captioning sponsored by cbs >> i'm ed o'keefe in washington. on this fourth of july "face the nation," americans are celebrating their freedom. but is it too soon to declare independence from covid-19? across the country, america seems to be making up for what was lost on this holiday weekend last year, amid more signs that life is slowly getting back to normal. >> biden: more jobs and better wages, that's a good combination. put simply, our economy is on the move. and we have covid-19 on the run. >> but with the dangerous delta variant spreading rapidly and the vaccines stalled, is it time for a

new strategy. we'll talk with jeffrey zients and former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. and then we'll go beyond washington to check and with two governors facing unique challenges: oregon's kate brown and utah's spencer cox. rescue efforts at the collapsed condo are on hold again in surfside, florida. and we'll get the latest on the investigation into what caused the disaster with surfside mayor charles burkett. and yet another massive cyber attack, this time affecting computer servers of hundreds of u.s. companies. >> biden: the initial thinking it is not the russian government. >> andre carson -- we'll ask him about the attack and u.f.o.s. cars carson tells us why they're finally be taken very seriously. it is all ahead on "face

the nation." ♪ >> good morning and welcome to "face the nation" on this fourth of july. i'm ed o'keefe, john is off this week. and for a holiday weekend, there is a lot of news for us to get to this morning. we begin with the collapsed building in surfside, florida. at least 24 are confirmed dead, and there are still 121 unaccounted for. omar villafranca is in surfside this morning. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ed. the remaining portion of the champlain tower south could come down as early as monday. now, on saturday, rescue crews were replaced by demolition crews here at the e site of t the collapspsed soututh floridaa conn c condo as officials focused on bringing down the remainder of the structure ahead of tropical storm

elsa. now officials said demolishing the rest of the building could not be avoided with tropical storm elsa looming in the caribbbbean. it is forerecasted too have maximum susustained w winds o of 70 miles p per hour. ron desantntis said t the building is shifting, and the fears that the storm could bring the structure down in the wrong direction. >> omar, what are the safety risks involved in this demolition? >> some families have asked if they can go inside the remaining structure and try to salvage anything -- keep in mind, when this happened, people ran out in the clothes they were wearing -- but they can't. it is too unsafe. and miami-dade police are going to end up going to the buildings that are next door, knocking door to door before the implosion to try to get those residents out, of course for safety reasons. had is the big issue. the mayor of miami-dade actually said that when they bring down the building, officials would

resume the search on sections of the piles that they have safe access to as soon as they can clear some of the new debris. and the good news on that, they'll be able to have access to some areas they didn't have access to before. >> omar villafranca in surfside, florida, thank you. for more on the building collapse and the latest of the demolition plans, we turn to the mayor of surfside, charles burkett. thank you for joining us on this independence day. i appreciate this is a fluid situation, and lots of conflicting information about what may transpire. what is your understanding of how soon this building could be brought down? >> mayor: as soon as possible. as of this morning, or even last night -- i'm sorry, as of early this morning, the crews were about 80% complete with their preparation to bring the building down. as you know, the fact is that the building is being prepared to being demolished has stopped the

work, which is critical. we need to get back to work as as soon as possible. we need to get this building taken down, and we need to move forward with the rescue of all of those people still left in the rubble. >> so you're not ruling out it could happen today at some point? >> mayor: no, i'm not. it could happen on the fourth of july? there is no concern about the symbolism of that? >> mayor: we haven't had the luxury of time to even think about that. >> understood. can they guarantee, as they prepare to bring this building down, it won't disrupt the ongoing rescue effort, and that debris field that sits there next to the tower? >> mayor: well, the intention is to bring the building down in a westward direction so that the debris pile that exists win victims in it is not affected. the hurricane will turn out to probably have been a blessing in disguise because there is an area of that mound which we were not able to work in safely, and this

demolition is going to open up wide the whole area, and we're going to be able to pour resources on to that pile, or as the fire chief recently said, we have resources that are five deep, and we're going to attack it big time, and we're going to try to pull those victims out and reunite them with their families. >> and after 11 days, that is still the mentality, this is a search-and-rescue and not a recovery effort? >> mayor: it is absolutely not a recovery effort. i'm constantly telling people about the b.b.c. documentary which outlines susurvivability after a building collapse. where they pulled a lady in bangladesh out after 17 days. we're not even near that. there is nobody -- nobody in charge really talking about stopping this rescue effort. and this rescue effort, as far as i'm concerned, will go on until everybody is pulled out of that debris. >> understood.

as they prepare, also, to bring down the building, whenever that happens, is there any concern for those other nearby towers? and are precautions being taken to protect those? >> mayor: you said earlier that the police are going to go door to door. however, those buildings were evacuated the day of the incident. there are no people living in the buildings to the south or the north. that should not be a barrier for us to move forward. >> good to hear. you've been in constant contact with these families who are awaiting word and from the people who lived in the building and were able to get out. you know, they've gone from, obviously, the shock to grief, anger, some acceptance about what is going on. how are they after these 11 days? >> mayor: well, this is an emotional hell for them. and it is something that i'm focused on dealing with because we have two objectives. one is to pull their relatives out of that rubble, all of them. and, number two, is to focus on supporting those families, and that's exactly what we've done

from the very beginning. they've had anything they need, and that starts from the president on down. president biden did his job. he did what he promised he would do, and we're all very thankful to him. he ca came to our town, he consoled the victims, he congratulated the rescue workers. we are very thankful for that. we had our two senators who have been engaged like you can't believe. marco rubio calls me, and senator scott texts me almost every day and asks me what i need. we've had our united states representatives, debbie wasserman schultz, who has been fabulous, as have all of our state-elected officials, but the governor has been especially engaged. he has been here almost every day. i know he flies down from north florida. he talks to us. he tells us what his concerns are. as a matter of fact, i owe the governor a debt of gratitude because with his

help, we were able to provide information to the mayor of dade county that she needed in order to get this demolition going sooner than later. i know she was getting lots of information, lots of conflict conflicting information, but from the very beginning, the governor and i urged her to knock this building down as soon as possible. the building has been a problem since the very beginning, and we need to eliminate all of the barriers to getting everybody out there. once this building is down, it will be a green light, full-speed ahead, and maximum effort to pull the victims out and reunite them with their families. the mayor's leadership ability has been incredible. she has been decisive and tough and compassionate. we're firing on all eight cylinders as far as all of the resources, all of the tack tictactics that are happening. as i said from the beginning, we do not have a resource problem; we only have a luck problem.

and the storm is only the latest of the challenging circumstances. >> i want to ask you about a piece of reporting from the herald, they said that fibers wofficials were holding p repairs by not responding? does that signal this potentially could have been prevented if your colleagues had responded sooner? >> mayor: no. the issue is this: this issue all started in 2018 with a report that detailed significant deficiencies at the building. three years later the condo association was getting around to organizing the work to be done to address those deficiencies, which had been pointed out three years earlier. our building official received a courtesy request from them, not a permit application, not the details that would allow them to move forward. however, they were looking for guidance on certain

issues. our building official responded. it was a bad coincidence, just hours before the building collapsed, with his answers to their questions. so i would say that the building officials delayed th work that was going to get done, but i will say that the building official will be commenting on the details of that interaction fully at some point in the very near future. >> we look forward to that. but first we look forward to the ongoing search-and-rescue commission. best of luck to you and your colleagues and all of the rescuers who have come from all across the country to help. tonight the president is planning a celebration of our independence from covid-19 at the white house. mark strassmann reports on america's birthday and where we are as a country in terms of gaining our freedom from the virus. >> reporter: in much of america, this july 4th seems to celebrate freedom from covid.

>> biden: america is back and the dodgers are back. >> reporter: what a difference a year makes. two-thirds of american adults have had at least one shot of the vaccine. that's shy of president biden's goal of 70% by july 4th. but it is also close enough. new cases have plunged 95% from covid's peak. like so many relieved americans, washington state is ready to party for the 4th. >> we are open big time in the state of washington. >> reporter: a.a.a. predicts holiday travelers this weekend will reach pre-pandemic numbers. america is reopening. sometimes it seems everyone is hiring. this jobs fair in atlanta had almost 3700 positions to fill. >> at this point we would like to make you an offer for the job. are you willing to accept? >> yes. >> reporter: the economy

added 850,000 jobs last month. that number would be higher if businesses like this california restaurant could find more busboys and dishwashers. >> busboy and dishwashers, $20 an hour. and still nothing. >> reporter: scientists worry about the sprawling delta variant, highly contagious and now present in all 50 states. >> if you've not gotten the vaccine yet, the fire is still a very real threat to you. >> eporter: this colorado clinic closed; too little deemed. vaccinations remain po polarizing. in 10 states, the rate is below 55%. and roughly 1,000 counties in america have a rate below 30%. on the 4th, no one wants to think about more struggle. but before the end of this month, the delta variant could become america's

most dominant. >> our thanks to mark strassmann reporting from atlanta. we turn now to the white house covid-19 response coordinator jeffrey zients. thank you for being with us. >> good morning, ed, and happy 4th. >> we've come a long way since the last july 4th, and a lot of it is a testament to science. but should we really be declaring independence right now from the pandemic? >> we so many people now vaccinated, tens of millions of americans can now return to life -- to more normal life, getting together with friends and family, going to restaurants, attending sporting events. now, to be clear, that is not true for unvaccinated people. unvaccinated people are not protected. we have a lot more work to do across the summer months to reach unvaccinated people, make it easy for people to get their shots and their second shot, and to answer people's questions. and the key to answering

questions are physicians and other health care professionals. increasingly we have vaccines in doctors' offices. if you're not vaccinated, you are not protected, until you are fully vaccinated. until you are fully vaccinated you need to mask up. but the great news is so many americans you now fully vaccinated and can return to life as normal, and that is worthy of celebration. >> what specifically are you going to do to get those unvaccinated americans to get the shot? 36% of those eligible for those vaccines, more than a third of people 12 and over, haven't received a single dose. what has to be done specifically to get those people to get a shot? >> the good news is across the last several months, we've seen an increase in vaccine confidence, more and more people wanting to get a shot. that's good news. now we need to make sure we meet people where they ar. make it really easy to get a shot.

meet people at sporting events, at places of worship, mobile units to reach people in their neighborhoods. we also have to be available at a local level, to answer people's questions about the vaccine, about safety and efficacy. so we are ready to answer people's questions and give them their first shot. we're going to continue to do this in a fair and equitable way so we reach all americans. >> one of the more troubling aspects of this is now the partisanship of getting vaccinated. in a "washington post" poll this morning reens forces that 86% of democrats have received at least one shot, but 38% of republicans, over all sea tsaythey will most definitely get shots against the virus. how do you take the politics about t out of this?

>> president biden has been clear this is about public health. this is not about politics. we need to continue to reach people where they are and have trusted messengers at a local level. the good news is as people see their friends and family and neighbors get vaccinated, more and more people get vaccinated. close to 90% of seniors now with at least one shot, that is so important because that is the most vulnerable population. at the same time clearly, at 90%, there are people from all parts of america, political parties and beliefs, so we need to make sure we continue to build on the progress we have made, to build vaccine confidence. >> at the same time you're urging local officials and athletes and doctors to take up this issue and promote vaccinations across the country, the federal government is prepared to send in surge response teams for the

states that are having outbreaks. talk a little about what those surge response teams are, what they're going to do, and does it potentially either affect or help people getting people vaccinated if the federal government is sending in officials? >> we're working with state and local officials particularly in those areas where we see increases in cases. and those are generally areas where they have lower vaccination rates. so the federal government stands ready, with the whole of government effort to work with local officials to increase vaccinations, to provide increased testing, and also therapeutics to ensure that people don't get sick who have contracted the disease. so we're going to work with our state and local partners, particularly in those areas of the country with lower vaccination rates, to make sure we're doing everything we can to stop the spread of the disease. >> if i'm somebody who has been vaccinated, if there

is somebody who is watching this program who is vaccinated and curious, do they need to get a booster shot this fall with their flu vaccine? >> that is a question that is being studied in clinical studies. the biden administration will look to the scientists and the doctors onadvice on boosters. that has not been determined yet. what i can tell you is if boosters are needed, we are ready, as we have been throughout this fight with the pandemic. we have constituency plans and we have supply. so if the decision is made that the boosters are needed, we are ready. but that decision has not been made by the scientists and doctors. it will be based on clinical trials that are ongoing, and as soon as the doctors and scientists determine they have the data they need, they'll make that decision. >> jeffrey zients, thank you so much for spending part of independence day with us. "face the nation" will be back in one minute. stay with us.

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>> we go now to force former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. >> doctor: good morning. >> the science and trials weren't complete in terms of weather booster shots will be necessary. that's not what we've been hearing from drug companies and other medical professionals. in your view, are we going to need boosters this fall? >> doctor: i think some people will have the option of getting boosters. it will be recommended for some people. the trials are on-going, jeff is right. those trials are going to read out in the next couple of months. there is some data right now that does support the fact when you get a booster, it does broaden your immunity, meaning you get more antibodies from the second shot, and you get what we call poly clonal response, which suggests that the booster could give you better

immunity. there could be a recommendation for certainly people, maybe over the age of 65, or people who are out a certain amount of time from receiving their second dose. it could include people who have pr pre-existing conditions. what we've seen from the clinical data, and the clinical data is people who have been naturally infected from covid, we see that the immunity does decline over time. particularly among older individual, the immunity does is decline over time. >> when it comes to the delta variant, raging across many western and southern states, how many more americans could be affected by that and how soon? >> doctor: i think given how transmissible this variant is, it is likely to infect about 85% of the

population, or 85% of the population will end up with some level of immunity to coronavirus. you can acquire the immunity through vaccination or through natural infection. and they may end up acquiring more than once. given how transmissible this is, it will probably leave 85% of the people with immunity. we now have 55% of the population with at least one dose of vaccine in them. it leaves loot lot of people who will be vulnerable to this infection. there is some complement of people who have chosen to remain unvaccinated have been previously infected with the virus. but there are still a lot of vulnerable americans. >> we need to take a short brbreak, but w we'll haave more questionons for dr.r. scott gottliebeb in thhe nexxt segmgment. stay with h us. osteo bi-f-flex, plus s vitamid

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and she rereally hateses tha. >> ed: don't go anyway. we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation." we'll continue our conversation with former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. and then we'll check in with two governors: utah's spencer cox and oregon democrat kate brown. plus we'll hear from andre carson on the new ransomware attack and u.f.o.s. stay with us. ♪

this is the "cbs overnight news." good evening. thanks for joining us. from coast to coast, america seems to be making up for what was lost on this holiday weekend last year, with more signs every day that life is getting back to normal. vaccines have crushed the worst of covid, but amid the revelry, there's breaking news in surfside, florida. explosives demolished what was still standing of the collapsed condo. 24 people are confirmed dead,