Good evening and it s great to have you with us here as we start another week together. the news coming in out of afghanistan in just a moment. will president biden extend this deadline? is there a firm number on americans and afghans still trying to get out? but we are going to begin tonight with that major news on the pfizer vaccine, now given full approval by the fda. president biden today calling this a key milestone in the fight against the pandemic. the fda calling it a pivotal moment for our country. it comes amid the surging delta variant. more than 137,000 new covid cases a day in this country. and authorities are now hoping this leads to more of the unvaccinated getting the shot and more companies and businesses mandating their workers get vaccinated, too. pfizer is, of course, now the first covid vaccine in the u.s. to be fully licensed. until now, it had only been given emergency use authorization, now full approval, based on data from 45,000 trial volunteers showing
Additional proof of the vaccine s safety. what this could mean for vaccine mandates moving forward. what new york city has done. and companies, too. the united airlines tonight giving employees five weeks from today to be fully vaccinated. and all of this comes as more than 180,000 children get covid in just one week. dr. jha standing by, answering questions on all of this and the booster and when you should plan to get it. also tonight, the mass evacuations and the race against time in afghanistan. will president biden extend that deadline? what the white house said just today. the taliban now saying that date is a red line. and the pentagon tonight on the u.s. military going into kabul to help americans and afghans get out. ian pannell reporting from kabul and martha raddatz live in washington tonight with what she s now learned. deadly weather here at home. the flooding tragedy in tennessee. many families say it came out of nowhere. at least 21 people now killed,
reporter: at dulles airport outside washington, d.c., this man and his family speaking with abc s gio benitez. the man worked for the american government for more than two years. this is his first time in the united states. a lot of relief? now i can we are safe here. yeah. reporter: while the numbers of americans and afghans getting out of the country has increased, tens of thousands still remain stuck outside the airport, afraid or simply unable to get through those checkpoints or the chaos. and time s starting to run out for many of them to get out safely. david? ian pannell reporting for us again tonight. our thanks to ian and the team. meantime, at the white house today, our stephanie ramos asking about that august 31st deadline to get the u.s. troops out and of course americans and afghan interpreters before that. stephanie asking if the president plans to extend that deadline. reporter: what if the u.s. can t get americans and afghan
Local leader, who has been waiting for full fda approval to require vaccinations, i call on you now to do that, require it. reporter: tonight, the pentagon is preparing to require the shot for 1.3 million active duty troops. new york city mandating the vaccine for all school employees, without the option for weekly testing. and at united airlines, workers will have five weeks from today to show proof of vaccination. the question is whether full approval will trigger a wave of desperately needed vaccinations. about 85 million americans are eligible but have not gotten the shot. a recent poll found 3 out of 10 unvaccinated people said they would be more likely to get a shot that had full approval. a lot of other people are scared. i was waiting on the fda approval. reporter: still, more americans are dying of covid, now an average of 738 every day. florida just saw its deadliest week.
Tonight, several major headlines as we come on the air. the fda giving full approval now to the pfizer vaccine and what this could mean for vaccine mandates in this country. and the news coming in from afghanistan tonight. the evacuations. how many americans, how many afghan interpreters remain? and will the president extend that august 31 gs deadline? tonight, the dally ban with a warning if he does. first, the coronavirus and tonight, pfizer now the first covid vaccine in the u.s. to be fully approved for americans 16 and older. until now, it had been given emergency use authorization, now full approval. found to be 91% effective at preventing the virus. federal authorities have long hoped this moment would help with the unvaccinated, providing