think about it that story is so poignant. and why? because it was senseless. she had no control over it, no choice, and now she is gone and her family is left to try and figure out why and we are obsessed with why? what happened? how could we not have it again? then here you and i are on the precipice of covering a whole new wave in the pandemic where it is all about choice, all about our collective ability to save ourselves from a worse fate. how do we care so much about one situation and have an opposite sense of feelings? i know it is complicated. we all care about her and the family and the others. probably well over a hundred at the end of it. we care and we don't want it to happen again yet here we are in the pandemic freely, freely something we're calling some perverse sense of freedom allowing ourselves to get sick. i never thought i'd see this. coop, thank you for reminding people of the right way to remember and remembering what

matters. appreciate you, brother. >> good night, chris. welcome to "primetime." i'm chris cuomo. listen man. this is where i am. i couldn't wait to come back from vacation for one reason. i got to ask you please don't help make america sick again. we just can't make ourselves sick again. we're all hearing about it. you and i are no different. you're hearing about people getting sick. it is almost always the delta variant. and we know the big factor. you're hearing it in your own lives. your own circles. if they're vaccinated people you're kind of like oh, wow they're vaccinated and they got sick. then what? symptom attic? maybe. a couple bad days, right? what about when they're not vaccinated? it's happening to people i know, people i care about. it's bad. heavy, long lasting symptoms. hospitalizations. even death.

again. this tale of two cities, the va nated and the vaccuous. this deep denial is making us sick again. that is the fact. okay? now we have our fate for the future. the story of our collective fate for the fall is being written right now. the city of st. louis has just reinstated its mask mandate for indoor public places. i don't like that. i don't want to go back to wearing a mask. i never saw it as just like, ah, no big deal. it is a big deal. not as big a deal as being sick. but why? hospitalizations are rising so fast they can't handle the capacity. and they won't be the last. as long as so many stay unvaccinated. missouri's attorney general has filed suit in an attempt to stop

the st. louis mandate, calling it continued government overreach. this is a farce. spend the time helping people understand that there is no patriotism in enabling a pandemic. this cannot be about feeling. it has to be about fact. there is nothing patriotic about exercising the freedom to ignore reality. if it makes you sick, if it makes people you care about sick, we're at 50,000 cases a day again, more than four times the rate of a month ago. why? one reason. the delta variant exploding especially among the unvaccinated. this is not about government over reaching and you being forced. nobody in the free media wants to see any american being forced to do anything that is arguably bad for them or not at their volition. this is about the freedom to make a bad choice, but people

are encouraging you to make a bad choice. why? look, again, i know you say it to me in the street and online. oh, yeah? if the vaccine is so great why are people who got it getting sick? because it's not perfect. they told us all along it wasn't perfect. they told us all along that the variant was going to be a problem. the reason you still get vaccinated, the reason i got vaccinated even though i heard all of these stories about how lousy i might feel, because of someone who had covid, and i did, was to protect myself from the severity, how bad it can be. the vaccine blunts the severity. even of the variant. look, masks help stop the spread. okay? we know that. but only the vaccine, only the trump vaccine and the trump vaccine alone can keep you from

getting very sick if you catch covid-19 or a variant. why is it that this vaccine is the only thing that trump has told you about that you don't buy? he says take it. but you don't take it. now, let's be fair for a second how we got here. let's go back. do you remember when word first came from trump about operation warp speed and that they were going to have a vaccine faster than ever and it was going to be magic and everything would disappear? who had doubts? everybody, right? now, on the right they shut up. why? because they're in fealty to trump. they're quiet. they're scared. not the left. the left had doubts. i don't know that people are going to want to take it. i don't know that i trust him. this is new vaccine. we're going to believe this buffoon and take it? they had the misgivings. why? trump is a liar. he lied about so much. he was a proven problem in the pandemic. he called it a hoax. he lied to us.

but then what? facts replace feelings. the left had to see that as millions and millions got it the virus stopped spreading almost kpleedly. t the media tried. none ended up real factors for side effects in the data as far as they've told us so we know it is safe. we're not in the feeling stage anymore. we know it crushes the virus. and even holds up with the variant. and yet now it is the right that doesn't want it. even though it comes from trump. why not? how can it be that not even 50% of us are fully vaccinated in this country? i couldn't believe it. i literally had to check that. i thought we were closer to 70. but, yes, when you include everyone meaning also the kids who can't get the vaccine yet

under 12, we are below 50% fully vaccinated. the world is desperate for what we have, complete access to here in this country. and only america, supposedly the greatest, supposedly the greatest, is making herself sick? when you look at just the adults, okay, not the kids, we're only at about 6 in 10 fully vaccinated. unless you have an immunity issue, there is no patriotism in proving you can get sick and make others sick. again, doesn't it mean something to you? that countries we look to in europe, other developed, real democracies, are dying to get access to what we have in abundance? and that there are so many of us choosing just not to take it to make some point? what point? when have so many of us

willingly wanted to be weak and force hard times? here is a good example of how nuts things are right now. there is this snow leopard, okay, tested positive for covid-19 at the san diego zoo. sad. his name is romul, 9 years old. he hadn't been vaccinated yet like some of the other animals. why? it is experimental. they made choices. maybe his age. why am i telling you this? because the internet is filled with people feeling bad for the leopard. yet so many are choosing his fate on purpose. that is not how he lost his eye by the way. don't be a snow leopard. he didn't have a choice to go get vaccinated. you do. so why aren't we getting it? tricky. tricky. why? i don't think it does any help

to shame people. i'm worried for us, for all of us, because if you don't get it you're going to make others sick. my kid is not going to be back in school in the fall and i'm worried, man. my kids did not do well not being in school. they're not that type of kid. you know? i have one of the only 15-year-old boys in this country who wants to redo a year of school. think about that. not because he is a hockey player or something and looking for another year of eligibility. this is bad. people in my family have been sick. i was sick. i can't believe we're going to willingly go this way again when we have something that can keep us from it. i just can't believe it. it is not about shaming you. i don't want you to feel forced. and yet there is shame in this. there are people basically forcing you to think foregoing the vaccine is you being free. that is a false choice. people like crenshaw, paul, cruz, ron johnson, they're punking you. this is a question of freedom.

don't let the government tell you what to do. so getting it or not getting it are equal propositions to them. let's test that. how many of them have decided to be free to get sick? all right. almost a hundred of the trumpers in congress won't tell you. nearly half of house republicans still won't say publicly whether they have been vaccinated. now, look. you don't have to get it. okay? but i want to know why you don't. and i want to know why you would not want other people to get something that you know works unless you have some kind of clinical understanding that i don't because the idea it's just about choice and volition, about something that is a difference between whether or not you get sick and changes your life and compromises other people or not and you have no good reason to say that it is an equal proposition? then why would you suggest it that way? so look. here is the good news.

we don't need to shame. you know why? you don't have to go bad on one of your own if you're in the team politics game. you don't have to go bad on trump. you don't have to go bad on trumpers because those who wrongly told you to resist are now changing their tune. steve scalise the minority whip just announced he finally got his first shot this week and is encouraging others to do the same. be clear. some people did not actively disrespect the vaccine and say don't take it. but they do sit silently while others do just that and that is just as bad when you're in power. trump's former press secretary sarah sanders, no greater enabler of trump's lies than she, but now she is pushing the trump vaccine. take the trump vaccine. the left jumps on her. why you calling it the trump vaccine? easy. i don't care what they call it. trump did bring it to us. he started operation warp speed. he forced it. he wanted it. he put the money at it.

good. trump vaccine. trump vaccine. trump vaccine. great. great. even trump is coming closer to pushing the truth the way he does lies about the election. listen. >> how about the vaccine? i came up with the vaccine. i recommend you take it but i also believe in your freedoms a hundred percent. >> now, this is the part i don't get. okay? i still don't understand why he doesn't push this vaccine like everything except what i keep being offered up an answer which i don't want to accept just to see him as a human being which is there is nothing in it for him. it doesn't help him for america to do great and get away from the vaccine right now. if it were his watch it would be one thing but he blew that. i have a hard time accepting that. i don't want to. i don't want to think that way about people. but this freedom thing. where is the freedom issue? don't force me to take it, man. who is forcing you? there's talk about they're going to force. private companies can do what they want want. they say no shirt no shoes. the vaccine falls into it.

you don't have to go there and they don't have to want you there. okay. think about why there is talk about having to make it more and more insistent for people. because you are making yourself and others sick. this isn't making you get a tatoo. think about what's happening here. somebody is suggesting it's okay if you don't want something that they are taking asap. you are leaving that part out. trump says i'm all about your freedoms. oh, yeah? if the freedom is so important did he make the choice of freedom to not take it? he took it asap. he had it for his whole family. how come none of them wanted to be free? remember, any of them talking this i'm free to be stupid that they're selling to you. now, another point. don't trust cuomo. don't trust any of them. what is my motive? what is my bad motive? for wanting you to take the

vaccine? is my last name pfizer? they're not even part of operation warp speed by the way. but why? why would i want you to take a vaccine or not except for the obvious reason which is i don't want you to get sick? okay? i know people are telling you well, cuomo, he lied. he was never sick. look, that is a sickness all its own. okay? and it's not the truth and they know it. that's what bothers me about this. who cares what they say about me? i don't care about that. i'll be the judge of who i am and who i'm not and i trust the people around me to know the same. but i almost wish they were right because they know they're wrong. they know they're lying. but i didn't want to get sick. i don't still want to have long haul symptoms. i'm not who i was before. i hate it. i don't like hearing from people who reach out it me from all over the country and the world with these stories of struggle and whether i can connect to somebody who can help because they can't do this, can't do that, and haven't been able to

get this back. all these new problems. losing their old abilities. losing loved ones. i just don't want you to be one of them. i don't want anymore of it. i don't want to cover this. i don't want this to be the sum total of our collective fate in this country. and i'm telling you, this is where we're headed. this is where we're headed. look at these three states right now. as a kind of a test tube for the rest of us. missouri, texas, florida. i don't give a damn if they're red or blue or purple. okay? i'm not about left and right. we got to be reasonable. the counties with the highest case rates have significantly lower vaccination rates than other areas. you know it's not a coincidence. look, i heard the stories, too. i had my friends and people wanting to go down to florida. great in florida, man. no mask. like no covid! 67 counties in florida now listed as having high levels of

community transmission. you don't like desantis. i don't know desantis. i invite him on the show all the time to make the case for this. i wish him and his family well like every other human being and i hope he does the right thing by his people. tell me why cases there have more than tripled in the last two weeks. why is florida the epicenter right now? they've got money. they've got means. they've got leadership. where is desantis on this? where is he with his don't fauci florida? how did that work out? why do we keep hearing about the cases in that state from the cdc and not from him and other state officials daily? why report weekly? this is the reality and i don't care about the politics. the only politics that can matter is what gets us to a better place. it's got to be about conversations. i know how you feel. i don't want to hear from any trump people. i don't want to have them on. don't give them a platform to lie.

i don't give anybody a platform to lie. all right? we will test people on this show and we always have as well or better than any other. that is what we do. it's never been needed more than now. i'm not going to close off conversation. i'm not going to quit on people because of their political stripe. this is about all of us or it's about none of us. and i hope you get that. let's take a break. when we come back, congressman byron donlds a leader in florida. i want to talk to him about the situation and what's keeping us back. next. here we go. ♪ ♪ so i'd like to know where you got the notion ♪ ♪ to rock the boat don't rock the boat, baby ♪ ♪ rock the boat don't tip the boat over ♪ ♪ rock the boat don't rock the boat, baby ♪ ♪ rock the boat ♪ see disney's jungle cruise. it's time to rock the boat, america.

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we know what's happening in the country. we know the delta variant is doing exactly what we were afraid it was going to do especially if we didn't get vaccinated which we haven't in a way that is protecting us. not enough. not even close. and one of the great test cases for that is florida. the way florida goes, most of this country may follow.

let's bring in republican congressman byron donalds. good to see you. how is your family? >> they're doing great. good to see you. >> good. problems down there with the variant. is there a reason for it in your mind that is different from the obvious? >> well, look. what we've seen is the delta variant is a little more contagious than original strain but you have to remember 85% of our senior citizens are fully vaccinated in florida. it was a priority of the governor desantis and of our state government to make sure that senior citizens had all the access necessary to get vaccinated. that has occurred at 85%. it starts to drop off as you start going into younger ages. i think it is also important to understand, chris, that when you look at different groups that are not getting vaccinated, black americans, hispanic americans are getting vaccinated at lower rates. >> true. >> than white americans and asian americans. i think it is important to understand that you have an ethnic component unfortunately to this but you also have to understand the age component

which is the most important thing that senior citizens in florida by and large have been vaccinated and have full access to getting vaccines. >> you know that is not the end of the story. look, i get why you say it. it is certainly important from a leithality standpoint. nobody is as vulnerable to die as the elderly, so good. you know that is not the full story. there is a politicizing of this, yes, you're right. certain ethnic minorities don't. why? you have access and you also have generations of distrust for different reasons about what's happened with the government interplay in their lives before true or not true but i'm talking about something else. the reason has to be, part of the reason that you're seeing what you're seeing in florida is because the vaccine hesitancy and an aspect of vaccine hesitancy is politics especially in your state. don't fauci florida. do you feel responsible for spreading a message where i'm not going to take it because i don't care what biden wants. byron donalds is not going to take it because he doesn't care

what biden wants. do you think that is a good message for people to hear? >> well, the first thing is my message was never about joe biden. the message is about me and my own personal health. i'm 42 years old. i've had covid already. >> i want to read your words. >> hold on. i didn't cut you off. don't cut me off. >> you don't get to cut me off. it is my show. >> all right. >> it has nothing to do with what joe biden wants. it has nothing to do with what joe biden wants. funny. i never brought him up when i was deciding whether to get vaccinated. why did you? >> a reporter asked me on a news show and i said it has nothing to do with what he wants. i chose not to get vaccinated because i chose not to. i already had covid-19 once. i'm 42 years old in very good health and i get check ups and do those things. that is a personal decision for myself. members of my family, my wife and three kids all had covid. they're not getting vaccinated. they are all healthy. that is a decision they have chosen to make.

the key thing to understand, if people in the united states are concerned about contracting and being hospitalized and dying of course from covid-19, please go get vaccinated. i will never tell you not to get vaccinated. what i'm saying is i made a decision not to get vaccinated. it doesn't matter if it's you or joe biden or anybody else that is going to stress or want me to get it i'm not doing it because i made that decision as a free person. >> freedom isn't just defined as the bold and ability to be strong and wrong. it is about doing the right thing, the best thing. you say if people are worried about getting sick or dying they should get vaccinated. what about if people are worried about giving covid-19 or a variant to others which you very well could do. you could be doing it right now and not know. doesn't that matter? >> you just said that people who have actually gotten vaccinated and may have picked up the variant that the actual symptoms are very, very mild if any exist at all. there is a member of congress

just came back. he tested positive and he actually had been vaccinated earlier this year. he is back and he is fine. talked to him earlier today. >> because he was vaccinated, byron. you just made my point. >> you make the wrong point. you are making the point that everybody has to get vaccinated in order to protect everybody. what i am saying is that if americans want to get vaccinated, if they want to be protected from covid-19 whether the delta variant or the new variant coming through our southern border as we speak if you want to get protected from that go get the vaccine. i fully promote you doing that but at the same time if there are americans who don't want to get it they shouldn't be forced to do so. >> that is the thing. it is a false choice. this isn't about you won't force me. >> it is not a false choice. >> it is. >> it is the accurate choice, chris. it is not false. >> nobody is forcing anybody. you're trying to push it to where people have to be forced and seeing it as a position of strength and advantage. >> oh, no. you are the one pushing it not me. i'm not trying to push it. >> everybody should know that

about you, byron donalds. you are not telling people to get vaccinated. you are not pushing it. you are not saying it is the right choice. you're saying you're not doing and your family is not and leaving out of the equation you can make other people sick as if that doesn't matter. okay? >> chris, did you not just hear my answer 30 seconds ago? i said if you want to be protected from these variants and the original strain go get vaccinated. i promote you to do that. >> what about other people? >> i just told you live on your own show if you want to get vaccinated, america, go do it. but if there are americans like myself who choose not to please do not berate me. that is a personal choice i have made for my own health care. i am allowed and entitled to do that. >> you are absolutely right you have a right to do it. two different statement. do you have the right? of course. nobody is debating except you guys as a false choice. what i am saying is, is it right to do it? have you spoken to a doctor? you are supposed to be a leader. have you talked to the cdc and

the people in florida at the department of health about whether or not they think you made a good choice? if your answer is i don't care what they say. this is me. i'm an american. that is being dumb as a proxy for being bold. and i don't think it is a good message because remember it is not just you protecting yourself. it is you protecting me and other people from you. that's why you get vaccinated not just for yourself. important distinction. go ahead. >> actually the way vaccines work are to protect yourself. a vaccine basically gives you a special cocoon where you actually limit the worst harmful effects of the virus itself or may not get it all together depending on your own personal physiology. that is the way vaccines work. to me personally i did talk to a couple doctors i know about it and i told them i already had it and i am 42. what do you think? they said yeah you're fine. if that is what you want to do go ahead. they didn't say no you have to do it because of everybody else. if other people want to be protected they have access to

vaccines. go get the vaccine. i would never tell anybody not to get vaccinated. i do totally support it if that is what someone chooses to do. i don't know why this is hard. it is that simple. >> listen, i totally agree. it is very simple. i think you're making it hard. you are seeing some kind of righteousness and choice to do something that doesn't make a lot of sense. that is your right. what i am saying is something else. you are wrong about how vaccines work. you are only giving part of the proefl axis. the other part to why you take the vaccine is it also reduces, not completely, nothing is perfect and certainly this vaccine is not, but it also reduces your ability to communicate the virus. and make other people infected. that part matters, too. listen, brother. i tell you the same thing every time i talk to you. i wish you well and i respect you as a leader. i hope you don't get sick again and i hope your family does not as well. i would never want anything else for you. god bless you, your wife, and your kids.

i am just saying the numbers are going up down in florida for a reason. they are going up down there for a reason and it is not just because of the randomness of the variant otherwise you guys wouldn't be getting hit worse. that is all. you are always welcome here. i know i interrupt a little bit. i'm passionate and scared. i'm worried about this but i respect you coming on the show, kra am cram. >> of course. any time. be safe. >> be well and be safe. so look. you have to have the conversation. okay? you have to have the conversation. he has a right not to get vaccinated but does that make it right especially for a leader? that is the discussion. i don't have animus toward him. it doesn't help anything. i wish him well. i want his constituents to benefit from good leadership. i'm going to test it here on this show. that's it. so what are the real obstacles? here is one that i keep harping on and people keep telling me doesn't matter but i keep hearing it from people all over this country. if the vaccine is safe why isn't it approved by the fda? they're dotting the is, crossing

the ts. how bad is the handwriting? why is it taking so long? let's ask a former fda commissioner under trump how important is it to get it approved? how big a deal is that in hesitancy? what does he make of the conversation i just had? next. and had the heart attack. he's the most important thing in my life. i'm so lucky to get him back. your heart isn't just yours. protect it with bayer aspirin. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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freedom of choice of course. but what about when the choice

starts to create freedom from cloi choice for you which is that you get sick because you are not vaccinated or you make someone you care about sick? let's discuss the realities. dr. steven hahn former fda commissioner under president trump. goo to have you, sir. >> thank you, chris. really appreciate the opportunity. >> rebut the presumption. i talked to a couple doctors. they said you don't want to get it don't get it. that is my choice. that's the end of it. what do you think of that decision? >> so what i think is that we should all be who are eligible getting the vaccine. i think we have plenty of data to show it is safe and effective. i think there is a missing point here. certainly the data suggests you could have a breakthrough infection with one of the variants. that is true. but the disease tends to be mild. so it prevents severe disease and hospitalization and as you've said multiple times nothing is perfect. the key here is

transmissibility. what we've seen with the variants is there is increased risk of transmission. if we're going to put this behind us, get beyond this, no longer going to have mandates about masks, going to go see a major league baseball game and the super bowl, etcetera, we have to get as many people vaccinated as possible. vaccine helps me and not communicate the virus to others with the same strength. you are nodding yes. what does it mean that a congress member from florida doesn't know that? he thought we were in a tit for tat and said oh, that's not how vaccine works. vaccine protects you, creates a cocoon. i had to tell him no it does that and it mitigates your ability to communicate it to others. another reason to get it. if he doesn't know that are we doing something wrong with the message? >> this is something that is relatively you know -- discussed relatively uncommonly. i think when you brought that up

and when we see this in the literature it is very important for us to emphasize because at the end of the day what we want to do is stop the transmission. how do we get variants? we get variants because the virus gets into somebody who is not protected. it undergoes mutation. then it spreads to additional people. what we need to have done to prevent the variants from escaping and prevent transmission is have more people vaccinated. it is that straight forward. we need to continue to communicate that. this is a decision between a patient and a doctor. we need to make sure the appropriate education is there. >> i can't believe there are a lot of doctors who are going to tell people don't get vaccinated. you'll be fine. if you already had covid don't worry. i haven't had any doctor tell me that. i was in no hurry to get the vaccine because i kept hearing people like me with symptoms with a case that you may really feel it when you get it and i did but i got it anyway. my last question for you is

this. you are not a politician but you were a member of an administration. without question it is members of the trump loyalist fringe saying things basically punking people that getting vaccinated is somehow surrendering your individual right. the left doesn't believe in individual responsibility. they don't believe in individual choice. the government doesn't decide who gets vaccinated. you do. you're not my parents. you're the government. is that helpful? >> i think if you look back on the history of this vaccine and its development there has been the assertion of politics from the beginning. and you actually very well outlined that in your initial statement. so we're just seeing that continue now. it is not helpful to encourage people to avoid vaccination. we must be encouraging them to be vaccinated. the data are clear. the data continue to emerge. the vaccine is effective. it does appear to be safe. >> the last thing. then i got to let you go.

am i right that if the fda were to approve this vaccine it would make a difference for people? >> i think it would. the gold standard. >> do you already know it is good enough now and doesn't need approval? >> i think the data are with the fda. they're probably having a give and take with the companies about it. they'll do a great job of looking at the data. we depend upon them to do that thoroughly and that is what they're doing now. i think it will make a difference. >> dr. stephen hahn, appreciate you. come again. >> chris, you bet. let's look at the numbers. why is florida the epicenter of the crisis? the wizard of odds, next. millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments. that's why i started medhaul. citi launched the impact fund to invest in both women and entrepreneurs of color like me, so i can realize my vision and give everything i've got

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there is a lot that we know now when it comes to covid, right? but it is the delta strain that we really need to focus on because it is more than was expected. 83% of new u.s. cases is the variant. okay? we know the where. we know the why. we have to look closer at it. you have to look at the

southeast. the real question is what are we going to do about it? that power is within us. you talk about freedom of choice. the freedom of the choice is to do the right thing to keep yourselves safe. let's go through it fast. states with the most newly, new weekly cases what do we see? >> this is interesting. you were talking about the southeast. we got arkansas, louisiana, florida, missouri, mississippi all with the exception of florida in the bottom half of vaccinations rafrmgd versus the rest of the states. look in the last week. arkansas second. louisiana third. florida fifth. missouri fourth. mississippi ninth. folks are scared and when they're scared all of a sudden folks who are perhaps hesitant to get the vaccine have gone out in much higher numbers than the rest of the nation to go get them. >> so do we know these people are going out more now to get vaccinated? >> that is exactly what these numbers are showing is that in these states they are making up a larger share of those getting vaccinated than they used to. they are all in the top ten now. before only florida was in the

top 25. >> go deeper into florida. florida has every reason to be successful. it has the money, the means, lots of points of ingress and egress, medical care. what is going on there and why? >> look, coronavirus in florida average new dawley cases weekly. look at that. the week average over 10,000. new hospitalizations up daily. 358 on the average. deaths 40 averaging per day over the last week. look at these weekly changes. all way up. deaths up 22% week over week. 83% hospitalizations. 61% up on cases. why? i think a few things. one, the delta variant. very big there. two, there is a bit of seasonality to this. if you compare the map from last year to this year you see some similarities. i won't dismiss that either. there is no doubt if these states were perhaps better vaccinated including florida we would expect these numbers to be lower. >> the variant. the best data shows that the vaccines work against it as well. how so? >> i would be very cautious in

understanding there is still not that much data in on delta but the best data was from a houston, texas study taking place march 15 to july 3rd. what we know is against all the other variants of the cases coming in 94% were among the nonfully vaccinated. against delta it is not nearly as strong. look at that. still 80% among the nonfully vaccinated just 20% among the nonfully vaccinated. if there is one thing you take away from this is yes the vaccines probably don't work as well against the delta variant than the others but they still do work and they especially work on the severe illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths. if there is anyone in the audience i implore you go out there and get a vaccinated because the vaccines do work even against delta. you may save your life in doing so. >> remember something we learned that may not be that obvious. the vaccine keeps you from getting sick hopefully. nothing is perfect. but it also mitigates or reduces your ability to get somebody else sick.

it -- you still can but it reduces the chances. another reason to get it. >> just in closing i would say there are kids under the age of 12 right now who cannot go get those vaccines and you can protect their lives and immuno compromised folks who also, giving them the extra protection that you can't pass it on to them potentially. go out and get vaccinated for yourself and your community as well. >> yes kids are getting sick. not the way the rest of us but it is happening. thank you very much. >> thank you, sir. >> look. why talk about it this way, so agitated? i am worried and we got to be on the same team. what unites us has to be stronger than what divides you. i don't know it is true anymore but i am bringing in a better mind to discuss that, bob costas. not only does he understand what is happening with team u.s.a. and the olympics but as a student of our society and what is happening and why. there is none better. next.

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we are so divided. how divided are we? we're so dif vided taking a vaccine you know protects your health and around you is political. we're not on the same side anymore, are we? isn't that sad. we're literally making surourses sick. so traditionally, this is a great time. olympics, national unifier, america, right? how is it now? let's bring in bob kostas, needs to introduction but a welcome addition. >> this is strange for me. this is the first time since 1984 that i have not been at a summer olympics. on friday night i was at fenway park calling a baseball game. here i am with you perfectly cop

f -- comfortable with it. do you miss it? no, i'm glad i did it. nbc will be fine without me but it is odd. >> they will be fine. it's not the same. if you know one thing about me, if i say it, i mean it. they are fine. let move on. the idea of what they mean this ye year, what is your read on what the ocho lilympics and team usa? >> we'll get massive numbers to what broadcast tv generally gets but won't be fair to compare to rio or the next one in paris when who knows what they will invent for streaming or whatever. you have to cobble together the entities nbc is drawing audience but no matter how, it will be down because people's habits

have changed during the pandemic. their viewing habits in general plus much of what brings them to the olympics through no fault of the athletes and nbc. the panorama of it, the bemotio of it and energy of fans in the stands is missing and that's not anyone's fault, it's the pa pandemic's fault and blame the ioc for pushing ahead and not postponing again, you can do that. >> i was desperate for something to come out of the olympics to make us realize there is something bigger than ourselves. >> could be. >> it -- >> basketball team, that's for sure. >> yeah, well, you know, as gregg popovich said, the world is caught up with us. you know, a lot of the best players in the nba are not american born players and while everyone rebelled in the dream team, myself included in barc barcelona, david stern was a visionary. we'll put michael jordan, larry

bird and everyone else on the same team and beat everyone, it was to globalize the blame. the most globalized is the nba no question about it. the rest of the world is catching up. we still at full strength, we would still be the favorites. but the gap is smaller and this year, the nba in effect played a season and a half because 2020 blended into 2021. they finished in the bubble. they turned right around. a lot of these players are pretty much exhausted and instead of finals ending in june, they ended in july. some of the players arrived only three days before the games began. they haven't had time to practice together. not an excuse, just an observation. >> from dream team to dream deferred. you heard the conversation with the florida congressman that needed to be corrected how vaccines work. listen, i'm healthy. i had it. i don't need it. that's my choice. i don't care what biden says and the government says. we hear this refrain again and again. >> look, we're in an area that is not a matter of opinion.

this is a matter, it should not be viewed as liberal, conservative, democrat, republican. this is a matter of facts versus denial of facts, flatout ignorance. it would not be possible a generation or so ago you didn't have so many places to go to have whatever you want to believe ratified or stumble on to misinformation. there are people online who are specializing in making a lot of money out of dispensing this sort of misinformation. this is not a matter of opinion. if you won't get vaccinated unless you're in the tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of those who have a legit imate reason not t, if you won't get vaccinated you're wrong, period. when people say well, it's my choice. it's your choice to drink. i won't come to your house and tell you not to have a shot. it's not your choice or you will be held to account for it to drink and drive. even people who smoke three

packs a day understand they can't smoke on an airplane or in this restaurant. when your choice butts up against my well being, play your music as loud as you want but not in the theater where we're trying to watch the movie. these are simple concepts that have been politicized here. >> have you ever seen america fall down on a challenge as it has here? we've made our zelselves sick a d deep denial. we had the vaccine, we had the means to make the ppe. have you ever seen the country in this situation? >> no, and it's not just a matter of ignorance but a defiant ignorance. it's a badge of honor to act this way and you made a good point earlier in this hour. the one thing that trump was undeniably right about even though he won't shout it from the highest rooftop and all the

networks grant to him to make a full and cohaerent statement about it, he does acknowledge you should get vaccinated. you should call it the trump vaccine. the most important thing he was right about is that. for some reason, they're not acting upon that. meanwhile, they eat up all of his other ridiculous preposterous lies. >> if he only sold the truth about the vaccine the way he does the lie about the election. brother kostas, thank you. >> there you have it. you got me in trouble again somewhere, some precinct or whatever. >> the mistake was coming on the show. after that, it's all on me. >> we'll be back with the handoff. oh no... i thought i just ordered tacos. nope!... ramen... burgers... milk from the store, and... ...cookies? wha, me hungry! here, i'll call some friends to help us eat. yeah, that good idea. get more from your neighborhood. hey yo, grover! doordash.

all right, thank you very much for the opportunity. i hope you know it coming from a