besser, dr.ou both, godspeed to you both, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thanks so much, byron. >>> up next, from rehab to release to running wild and free. like many people with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's disease, i was there. be right back. but my symptoms were keeping me from where i needed to be. so i talked to my doctor and learned humira is the #1 prescribed biologic for people with uc or crohn's disease. and humira helps people achieve remission that can last, so you can experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start

besser. guest: i would encourage you to look at the who website and covax, an organization focused on global -- if you think about the decision analysis we make in the united states, that we want to protect first those at the highest risk of dying from covid. when vaccines were rolled out, they went to people who were elderly, people in nursing homes, with underlying medical conditions and put them at risk. we also had in that group frontline health care workers. we don't need fancy modeling studies to tell us the fact that there are thousands and thousands of frontline health care workers, doctors, nurses, in countries all over the globe that have no access whatsoever to a vaccine, that that is wrong. we do not need to wait on the for that and we need to global community to do more. if you think about it, these vaccines, a lot of them were developed with federal dollars. the research that went into the technology for mrna vaccines was developed with federal dollars. a lot of this work came o

richard besser will join us. but we're going to begin tonight with the urgent race now to evacuate tens of thousands of americans and afghans who helped the u.s. out of that country. tonight, the state department just reporting that all u.s. embassy personnel who were trying to get out are now out, except for a core group that will now help get those afghans who helped the u.s. out of the country. it comes amid disturbing new images tonight of the deadly chaos more than 24 hours ago, afghans clinging to that c-17. this video tonight showing a young man recording himself sitting on the side of a u.s. military plane as it taxied on the kabul airport runway before takeoff 24 hours ago. we're also learning more tonight about this stunning image. more than 640 afghan men, women and children all packed into that single c-17 cargo plane. we showed you this last night. one defense official saying they had never seen a mission with that many people, calling it, quote, pretty unprecedented. tonight, the taliban holding the

richard besser. doctor, always great to have you with us here. >> thank you so much, david. >>> all right, to the other news this tuesday night and a major victory in washington for president biden. the senate passing his trillion dollar infrastructure plan with bipartisan support. 19 republicans voting with democrats today, but what does this bill face in the house? rachel scott on the hill tonight. >> reporter: tonight at the white house, president biden touting a rare bipartisan deal after the senate passed his $1.1 trillion infrastructure package. >> i want to thank the group of senators, democrats and republicans, for doing what they told me they would do. after years and years of inf infrastructure week, we're on the cusp of an infrastructure decade that i truly believe will transform america. >> reporter: the president says this bill will create millions of jobs. >> experts believe the majority of the bill's benefits will flow to working families. faster commutes, cleaner water, less expense,

besser with an honest assessment tonight. dr. besser, thank you. >>> we're tracking those raging wildfires out of control in northern california at this hour. the call door fire burn, at a rate of 1,000 acres an hour. thousands forced to evacuate. and the dixie fire, now the largest in california history, burning more than 600,000 acres. the utility there cutting power to more than 50,000 customers now to avoid sparking anymore fires. >>> and when we come back here tonight, tracking severe weather here in the east. ginger tracking it next. nicorette knows, quitting smoking is freaking hard. you get advice like: try hypnosis... or... quit cold turkey. kidding me?! instead, start small. with nicorette. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette (man) i've made progress with my mental health. so when i started having unintentional body movements called tardive dyskinesia... ... i ignored them. t the movements called tardive dyskinesia... in my hands and feet started throwing me off at work... i finally had to say

richard besser. dr. besser, as the u.s.its this benchmark of 70% of adults 18 years old and over having at least one dose of covid-19, the vaccine, the delta variant is causing a major surge in cases around the country, especially in several of those states. what's it going to take for the u.s. to finally get control over this virus? >> you know, wolf, i think it's going to take much more immunization, much more vaccination than we're seeing. and it also takes us really in an effort to stop focusing on a national number of 70%. now i'm here in new jersey, and 71% of people in the state of adults are fully vaccinated. in my town it's 77%. but the next town over, which is trenton, it's 49%. we need to look at what's happening down at the community level and double or triple our efforts to get vaccines to people who are not yet vaccinated. one of the encouraging signs is that in some of the areas with the highest transmission right now, that's where we're seeing the greatest uptake in interest in vaccination. if we create spac

richard besser, former acting director at the cdc. dr.vid, i want to ask you about the breaking news out of haiti. another devastating earthquake. you were there in 2010 as haiti suffered one of the deadliest earthquakes in history. what is your sense on the challenge haitians are facing on the ground right now in this relief effort? >> yeah, you know, jon, that was some of the first reporting i did for abc news. when you see a tragedy, a natural disaster of this extent, in a country that already has challenges to begin with, both political and economic and in terms of infrastructure, this is going to be absolutely devastating. we've not yet been able to see the full extent of this, the toll in terms of lives lost. and the challenges they'll face in terms of providing the basics of food, water and shelter. >> it's just horrifying. let me ask you about -- of course they have a major covid-19 problem in haiti and virtually no vaccinations. in terms of the covid challenges we're seeing now with hospitalizations up, infections up, how bad do

besser, um, dr. peter hotez, the pediatrician and infectious disease expert in houston, has said he's concerned that there's going to be a back-to-school tragedy in the south, and is suggesting mask mandates for all students and vaccine mandates for students 12 to 17 years old. what do you want schools and parents to do to keep children safe? >> yeah. i mean, one thing that i would say to parents is that, you have a choice. there may not be a mandate in place. but you have a choice, and can send your -- your child to school with -- with a mask on. you have a choice, and you can get vaccinated. knowing that getting vaccinated helps protect you. but it, also, helps protect your children and others who -- who may not be able to get vaccinated, now. or who may have an immune problem, where the vaccine isn't -- isn't as effective as -- as you like to see. i hope that we -- we create space to allow governors to -- to make changes in what they're doing. it's great to see the governor, in arkansas, trying to

besser.i would encourage you to look at the who website and covax, an organization focused on global -- if you think about the decision analysis we make in the united states, that we want to protect first those at the highest risk of dying from covid. when vaccines were rolled out, they went to people who were elderly, people in nursing homes, with underlying medical conditions and put them at risk. we also had in that group frontline health care workers. we don't need fancy modeling studies to tell us the fact that there are thousands and thousands of frontline health care workers, doctors, nurses, in countries all over the globe that have no access whatsoever to a vaccine, that that is wrong. we do not need to wait on the for that and we need to global community to do more. if you think about it, these vaccines, a lot of them were developed with federal dollars. the research that went into the technology for mrna vaccines was developed with federal dollars. a lot of this work came out of th

richard besser is going to join us live. the fight over requiring vaccines for cruise ship passengers. norwegian cruise lines scoring a win against the state of florida. the cea joins us live. a tax scam alert. how to protect yourself and your money. a performance you are not going to want to miss. jennifer hudson playing -- paying tribute to aretha franklin. jennifer hudson at hudson yards. a live performance. what is not to love about that? it's another day. and anything could happen. it could be the day you welcome 1,200 guests and all their devices. or it could be the day there's a cyberthreat. get ready for it all with an advanced network and managed services from comcast business. and get cybersecurity solutions that let you see everything on your network. plus an expert team looking ahead 24/7 to help prevent threats. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. when it comes to flooring, i'm hard to please. so, i go to floor & decor where they don'

richard besser is live. tropical storm warning, fred on the move taking aim at florida and dangerous heat waves. millions of americans on both coasts on alert as severe storms sweep the country bringing flooding and damaging winds. rob has the timing and the tracks. >>> britney free? a breakthrough for spears as her father steps down as conservator of her estate. a major victory in her fight for freedom. what's next for the superstar? >>> the return of the murder hornet. the first live sighting in the u.s. this year found in washington state. what experts are warning this morning. >>> covid and the classroom. with the debate over masks in schools raging, a new look at how the virus can spread. in a room of unmasked students,r and experts' concern about those plexiglass barriers. ♪ dream on, dream on ♪ >>> plus, they built it, and they came. kevin costner helping bring "field of dreams" to life. off in the cornfield. to the wa white sox win it. >> going the distance with a hollywood ending. >>> good morning,

besser. >> i hope not. this is a different situation how it is discussed and communicated.ws in the data the protection, severe infection, hospitalization and death remains extremely high and so i don't think there's that mad scramble. we're also going to, in a situation where there is enormous supply of vaccine in this country. there should be vaccine to people to receive when their eight-month window arrives. for those who received the j&j vaccine, the recommendations will be coming after additional data to look at to those series for that vaccine and what happens. >> dr. richard besser, it is great to have your perspective and your expertise on a morning like this. thank you so much. we appreciate your time, we appreciate you being with us. >>> next up -- >> my pleasure. >>> congressman gregory meeks on his hunt for answers about afghanistan plus a new report details another warning made to the fbi ahead of the january 6th riot. we're talking with the reporter who broke that story, next. that i should get used to people staring. so i did. it's okay, you can stare. when y

besser: i think the as soon as possible. as a pediatrician, i want to make sure they are getting all the safety data they need, to know if i'm recommending these they are truly safe. hopefully they will have that information soon. >> you can watch more coming up. across the u.s., more than 450 covid deaths reported each day, up by more than 50% in the last week. the situation is particularly bad in florida, where state officials have requested an additional 300 ventilators from the federal government. >> today is day two of the new school year. there was a makes -- mix of nerves and excitement. they offered reassurances that the kids would be safe inside the classroom. we spoke with a teacher who said what many people wanted to hear. >> we can never shut down our school again. >> spent a lot of time washing hands and eating slowly and spreading out and learning why it's important to wear a mask. >> parents we spoke with seemed happy to have their kids back in the classroom and some expressed a need to focus on the learning l

let's go to richard besser, the former acting cdc director and get his take.having you. the education secretary today was amusing about vaccine mandates, that they would be advisable, they would also be probably necessary if they could be proven to be safe what do you make of this? this push towards requirements for vaccines? >> yeah, you know, neil, i'm a general pediatrician. so the idea of required vaccinations is something that has been part of my life, my entire career. i think there's settings where requiring vaccination makes a lot of sense. for our offices, we're reopening our offices after labor day. on staff fully vaccinated can work in the building. others will need to work remotely. for a school setting, teachers and staff that could be at an increased of disease, you have children for whom vaccines are not yet available. i think considering requiring vaccination is something that should be on the table. my hope is that more people will reach out to their own health care providers, explore this, get their questions answered and make the decision to

besser, our good friend, is back live. latest. >> reporter: yes, simone biles has proven once again why she is the greatest of all time. she overcame such intense scrutiny and so much pressure to return to the games and, guess what, she's bringing home another medal. this morning simone biles returning to glory with a stunning performance on the balance beam. overcoming mental health struggles earlier in the games to take bronze and silence her critics. it was biles first event since last week and last chance to medal. the superstar olympian pulling out of all other event finals after gng gymstsal l sti spinni midair. after falling short on the vault last week, the 24-year-old says cease's been taking things day by day pulling out of contention for individual bars, vault and floor routines, now returning to form and overcoming adversity placing third behind cne gymnasts. biles' teammate suni lee finishing fifth after stumbling on the beam but managing to hold on. suni's family and friends cheering on from back home in minn

richard besser joins us live. >>> bipartisan breakthrough. the senate poised to pass that trillion-dollar infrastructure bill. a big step forward for one of president biden's biggest priorities. we're live on the hill this morning. >>> tornado outbreak. 16 reported twisters ripping through the midwest overnight, plus, the new tropical threat on the move strengthening and taking aim at the u.s. rob is here tracking its path. >>> out of control. the race to escape as wildfires devastate greece. one official calling it a biblical catastrophe. thousands forced to flee. we're live from the front lines. >>> cruise ship showdown. the high seas battle over requiring passengers to be vaccinated. what a judge just ruled and how the experience on board is changing. the ceo of one major cruise line joins us exclusively this morning. >>> the new warning from the irs. criminals targeting those new child tax credit payments. how to protect yourself and your money. >>> frightening close call. a massive bull moose charging at a hiker in colorado. what happene

richard besser, always a pleasure.ou so much for your time today. >> thanks, amy. >> robin. >> all right, amy. >>> now to the crisis in afghanistan. the u.s. scrambling to evacuate americans as the taliban tightens control. taliban leaders holding a press conference and our ian pannell was th latest for us in kabul. good morning, ian. >> reporter: yeah, good morning, robin, that's right. there's a darkness, a sadness that seems to have settled on kabul. life is slowly returning to the city. but down at the airport where the evacuations are taking place, it's total chaos. this morning, as the taliban consolidates control of afghanistan, as many as 11,000 americans and tens of thousands of afghans still trying to leave the country. so far the u.s. able to evacuate 3,200 people from afghanistan including all u.s. embassy personnel but a core group of diplomats. for those americans still in the country a safe exit from the airport guaranteed but the journey there has to be attempted at their own risk. an email to u.s. nati

besser is live answering your questions about kids and covid and what you need to know before schoolix months after that devastating leg injury. what she is saying about her big step forward this morning. ♪ >>> using data to tackle the biggest parenting debates from screen time and cell phones to picking the right school, what one economist and mom found in her research. could it work for you? ♪ >>> new twist. >> given that i am in multiple relationships, it's the one thing i want to keep close and give to the final person. >> your exclusive sneak peek of tonight's explosive bachelorette episode. ♪ >>> plus, they are bad to the bone. and live on "gma." margot robbie and idris elba taking us behind the scenes of their brand-new movie, all ahead as we say, good morning, america. ♪ >>> ooh, get funky with that tune to start the new week with us. we appreciate that. great to be here with t.j. and george. >> apologies to you, robin, for all the screaming i was doing next door, but i was watching the u.s. women. they were taking on canada in the semis there. they lost 1-0 but they are taki

besser, great to have you on. thank you. we're awaiting news from governor andrew cuomo's attorneys. we'll have that live to you, a poll just in shows seven of ten new york state voters want him to resign. next to a story you will see only on "the story," we speak to a chicago mom who is visually impaired about life without her teenage son who she called her eyes as the heart break of america's crime crisis hits home again after this. their interest ratese bang newday is holding the line to keep their rates low. two and quarter percent, just 2.48 apr. save thousands every year. i've spent centuries evolving with the world. that's the nature of being the economy. observing investors choose assets to balance risk and reward. with one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. agile and liquid. a proven protector. an ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions. an asset more relevant than ever before. gold. your strategic advantage. verizon launched the first 5g network and now we want to be the first to give everyone the

richard besser is here. >>> and the emergency air lifts out of afghanistan., what the state department just revealed. all u.s. embassy personnel trying to get out now out. a core group remaining to help with the efforts to get other americans and the afghans who helped the u.s. out of the country. the u.s. now says it will evacuate up to 9,000 people a day. tonight, more u.s. troops arriving, one day after the deadly chaos on the tarmac. and the new images tonight showing desperate afghans clinging to that c-17 as it took off.

richard besser is here. >>> and the emergency airlifts out of afghanistan.ght, what the state department just revealed. all u.s. embassy personnel trying to get out now out. a core group remaining to help with the efforts to get other americans and the afghans who helped the u.s. out of the country. the u.s. now saying it will evacuate up to 9,000 people a day. tonight, more u.s. troops arriving, one day after the deadly chaos on the tarmac. and the new images tonight showing desperate afghans clinging to that c-17 as it took off. planes packed with evacuees and tonight, our correspondent, the

richard besser former acting director of the cdc. dr. besser, good morning to you. when you look at the lay of the land in this country, in the last month, cases are up more than five times. over the past two weeks, new infections have risen by 148%. i know a lot of people thought, wait a minute, i thought we turned the corner here just go back to basics here. why? >> yeah. savannah, we all wanted to turn a page on the pandemic, and unfortunately the pandemic wasn't ready to turn the page on us one of the things that's clear, as long as there's widespread transmission of the virus, there's the opportunity for new variants to arise. that's what happened with the delta variant. thankfully, it is covered by the current vaccines, but there is no guarantee that the next variant that emerges, it won't be one that the vaccines aren't effective for. so i'm really pleased to hear the number of people getting vaccinated is on the rise. we can't give up on people who so far have not gotten vaccinated we have to meet people where they are, address their concerns and help them r

richard besser, and please let us know. we had a dire warning from dr.ent delta strain may emerge. how concerned are you about that potential scenario? >> john, as long as the virus is spread, not just here but around the globe, and there's a mistake and the virus is more contagious and that's when he takes off. let is what happened with the delta variance. it didn't arise in the u.s., it arose in another country and came here. in countries that is the they may be resistant to treatment. delta might be resistant to vaccines. >> the key is that right now all the variants that are circulating, the existing vaccines cover them quite well. i'm so eager to encourage people, to make their own decision about getting vaccinated. it's always possible that the variant will arise and is resistant. sometimes when that happened the viruses don't do as well and don't transmit at it as easily but if you have one that does transmit easily we could be back to square one in terms of having to re-vaccinate people against a new strain of the virus. >> john: it seems just a

richard besser. charles is on the line for those who are vaccinated. thank you for waiting. caller: thank you for taking my call. this morning, i am ready to go on vacation with my family. there will be five different family members. we live in one big home. three of our families are vaccinated. two are not. the environment is changing. i am wondering if it is safe for us to all be housed like that. thank you. guest: thank you for raising that question. the united states has been faced with a challenge similar, at least in some ways. in 1975, the ford administration evacuated more than 100,000 vietnamese refugees to the united states via guam. the u.s. rescued people from kosovo and albanians. but it is a massive undertaking now. today, we will spend the session reviewing the status of the evacuation and the lessons learned from past experiences and where things should go from here. to that end, i am pleased to have with us three individuals with direct and really unique experience. congressman seth moulton of massachusetts is the cochair of the honoring our promises working

richard besser about what you need to about kids and covid. >>> a parking change that may surprise you> and a bay area event. what you can expect next year at the gilroy garlic festival. >>> and evictions schedule to spike. the day california renters to w >>> and it is 5:26. we will be right back. paul loves food. but his diabetes made food a mystery. everything felt like a “no.” but then paul went from no to know. with freestyle libre 14 day, now he knows how food affects his glucose. and he knows when to make different choices. take the mystery out of your glucose levels - and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free. visit freestylelibre.us ♪ >>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. >>> now at bay area bracing fo masking rules. >>> and expanding service. part is moving forward. >>> and prepared for the new school year. getting kids stocked up on supplies to the. >>> welcome to monday, august 2. we are streaming now. >>> we are going to start this morning at 5:30 with a check on the forecast. surprise! >>> that means take you through

richard besser, former acting director of the cdc. good to see you. >> good to see you, savannah >> so the cdc is expected to present its case for a third booster shot what in your mind is driving this concern that the protection from these vaccines, the pfizer and the moderna, wanes over time >> you know, savannah, i think there's probably two things we're going to hear about. one is the most dire concern and that would be if they're starting to see an increased risk of severe infection, hat cn hospitalization, or death. in israel, they are seeing an increased risk of severe infection. that was what cdc has been watching for the most. the other piece of it, though, is that we are seeing widespread transmission of delta around the country and we are seeing a significant number of breakthrough infections. clearly, the vaccine reduces dramatically your risk of having any infection. but if we want to get this delta variant under control and if we are seeing a number of people who are fully vaccinated getting infected, a booster shot coul

besser, it's good to see you as always. >> good morning, savannah.t's nice to be here >> let's talk about the explosive growth in the number of kids infected with covid. a four-fold increase since the start of last month, july, and a 20% week over week increase in kids being hospitalized. what do you attribute that to? is there any evidence that the delta variant is more dangerous, more virulent with kids? >> i haven't seen convincing evidence that it's more severe i think the jury is out on that. but just the fact that so many more children are being infected with this strain means that there will be more children who have severe disease. there will be more children who are hospitalized and, unfortunately, there will be more children who die from covid. and that is not something we should allow to happen >> once again, this issue of masks is being very hotly debated, especially as kids are returning to the classroom we've got some governors banning mask mandates. now we have school districts overruling them. but the governor's position is let parent

lincoln prizewinner martha hodes suppressed besser of history at new york university winner of the 2016der lehrman lincoln prize for her book mourning lincoln. professor sipri will present the finals for the 2020 lincoln prize. take it away martha. >> thank you sebastian and good evening. my name is martha hodes and it's my honor to introduce the finalists for the 2020 lincoln prize. the files were chosen by distinguished scholars from a pool of more than 100 looks nominated for the prize. we have named a finalist for the president speaker's award and a unique group that includes the very best history writing over the last 30 years. her first finalists is a 2020 lincoln prize is -- for his book the second coming of the civil war and reconstruction remade the constitution which traces the art of three foundational amendments the 13th, 14th and 15th. the second finalist was matthew for his book -- photography human bondage in the birth of modern visual politics in america which explores the role of photography in shaping the public's understanding of in the 19th century. the third finalis

. >> doctor richard besser, always good to have you.>> speaking of masks, kentucky senator rand paul has been kicked off youtube after posting to encourage people to ignore public health guidance claiming that cloth face masks don't work to prevent the spread of covid-19. cnn's donie o'sullivan joining us with more. how is youtube explaining the suspension? >> reporter: erica, this is a remarkable decision from youtube to shutdown the account for seven days of a sitting u.s. senator. paul posted videos about telling people not to wear masks, essentially to go against public health guidance. and here is what youtube said. they said the videos resulted in a first strike on the channel which means it can't up load content for a week per long strand standing three strikes policies. we apply policies consistently across the platform regardless of speaker or political views. we have counter veiling views from local health authorities. youtube pointing to one particular part of the video that claimed in paul's videos say most of the masks you

richard besser talked about masks in schools.ks in schools and getting older students vaccinated if eligible is what will keep everyone safe. as for what parents should do if their school does not enforce mask wear entering that doesn't mean you can't send your child to school with a mask. i would encourage every parent to do that. even if it's not required, it will provide some protection for your children and it will provide protection for those in school who may have a greater risk for severe infection. >> you can watch the full interview coming up at 7:00 on gma after abc 7 mornings. >>> today the alumna association of mills college will hold a rally outside of alameda court. it comes ten days before a potential vote that could seal the fate of the college. in march officials announced mills would no longer be a college. alumna filed a lawsuit claiming they were blind sided by the announcement to shut merge with university. that rally starts at 11:00 this morning. >>> hundreds of low income students will be getting new school

. >> we welcome back to the washington joiner richard besser, former acting director of the cdc, joining us this morning in the wake of several major covid announcements.

richard besser, who served as cdc director early in the obama administration. then the future of afghanistan with the brookings institute. watch "washington journal," live at 7:00 a.m. eastern thursday morning. join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comment, text messages and tweets. >> turning to campaign 2024 now, arkansas republican senator, tom cotton, was among the speakers at the sixth annual bass fry in garden film, nevada. other speakers included adam lacks out the former republican attorney general of the state and former acting director of national intelligence, richard grenell. >> this is the sixth annual basque friday, we are here. right next to lake tahoe, this is the oldest working ranch in nevada. we came up with them six years ago when we came up with this idea to try to find a swing state event that would highlight nevada, attract some of our beautiful things we offer here in the state. and give an opportunity for voters from all across the state to come to one place and be able to hear from national speakers. when i started this t

richard besser, who served as cdc director early in the obama administration.n the future of afghanistan with the brookings institute. watch "washington journal," live at 7:00 a.m. eastern thursday morning. join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comment, text messages and tweets. >> turning to campaign 2024 now, arkansas republican senator, tom cotton, was among the speakers at the sixth annual bass fry in garden film, nevada. other speakers included adam lacks out the former republican attorney general of the state and former acting director of national intelligence, richard grenell. >> this is the sixth annual

richard besser, former acting director of the cdc, joining us this morning in the wake of several majornnouncements. morning in the wake of several major covid announcements. first, your reaction to the booster shot announcement and your assessment of the data behind that announcement on the effectiveness of the mrna vaccines and whether they are waning over time? guest: it is great to be here. there is a lot of covid news. what we heard yesterday is the