abc's white house correspondent maryalice parks is on the north lawn with the withdrawal the pentagon says is on track to be completed by the end of august. that's ahead of president biden's september 11th deadline. good morning, maryalice. >> reporter: good morning, eva. yes, the pace is really picking up now. most u.s. troops and equipment are already out of afghanistan. like you said, the pentagon is now confirming that the formal withdrawal process will be done by the end of august. now, of course, at the same time, we are seeing the taliban just surging in the last few weeks taking more and more territory. some within the intelligence community have predicted that the afghan government could fall within months. i asked president biden yesterday if he's worried about that. he told me he thinks that the afghan government does have the capacity to sustain itself, but that they're going to have to grow support and conduct further negotiations with the taliban down the road. now, as for the thousands of afghan citizens who have helped u.s. troops like translators and drivers, yesterda

abc news reporter maryalice parks explains. >> reporter: across the country more than 25,000 patients are being treated for covid-19 in the hospital, up 36.5% in the past week. the vast majority of those patients are unvaccinated. >> it's really an outbreak among the unvaccinated. so this is an issue predominantly among the unvaccinated, which is the reason why we're out there practically pleading with the unvaccinated people to go out and get vaccinated. >> reporter: dr. fauci acknowledging revising the mask guidance for vaccinated individuals is under active consideration by the biden administration. well over 100 million americans eligible for the vaccine still have not rolled up their sleeves. brian parisi is among them now battling covid in a california icu but has not changed his mind about getting the vaccine. >> we were waiting for the emergency authorization to work its way through. in retrospect i honestly don't know if it would have made a difference. >> reporter: louisiana, arkansas and florida are now seeing the highest case rates. florida's infections are rising from 230

abc news reporter maryalice parks explains. >> reporter: across the country more than 25,000 patients are being treated for covid-19 in the hospital, up 36.5% in the past week. the vast majority of those patients are unvaccinated. >> it's really an outbreak among the unvaccinated. so this is an issue predominantly among the unvaccinated, which is the reason why we're out there practically pleading with the unvaccinate people to go out and get vaccinated. >> reporter: dr. fauci acknowledging revising the mask guidance for vaccinated individuals is under active consideration by the biden administration. well over 100 million americans eligible for the vaccine still have not rolled up their sleeves. brian perisi is among them. he's now battling covid in a california icu but has not changed his mind about getting the vaccine. >> we're waiting for the emergency authorization to work its way through. in retrospect i honestly don't know if it would have made a difference. >> reporter: louisiana, arkansas and florida are now seeing the highest case rates. florida's infections rose from 23,000

here's abc's white house correspondent maryalice parks. >> reporter: tonight president biden telling americans this country is one step c declaring independenc t fourth is aay of special celebti for we're merging from the darkness of years -- a year pandemic and isolation. >> reporter: the president and first lady throwing their biggest party at the white house this year welcoming a thousand people including military families and essential workers from a fourth of july barbecue and the white house says all attendees have been tested and the outside event is safe but facing questions whether the gathering is a good idea with the highly transmissible delta variant on the rise. experts say only fully vaccinated people have sufficient protection from the variant and this year the holiday is coming up short of president biden's vaccine goal of 70% of americans receiving at least one shot. according to the cdc, 67% of american adults have received their first shot and 5 % are fully vaccinated. among those not yet vaccinated a new abc news/"washington post" poll shows 74% saying they probab

here's abc's white house correspondent maryalice parks. >> come on, senators. >> reporter: tonight the president, vice president and first lady fanning out across the country kicking off this mostly maskless holiday with selfies, pies and ice cream cones. but the fourth of july is also a reminder of a self-imposed deadline they won't meet. the white house coming up short of its goal of getting 70% of american adults at least one covid-19 vaccine before the fourth of july holiday. yesterday the president still sounding upbeat. >> put simply, our economy is on the move, and we have covid-19 on the run. >> reporter: according to abc projections, an estimated 67% of adults will have received their first dose by the end of the holiday, 7.4 million shots shy of president biden's goal. as the highly transmissible delta variant continues to spread, increasing concern over the 14.8 million people who have missed their second needed dose of the vaccine. experts warn that only those who are fully vaccinated are adequately protected against the virus and this variant. it is that variant that is be

maryalice parks has more on that. maryalice, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, whit. the president told americans he was hoping americans could enjoy a fourth of july barbecue. he's hosting one here tonight. they say they're expecting a thousand people including military families and essential workers. this will be the largest event at the white house since the president took office. all weekend we've been hearing the president celebrating how far this country has come. his team has been drawing the comparison to last year when the country was in the thick of serious lockdowns with covid cases so high. this fourth of july represents a missed deadline for this white house. the president said he hoped 70% of americans would have received a covid-19 vaccine shot by this weekend. the president, vice president and first lady were around the country continuing that message, continuing to tell people they hope they will get the vaccine, especially that second shot. if they need it, but by our projections, the country will end up about 7.5 million shots short of that benchmar

abc's white house correspondent maryalice parks is at the white house with this story. orning to you, maryalice. >> reporter: good morning, eva. yeah. this was a major ruling ay a federal judge in texas ruled that the obama administration did not have the authority or t set up the program back in 2012. now, the program has allowed more than 650,000 immigrants who were brought here illegally as children, mostly by their parents, to gain status, to live and work here and go to school these last nine years. these dreamers as we so often talk about have mostly known no other country but the united states as their home. and polling shows the vast majority of americans support the idea of offering legal protections to dreamers including 75% of republicans. this morning, president biden called the ruling deeply disturbing and said the justice department intends to appeal it. now, the judge in texas said that those who are already in the daca program now should not be affected or deported, that this will mostly apply as to whether the government can accept new applicants but, lo

abc's maryalice parks is on capitol hill this morning with the latest on this legislation. ood morning, maryalice. >> reporter: good morning, eva. yeah, this is interesting and would be a first. now, it's been nearly 50 years since the government actually inducted someone into the military through the draft. but still young men have to register after they turn 18, and now congress is again talking about whether women should have to too. capitol hill poised to make history. the senate armed services committee advancing a bill that if signed into law would require young women for the first time to register for the draft at 18 just like ther dads and brothers. aislinn carroll, an rotc student from tulane telling us she welcomes the news. >> it caught me off guard. i think that it definitely levels the playing field and shows women are equal. >> reporter: the bill would increase parental leave for servicemen and women and establish a basic needs allowance which advocates say could help hunger and food insecurity among members of the military. today women serve at nearly every le

maryalice parks at the white house, thank you. >>> we want to get back to the weather and rob marciano out in rhode island covering remnants of elsa and the cleanup and the national weather picture. rob, good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning again, whit. not only do we have elsa but a pretty messy weather picture around the rest of the country yesterday. four dozen reports of big-time hail across parts of the midwest and over 200 reports of damaging winds. this is some of the hail out of alliance, nebraska. look at that, that's nearly softball size. that will do more than just dainhield. it will take you out, and that's what these storms brought to this area. so today, we slide the map a little bit farther to the south and east, norman to fayetteville, damaging winds, tornadoes possible but really the threat zone from wichita fall, little rock, paducah, st. louis, you're all in this slicing through the heartland and prime time for this will be late in the day in through the early evening. that's a check on what's >>> good saturday morning mother nature's natural ac around the co