yesterday? >> reporter: he said he noticed something during film session the next day afterwards. and the league's chief medical officer said they didn't notice anything during the game so it's possible the spotters did not see he had a head injury. and it is absolutely possible that no coaches knew he had been con cussed. it's possible that tua himself knew he had a head injury. i speak from experience in my second season in the nfl i hit a running b running back, i ruined his shoulder, and i didn't remember it until i watched film the next day. that's when mcdaniel noticed in this case for tua. realized something right. told him to see the doctors, he was diagnosed with a concussion. here's what he had to say about the uncertainty of tua returning to play this weekend or this

season. >> i'll do what the medical experts advise me to do. and i'm quite certain they're not going to advise me in the wrong direction when it has to do with his health. his health is the first, foremost and only priority. >> reporter: this was his second diagnosed concussion this season for tua tagovailoa, kaitlan. there's an overwhelming amount of former players on social media urging tua to take care of his body and mind, let them heal because his long term health is far more important. >> rg-3 saying he shouldn't play again this season. we'll see what he and the team decide. thanks for the update. "cnn this morning" continues right now. ♪ good morning, everyone. it is thursday, december 29th.

don is off this morning. we have a lot of news under way, especially coming out of ukraine where russia has launched a massive attack overnight. missile strikes hitting critical infrastructure injuring civilians. we're live at the scene of one of those strikes in a few moments. also this. are you doing all right? you have tears in your eyes, what's going on? >> i didn't get to see my best friend in florida. >> did they tell you you would be able to fly and last minute they said you couldn't fly, is that what happened? >> yeah. >> we're seeing the human toll of the southwest meltdown. a top executive this morning from southwest airlines apologizing again after more than 2,300 flights have already been canceled today. and the death toll still rising in buffalo days after a devastating storm as we learn more about some of the victims of that blizzard. first we begin this morning

in ukraine where explosions have hit cities around the country, the power has gone out in several regions as russia is conducting what appears to be one of the largest attacks to date. air-raid sirens started going off around 5:30 a.m. throughout most of ukraine. kharkiv region was hit by four rockets. in lviv, the mayor said 90% of the city is without power this morning and officials are worried they may lose access to water as well. in kyiv at least three people were injured, including a 14-year-old. the mayor said that houses and industrial facility and even a playground were damaged. this is something that president zelenskyy had been warning about. these forthcoming attacks, and the ukrainian military southern command said two russian ships in the black sea had shown signs preparing to conduct an attack like what we're seeing. cnn's international correspondent ben wedeman is live for cnn in kyiv this

morning. what are you seeing on the ground there? i know you're at the site of one of these strikes. what are you witnessing? >> reporter: what we're seeing here is the aftermath of what appears to be debris from an intercepted missile, according to the mayor of kyiv 16 missiles were fired in the direction of the capital. all of them intercepted but, of course, they're intercepted and then the debris falls to the ground. i'll step out of the way so you get a better view. this is the location where three people were injured. these strikes happened at 9:20 in the morning local time. as you said, a 14-year-old girl was injured. her mother as well. her mother, we're told, is currently in surgery. the 14-year-old girl, her condition we're told is medium. but obviously the woman more serious. and a man, also nearby was injured. we were at another location

similar circumstances. debris fell to the ground, a house basically destroyed, two men living in that house, they emerged safe just with minor scratches. but this seems to be, as you said, the largest such missile strikes on ukraine in quite some time. now according to the ukrainian commander in chief of the armed forces, 69 missiles were fired at ukraine in addition to drones. and 54 of them were successfully intercepted as well as 11 of these iranian-made drones that have been supplied to the russians. in the capital, kyiv, itself, at the moment, 40% of this city is without electricity as a result of the strikes, which ukrainian officials say were probably aimed at crippling the country's

energy infrastructure. the result, of course, the desired result from the russians to leave this country in the cold and the dark as new year's approaches. kaitlan. >> that's exactly the campaign that zelenskyy had been warning about. ben wedeman thank you for that update we'll check back in with you. another top executive at southwest airlines is apologizing for the meltdown there that has left thousands and thousands of people stranded all week at airports across the country. listen to this. >> first, my personal apology on behalf of myself and everyone at southwest airlines for all of this. second, a pledge to do everything we can and to work day and night to repair our relationship with you. and third, offer some specific new resources that we have to get you the fastest information and fastest service possible. >> that was ryan green, the chief commercial officer at southwest. it follows the apology yesterday by the ceo of southwest.

and this comes as a new memo reveals southwest was experiencing a staffing emergency prior to this meltdown. officials at denver international airport are launching an investigation into several airlines flight delays. that memo coming this fall southwest is saying it's not related to why they're experiencing this right now. adrienne broaddus is joining us from chicago midway airport. is it better today? >> reporter: it is better. we have been here all week and bags once sitting where i'm standing were removed. the majority of the bags that flooded this area, as you can see right now, are gone. the majority removed by crews working here at the airport and if passengers were lucky they left with baggage. but thousands have been impacted forcing them to rent cars, spend extra money on food, find

hotels, that all costs money. southwest is promising to reimburse those travelers for reasonable expenses. listen in. >> you can submit a full refund request for any canceled flights and if you have any travel expenses due to the disruption you can submit those re-cceiptsn our website. my personal apology is the first step to making things right after your experiences fell short of our expectations of us. we're continuing to work to make this up to you. >> reporter: top brass apologizing as southwest scrambles to get planes back in the air and clean up what has been described as a meltdown. also, i want to point out in denver, southwest operations there facing scrutiny after it was revealed operational emergency staffing procedures were enacted last week during the storm. that procedure is a plan that

makes or requires employees show a note from a doctor if they call out sick. nevertheless, some passengers we spoke with say it's too late for the apologies, they wish southwest had been upfront from the very beginning. >> and the question is now how much will all of these folks be compensated? what does reasonable mean to southwest? and what's going to change so this doesn't happen again. thank you for the reporting. the cancellations are preventing our next guest from meeting her future husband at the altar. she were supposed to be getting m married tomorrow but her flight was canceled and no other way to get there right now. katy, i can't imagine how devastating it is to plan a wedding and then not be able to make it because of a canceled

flight. >> yes, it is very devastating. i do want to say first, while this is very devastating for me and michael, this is nothing compared to -- we do understand this is nothing compared to what a lot of people are dealing with and tragedies, especially what's happening in buffalo. so i want to say that. but we are in our own personal devastation right now. >> i'm glad you said that. it's good perspective but still doesn't take away from the fact that you had planned something, counted on southwest to get you to your destination. tell me what happened. because i imagine you tried to rebook but unable. were there no other flights you could get on before the scheduled wedding date or what happened there? >> we went to the airport like we were -- you know, our flight was on time. we went, we were getting ready to board as we were getting ready to board, they came out, the captain came out, gave a speech, and basically told us the flight was canceled. at that point, i was -- i had a lot of my family with me, we

were -- i was in shock. we tried to rebook. and there was nothing. southwest actually booked me on a flight for january 2nd. my wedding is tomorrow, december 30th. so that was past the date of the wedding. there were no flights, there are no flights until january 1st. we've looked at everything we possibly could and there are no flights. i did have eight of my friends and we did go up to the southwest counter, they had flights for the next day, they wanted to give me, myself and my kids, and southwest was unable to do that. was unable to transfer those tickets over to me so we could make it to bah lease. >> did they explain why they couldn't trade out those tickets? >> they did tell us once it

would go in the system it would not actually come to me, we wouldn't be able to book those because they had overbooked and those people who were already booked that were overbooked without automatically get the tickets. >> so your fiance is there, he made it there and you were not able to get there stis that rig? >> yes. michael flew a different airline and able to make it with his kids and his mother and brother. those are the only people who made it to balise. >> when you plan a wedding you have to reserve a venue, there's a caterer, photographer, are you able to get any refunds for that or is that booked solid? >> that's booked solid. and we were able to talk about -- at this point because i cannot get there, michael is

there without a bride. hard to get married without your bride there. we have been able to postpone some things. we were able to stop and talk about postponing some things. as far as food and catering, our resort, all of my family and friends that booked at the resort, victoria house, they're unable to give us any kind of refund for our stay. so there's definitely a cost associated. but most importantly, you know, we have so many -- so much of my family, so many of my friends that put so much time and, you know, not only money but time, emotion, excitement for this day. it was very important for michael and i to have our kids with us, as well as our family. to be there to -- to be there for this time. and we are just devastated.

not just only michael and i, obviously, but my kids. family, friends, that we just emotionally are just -- the word i keep saying is devastating, because i don't know what else -- i don't know how else to explain how we are all feeling right now. >> i can imagine. to put so much planning into something that's such a special moment for you and your children and michael. and i'll just say we're very sorry you're in this situation. and we're glad you shared this with us because it's important to talk about the real impacts of these cancellations. we're sorry you're missing your planned wedding date and we hope you can reschedule and thank you for sharing this with us. >> thank you very much. >> what an amazing attitude. >> and to put it in perspective of buffalo. but still it yousucks to plan something like that. >> that's right. you can't have a wedding without

a bride. also this morning in washington, the democrat controlled house ways and means committee preparing to release six years of former president trump's tax returns. they'll do that tomorrow. this comes after trump fought for years to keep them secret. the committee has already revealed that trump paid little to no federal income tax for most of the time he was president. lauren fox is on capitol hill with more. when do we get them tomorrow? and can you explain sort of specifically what is going to be the focus here? >> reporter: tomorrow a significant day on the house floor, poppy. we expect around 9:00 a.m. tomorrow when the house holds a pro forma session, this typically happens when lawmakers are out of town, that that is when this information is going to be entered into the congressional record. here's what we're expecting to see. we'll get entered into the record the tax returns between the years of 2015 and 2020. and not just trump's personal federal income taxes but also

for those eight business entities that were requested from the house ways and means committee. we also expect to see audit files, any notes that the irs took on donald trump's tax processing as they were going through things. and that is going to be, really, where we might see treasure trove of information because it will suggest to us any questions the irs may have had as they were processing trump's taxes. if there weren't significant audit notes or work files it could suggest that the irs wasn't looking that closely at former president trump's tax returns. so that's significant as well. we know a little bit of information about what's in the tax returns because the joint committee on taxation put out a report last week where they raised questions about some of the findings. between the years of 2016 and 2017 we know that former president trump paid just $750 in each of those years in

federal income taxes. we also know in 2020 he paid nothing. now in 2018 and 2019, he paid a little over a million dollars but one of the questions that the joint committee on taxation was asking is what losses was he projecting forward and any questions the irs might have had about that. so those are the questions we're looking into when this information is finally released. poppy. >> 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. thank you, lauren fox. this morning we are learning more about the death toll in buffalo as 37 people have been confirmed dead in erie county, new york. that's after the winter storm paralyzed the western part of the state over the weekend. we want to talk about the stories, though. these are people doing everyday things as the storm was going on. 22-year-old andell taylor was driving home from work when her car got stuck.

he called 911 but because of the storm help never came. this is a video she sent to her sisters in north carolina. >> [bleep] [bleep]. >> 52-year-old monique alexander also died in the storm, she left her home the afternoon of christmas eve with a promise she'd be right back. she never made it back. here's what casey, her daughter, told us. >> it's hard. her grand kids were waiting for her to come home. we were waiting for her to come home. i knew something was wrong right away, though. so i kind of accepted it instantly. but it's hard knowing that she was outside for so long, too. >> also 46-year-old mother of two melissa morrison.

her mom, lynda, said she reached out to the police on friday when her grandson saw a social media media post about a body found. on tuesday the coroner positively identified her. >> and a 24-year-old refugee. he stepped out on saturday to get supplies for family that asked him for help. he never made it back to his home or pregnant wife who is days away from giving birth. >> also 55-year-old henry tellado died on christmas eve. he had asthma and collapsed after shoveling snow. they called 911 but crews were unable to get to him. >> in niagara county,

27-year-old timothy murphy died from carbon monoxide poisoning. terrible. >> it's awful. but it's important to talk about their stories because often you hear people who say there were warnings. people said not to go out, but there were circumstances that people needed supplies, driving home from work -- >> also the travel ban came really late and the executive of the county has even admitted that. it came late. and so a lot of people were out or going out before that was issued. so we'll talk to the mayor of buffalo ahead, next hour, about all of this. >> a lot of questions for him about this. we'll get an update on the emergency response and a reaction to the criticism that poppy was referencing there that he's facing. also checking in, because ukraine under attack, one of the worst air strike attacks to date. russia hitting critical infrastructure overnight. the former ambassador to ukraine, bill taylor, is going to join us next. a resurgence of measles in

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morning." more now on russia's overnight strikes on ukraine. explosions have hit cities around the country and the power has gone out in several regions as russia is conducting what appears to be one of the largest attacks yet. in kyiv, at least three people were injured, including a teenager. the mayor said 16 missiles were intercepted by the air defense system. this morning, 40% of kyiv is without power and 90% of lviv is without power. the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, bill taylor joins us now. thank you very much for being with us mr. ambassador. when you look at the numbers, as we've been saying all morning, this is exactly what the ukrainian president was warning about, so fearful about there would be these attacks on the key energy infrastructure, and you've got 90% of lviv this morning in the dark.

>> you're right, poppy. this is what president zelenskyy forecast. he saw that the russians were going to continue their brutal, barbaric cynical attacks on ukraine in an attempt to bludgeon them into submission. the russians want the ukrainians to surrender and agree to be part of russia. and ukrainians won't do it, poppy. the ukrainians are more determined than ever to resist and to push the russians out of their country. >> but then where does this go? because we heard a key leader, i believe the foreign minister this week of ukraine, calling for a peace summit in february, but also laying out the conditions that russia needs to meet to even begin those conversations, those are conditions that russia will never agree to. including being tried, essentially, for war crimes.

not to mention crimea. so where does this go? >> in the end, poppy, in the end, the ukrainians will prevail. it may take a long time. and those conditions that the foreign minister laid out are not unreasonable. they are -- >> right. >> -- to get the russians out of their country. to pay reparations, to go in front of a tribunal. to hold people accountable for these war crimes, for these atrocities. that's what needs to happen. >> but, bill, you're one of the foremost experts on this issue. i understand that putin's intent here is terrorizing civilians, that's why he's going after things like a playground and whatnot. but what does this actually do for him militarily to carry out an attack like this. what does it get his military in the sense of a battlefield strategy? >> you are right. you've put your finger on it.

battlefield strategy, he's losing. battlefield strategy, he doesn't have one. the ukrainian military have pushed him out of kyiv, kharkiv, kherson. he's lost everywhere on the battlefield. so the only thing he can do, to get to your question, is attack unarmed civilian targets, make it miserable for ukrainians. make them freeze. americans have seen how buffalo is going through a storm, this is the same kind of storm that's going to go in ukraine that's going to go on for months. and it's man-made. it's made by the russians. it's intentionally causing ukrainians to freeze, to be cold, to not have water. so this is what their intent is, to try to bludgeon the ukrainians into surrendering and again they will not surrender. >> as we talked about the u.s. sending the patriot missile

defense system to ukraine, russia called it escalation, doesn't it fly in the face of what they're doing today, this is an escalation. >> you're right. the escalation came on february 24th when they invaded -- russians invaded ukraine. so the escalation is entirely on the russian side and what the ukrainians are doing is in response, trying to hit back. trying to push them out. trying to defend themselves against these attacks. and so, the -- so we should be providing those weapons to enable them to do that. >> ambassador bill taylor, thank you so much for being with us this morning on all of those developments overnight. >> thanks for having me. federal prosecutors are now following the money as they look into congressman-elect george santos from new york and his confessed lies. plus where did all the money come from to finance his campaign? it's a big question this morning. we're joined next by a former congressman who represented now to be santos' district.

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♪ welcome back to "cnn this morning." so we've learned that federal prosecutors are now investigating incoming republican congressman george santos as more lies that he has made have been revealed about his education, his work history, his heritage, names he used. a source tells cnn that investigators in new york are looking into his finances as well. amid real questions about the more than $700,000 in loans he extended to his 2022 campaign. he is now being labeled as con man in a new piece published by a former congressman who represented his same district in long island. democrat steve israel writes politicians embellishes resumes. but santos e' lies are an assau

on the norms. so steve israel joins us now, the director of the cornell institute of politics and affairs. good morning, thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> i think you're right to point fingers at a host of folks and institutions on this. the question is now what it me means for the constituents, a lot of the same people you represented. you wrote your former district will tolerate a lot but will not tolerate dishonesty. he's going to be seated in congress next week. so now what? >> he most likely will be seated. kevin mccarthy cannot afford to lose a republican vote in his speakership contest, a very, very slim majority. so in one of the great ironies of january 3rd this grifter will take his oath of office. and what will happen is, the triggering of multiple new investigations. there will be a congressional

ethics committee investigation. there is likely to be an office of congressional ethics investigation in that independent professional office. the real tragedy here is that the people of long island, and honestly the american people, expect a members of congress will be sworn in and immediately begin thinking about constituents' problems. this guy is going to be sworn in and be focused on his legal problems. he'll be focused on a nassau county district attorney's investigation, new york state attorney general investigation, federal investigations. and that ultimately is such a disservice to the people who voted for him and even those who didn't. they want a member of congress focussing on them, not how he's going to get through his legal problems. >> it seems like it gets worse every day for him. cnn's k file has a new report saying he was claimed to leave a new york city private school, the school said they have no record of him attending opinion he claimed he criticized goldman

sachs even though anthony scaramucci said there's no record he attended the conference. he claimed his former jewish name was debrovsky. do you think democrats made a mistake, his opponents, in not finding any of this when they were running against him? >> they did quite a lot of it. look, let's agree that the ultimate responsibility lies with mr. santos, he's the guy who wrote this fiction of himself. so it begins with him. the second problem is a republican party, quite honestly, that gave this guy a nomination without any vetting at all. they make decisions on candidates on how extreme they are, and mr. santos fit that bill, without any consideration for their basic qualifications

and fitness for office. then you have the issue to your point about whether deficiencies in democratic opposition research. the democratic campaign committee they did the research, found the red flags, turned it over to mr. santos' opponent, robert zimmerman, he did try to raise the red flags with many in the local media and that's where complacency comes in. the judgment was we're not going to report on this guy because he can't win, this is a democratic district, biden would have won it by eight points. so he's just not a story. turns out, he's a big story. >> one of the biggest. >> what's the lesson from this now? because this fox news interview that santos did, he said, my constituents didn't send me here to waste time. they sent me here to work. what is the lesson in all of this going forward? >> the lesson is, in my view, if democracy has a hope, we've got

to go back to the days where we nominate candidates not based on how whacky they are, how deranged they are, how extreme they are. but based on their basic qualifications to serve. the second lesson in this is, that we have to begin to reinvest in local journalism. we need to make sure -- demo democracy depends on trans transparency. and journalists need that transparency when they report on that. >> that's important about local journalism and how much happens at the state level. >> exactly. >> thank you very much. appreciate it, congressman. >> thank you. also this morning a new migrant processing center is being built in el paso despite a supreme court decision to keep a trump era border policy that allows agents to expel migrants,

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♪ we have been talking a lot about the airline chaos. and especially the storms that have crippled so many operations. but the story is not about southwest airlines. it's a different airlines but significant consequences because of the storm. a man in alaska was waiting for a heart transplant after only having been on the list for a few weeks, patrick holland got a call that a donor match had been found and he was getting a

healthy heart. but things turned when the flight he was on couldn't make it from alaska to seattle because of the storm. his wife writing in part on facebook quote the past 25 hours, the most traumatic, difficult hours of patrick's life. numerous times his hopes and dreams were lifted and then left to tumble down to nightmariish proportions. his canceled flight meant losing a chance for that heart transplant. what airline was this? >> it was alaska airline. >> okay. and it's because of the storm, correct? >> yes. because of the storm. alaska airline, they -- they jumped through hoops to get me there. >> i'm so glad -- i'm so sorry it didn't happen. can you explain to people. we heard what your wife wrote, what it has been like for you,

because you couldn't get to seattle to get the transplant. >> it was -- it was terrifying news to hear that i was going to get a transplant, to be honest with you, i was terrified. and then i was excited. so we caught the first flight out. we got to the airport and it was packed. which is unusual. it was packed because flights were being canceled and i didn't realize that until i went to the kiosk and my flight was canceled. and after waiting in line for an hour panicking, realizing my flight was leaving in half an hour, i waved down a woman that worked for alaska airlines and i told her the situation, told her i'm a heart transplant, this is crucial. she waved me to the front of the line and she said, yeah, your flight has been canceled and then my heart sank. she said, i will get you on a plane, and she did.

she got me on a plane. and from there, we were diverted about halfway through, i didn't know that because they had announced it but i guess during my excitement of getting a heart was -- was overwhelming. >> yeah. >> but we -- we were in flight for about four hours and i heard the pilot say that, hey, welcome to anchorage. and i thought he must be really tired because we've been in the air for about four hours and it doesn't take four hours to get to anchorage. and a lady overheard me tell my brother that, she looked over and said my phone says anchorage. and i started to panic and my phone said anchorage and my worst fears were overwhelming me. because when you hear that,

you're like, there's somebody donating a heart and they don't -- i don't imagine they can wait that long because the longer it waits the longer the tissue decomposes. so she said don't worry. she said this heart is for you, we're going to wait and catch the next flight immediately. great, i was lifted again. this is going to happen. and we got another flight scheduled for like 45 minutes later. there was a gentlemen, roy, there who just accommodated like -- i was impressed, i was amazed. he checked on me every ten minutes. and he walked back with very bad news that the flight was canceled again. so then i called the heart transplant coordinator and she explained to me, let's not give up. let's keep trying.

but i realized in anchorage at the time there was also a storm going on. it was crazy to watch it from out the window. and then the second flight got canceled and then the third flight got canceled. at this point i knew. i told my brother, i said, the next phone call is not going to be good. just as i was calling her, she was calling me back to tell me they were going to give the heart to somebody else. >> i cannot -- i can't imagine getting that phone call. i mean, you're only 56 years old. you look younger. you're only 56. and you have a 3-year-old. i think we have some -- >> i do. >> images we can show of you and your child and family to your viewers. this is what the heart means to you. >> yes. >> this is about being able to run around after your 3-year-old. >> it's tough to -- to have a body that wants to run but not to have a heart that will let you. so it's -- it takes away a lot.

but you know what, on the same side, i believed that somebody else was going to get a miracle gift. >> yeah. >> so we just prayed for them. so somewhere, somebody else was going to -- yeah. so you got to look at the bright side of things. on the bright side i got to go back home to my family and have a good christmas with them again. there is a big part of me that feels like i let them down by not being in seattle. so i -- i blame myself for that part. >> once i heard i was active, i could have immediately made plans to be there. i was near the bottom of the list, number six, so i had no clue. and we -- from all of the stories that we watched, it takes months. and it just happened to be a

miracle to be -- get an offer after two and a half weeks. and i just feel like i should have been more proactive in being there. so i'll be there next week if things work out. >> please don't blame yourself. this is not your fault. and let's -- with can he end it on some good news. you've had some amazing people reach out to you from seattle where you need to be and offer some great things for you. >> yes. it's been really great. i've had planned with three different people that i know that live in seattle. one was met with foul play and two others just family members moved back and it was just wasn't working out. so i was actually looking through my churches that i'm involved with to come up with an idea. and we woere working on somethig

and that is when i got the call. so i just wish i could have been there. and, you know, it is -- they work miracles nowadays and someone got a miracle. that is when i hope was, that someone else got to appreciate the extra time. >> it shows what a big heart you have and we're all praying for your new heart when that is to come. >> that is right. >> come back and keep us posted, all right. >> thank you, we will. definitely. thank you for having me. >> thank you. i mean, talk about a big heart, right? >> and what been amazing perspective after being through that much trauma and disruption and then you don't get it. >> we've seen the worst of so many things last week. and last week with shaqira and

rooting for them. >> we'll be back in a moment, we have more on southwest apologizing for its cancellations and more on the chaos travel in general. turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. [daughter] slurping don't pay for r water. pay for clean. it's got to be tidede.

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all across the country, people are working hard to build a better future. so we're hard at work helping them achieve financial freedom. we're proud to serve people everywhere, in investing for the retirement they envision. from the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future. and help communities thrive. welcome back. well a measles outbreak in columbus, ohio, is causing concern for public health officials. they say parent's resistance to

vaccinated children for other deadly disease could be triggering the spread of measles. columbus has seen the largest outbreak in 20 years. they have 82 cases and all involve those younger twon 18 and majority are in children younger than age 3. 40% of the children are in the hospital. so i'm glad to be joined by the columbus public health commissioner, dr. roberts, thank you. i wanted to do this story, i was terrified when i saw the numbers, what is happening there. >> we've always had a segment of our mop lation resistant to childhood vaccines. many of them don't want to put chemicals or what they are concerned about chemicals in their children's body but a lot of them feel like it is not needed because they don't see the infections in our community. but what me don't understand is we don't see the infections in our community because our vaccine efforts have been so

successful. and so when one family chooses not to vaccinate their children, they put the rest of the community at risk. >> one concerning thing is the decline in the number of parents getting children vaccinated. the mmr vaccine is so critical and from 2019 to now, the amount of people who are saying children should be required to get the mmr vaccine, to go to school, is down 11%. do you believe, doctor, this is tied to mandates for the covid vaccination for many or just fear in general, unfounded but fear of the covid vaccination among some. is this making it worse. >> unfortunately, i do. when we rolled out the covid 19 vaccine, we started politicizing vaccines and that should never be the case. nir a public health measure and a safety measure nor everyone in the community and they are not a

political issue. >> speak to the parents who ris lenning and watching as they're getting kids ready this morning. what are the message about mmr and flu vaccines. >> the mmr vaccine and the flu vaccine, all of our childhood vaccines are safe. they're very effective. and we need everyone to get their children vaccinated on time according to the schedule set by cdc and the american college of immune unology, and so please, please get your children vaccinated. the illnesses are not always mild. they could be severe and they can cause death. >> they can be deadly. that is exactly right. dr. keisha roberts, we appreciate you and what you do. thank you. >> thank you. cnn this morning continues