elizabeth cohen, thank you so much. we're going to have more on this in r here in a moment with a former white house coronavirus adviser as well. >>> other coronavirus news, health officials in britain say they are weighing the benefits and potential risks of vaccinating children. >> i'm cyril vanier in lone. health authorities say they need more information before deciding whether to vaccinate children. the program hailed as among the most efficient has only targeted adults. more data from around the world is needed, says england's chief medical officer, for whom the risk benefit calculation of vaccinating is different for children since they tend to develop milder forms of the disease. >> that's cyril vanier reporting from london. >>> joining us now is the former white house senior adviser for covid-19 response, andy slavitt. he's also the author of the new book "preventable: the inside story of how leadership failures, politics and selfishness doom the u.s. coronavirus response." there is still this preventable eleme

let's talk with medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. elizabeth? >> this is an unfortunate story. it did not have to happen. it was hoped if enough of us got vaccinated that we could protect the vulnerable, people who are immuno compromised. the vaccine often doesn't work out so well for them and they are not protected. but it hasn't worked out that way. vaccination rates are so low that we're not protecting these vulnerable people. let me introduce you to one of these vulnerable people. kimberly cooley, who lives in m mississippi. she's there with her two 6-year-old nephews prepandemic. in the county she lives in only about 37% of people are vaccinated and that means she can't get near her two nephews. again that photo is from before the pandemic. kimberly did get vaccinated and she posted it on twitter when she did. she said hey, let's all do our part. i'm get ting vaccinated. we all need to do our part. unfortunately, that didn't happen. vaccination rates are too low to protect people like her. she basically has to live a quarantined life again. she's living like it was in the

elizabeth, i want to start with you. first just tell me why you're skeptical and what changed your mind. >> sure. so, i was really concerned initially with just the short and long-term effects of the vaccine. of course i'm familiar with the fact that trials are done for vaccines, but they are limited in number, limited in scope. so i was concerned about just the newness of it all. and so i credit a few different things with the change in my decision. the first is prayer. so, i think that's really important to mention because the statistics show that the group that seems to be hesitant is a lot of evangelical conservatives. so, i think prayer is really important. and for me that's sort of what tied it all together. i had seen dr. paul offit on a few different news programs and really thought highly of him. i had done some research on his level of expertise and it's really impressive, not just in being a pediatrician, but he's also an expert in epidemiology but also in vaccinations. and so, i had seen him on several things

. >> cnn senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is with us now. it is so sad, elizabeth, these are preventable deaths that we're seeing. >> they are. that's what makes this so frustrating. you can hear the frustration and sadness in dr. fauci's voice. we are handing americans on a silver platter something that will save their life. it doesn't cost them anything. it is widely available. even in the most remote parts of the united states. people are not taking advantage of it. a third of americans are not taking advantage of it. and let's take a look at those numbers that dr. fauci just dis discussed. so in the month of june, when you look at deaths, 99.2% of the people who died of covid-19 in the month of june were unvaccinated. just .8% were vaccinated. nearly everyone was unvaccinated. you do not need to be a genius to see that vaccines save lives and allowing yourself, choosing to remain unvaccinated can kill you. let's take a look at where we are again with the vaccination process in the united states. when you take a look at folks who are part

cnn's elizabeth cohen joins us now. elizabeth, the news here, the real news, is on the changing mask guidance. right? including for vaccinated americans in these areas with high case counts and for all kids in schools k to 12. they need to wear masks now again. >> that's right, john. and you know, there are two reasons sort of two confluence of two things that went on here. one is this development of the delta variant in the past month or two that is more transmissible. and also that the vaccine rates never got up to what anybody wanted them to be. when you don't have enough vaccinated people, you have to start requiring masks. so, for all the people who are complaining, oh my gosh, the cdc, they're so annoying. they're telling us to wear masks again. well, that's because you and others did not get vaccinated. you can blame the unvaccinated for this squarely. they are responsible for the spread of the delta variant. now, the mask mandate also is ba because something surprising happened with the delta variant. one of the

cnn's elizabeth cohen joins us now. elizabeth, give us the information here about the booster shot. what do people need to know about whether they need it or not? >> right now i can just tell you that most people who are listening to this do not need a booster shot. that's very clear from a statement that the cdc and the fda put out. so let's talk about these boosters for a minute. first of all, so pfizer says that they're going to apply for authorization from the fda for a booster shot next month. i got to tell you i think surprised pretty much everybody. what? we have been talking about boosters but a booster next month? it sounds like people need it when, in fact, there's lots of evidence that they don't. the booster, by the way, would just be a third shot of what's already out there. so let's take a look. pfizer said -- didn't offer any new data. didn't say we did studies that show why we need do this but just point to israeli data. that data says that the shot is only 64% or the two shots are only 64% effective at preventing infection but 93% effective at preventing hospitaliza

and maybe you can talk to us, elizabeth what we saw in province town, massachusetts. i know this is where scientists are directing a lot of their attention. >> right. so when the announcement was made earlier this week, the vaccinated people should still wear masks indoors in most parts of the country, a lot of people asked, where is the data biehin that? this is from an outbreak in massachusetts. so what they found is they looked in the noses of vaccinated people who goreco an unvaccinated people who got covid and they scraped their noses. many of us have had this done and they looked to see how much virus was in those specimens. so they looked at 80 vaccinated people, 65 unvaccinated people. and they were essentially the same. it was essentially the same. so in other words, vaccinated people seem to be just as transmissible as unvaccinated people. still get the vaccine because it could save your life. there's an excellent chance it l but you're just as transmissible so wear a mask. >> elizabeth cohen, this is important. people need to see this. need to see the data.

. >> let's bring in senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. elizabeth, it's great to see you. so many questions. why is this variant so transmissible and what seems to be driving these breakthrough cases because that's a real concern for folks right now. >> right. so john, delta is just very, very good at doing what viruses are supposed to do, which is getting into your body, replicating in really high numbers and then being transmitted to others. that's leading to an uptick in cases in the u.s. and around the world. even in countries with high vaccination rates. >> reporter: an alarming summer surge of new coronavirus cases worldwide, a key factor, the highly-contagious delta variant. in the united states, cases are up in nearly every state. >> cdc has released estimates of variants across the country and predicted the delta variant now represents 83% of sequenced cases. this is a dramatic increase from -- up from 50% the week of july 3rd. >> reporter: and just in the last week, new covid infections up 47%. the cdc warning this is now a pandemic of the unvaccinated. >> if you

. >> cnn's elizabeth cohan n joins now. i pressed jen psaki on whether or not the white house was in favor of mandates or would push them. they draw a distinction between any kind of federal mandate but now it does seem they're at least open to or maybe encouraging some at the local level. >> that's right. and let me show you why they're open to it. these numbers do not paint a pretty picture. let's look big picture. you can see from that circle, nearly one-third of americans, american adults have chosen not to get vaccinated. right, i'm using that language intentionally. the vaccine is out there. it can't be far from them, it is free. they have chosen not to get vaccinated all of these months in the rollout. if we look bigger picture, 68% of american adults say they are vaccinated or planning on doing so soon. and 10% are waiting and seeing. 6% say only if required, and 14% say definitely not. that is a lot of people. 14% say definitely not, and you've got that 6% also that there's some wiggle room there. now, you mentione

cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us now. what does it show, elizabeth? >> john, we would expect that people would be vaccinated in proportion to their population. for example, white people represent 60% of the population in the u.s., you would expect 60% of the vaccinated people to be white. and, in fact that is the case. but let's take a look at what this looks like for other ethnic groups. so for white people and asian people, they are vaccinated in proportion to the population. but blacks and latinos are a different story. blacks represent 12% of the u.s. population, but only 9% of the vaccinated population. latinos, 17% of the population but 15% of the vaccinated population. those differences may not seem huge, but when you look at the raw numbers, that's more than 5 million unvaccinated people. that's what that represents. these disparities are not just along racial lines, they're also along geographic lines. let's look at the southern united states. the southern united states represents about 38% of the population, but only 34% of the vaccinated po

let's bring in cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. what are you seeing? >> john, we just saw on that map way more red than we really want to be seeing. really in the past weeks we haven't seen much red. that is because of two things, one, the delta variant and two, we just don't have as many vaccinated people as we should have. you see the cases in red, that's where you see the rises in cases. so, let's take a look at the vaccination rate. actually, let's take a look at the deaths in june -- the vaccination rate first -- sorry, the deaths. sorry, keep going back and forth. let's take a look at the deaths. 99.2% of people who died of covid in june they were not vaccinated. 0.8 of people who died in june were vaccinated. you do not need to be a mathematical genius to figure out that if you get vaccinated, you are protecting yourself. choose life. why would you want to choose death? i completely don't understand this. that number tells you everything you need to know. now, let's take a look at the numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated people in the u.s. you

let's bring in senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. i mean, to be clear, elizabeth, this actually makes the case to get the vaccination even as it's showing perhaps some dip in the response here. tell us what this data says. >> absolutely, brianna. when i read this, my first response was thank goodness i'm vaccinated. now, before i get into this data, brianna, i want to put out a caveat. the israeli ministry of health

here is cnn's elizabeth cohen. >> reporter: peter and lisa marshal met, fell in love, and in 2009, had a picture-perfect wedding. a memory that was supposed to last a lifetime. but three years ago, peter was diagnosed with early-onset alzheimer's disease, at the age of 53. he forgot that lisa was his wife. >> he started to tell me all about his wife. and he was bragging about his wife to me. so, that was helpful. but i knew that he loved his wife, me. >> reporter: lisa became simply his favorite caregiver. but they still had sparks. >> we were watching an episode of "new girl." and there was a wedding. he looked at the tv, and he had this smug, little grin on his face. and he said, let's do it. and he pointed at the tv, at the couple getting married. and i said, are you asking me to marry you? and he said, yes, and nodded his head and smiled bigger. >> reporter: and so, in april, peter and lisa found themselves back at the altar. >> it is my honor and delight to pronounce you, once again, husband and wife. peter, you may kiss your bride. >> oh. >> what was that day like? >> the most ma

show i think is really a really amazing show now with a brand-new cast and, of course, mario lopez and elizabeth berkeley, mark paul, tiffini are all coming back in and doing things. and, of course, when they hang out at the max, i was blessed by the sitcom gods to be brought back in. it was shocking. i was actually out of the country when i heard that they were going to do a reboot. and when i got back in town and started to get calls that they were interested, i was just -- >> oh, yeah. >> i was shocked and amazed. what a wonderful thing to come full circle again. >> so great. i wonder, what were some of your -- so many of the fun, fun moments of the show took place in the diner, and you were kind of there facilitating it as your character. >> absolutely. >> what were some of your favorite moments on "saved by the bell?" >> i think my favorite has to be an episode called "dancing to the max" which was a dance contest. >> i know that one. >> it was going to be held by casey casem. and growing up for me, casey casem with his american top 40 was -- i mean, it was golden. it was huge. he was proba

elizabeth cohen, thanks so much for that. >>> this morning, leading scientists making the strongest case yet for covid-19 emerging from an animal origin, pushing back in a way against the lab leak theory. the group of 20 experts from around the world write, quote, while the possibility of a lab accident cannot be entirely dismissed and may be near impossible to falsify, the conduit for emergence is highly unlikely relative to the numerous and repeated human animal contacts that occur routinely in the wildlife trade. i want to bring in robert gary with tulane medical school, one scientists who signed this paper. thank you for being with us. talk about the evidence you looked and how you reached this conclusion. >> so, we looked at the epidemiology of the early cases in wuhan. and most of those cases were linked to a large market that we now know sold wild animals. susceptible to sars-cov-2. and some of the other cases linked to other similar markets in the city of wuhan. so we found that most of the early cases in the city of wuhan lived near the large wildlife market and far away from th

. >> elizabeth cohen, cnn reporting. >> he knows she's his favorite person. look. it's such a curse. i mean, alzheimer's is such -- is such a curse. but to get even one day, one moment, like that, it's -- it's such a blessing. >> the whole day, she said he was with him the whole day. so -- >> "new day" continues right now. >>> i'm john berman, alongside poppy harlow. on this "new day," breaking news from afghanistan. u.s. forces pulling out of bagram airbase, as america's longest war nears its end. >>> donald trump's namesake business facing a sweeping indictment on tax crimes. are more charges coming? >>> a new report showing much-needed repairs were stalled at the surfside condo, just months before it collapsed. >>> and as the nation celebrates the fourth of july weekend, will the rapidly-spreading coronavirus variant derail your plans? >>> all right. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. it is friday, july 2nd. and breaking overnight, a giant step toward ending america's longest war. the last u.s. troops at bagram airbase in afgha

about the achievement of getting 67 senators on board including mitch mcconnell, bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. that i that's some group right there. alexandria ocasio-cortez among others unhappy about where things are head. how do you get progressives on board? >> first, john, let's focus on the good news of the day which is we have a strong bipartisan group that has agreed to precede with this bill in the senate. it will be the largest investment in our nation's history in a wide range of things. from grid resilience and broadband, the infrastructure of the 21st century, to fixing our roads and bridges, our rail, our tur tur tunnels, our airports. this will make us stronger and more resilient to climate change. it will create 650,000 new jobs a year. these are high skilled high wage jobs. it's a key piece of president biden's agenda. one thing i've heard commentators talk for and against this, one thing that is often overlooked is that we have to have bipartisan legislation in the senate to authorize new programs. and there's a dozen new programs authorized in this bill. we can spend