Nasty flood before everyone even gets their power back from the previous storm. Welcome to the lead. I m jake tapper. We start today with our health lead. An alarming new coronavirus trends especially among children. New data from the american academy of pediatrics show infections are up 240% since july. To put that into context, more than 240,000 kids in the u. S. Tested positive for coronavirus just last week. Now, it is important, as always, to note that kids remain far less likely than adults to get seriously sick or to die from coronavirus. But that does not mean that some don t get seriously ill or worse. And either way, kids can still carry and spread the virus. With hospitalizations and deaths on the rise again among adults and with a quarter of the country refusing to get vaccinated, health experts say, once again, communities need to focus on slowing the spread. In just a few moments i m goin to speak with dr. Anthony fauci and whether booster shots will be ready by the orig
Covid cases as the divide between the vaccinated and the vaccinehesitant grows ever more stark. Now, we do begin in western europe where largescale rescue efforts are under way after torrential rains triggered devastating flash floods in germany, belgium, and the netherlands. Some rivers are still rising. The death toll has climbed to at least 125 people with hundreds of others still unaccounted for. Bridges have been washed out. Homes and businesses destroyed. Entire villages inundated. Germany has been hardest hit with more than 100 people killed and the heaviest rainfall in a century. The country s president warning the time to battle climate change is now. Translator: only if we take up the fight against climate change decisively will we be able to keep extreme weather conditions such as we are experiencing now in check. Take a look at this house in eastern belgium, collapsing as floodwaters rush by. You can see people on the roof waiting to be evacuated. Belgium announcing it will
economic takeoff. we ve been creating 500,000 a month over the last three months. reporter: but the disappointing numbers are fueling. gop criticism of biden s economic efforts to this point, the seed of which have been growing for week as republicans gear up to oppose biden s sweeping $1.8 trillion economic plan. many kentuckians and americans look at the situation and find out they are better off financially to stay home rather than go back to work. reporter: but biden making it clear he s unbowed seeking to directly rebut the criticism about the enhanced unemployment benefits when asked if they disincentive work. no, nothing measurable. reporter: and address the brewing criticism, including from some democratic congressmen that his proposed trillions will drive crippling inflation. today s report also puts some truth to some loose talk that we ve been hearing about the economy lately. first, that we should stop helping workers and families out for fear of ove
green light to enter ukraine. ukrainian president zelensky saying, quote, there are no minor incursions in small nations. just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. top biden administration officials have been scrambling to clean up the comments. if any russian military forces move across the ukrainian border and commit new acts of aggression against ukraine, that will be met with a swift, severe, united response from the united states and our allies and partners. reporter: secretary of state tony blinken wasn t alone. america s european allies also tried to present a united front to intimidate russia. nato allies are ready to respond. be in no doubt that if russia were to make any kind of incursion into ukraine, of any scale whatever, i think that would be a disaster. reporter: any further aggressive attitude on the part of russia would have grave consequences. all of this as russia bolsters its arsenal for a possible invasi
dr. anthony fauci hinting the vaccines for america s youngest could be available sooner than expected. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper and we start today in our politics lead. the white house s aggressive attempts to clean up shall we say comment from president biden s nearly two-hour marathon news conference yesterday marking one year in office. president biden touted some legislative victories, acknowledged nationwide fatigue with covid. and he admitted more progress needs to be made with the pandemic and the economy. but two specific comment are getting the most attention including clarification from his communications team. on the midterm elections the white house now says president biden was not suggesting that the 2022 midterm elections could be illegitimate even though that s clearly what the president s words suggested. on russia president biden today said russian president vladimir putin, quote, will pay a heavy price if russia invades ukraine. this comes afte