laura: i was steve adler, the mayor of austin. he was saying he is the governor of a blue city in a red state. these are all of the things, competing demands he must balance. >> i find those places so fascinating when you have the dots surrounded by a different color of political stripes. more from laura later appeared thank you so much. you are watching "world news america." still to come on tonight's program, making the case for booster shots. researchers in the u.k. say protection against covid from vaccines begins to fade within six months. we will bring you the latest madagascar may be staring down the barrel of what the united nations calls the world's first climate change famine. let's hear more from our reporter who has been taking a look at this, marina darris. reporter: isolated farming communities like this in the village of -- in the village region are some of the last people to contribute to climate change. they are among the first to suffer its devastating consequences. the world's first climate change famine, accord

joining me now, austin mayor steve adler. good to see you again. a dallas district judge has granted its county a temporary authority to defy the governor's order and allow mask mandate on campuses and what could this mean for students with covid cases and hospitalizations? >> i think it means that we aren't going to completely follow the data and the doctors which is really good news. the cdc, the american academy of pediatrics all indicate that the way to keep our children safe is for people to be masking in schools and we're going to do, everything we can with our resources to keep our community and children safe. >> do you think you can resist the governor's order? can he override the courts and what do you see as the legal outcome there? >> in the city of austin we've taken the position that the local health authority and local government officials have the power to decide what it is that happens in their local communities with community support. we've been in court twice with the governor so far this year. we've won both times at the district

i spoke to steve adler about that.rds. >> i believe the governor is endangering the lives of texans by not letting local communities establish the rules to keep people safe. if the governor was not at this point telling us we can't put in mandates, we would have a mandate right now saying children in schools need to wear masks. i think it would be really important for us as a city to just require that all city employees get vaccinated. we don't want to be involved in court with the governor if we can avoid it because then the story becomes all about court and it makes the issue even more partisan or political than it is otherwise, which is just criminal that it's gotten to that place to start off with. >> reporter: so local officials had a choice here. they can go to court or go along with the governor's executive order. now there is some good news. according to the white house, every single day there's about 500,000 people across this country getting newly vaccinated against the coronavirus. here in travis county it's

mayor steve adler of austin, texas. >>> joining me now is dr.t the department of health and human services. good to see you. thank you for being with us again today. i want to ask you about a louisiana headline that we've seen more than 3,000 louisiana children have tested positive for covid-19 in just four days. can you tell me given that children under 12 can't get vaccinated, what the danger of young children contracting covid is. is there a danger that they can die from it? >> yes, there is, ali. and it's into this pandemic response. we are at a critical crossroads. on one hand 50% of the population fully vaccinated. and on the other hand 90 million americans who have declined vaccinations so far and the choice of some adults to decline vaccinations has endangered kids who, if they're under 12, don't have that choice. that headline, ali, is reflecting the reality we're seeing right now. kids are vulnerable. they can get covid and can get very ill. we had 400 deaths in the country so far. they can get covid and other complications from the di

let's bring in the mayor of austin, texas, steve adler. you toured an icu unit recently. describe the situation there in au austin. >> it's scary here in austin. good to be with you, thank you, and it was this weekend when we toured the icus. we have doctors and nurses that are already so exhausted facing now what appears to be a much meaner virus than we've dealt with in the past. we're watching increases in icu or hospital admissions at a rate faster than what we had seen in the earlier surges. >> i know that soon after the cdc recommended the vaccinated people in high transmission areas go back to wearing masks, the governor there doubled down on local mandates for masks. let's put up on the screen what texas governor abbott said. texans have mastered the safe practices that helped to prevent and avoid the spread of covid-19. they have the individual right and responsibility to decide for themselves and their children whether they will wear masks, open their businesses and engage in leisure activities. what do you say to that conclusion from the governor? >> well, obvi

>> as a policymaker steve adler in austin is echoing what you hear throughout the state.and school districts, superintendents, board member, city council members are begging governor abbott to at least allow school districts and local communities to fashion their own covid safety precautions including requiring that students and teachers, educators in schools wear mask because of the surge in the delta variant and the danger that presents all over the state. he hasn't done that. basically, he has become a mini donald trump, anti-science, anti-immigrant, anti-common sense and very divisive. as a parent, i'm deeply concerned. both of my kids, a 12-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son go to school in san antonio, and like a lot of parents i'm wondering exactly how they're going to keep the kids and teachers safe especially because they're not fully empowered in those school districts to do so. it's giving a lot of parents pause, and if the governor thinks he's doing himself any favors, he's not. >> they're all different stripes who see this as knuckle headed. as seeing as la

mayor steve adler is joining us from austin, texas. and from the children's hospital in philadelphia is on the fda vaccine advisory committee so i have a whole lot of questions for you, doctor, if i got the pfizer vaccine and i hear it is only 42% effective, i'm a little freaked out. can you give us some context? how worried should we be? >> not worried. i think what you want from these vaccines you is want them to protect you against moderate severe critical disease. the kind of disease that caused you to seek medical appointment or to go to the hospital or worse. and this vaccine, these vaccines, the mrna and johnson&johnson remain very good at doing that. you can't expect this kind of vaccine also to be highly effective against highly asymptomatic, that's good for the rotovirus or flu vaccine. you can get control of this infection by just having protection against moderate severe critical disease. so i think when people are holding up the bar of trying to get protection against asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, that's too high a b

. >>> joining me now is the mayor of austin, texas, steve adler. mayor adler, thank you for being with us. talk to us about the decision overnight by the austin school board to issue mask requirements for students in the incoming school year. >> i think this is clearly something that parents in our community want, which makes perfect sense. it is following the doctors and the data. when the cdc and the american academy of pediatrics speak very clearly that the safest thing you can do for children is make sure that everybody in schools are masked, parents with children in school are going to want -- are going to want everyone masked. >> what's your message to texas gov governor greg abbott who tried to restrict the freedom of local school boards to make their own decisions on masks? >> i really do believe the local communities know best what is important for those communities. i think there is a basic freedom and liberty interest in local communities being able to make those kinds of decisions. that's what we're seeing here. ultimately the question