads asylum. to the bridge, two kilometers. >> yeah. >> reporter: what bridge? the bridge near the rio grande are immigration processing begins. this is as close as our cameras can get. border patrol is not granting media access. but with permission from deputy constables who patrol alongside federal authorities -- >> the office in charge of two

miles international border. >> reporter: we got our eyes and ears on the ground. did you come alone? this teen says he paid a smuggler after a recent hurricane flooded his single mom's home. how much did you pay? or about $2500. how did you get the money? was it a loan? broil's job ends here. when he sends the teens off to border patrol. for the teens, it is just another step in an already uncertain journey. among the banks of the rio grande, the landmass you see behind me is mexico. the men in charge of this portion of the border is precinct 3 constable larry and he tells me there is a constant dual challenge here, down river, the smuggling of people, upriver, the smuggling of drugs and the border patrol chief tweeting there is no end in sight. rosa flores, cnn, along the

u.s./mexico border. as she mentioned, u.s. border authorities are ove overwhelmed. the biden administration is struggling to find more shelter for the migrant children in custody. they will open another temporary shelter in texas, in addition to a new facility that just opened in dallas. cnn's priscilla alvarez is in dallas. >> reporter: the biden administration is using a convention center in dallas to accommodate the number of children crossing the u.s./mexico border alone. it is now being called an emergency intake site, outfitted with cots, children will be provided medical services and books and games as they work through the process to be relocated with family in the united states. this is one of the many steps the administration is taking to try to alleviate the overcrowding. the number of children in the facilities has continued it tick upward over the course of time. health and human services departments working around the clock to try to find shelters for these children including the

site behind me. i'm in dallas, priscilla alvarez, cnn. u.s. immigration and customs enforcement just signed a contract for $86 million to provide hotel rooms and processing services to migrant families. i.c.e. says this will provide 1200 beds for migrant families as the agency waits for the cases to move through the immigration courts. it covers covid testing, health assessments and processing services. the biden administration still won't call the situation at the border a crisis, and even though the president himself promised transparency when he took office, journalists have been blocked from reporting on conditions inside detention facilities. we get more on that from cnn's arlette saenz at the white house. >> reporter: when homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas travelled to the border, he did so without any reporters on the trip. the department of homeland security cited privacy concerns and the covid-19 pandemic as the

reason why the media was not allowed to accompany him on that trip to those border facilities. but this follows a pattern from the biden administration as this border crisis has been brewing. so far reporters have not been allowed into those border processing facilities, where those unaccompanied migrant children are being housed. many of these facilities not entirely fit to house children for long periods of time as some of them are now. now, while the secretary mayorkas was down at the border, he was also accompanied by some senators and one of those senators on the trip, democratic senator chris murphy, tweeted about the conditions that he saw. he said just left the border processing facility, hundreds of kids packed into big open rooms. in a corner, i fought back tears as a 14-year-old girl sobbed explaining how terrified she was. this is certainly one of many

scenes that is potentially playing out at these facilities, but so far the media has not had access to them to see what is actually happening on the ground. now, the white house has vowed they want to be transparent and are working on ways to make that access possible at the white house. but so far there is no timeline just yet of when reporters will be allowed into those facilities. arlette saenz, cnn, the white house. israel's prime minister is in the middle of an election battle. so thousands of protesters gather outside benjamin netanyahu's home, he's turning to a surprising group for new support. arab israelis. we'll show you how he's faring next. stay with us.

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the government declared a natural disaster in new south wales. it is being called a once in a century event. thousands had to evacuate. new south wales has seen its march rainfall records broken and authorities expect a downpour to continue for several days. the prime minister says adults and children who have been affected will receive one-time disaster relief payments. just days ahead of israel's general election, thousands of protesters are showing they want benjamin netanyahu out as prime minister. they gathered outside his residence in jerusalem on saturday, waving flags, banging drums, blowing horns. mr. netanyahu is on trial for corruption. he faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, which he denies. his critics accuse him of mishandling the coronavirus pandemic. the elections on tuesday will be

israel's fourth in just two years. apparently mr. netanyahu's likud party is ahead in the polls but not expected to have an outright majority, so would need to form a coalition with other parties. with the race so tight, he's hoping to gang support from an unexpected group. hadas gold explains. >> reporter: just last year, a campaign video like this from benjamin netanyahu would have been unthinkable. t contrast that with this video from 2015, stoking fear of israel's 20% arab minority to scare his likud party base to get out and vote. >> translator: the rule of the right is in danger. arab voters are moving in droves to the polling stations. left wing organizations are busing them in. >> reporter: this election is expected to be so close that one or two seats could determine who will be the next prime minister.

that's why you're seeing a possibly surprising sight from benjamin netanyahu, campaigning among an electorate he was accused of deriding. netanyahu's likud party has new promises to the voters, peace agreements with regional allies and cabinet position for a special minister of arab affairs. >> we're surprised to see it is working, it is effective. they believe in cooperation with the likud. so we went on with this strategy and so far, so good. >> reporter: it may be working, a recent poll by tel aviv university found nearly 25% of israeli arab voters think netanyahu is the best candidate for prime minister. in the village of tibai, the tension is evident on the streets, with protesters trying to convince the locals to vote against the prime minister. one of them yells at passing cars that netanyahu is a liar, and that they need to kick him out. but she's interrupted by a local

man who says there is no one like bibi, only bibi netanyahu, no one is stronger than him. not everyone is a fan. and for some the disillusionment spreads across the party as well. for first time in his life, this man may leave his ballot blank. >> translator: you don't have to be very smart to see we are disappointed. first of all, violence crimes. murder, the murder of women and children. second thing, infrastructure. third thing, all the unemployed people. you know what, i am at home all the time because i don't feel secure. shouldn't they care about me? >> reporter: dr. ahmed is a veteran of israeli politics, a member of parliament here for more than 20 years. he says it is foolish for an arab voter to think voting for netanyahu will give them power to address arab issues. >> netanyahu is the problem, he's not the solution.

he's right ideology, but he's a rightist. >> reporter: in such a small country, netanyahu's success may hinge on whether he can convince just enough of these voters to forget the past. hadas gold, cnn, israel. there are concerns over military readiness as about a third of u.s. troops decline to take the coronavirus shot. just ahead on "cnn newsroom," why vaccine skepticism is adding a new front to the war on covid and how the military hopes to overcome it. stay with us.

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vcu was forced to withdraw after multiple members of the team tested positive. the head coach says dropping out is heart breaking for the student athletes who dreamed of playing in the tournament. the vcu forfeit, oregon advances to second round. vaccine hesitancy in the u.s. military is fueling concerns about troop readiness. a large number of service members have declined to get the shot, and since the vaccine is authorized under emergency use, it is not mandatory. cnn's oren lieberman looks at how the military medical experts hope to calm fears and increase vaccinations. >> reporter: on the military's newest battlefield -- >> you can roll up your sleeve for me, sir -- >> reporter: -- success is measured in doses. >> one, two, three. >> reporter: each needle a precision weapon from pharmaceutical companies instead of defense contractors. >> we have a vaccine, we have a tool, we have a manner in which

we can help stop this pandemic in its tracks. but not everybody feels comfortable receiving the vaccination. >> reporter: specialist carol gotti, a healthcare worker herself, wasn't sure she would get the vaccine. >> mainly because of how quickly they put the vaccine out, there were really no studies on the long-term effects of the vaccine, so that had me kind of concerned. >> reporter: it was concern for her family that brought her around, bought that hesitation is not uncommon. >> there was times where the thoughts crept in, like, i could possibly die from getting this vaccine, maybe i shouldn't get it. and just talking to medical experts in my organization, people, reputable people, they put me at ease and ultimately helped me turn around my decision. >> reporter: other service members still have their fears and concerns over the covid-19 vaccine. one soldier who spoke with cnn on condition of anonymity said my fear is reacting poorly to the vaccine or having a dangerous reaction that puts me out of commission or messes with

my body too much. i understand the virus can do the exact same thing. >> easy day. >> reporter: the military estimates two-thirds of service members eligible for the vaccine accepted it. but the number may be even lower. at ft. bragg, an army base with 57,000 military personnel, the acceptance race is below 60%. in the national guard, 39%. in nebraska national guard, it is down to 30%. two military healthcare sources who spoke with cnn say they're seeing an opt in rate of closer to 50% in the regions they cover. domestic military base and overseas command. and as you go down the tiers from first responders to the general military population, the sources say the acceptance rate goes down. >> i wanted to speak to you today about the coronavirus. >> reporter: military leaders held virtual town halls to answer questions, promoted vaccination safety and availability. >> speaking as a physician, the safety and effectiveness of the approved vaccine is exceptional.

and every passing week the evidence grows stronger. >> reporter: on social media, the posts have become havens for misinformation and conspiracy theorie theories. >> that is a huge bat. it is harder to fight the misinformation that comes out of the blue. >> reporter: at the moment, demand is far outpacing supply. >> everyone is coming in, this is something they want to get. >> reporter: they expect the acceptance rate to go up but it will take time. there are two opposing trends to watch moving forward. as you go down in tiers of vaccination from 1a, the most urgent, like haealthcare worker, one of our military sources says the refusal rate goes up. as the vaccine is out there longer, it becomes more widespread and troops see their peers getting it as well as fears of long-term effects subsiding, officials expect the acceptance rate will go up

eventually. the issue is this isn't an eventually problem. it is a right now problem. oren lieberman, cnn, at the pentagon. a group on a fishing trip in the gulf of mexico got more than they bargained for this week. there are about 130 miles off the galveston, texas, coast, when up ahead they spotted scores of orcas, known as killer whales. the captain says about 30 of them broke off from the larger pod and surrounded the boat. they swam alongside the vessel for about 30 minutes and then apparently lost interest. but you can bet the fish tales from this trip will live on forever. i know, orcas aren't fish, but work with me here. that wraps up this hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm kim brunhuber. i'll be back in a moment with more news. please do stay with us.

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o miami beach declares a state of emergency. feeling the pressure of florida's decision to reopen almost everything during the pandemic. people across the u.s. rally against racial violence in the wake of the atlanta-spa shootings, with many asking why it's not, yet, labeled a hate crime. and agents scramble to process thousands of unaccompanied children. the government, spending millions on hotel rooms for mieg r migrant families. how the biden administration was caught off guard by the border