your smarts. and your homework by my side. no one works harder than this woman sitting next to me. >> that is very kind. >> and i'm excited for you. >> thank you. who is going to give you context? >> i won't get poppy context. >> i'll leave some in your desk for you. >> but i know i'll see you again. >> thank you. i learn from you every day. >> enjoy it. >> thank you for joining us. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning. "at this hour" with kate bolduan is next. >> congratulations, poppy. more to come on that. that is great news. let's get to it. i'm kate bolduan. here is what we're watching "at this hour." big boost, the biden administration plans to recommend booster shots for most americans to get additional protection against the delta variant. under taliban rule, new details about who will run afghanistan going forward an how the u.s. plans to prevent terror groups from making a resurgence there

and a scramble to find survivors after the earthquake in haiti. a live report ahead. we do begin with breaking news on two big stories, the pandemic and the response to the crisis in afghanistan. let's start with coronavirus. top health officials in the biden administration are expected to recommend that most americans get a coronavirus booster shot eight months after being fully vaccinated. for those who got the one dose johnson & johnson vaccine experts are still gathering data but it is expected that you will also need a booster. an official announcement could come this week and boosters could be started next month. health care and elderly are first in line. this is coming as new cases and hospitalizations and deaths are surging in the united states because of the delta variant. especially among the unvaccinated. let's get to this news and get some context around it. joining me now cnn chief medical

correspondent sanjay gupta. how should people be thinking about these boosters. >> they are right to be confused by this. ba because it was just a week or two ago when we said boosters are for those with weakened immune systems but there is not evidence that the rest of the country needs them. and that is -- that made sense. because if you look globally at what is happening in the country, the vast majority, 99% plus of people getting severely ill, ill enough to be in the hospital, are the unvaccinated. the vast majority of transmission of this virus. while it can spread from vaccinated, the majority is among the unvaccinated and about half of the country is still unvaccinated. so in some ways we're adding another layer of protection to already very good protection for the vaccinated. and while the real problem is that people who don't have that protection at all. kids obviously hasn't been authorized for people under 12. so you have all of the competing

forces here. having said that, you know, the united states has hasn't released a lot of data on what is happening with the vaccinated population overall. we're looking at data from israel, data from the u.k. and there is some indication, if you look at that data, that the vaccine's effectiveness may start to wear down and people may start to become more likely to get symptoms, bad colds anz things like that. not bad enough to land them in the hospital, but bad colds. so putting it altogether for me, i'm 51 years old and i'm going to run out and get a third shot. probably not. for my elderly parents, a bad cold with age and comorbidity may be a bigger problem. so certain populations make sense. i don't know that you necessarily could look at the data and say it makes sense for everybody to get a third shot when half of the hasn't gotten the first shot. >> and to put a finer point on it, there are people who see this news of the need for boosters and they're going to

think that must mean that the vaccines aren't working as well. it is not that. explain. >> yeah, that is it. and let me just clarify. half of the country hasn't been fully vaccinated. about 70% is getting at least a first shot. but to your point, let me show you this data. and this is a data that i think have been looking at sort of the effectiveness of the vaccine over time. moderna and pfizer, january and july. and you could see that it drops off against infection, period. against infection. that could be people who have no systems, to people who had more severe symptoms. there is people who may have quote/unquote breakthrough infections or post vaccination infections that don't really have symptoms and they would get counted into this. but if you dig down deeper into the data and say let's look at how well does the vaccine work against hospitalizations and deaths and again i realize people could get very sick and not end up in the hospital.

i don't want to minimize that. but 91% and pfizer is 85% and against death, very good protection. it is not quite 100% but it is close enough to 100% to say the vaccines do a really good job at preventing people from dying. so that is data. are we now going to add a third shot to reduce the likelihood of bad colds, and again i don't want to minimize that, but bad colds versus making sure other people in the country get their shots and frankly other people in the world. many places in the world don't have enough access to this. >> we have often been looking to israel for clues as to what comes next for the united states since israel was faster and better getting people vaccinated and they think they've administered the millionth booster shot in israel. what can we learn from there? >> i think the big question and the data does reflect what we're seeing here, but early, they

started vaccinating earlier so the data is further ahead. as they have the third boosters they have decreased the likelihood of developing symptoms but haven't made a dent in severe hospitalizations because it was already very good like here in the united states. there is a nuanced point here and this may be something that we'll talk about more later, but in the united states and in israel, we gave those first two shots close together. three to four weeks, depefrnding on moderna or pfizer. if you look at canada, they spread it out. there is now increasing evidence that having spread it out may have been better because that kind of gave you a true prime to let the immune system prime itself and then eight to 12 weeks later give a real boost. and in essence we may be essentially doing that sort of thing now here in the united states by getting the third shots and a long duration after the first two. but again, it is hard to sort of say across the board that people who are other wise healthy with

protection against the first two shots are going to need a third. i think we need to see the data from the cdc and how they justify that and not rely on preprinted and other data from israel and other places. you want to be sort of forecasting and seeing around the curves here but the data really has to mean something if they're going to make these big decisions. >> interesting. thank you very much. it is great to see you. other breaking story. the situation in afghanistan. evacuation flights have resumed after u.s. troops regained control of the kabul airport and we've now learned from the defs department that there will be 4,000 troops in the ground by the end of today. cnn chief correspondent jeff zeleny is live at the white house with more on this. jeff, a lot and some more detail coming from the pentagon about what they're doing now kind of to make up for what has

happened. what did we hear? >> reporter: there was new detail and coming and this is part of the administration's effort to be forward-looking. to try and resolve the crisis as much as they can and put aside the incrimination of how it led to this point. but we saw the pentagon, admiral kirby talk a short time ago about all of the efforts that the military is doing. you're right. 4,000 troops on the the ground by tomorrow and next day there will be a thousand or potentially 1500 troops more than that trying to focus on security at the airport there. and we heard specifically some 5,000 people could be evacuated every day. that is americans there. there is an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 americans around the kabul area as well, of course, as the afghan partners. but take a listen to this estimate from the top military planner. >> as part of this force concludes, the speed of evacuation will pick up.

right now we're looking at one aircraft per hour in and out of h-kai. and our best effort could look like 5,000 to 9,000 passengers departing her day. but we're mindful that a number of factors influence this effort. and in circumstances could change. we'll keep you updated. >> reporter: so major general hank taylor there saying circumstances could change and that is what worries officials at the pentagon. the state department and in deed here at the white house. and the positioning of the taliban. right now it appears they are allowing this to go forward but that is the big worry across the government. what happens if that changes. we do knowis military leaders are is conversation with taliban leader as well. this comes as president biden remains at camp david today. i'm told he is being briefed on the security situation on the ground in kabul as his advisers here are trying to explain what happened over the last few days

and again do some forward-looking to try to get the americans out. but we're hear from top u.s. officials here at the white house later on this afternoon. >> thanks for that update. joining me now is dana bash and analyst peter burgen for more on this. as jeff lays out, it is an important update from the pentagon and it could easily be seen as part of this effort to fix what is such a mess right now. is it clear to you how the administration contains the fallout of what has happened in the last couple of days? >> by doing exactly what they're doing now with regard to sending in thousands more u.s. military men and women and to the capitol city, specifically to the airport. the thing that i'm hearing from sources from capitol hill to the private sector, people who are working with ngos and other organizations to get heme out

who worked with americans, women and children, particularly women who were working in the business world and now fearful for their live lives -- just because they had their own businesses. what i'm hearing is remember to send the message that this is not over. this isn't a hand wringing exercise about what went wrong because it is an active situation. and that is clear from the pentagon response today. question is how quickly could they fix the situation, kate. ted lieu is now of a member of congress, he tweeted something that i thought was so fascinating yesterday and he said that back when he was serving, what he did was to airlift people in iraq during saddam hussein, the kurds who example who were in his cross-hairs and they did that and they got the paperwork done afterwards. so airlift out, ask questions later. and so that is what i'm hearing from even the president's staunchest allies is concern

that there is too much bureaucracy with helping people that are in harm's way. especially those that helped american. >> absolutely. and peter there are reports that taliban is urging women to join their government. they're trying tosy they're reformed and more moderate. taliban co-founder has just arrives in afghanistan. u.s. military commanders are in touch with the taliban at kabul airport. i lay all of this hout because i want your perspective if you think there is -- is there reason to believe that the taliban today is changed from the taliban of the '90s? >> i'm pretty skeptical spending a lot of time in taliban controlled afghanistan. they spent 20 years fighting to get to this point. at the core is exclusion of women from any significant roles in the work force and also very limited education for girls. then add to that that every

jihadi group is celebrating this victory according to afghan officials, 10,000 foreign fighters in the country already, you could guarantee there will be thousands more. so, you know, they're saying the right things. let's see when all of the americans have left oar most of the americans have left and when they declare the islamic emirate which is not different from the islamic caliphate. there are more similarities than differences. >> that is a good way of putting it. dana, to drill down on a point you were making, this is also an extremely dangerous moment for the thousands of afghans who helped the american efforts, american troops throughout the war. biden said yesterday that there are plans to airlift more of them in the coming days. it is not clear how many that actually is. advocates for these afghans are furious, let me play matt zeller, an afghanistan war vet

and a co-founder of an siv nonprofit. listen. >> i have been personally trying to tell this administration since it took office, i've been trying to tell our government for years that this was coming. we sent them plan after plan on how to evacuate these people. nobody listened to us. we've identified all of them for government. i have no idea why they -- he claims that people don't want to leave afghanistan. i have a list of 14,000 names right now of people who want to get out of afghanistan. >> and this really does go beyond domestic politics obviously. this gets to america keeping its word. >> absolutely. it is a humanitarian crisis that could have been, if not totally avoided, it could have been made so much less severe had, according to what we just heard from that sound bite that you just played and so many other people who work in that space, they've been pleading very much

in public, not just in private, with the administration to get a handle on this before the deadline came. and it doesn't sound like those pleas were heeded. and so again, this is not a story that is over. this is happening as we speak. there is still time for the story to have a better ending. despite the fact that the images that and the symbolism from those images that we all saw in the last 24, 48 hours at that airport. they'rin dellible and for the whole world to see when it comes to america's moral authority. again it is fixable. but there is not a lot of time. >> well and to that point, peter, in this pentagon briefing, john kirby was asked about this august 31st dead that has been set by the white house of when this will kind of u.s. effort will be done. and asked if you haven't gotten

everyone out by then, do you extend into september and he would not answer it. partially, it is -- it has to come from the commander-in-chief, but what do you think of that? >> well he's in a tricky spot. and they moved the deadline from 9/11 to august 31st in order not to have the terrible coincident of these two events happening simultaneously. the full pullout and the memorialization of 9/11. so this aug 31st deadline is already being moved and i'm sure from a pragmatic point of view, if we still have americans and allies and interpreters still not accounted for and on the ground, of course they're going to not -- they're going to have to change things. because why would you just -- you've already moved the deadline once. why not move it again. >> peter, thank you. it is good to see you. dana, thank you very much. coming up for us, american aid is on its way to haiti as a

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and strong winds overnight. the pentagon just last hour pledged more support is on the way. we are live in port-au-prince with the latest. joe, what are you seeing there today? >> reporter: kate, probably the most important thing that we could say right now is that the tropical storm has moved out. it is moved away from haiti. the significance of that beyond the human cost which is people who have already lost their homes, having to sleep in the rain, there is also the difficulty that the water creates. it could create landslides for example, the u.s. geological service has reported 150 landslides and when the water hits all of that debris, there is the possibility of sort of a mobilization of the sediment that just makes the situation much more daunting and more dire for the people who are trying to be rescued.

now, the other thing that i think is important to say is that the united states pentagon has now weighed in, john kirby, the pentagon spokesperson, indicating that the united states government is moving a wealth of resources into the area. a couple of ships, dincluding te uss arlington and the us burlington and a number of aircraft. and that also comes in in decision to to the united states coast guard which put a bunch of helicopters in the area as well. that is important because they're helping to evacuate people most in need from the scene to the hospitals here in the capital of port-au-prince. kate. >> thank you for the update. appreciate it. up knnext for us, the talib trying to convince the world they've changed and urging women to join their new government in

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is this a reformed taliban? the taliban issuing a statement this morning claiming they do not want women to be victimized or discriminated against. they also say they will grant amnesty to all employees of the now former afghan government. cnn chief international correspondent clarissa ward filed this report this morning from kabul. >> reporter: there is more activity on the streets, more shops that are now open, more government workers going back to their post because the taliban wants to show that it could govern, it is not just a fighting force but they could keep the lights on and this is how they're doing it. i'm going to step out of the shot and you could maybe take a slightly closer look. these are taliban fighters just behind me. they are on a old humvee, those humvees traditionally associated here with the nds, which is afghanistan's equivalent of the cia. you could see they're all quite keen to pose for the camera

because they're in pretty good spiri spirits right now. they see themselves as being the victors in all of this. >> clarissa also spoke with the pentagon press secretary this morning about how the u.s. plans to help afghans who risked their lives helping the u.s. efforts for two decades. here is that. >> i just wanted to ask you, because i'm the one who is here on ground talking to afghans every day who work with the u.s. military, who worked with the u.s. embassy, who worked with american and ngos or journalistic organizations and i'm one the one that has to look them in the eye, could you assure everyone that worked with american organizations will be got out of this country safely. >> first thanks for your brave reporting and the images and the stories that you're telling. we're all grateful and we all know how hard and how dangerous that work is.

i would ask you to tell them that there is a process that they could apply for through the state department to get on to the list and get on to the manifest and i would ask them to work with state department authorities there in kabul to do that. and if they are through that process, i could assure them and you could assure them on our behalf that we in the pentagon will do everything we can to help get them out of the country over the next couple of weeks. that is why we're flowing in extra troops so we could do that and i would also say over the last -- since 2005 we've moved 70,000 of these individuals an we know we have an obligation to them. >> reporter: to most afghan people that i'm talking to, john, that is going to sound like hollow promises. can i have your word these people are depending on you, they are depending on america. their lives are at threat. they have given everything to work with america to rebuild this country and now they are

asking simply for an assurance that they will not be cast aside, they will flot be abandoned that america will step up and take responsibility for the lives that are in its care at the moment. >> clarissa, there is nothing hollow about the obligation that we know we have to the afghans who so bravely helped us over the last 20 years. nobody in the united states government more the pentagon understands that obligation to the individuals. and as i said before, we'll continue to do whatever we can to help them get out of the country in concert with the state department colleagues. we're committed to that and we're going to stay and do it for as long as we possibly can up until the end of the month, that is when the mission ends, we'll continue to work on that very hard and that is why we're continuing to flow in more forces and flow in more aircraft. >> joining me now for more on this is sarah jacobs serves on house foreign affairs and the armed services committee.

thank you for being here. the pentagon just said there will be 4,000 troops on the ground in afghanistan by the end of today. they hope to evacuate 5,000 to 9,000 people per day. you just heard the exchange with clarissa and the pentagon spokesperson john kirby. do you trust the assurances of the pentagon to get these people out and to safety? >> i do. i know that the pentagon and the biden administration is doing everything they can to get people out. i and many others in congress continue to urge them to do as much as possible and to not let these paperwork and processes get in the way of getting people out. and we stand ready to do what we need to do from congress to help facilitate that. >> and if they're not all out by august 31st which is the deadline that the president put in place, should the president extend that deadline to deal with the conditions on ground in order to allow all of these people to get out safely? >> i believe that we have an

obligation to get our afghan allies and partners, women leaders, politicians, people who really bought into the american mission in afghanistan out and i think we have to stay and get as many out as possible. recognizing that this is not about redeploying and getting back into a fight with the taliban. i believe the president was right to withdraw u.s. troops from the fight in afghanistan. this should purely be an evacuation mission. but we should stay for as long as that takes. >> even if it does go past that ug 31st deadline, you would support that. >> yes. left in the lurch now is afghanistan's women and girls. the data on this is really sobering. according to usaid more than million girls were enrolled in school and before that virtually zero girls were enrolled in school. maternal mortality rate has dropped by 50%.

usaid has helped 20,000 women get jobs. this is just from usaid and what do you say to women and girls now about their future? >> well one of the things that i have been pushing the biden administration on is to expand who is eligible to be evacuate so it is not only the interpreters, not only people who worked directly with the united states government, but actually women and girls and women leaders an teachers who taught women and girls in school. because we know that we made -- >> but realistly you can't evacuate every woman and child from afghanistan. >> that is right. i think that we should do everything that we can and then the united states has an obligation to support the u.n. and other humanitarian actors who will remain on the ground to provide humanitarian assistance. >> but what is everything we can at this point? because these women and girls, they are scared.

we are hearing from them. they are not -- they're not on the the streets, clarissa, our reporters are not even seeing them out any more because they're terrified. they know what the taliban can be like. what is everything -- when you say everything we can, what do you mean? >> i know that the taliban is looking for international legitimacy, and they need international assistance and support to govern afghanistan. we've seen them make overtures in that regard and we need to prioritize protecting the gains and the rights of women and girls as we are doing those negotiations before we conferee international legitimacy. a >> and not only is it a challenge in evacuating people at the airport now, but it is getting people to the airport to be evacuated.

it was a big question this morning at the pentagon. this is a role problem at a realtime. should the united states be do much and whatever it can to get people to the airport if they are outside of the secure perimeter in kabul and beyond in order to be evacuated. should the united states be doing that? >> yes. >> yes. >> we should be doing everything that we could to get our partners out of afghanistan and to safety. >> congresswoman, thank you very much. it is a very rare we get a yes and no answer and i sincerely appreciate it when we do. thank you very much for your time. coming up, more than 5,000 students in florida told to stay home from school after hundreds test positive for coronavirus. this really captures the importance of masks in schools. but the debate still rages on. we'll tell but this next. millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments.

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position to know what is best for their kids. >> reporter: and greg abbott. >> kids will not be forced by government or by schools to wear a mask in school. >> reporter: both republican governors ignoring the science and data. according to cdc research, in places where mask use was required, fewer people ended up in the hospital. but abbott and desantis are doubling down on their fight against mandatory masks. schools that do not comply will face financial consequences, according to beoth of the governors. in miami-dade county the superintendent said his decision will not be made out of fear of losing his salary but advice from his medical task force. >> i am accepting 100% of their recommendations inclusive of mandatory masking with accommodations as determine ready in the best medical interest of students. >> reporter: they are both

pushing back on legal battles. >> the governor is looking at polls. he's no longer even talking to his own medical experts. he's looking at polls of what republican primary voters want to hear and working from there. >> reporter: as both states see rising numbers in the latest covid-19 case surge, a small school district in west texas sent students and staff home to self quarantine for two weeks after school had already started to, quote, ensure the safety of our students and staff. florida's third largest school district, hillsborough county, already has over 5,000 students and 300 employees in isolation or quarantine because of the rise in covid cases and school has only been open for one week. >> we want to get our kids back in school. we don't want schools to have to close and masking is something pretty small that we could do. >> reporter: as public health gets mixed with politics, the

president's feud with the florida governor is escalating. >> i know there is a lot of people out there trying to turn a public safety measure, that is children wearing masks in school so they could be safe in a political dispute. >> reporter: caught in the middle are children at school. >> joe biden suggests that if you don't do lockdown policies, then you should, quote, get out of the way. i'm standing in your way. i'm not going to let you get away with it. >> reporter: and kate, we should mention both governors really pushing for parents' rights and parents' choice in this matter. we checked in with put pell school districts an the overwhelming majority of parents are not opting out of the mask mandate. and in just a few hours the state's board of education is holding an emergency meeting in which they plan to take a look at broward county and what they believe is noncompliance of the

governor's executive order because they are moving forward with mask mandates in their schools without the opt outs. >> layla, thank you. coming up for us, an nfl legend now warning parents against letting young children play tackle football. brett favre joins us next. people with moderate to severe psoriasis, are rethinking the choices they make like the splash they create the entrance they make, the surprises they initiate. otezla. it's a choice you can make.

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a new public service announcement is warning parents of the dangers of tackle football at a young age urging them to keep their young kids off the iron until they are 14 years old. watch this. >> mom, dad, let's talk about tackle football. i just learned about cte. a brain disease caused by hits to the head. the more i play the more i'm at risk. >> fighting depression, struggling to keep my thoughts. i can become violent even towards my own children. when i'm your age what will matter to me is not my football career but like you i'm a great parent and i can provide for my family. >> joining me right now is a man who a star and a star of this psa, hall of fame quarterback, brett farve. also with us former professional wrestler, co-founder of the concussion legacy foundation

which released that psa. thank you both for being. brett, it's a really powerful clip and i urge people to go watch the full thing. you publicly the talked about how concussions have impacted your life. why did you want to be the face of this effort now? >> well, a concussion, a major concussion, i think all concussions are major, by the way, but ended my career. i was in my20th career but still my last play was a major concussion in which i had memory loss and was out for a period of time on the field. and since then the movie "concussion" has come out. a lot of documentation. a lot of talk about cte and you heard stories about former players committing suicide, living in their cars. there's just so many stories. one just recently died from als.

what does that have to do with concussions? maybe nothing. what we do know about als and a few things we know about it is head trauma will up your chances of acquiring als. so there's so many things i impacting our youth and our adults from head trauma and so one thing we can't control is whether we teach them tackle football or not tackle football. concussions are going to happen. they are going to happen in every facet of life, adult, elderly, youth, race car drivers, all sports. so ultimately my goal is to have a treatment for concussions, which right now all there is, is prevention. >> chris, the campaign is urging parents very specifically to not enroll kids until tackle football until they are 14 years

old. what is it about the age of 14? is it something specific >> our research has shown odds of developing cte as a football player go up 30% per year you play. so the best way to not get cte is to shorten the number of years you play. the way to do that is to start later. we know nfl players get this, college players get cte but now we have 16 high school football players with cte. 15 of the 16 started before high school. the point being they had longer careers. we're urging parents to say look we want our child to play tackle football, you don't want them to get cte your best move is to wait until high school. you start them earlier each year the rick of cte will double. >> that's interesting. this all gets to if you're getting at long term health and a healthy and happy life. another health issue face football and everyone is covid. the falcons today became the

first nfl team to say they are 100% vaccinated. the nfl has a higher vaccination rate than the general population. there are some high-profile hold outs like kirk cousins. why is there a struggle among some athletes especially when people look to them at role models when it comes to the covid vaccine. >> well, there's a great deal of uncertainty. you hear one thing one day and you hear something totally different the next and this is from experts. experts on both sides of the argument. and, you know, the vaccine or the vaccines that have been administered within the last what six to eight months didn't go through a 20 or 30 year human trial study that fda requires. so, we're sort of the human

trials, if you will. and, you know, i think some people are frightened by that. and conflicting info that we're all getting. >> but, there isn't really conflicting info that the vaccine is safe, effective and need and is a public health matter. i mean would you urge your current players to be getting a vaccine? have you been vaccinated? >> i would not rather say one way or the other, but it's not my place to say get the vaccine or don't get the vaccine. i think that's a matter of choice by all individuals, and, you know, that's why we live in america. and so, you know, i think if you're concerned about it, go to a professional who has studied that field, not just a medical doctor, someone who knows a lot of information. do your due diligence and then make your decision.

>> you yourself, i mean you don't want to say, which i respect, but you don't trust the vaccines? >> i think it's actually a great analogy for what brett is saying about the vaccine for what he's talking about tackle football for kids. he's saying i appreciate he partnered with us and our experts at boston university to have this data and now we're telling parents this is the right choice based on the data. so i think that's really good advice from brett and i appreciate that he's a public health leader on this. >> okay. we have to leave it here but just to be clear the advice of every health official from the top down, from local doctors to the government, to the best scientists in america and beyond has said that coronavirus vaccines are safe and the only way to make it out of this pandemic. thank you both for being here. brett thank you for being part of that psa. that's an important issue just as is the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccines. thank you both.

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politics". i'm john king in washington. a giant change in the covid playbook. the pentagon trying to speed up evacuations for americans still in afghanistan. many afghans want to flee too, fearful the taliban promise of tolerance will evaporate once the cameras click off. the president said he made the right call to the end the war and the buck stops with him on the messy instant but then he assigns blame to president trump and the afghans. now the urgent effort to get as many as 10,000 americans out of afghanistan asap. the kabul airport is back open and evacuation flights are up and running. 165 americans were ferried out and brought in 1,000 troops. an attempt to airlift 5 to 9,000 passen