happened in this entire operation from start to finish and areas of improvement where we can do better, where we can find holes or weaknesses and plug them as we go forward. and of course we intend after we've had the opportunity to run that analysis to share that with people. yes? >> you noted that you had encouraged americans on the ground there to leave and many chose not to. i just wanted to follow up on that. will the u.s. government commit to ensuring any americans currently on the ground in afghanistan get out? >> that's what we're doing right now. we have asked them all to come to the airport to get on flights and take them home. >> former officials from multiple administrations, the obama administration, the bush administration has said they are certain afghanistan will become a safe haven for terrorists. i know you and the president have disputed that.

what do you think those officials are getting wrong? and can you ensure americans are safer today because of your actions than we were several months ago? >> our position is that we are going to have to deal with the potential threat of terrorism from afghanistan going forward, just as we have to deal with the potential threat of terrorism in dozens of countries in multiple continents around the world. we have to deal with the threat of terrorism in yemen and somalia and syria. we have to deal with al qaeda and isis. we have to do so using intelligence capabilities, defense capabilities. yes, in some cases the support we can provide to local partners to help them deal with the challenge. what we have shown is in many of the countries i just mentioned, among others, we have been successful to date in

suppressing the threat to the u.s. homeland in those countries without sustaining a permanent military presence or fighting in a war. that is what we intend to do with respect to afghanistan as well. this is not a question about whether we're clear-eyed about the terrorist challenge from afghanistan. it is about whether the terrorist challenge in 2021 is fundamentally different from the terrorist challenge in 2001. we believe it is fundamentally different and we need to be postured effectively to deal with the terrorism challenges as we find it today as opposed to 20 years ago. >> can you shed light on the decision to leave behind blackhawks and other equipment? why give the taliban access to state of the art equipment that they can use to bolster their own defenses or sell off to other countries? >> this is a very good example of the difficult choices a president faces and a secretary of defense and secretary of state and national security

adviser face in the context of the end of a 20-year war. those blackhawks were not gimp to the taliban. they were given to the afghan national security forces to defend themselves at the specific request of president ghani who came to the oval office and asked for air capabilities. the president had a choice. he could not give it to them with the risk it could fall into the taliban's hands eventually. or he could give it for them to defend their country. both of those options had risks. he had to choose. he made a choice. from that particular narrow example to a much wider range of examples that we contend with, at the end of the day what the president has focused on is trying to take the information that's presented to him, the risk, cost and benefits and make the best decision in the interest of the american people.

he has tried to do that. from that perspective he believes the decision he made in this context was the right decision. >> the president has not been shy about undoing many of the previous president's policies. why not undo this one, particularly since the taliban have abrogated already what they agreed to with president trump? >> you're referring to the agreement that president trump made with the taliban in february of 2020, which set a deadline, be out by may 1st, 2021. walking away from that was not a cost-free proposition for the united states. on may 2nd, the taliban onslaught was going to happen. the question facing the president was, would increasing numbers of american troops been in that offensive or would we draw a bit down and try to give all the capabilities necessary for the afghan army and

government to step up. that is the situation he was placed in with a mere 2500 troops in country when he took over. this was a choice between dramatically ramping up forces to fight or drawing them down to end our military involvement. >> the president said yesterday he urged afghan leaders to engage in diplomacy and seek a political settlement with the taliban. of course, this advice was flatly refused. does the president have a willing partner in president ghani? >> i'm not going to characterize anything about president ghani at this point who is no longer a factor in afghanistan. >> -- we're speaking to afghan citizens who supported the american mission in afghanistan who are now terrified for their lives. can we confirm that when it gets

to august 31st when your troops leave, will you abandon them? >> our plan is to safely evacuate the people who worked with the united states, who are eligible for special immigrant visas, which is a generous program set up on a bipartisan basis by our congress. we have identified those individuals and families and are making provisions for them to get out of the country between now and the end of the month. >> one question, going back to president ghani, have any top officials of the afghani government madeylum in the unit? and would president ghani and vice president abdullah, among others, be welcome in the u.s.? >> i'm not familiar with any such requests and i'm not going

to get into hypotheticals. >> the president at camp david, can we expect to hear from him in the coming days as the operation to get people out continues? >> i'll leave it to jen to answer that, but yes, you will hear from him in the coming days. [ inaudible question ] >> how severe is this damage and what -- >> president biden has a long and deep history of solidarity and commitment to the nato alliance. his commitment to article v is rock solid and sacrosanct. we just had a successful nato summit where we committed to a new way forward on the emerging

threats we're going to face. he believes in his personal bonds with the leaders of nato and the institutional bonds between the united states and nato. our secretary of state and our secretary of defense went to repeated ministerial meetings at nato for consultation on this decision and secured a decision for it to be carried out along that timetable. what the president also committed to was making sure every last nato troop on the ground in afghanistan -- and there were more nato troops in afghanistan than american troops when joe biden took office -- could get out safely and securely without a single casualty. he executed that. finally he's committed to that sill tating the flights of our nato allies and partners to get civilians and others out. planes from nato countries have

landed and taken off with their personnel over the course of the last 24 hours. [ indiscernible question ] >> how can you assure allies that the united states will defend them. for example, if china affects thailand, the chinese can argue that -- how can you justify the u.s. involvement in taiwan and south korea? i also understood the united states did not want to make a sacrifice. but neither should -- how can you explain to the global leader without making sacrifice? >> i want to start where your

question ended, because the united states made an extraordinary sacrifice in afghanistan, 2,448 americans lost their lives in afghanistan. tens of thousands of americans were injured in the war in afghanistan over 20 years trying to help that country stand up and defend itself. the united states spent more than $1 trillion of its resources in afghanistan. the amount of sacrifice and solidarity and commitment to afghanistan to try to give it a chance was immense. it wasn't just the united states. many other countries joined us and had their own sacrifices. excuse me. let me just finish answering the question. so the idea there was a lack of sacrifice on the part of the american people is belied by the rows of headstones over at arlington national cemetery where people have come home. when it comes to taiwan, it is a

fundamentally different question in a different context. so from our perspective what we need to focus on -- i'm sorry, i'll take the next question if you won't let me answer. yeah? >> -- conference earlier by the taliban, especially the comments that they made about protecting women's rights. do you have any trust if in the fact that they're going to hold up to it? >> like i said all along, this is not about trust. this is about verify. we'll see what the taliban end up doing in the days and weeks ahead. when i say we, i mean the entire international community. [ indiscernible question ] >> many foreign nationals, including many africans that were there -- >> the united states is also focused on helping third country

nationals get out of the country safely. yes? >> back in the spring you and administration officials said that security and humanitarian aid will continue in afghanistan. now that the taliban has taken over the government, does that just stop? is there a possibility it could restart at some point? >> we will have to take a hard look at how we proceed on any basis at all. as i said earlier, it's premature to answer those questions. that's something we'll have to look at after the immediate task of this mission. yeah? >> -- security forces under u.s. relationships -- >> can you repeat the question? [indiscernible] >> security forces appear to have essentially no longer operate as a coherent entity.

they have essentially given way to taliban physical security control over the major population centers. >> question about the rights of afghan women. what tools does the united states have to hold them to this pledge? and if not, what does the u.s. plan to do? >> so standing here today, i'm not going to go into the full panoply of things we can do, but there are issues obviously related to sanctions, to martialing international condemnation and isolation and other steps as well. i want to be able to have our team communicate directly to the taliban both what the costs and disincentives are for certain type of action and what our expectations are.

that is a conversation we intend to have. >> president biden said there were very few national security interests for the united states in maintaining some peace in afghanistan. could you reiterate that today? would you say there is no interest for us having some presence on the borders of iran, on the borders of pakistan, on the borders near china? >> i'm saying that is something that is not -- what you just laid out is a national security interest. we would not agree that it is right to ask american soldiers to risk their lives for the purpose of maintaining a

presence near tajikistan. >> what happens to the billions of dollars worth of -- that the u.s. gave afghanistan? >> we don't have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone, but certainly a fair amount has fallen into the hands of the taliban. obviously we don't have a sense they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport. yes? >> has the president seen these pictures of people flying off an airplane yesterday? >> the president, as he said in his remarks yesterday, has seen these images are heartbreaking. as i've said repeatedly today, the human toll of the end of this conflict in this way is real and it's raw.

it's hard for any of us. you guys are journalists. i work in government. but we're also people. this is tough stuff. there's no doubt about it. these are hard choices too. at the end of the day, the president had to make a hard choice about whether to avoid some of those human costs -- the united states continues to spend troops to fight and some of them die -- that is the decision he was not prepared to take. >> i want to get your reaction to the inspector general report on afghan, that this was planned before the fall of kabul and also how can you ensure that people can get to the airport? >> as i said before, we have been working, engaging,

coordinating with the taliban elements on the ground to ensure safe passage. we will continue to work that issue day by day until we've completed our mission. what was your first question? >> your reaction to the special inspector general report on afghan reconstruction that essentially said that the administrations were not prepared to come with concrete plans for the reconstruction? >> one of the findings of that report was that 20 years, hundreds of billions of dollars spent, huge number of forces trained, huge amount of capabilities provided, huge amount of advising and assisting and you had a security force at the end of the day which was not prepared with the will to stand up and fight for itself.

>> it's too early to tell what the political impact of the earthquake is. on your first question, right now we're focused on getting the usaid team deployed. we have u.s. coast guard elements. south com has mobilized to provide the human response that is necessary in a human tragedy like this. there are no current plans to speak of to deploy u.s. military personnel to haiti. >> -- whether the taliban will

recognize the government of afghanistan. are there any sanctions or a chance that if they do take power -- [ inaudible ] >> we're working on those options right now. i don't want to get ahead of the president's decision making. >> if you don't recognize them, how can you ensure the president's promise of aid to the afghan people will be met? >> i don't want to get into hypotheticals, but i would point out that there are a range of different diplomatic relationships the united states has with countries around the world, including some verying difficult or nonexistent relationships with governments where we still provide aid to people.

that's at least a partial answer to your question. i know you guys have many more questions, but i think probably your patience with me is also wearing a bit thin. so i will leave it at that. [ inaudible question ] >> i just have a couple of additional updates for you, some of which was provided by the department of defense this morning, but i wanted to make sure you all had this issue as well. the airport, as jake noted, is currently open for military flight operations as well as limited commercial flight operations. throughout the night nine c-17s arrived delivering equipment and a thousand troops. these flights lifted 800 passengers. 165 are american citizens. the rest are a mix of siv applicants and third-country nationals. in addition, the intention is to

have additional flights out this morning. there's obviously going to be operational updates that will be provided on a regular basis for the department of defense. our focus over the last 48 hours has been ensuring we secure the airport and expedite flights of american citizens, siv applicants and others out. this morning biden administration officials joined the meeting of the u.s. conference of mayors to discuss eviction prevention measures. the attorney general reiterated ways mayors across the country can work closely with state and local courts to set up eviction diversion programs in their city. this is the latest to communicate and work with local officials to ensure we're getting assistance out to keep people in their homes. >> with regard to the booster

shot, how many shots do we have able for boosters? >> tomorrow the covid-19 team and our health and medical experts will have a briefing -- >> we are going to break away from today's white house press briefing. you see jen psaki there. before that we heard from biden administration national security adviser jake sullivan, who explained and defended president biden's afghanistan withdrawal strategy. it is good to be with you. i'm jeff bennett. as we come on the air, the lightning-fast power shift in afghanistan has come full circle. this picture of the man on the left is a cofounder of the taliban. in just the last few hours he handed in kandahar on a flight from qatar, back in afghanistan

for the first time in 20 years. this is him last fall with mike pompeo in talks to hash out a cease fire and complete u.s. withdrawal. he was released from a prison in pakistan three years ago under pressure from the trump administration, hoping for a breakthrough in those negotiations. he returned to a very different country than the one he knew. the taliban is rolling out a pr blitz, saying the war is over, promising to respect women's rights and also promising everyone who defies them is forgiven and pardoned. that comes as little comfort to thousands living in fear, feeling betrayed by what they see as the sudden chaotic evacuation over the past few days leaving behind so many who risked their lives to help us. >> we were working on this issue of special immigrant visas with

the state department from a very early part of the spring. that is a process that can be fairly lengthy. there are a lot of them and there's a vetting process that has to occur. as i said, we are working really hard to make sure we can get as many of them out as we can. >> a process that can be fairly lengthy, the pentagon top spokesperson says. but pentagon promises or not, our allies might not have that much time to wait. some of them have made it out. you've seen the image of 640 afghan refugees packed into a c-17 on their way to safety in qatar. so many others were left pleading on the tarmac in kabul. the taliban erected checkpoints at airport instances, beating afghans who attempted to cross. some evacuation flights were leaving near empty as a result. one evacuation taking off with just seven passengers aboard.

joining us now are nbc's mike memoli, msnbc military analyst barry mccaffrey. former advisor to canada and france, ambassador omar. the "new york times" headline is this, "intelligence warned of afghan military collapse despite biden's assurances." even as the president was saying that kabul was unlikely to fall, intelligence was painting a grim picture. >> the pace of warnings over the course of the summer starting in late june through july grew and presented an increasingly dire picture of the state of the

afghan military and really the ability of the afghan government to hold on. we know famously that president biden said on july 8th that kabul is unlikely to fall and you're never going to see images of helicopters on the roof of the embassy like you saw at the end of the vietnam war, which of course we saw something very similar. at this time the intelligence is basically showing a picture of an outcome that could be exactly that. as they get through july into august, this was this picture of almost inevitability that the afghan forces were melting away, switching sides, not putting up a fight and there would really just be a route all the way to kabul. >> mike memoli, jake sullivan was asked about this during the white house press briefing.

he didn't engage on the question. you can't expect a national security adviser to talk openly about intelligence assessments. back on july 8, president biden was asked about this. president biden said that is not true. >> reporter: that's a significant comment. it does not age well. it speaks to a delicate balancing act on the part of this administration as it pursued what president biden has been determined to engage in, which is the withdrawal of u.s. forces from afghanistan while intelligence clearly was pointing in this direction. what is now one of the white house's chief talking points as it relates to what we've seen play out over the last few days, the white house is saying the fact that the afghanistan government collapsed so quickly only justifies the decision that the president made that no

further amount of time or investment was going to lead to a situation with an afghan government that is stable and secure. in some ways their argument now is contradicting the argument they were making to the american people a month ago that this is not what the intelligence shows. jake sullivan also pointed to the white house philosophy about this balancing act, which is, all of the confidence the administration showed in the afghan government was not enough to keep it stable. you can understand why the administration was never going to concede publicly -- we could probably parse the president's answer a month ago and jake's unwillingness to answer the question now as to what the intelligence actually said. you'll never see an intelligence report state anything with 100% confidence. maybe the president was disputing it on those grounds. clearly this has been something the president has been committed to regardless.

what we just saw from sullivan at the podium for more than 45 minutes very much reflecting what the president said yesterday, shows how much of one mind this administration was. this white house is prepared for criticism privately from the pentagon, from the intelligence community. at least at the moment, the white house is not going to engage in this. you heard sullivan say we're one team here. >> general mccaffrey, i want to get your assessment of what's happening on the ground in afghanistan. jake sullivan said what has unfolded over the past few months proves decisively -- does that seem accurate to you? >> jake sullivan sure is

impressive. i was very reassured by his poise coming into the events and the straightforward responses. i would tell you for the last three presidents, the military, the cia said if we pull out, it collapses, you end up with a humanitarian disaster. that's why we stayed for four presidents. i think mr. biden said we're coming out. he ignored the warnings because he's probably correctly said this is going to happen in the future if we stay another three months or so. i think biden made the right call. the tragic consequences occurred much more rapidly than any of them seemed to happen. the intelligence undoubtedly warned them that this thing's on

the edge. without special operations, us air power, it was a goner. >> why weren't afghan allies evacuated much earlier in this process? jake sullivan said it would have potentially signalled a lack of confidence in the u.s. by the afghan government and there would have been a domino effect. what's your take on that assertion, general mccaffrey? >> i think it's correct. the surprising one is why are there still thousands of americans in kabul and probably spread throughout the country? you've got to be harebrained not to run for the exit years ago. it's not women and girls, it's not leverage over the humanitarian crisis. we're just trying to get the americans and the nato and

civilians out and withdraw the u.s. military presence without fighting. hopefully that's going to happen. but the notion that tens of thousands of afghans are going to present to taliban seven sentries with their paperwork is l ludicrous. we have to say a prayer that we don't end in combat around that airfield, surrounded by mountains, urban area approaching the airport. the taliban can control the air space. this is a perilous situation. i don't think the taliban are stupid enough to take us on. if they do, we will be forced to massively escalate with air power. that's to no one's good, the u.s. or the taliban.

>> ambassador is the taliban stupid enough to take on the u.s. at this point? >> no. the taliban have a deal with the u.s. that will expire on august 31. not a single american has died since the deal was signed in february 2020. i don't think they are that irrational to go ahead at this point and do that. so the taliban are going to stay away from the airport until this job is completed. obviously the afghan people are not really watching what the politics is in washington in terms of pointing fingers and you did this, you didn't do this. i think the afghan people are more concerned about how, ghani betrayed them and how to form a more cohesive, more broad based

inclusive government in afghanistan where it's not 100% true taliban government. >> ambassador what do you make of this pr offensive from the taliban, this news conference filled with all these promises about women's rights and how all is forgiven for people who denied them. >> you have to go back to the past 20 years and see what they have done since the americans came to afghanistan. i think that to a large extent they choose their words very carefully. they have become very adept communicators and negotiators. you should ask the american diplomats what they've been dealing with the last couple of

years, a very tough group of people to deal with. whatever the messaging and rhetoric, i feel that it's hardly a reflection of the changes they want people to believe in that they are not the taliban of the '90s and also of their mindset now and their viewpoints and their perspective on policy issues, women's rights, the future of the economy, how they want the international community to be involved with the reconstruction of afghanistan. so they have really, i think, learned some lessons. but the question is is the rhetoric going to be translated into action and into policy that the afghans can connect to and embrace.

>> my thanks to the four of you. we're going to turn back now to that extraordinary photograph showing more than 600 afghan refugees on board an american c-17 out of the airport in kabul. those refugees, desperate to flee the taliban, rushed onto that aircraft at hamid karzai airport. the crew made the decision to take off with the refugees on board. here's how top military officials responded to that image earlier today. >> you have likely seen the image floating around of the afghan families in the cargo plane. this speaks to the humanity of our u.s. military. >> with us is one of the reporters who broke that story. you just heard this pentagon official say the photo speaks to

the humanity of our troops in this mission. what was the story behind this extraordinary photo? >> the conditions on the ground, it was sunday night. this is particular c-17 is from dover air force base with a skeleton crew. you can see the jet itself is empty, not in this picture but before. usually there's rows of seats or cargo, but this one was completely empty to load afghans on. you saw the chaos and the desperation sunday and monday. afghans just started towards the plane, pulling themselves up. the crew made the decision to

let them do that and get as many afghans as they could on the plane and take off. it really was an extraordinary decision. the airfield was not secure at the time. there were people running all over the place. the crew was able to successfully get this flight off. there's two images of c-17s out there. the one taking off in the daylight is not the same one. the shot has now been released by the air force. we obtained it confidentially yesterday. the amount of interest world wide in seeing the faces and seeing the pictures of just how desperate some of these afghans are to get out i think has

touched people around the world. the crew itself, i've come to learn they didn't know what to expect when they got to kabul, but one had brought some toys for him, much like soldiers have done the last 20 years to be kind to the kids they met. there's a lot of heartbreaking images out there and a lot of heartbreaking stories happening right now. this happened to be a bright spot. >> what can you tell us about the crew that made this quick thinking and humane decision to air lift these afghans to safety? >> the air force are not saying where the afghans ended up. i know as we reported the defense department is getting

ready. fort bliss in texas will be one of them. they're thinking they might house as many as 30,000 of these afghans. at the briefing today, john kirby said that this air lift operation is actually going to ramp up to be able to get as many as 5,000 to 9,000 afghans out a day. we just saw in the white house press briefing jake sullivan acknowledge the taliban are harassing some civilians as they try to get to the airport. the real question will be, will these afghans be able to reach the airport. right now the 82nd airborne division has control of the airport. the taliban have control of all of the areas outside of the airport and are doing checkpoints to allow people come in or not. there are negotiations ongoing.

there are commanders on the ground directly talking to the taliban commanders to negotiate the safe passage, to negotiate there will not be an escalation to lead to a conflict and lead to more people getting hurt. >> thanks so much for your reporting and for joining us today. as we mentioned, the taliban today are telling afghans there's nothing to fear now that the country is back firmly under their control. they declard general amnesty for works throughout afghanistan and are also urging women to join them in their new government. thousands of afghans aren't waiting to see if it's true the taliban has changed, as their

history triggers old but very real fears. my next guests are speaking with women inside afghan. she wrote a piece for the atlantic. also with us is nazarene nava. i'm grateful to have both of you with us. you were able to leave kabul just days before the capital was seized and your sister is still there. how is your family doing and what is she telling you about what kabul is like right now? >> my leaving was just the luck that i'm now here in a safe place but my sister couldn't because no one was ready for such a thing. it all happened in a glance. my sister is in contact with me

she was always sad she may one day be forced to leave the country and she was trying to apply for so many visas in afghanistan to just give a safe place, because the situation was so bad in afghanistan in the last two months. despite all of that, we were never imagining such a thing that happened just in hours. other girls ran away that day to their houses and they never came back to the streets and who are just going out.

how to get out, she was scared and she wore my mother's dress. she put a complete hijab on her hair, but she doesn't have a long hijab. so she went out. if they go door by door looking for journalists, activists, she's a journalist, she's a businesswoman and she's a cyclist. we have so many girls like her that are now stuck at their houses. so many feel hopeless and desperate. >> lindsey, you've captured the strides made by afghan women and the images you've created are

really stunning. there's a side by side with the meeting to reopen schools in kandahar. then you have the dramatic improvements in women's health after the taliban was removed. there are images of women voting, women police officers. walk us through what you've seen in afghanistan over the last two decades or so? >> well, the first time i went to afghanistan, the first three times i went to afghanistan it was under taliban rule. i was 26. photography of any living thing was illegal. i needed men to escort me anywhere and everywhere. as a woman, i was able to sneak into women's homes, go to women's hospitals, go to secret girls schools. people were terrified. women were scared to leave the house or have their voices heard on the street, because there

were truckloads of taliban men who were part of vice and virtue who would ride around and literally stop women if they saw a strand of hair or any part of their skin showing, even their ankles or anything if their burka wasn't long enough and beat them. from those early days where women just lived in fear all the time, to watch this incredible awakening of women across afghanistan, finding their voice, starting to work as journalists, as politicians, as doctors, it was really amazing. it was beautiful. for me, i had so much hope over so many years. you know, afghanistan is a very conservative, deeply tribal country. every single gain for every woman took the permission not

only of the woman but often of her entire family. it's not only the women, but also the men who were pushing them forward. my friends now who are there, i have very similar situation. i worked with two sisters who were my translators for national geographic, "new york times," very big stories. one got out to sweden several years ago and four of her sisters are still stuck there and they are terrified. i spent half of the last two days trying to help get them evacuated and it's impossible. >> what's at stake for the women you've gotten to know, lindsey? >> everything, every single thing they know. some of these women were 9 or 10 when the taliban was in power. some don't remember, but the memories they have were fear and terror and watching people getting beaten on the street. there were public executions

every friday where people were corralled into the soccer stadium and watched people get executed for adultery, for being homosexual, for anything. i think the taliban made a press conference today. they wanted to reassure the world they would allow women to continue going to school and to have rights, but it was all sort of prefaced with under their interpretation of shariah law. they could say that sure women could go to school, but can they go side by side with men, can they work with men, at what age do they have to stop going to school? >> we wish the best for your sister and your family. up next, we'll turn to the pandemic. get ready to roll up your sleeves again. why u.s. officials are getting close to recommending covid

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. 75 million confirms cases of covid-19 in this country. officials are recommending a third shot of the vaccine. the fda would still need to authorize the booster. but if additional shots are approved, those third doses could be administered as early as next month. joining us now are nbc news correspondent shaquille brewster in detroit and dr. peter hotez, the director for vaccine development at texas children's hospital. and, doctor, when kelly o'donnell and i were confirming the reporting by "the new york times" that biden administration was going to recommend the third dose, i was told that jury was still out for the folks who got the j&j shot. data is not quite done yet. they're not done assessing it. but for folks who got the moderna and pfizer vaccines, yeah, the third shot was

recommended. what is the data behind all of this? and have we zeroed in on how long vaccines are effective? >> i think it's important to remember if you remember back in january, december, january when these vaccines were first rolled out, we were at a terrible place. we were losing 3,000 american lives every day. there was the urgency to vaccinate the people as quickly as possible. the phase three were two to three weeks apart. en that was done for expediency. but for long term durability of protection, a boost that comes three weeks of after the first immunization is not great at doing that. and so when we saw what was going to be rolled out, a number of us thought there is going to be a need for a booster later on, whether it's a year afterwards or eight months afterwards or 16 months

afterwards. so all of this was sort of predicted and predictable and based on the urgency at the time. a lot of us were expecting a booster. when you look at the data and coming out of israel and mayo clinic study, there is a sharp decline in effectiveness against infection going from over 90% to 40% to 50%. the unknown that i haven't seen a lot of data in is the hospitalizations. so we know we're seeing breakthrough cases. but whether we're seeing breakthrough hospitalizations, there's a little bit of data coming out of israel. and i'm guessing that the white house saw a signal around breakthrough hospital zactions that a lot of us haven't seen. maybe that was the reason why they pulled the trigger on the booster. >> so shaq, we can set aside talk about the third shot. in some topics, don't have a majority of people getting the first shot. what is the situation now in detroit where you are? >> great point that you bring up there, especially here in

detroit where only about four in every ten people have even started the vaccination process. only about 42% are partially vaccinated which lags behind what you see in the rest of this state. that number is closer to 60%. and even some surrounding counties here where that number is closer to 70%. but despite that and because of that, you have the city now making it optional for folks to come and get that third dose of either moderna or pfizer vaccine. i say because of that, it's because the idea of while michigan and detroit are not seeing the surge that you're seeing in other parts of the country, the concern is that for those who are compromised immune systems, they will be more at risk. i want you to listen to what the chief of medical officer here in detroit told me about the concerns that she is seeing in other parts of the country. >> looking at the maps, it is really concerning. a lot of the delta variant is spreading from the lower states. it's coming to michigan.

that is what -- which is why we're stressing for every dieter to not wait to get their vaccine right now. in fact, when we look at the data, we know that 40% of all detroiters have the vaccine. 60% don't. of the 60%, many of them are under the age of 40 years old. so it's really the time for millennials to step up and get the vaccine as well. >> you heard her say it's time for millennials to step up and get that protection. one thing the mayor said when he was pushing this new booster shot in the availability for folks to come into this reopened vaccination site, he said his concern is that the july that you saw in florida will turn into the november that you will see here in michigan. that can be stopped if folks get the vaccination. >> so doctor in, the minute we have left, do you think this will be a regular thing. where people get a yearly booster shot for covid-19?

>> no, i don't think so. i think with the booster which we all anticipated, that will be it for a while. it's possible we need a booster every year. this is a very different situation from the flu which undergoes really dramatic anti-general hifts and that sort of thing. we'll have to see. it is a brand new technology. >> dr. peter hotez, we thank you. and shaquille brewster in detroit, thank you for your reporting. ayman mohyeldin picks up our coverage coming up next. ayman mr coverage coming up next. i was s f deferring them, paying them... then i discovered sofi. completely changed my life. lower interest rate. my principal is going down. sofi is a place where you can start to tackle those money goals today.

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good afternoon, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin in new york. right now, all eyes are on afghanistan. the taliban is working to install its new government as evacuations are still underway at kabul's international airport. can you see hundreds of afghan civilians outside the airport desperate to flee, fearful of this nation now under taliban rule. just this afternoon, national security adviser jake sullivan said that it would have taken a significant troop presence to stop that takeover from happening, defending the administration's decision to withdraw. >> the images from the past couple of days at the airport

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