AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

Judy Woodruff is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: We will not forgive.

We will not forget.

We will hunt you down and make you pay.

AMNA NAWAZ: One of the deadliest days for Americans in Afghanistan in a decade.

U.S. military personnel are among at least 70 killed in explosions outside the Kabul Airport, critically hampering a chaotic exit.

Then: COVID and police.

Many law enforcement officers remain reluctant to receive vaccinations, prompting calls to mandate shots.

And the virus in Africa.

Record numbers of COVID cases are being reported across the continent amid a limited supply of vaccines.

DR. BENJAMIN KAGINA, University of Cape Town: As long as we have this problem of inequity and access to vaccines, it means that the virus will be somewhere out there circulating.

AMNA NAWAZ: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: An awful and bloody day in Kabul today, as multiple suicide bombings at the airport killed 12 American service members, 11 U.S. Marines and a Navy corpsman, and at least 90 Afghan civilians.

Many more were injured, many critically so.

It was one of the deadliest day for American forces in the country since 2011.

An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed that attack, all this as the U.S. has now evacuated over 100,000 people from Afghanistan, a mission that a top American general said will continue.

At the White House, President Biden promised reprisals against ISIS, and said the United States would -- quote -- "make them pay."

Again with the support of the Pulitzer Center, our Jane Ferguson reports tonight from Doha, Qatar.

And a warning: This report contains graphic images that will upset some viewers JANE FERGUSON: Bodies lay in a sewage canal running now with blood just outside the Kabul Airport following the bombings.

Plumes of smoke could be seen as planes took off, the evacuation continuing throughout the carnage.

And sirens could be heard as night fell.

Chaos in the streets quickly ensued, as people tried to help those injured from the blasts.

Bloodied victims were rushed to hospitals.

Witnesses described what they saw.

MAN (through translator): People were standing at the airport gate for evacuation when the blast happened.

They ambulances are carrying injured and dead.

My cousin was also wounded in the leg, so we brought him to the hospital.

ASHRAF, Eyewitness (through translator): It was time for the evening prayer when an explosion happened near the airport.

I saw about 70 vehicles carry around 150 injured to the hospital.

JANE FERGUSON: An affiliate of the Islamic State, the so-called ISIS-K, claimed responsibility.

U.S. officials believe that more attacks are possible.

K stands for Khorasan, an historic name for a region including Afghanistan and parts of Iran.

President Biden canceled his virtual meetings with governors who volunteered to temporarily house Afghan refugees.

The Biden administration said they've been sounding the alarm about the risks involved for days.

At the Pentagon, the commanding general for U.S. operations in the region spoke by remote from his headquarters in Tampa.

Marine General Kenneth McKenzie was asked whether he trusted the Taliban to help secure the airport, an insurgency that the U.S. was bombing less than two weeks prior.

GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE, Commander, U.S. Central Command: You have heard me say before, it's not what they say; it's what they do.

They have a practical reason for wanting us to get out of here by the 31st of August.

And that's that they want to reclaim -- they want to reclaim the airfield.

We want to get out by that date too, if it's going to be possible to do so.

So we share a common purpose to -- as long as we have kept that common purpose aligned, they have been useful to work with.

JANE FERGUSON: The Taliban condemned the attack and said the U.S. was responsible for the security where it occurred.

ABDUL QAHAR BALKH, Taliban Official: It is because of foreign forces, the presence of foreign forces, that such attacks take place.

JANE FERGUSON: The first explosion occurred near the Abbey Gate, where a mix of British and American soldiers were stationed.

We filmed around the area just a couple of days ago.

Before images show swells of crowds around the compound just days before the blast, despite previous warnings from the U.S. and allies about possible complex attacks.

The second blast happened near the Baron Hotel, also close to the airport.

NAJIBULLAH QURAISHI, "PBS Frontline": An explosion just happened.

Everybody is running.

JANE FERGUSON: Najibullah Quraishi, a reporter working with "PBS Frontline," was near the airport when the first explosion happened.

NAJIBULLAH QURAISHI: Even the Taliban was warning people to not go near by the airport.

But the people were still trying to flee the country.

So, this is what happened.

And this is, I can say, the first explosion after the Taliban took over Kabul.

MICHAEL WEISS, "Newslines": Wherever ISIS sees an opportunity to inflict harm and unleash carnage against anybody who does not subscribe to their obscurantist ideology and theocratic doctrine, they will do so.

JANE FERGUSON: Michael Weiss is senior editor at "Newslines" magazine.

He says his greatest national security concern is how the remaining Americans will now escape.

MICHAEL WEISS: And now, as we can see ISIS-K with the ability to penetrate deep into the heart of the capital of the country, what happens if one or more of these actors, particularly ISIS-K, goes around taking American hostages?

You know, are we going to see videos of Americans on their knees in front of a black flag, like we did in 2014 and 2015?

And are we going to see it on the anniversary of 9/11, no less?

These, unfortunately, are contingencies that we have to now entertain.

JANE FERGUSON: Allies involved in the evacuation reacted to the attack.

While in Ireland, French President Emmanuel Macron said the situation is -- quote -- "profoundly deteriorating."

EMMANUEL MACRON, French President: I think de facto all of us are put in a situation where we cannot protect all the Afghan people we wanted to protect.

What we want to do with the Americans, work hard and well until the very last minute to do the maximum operations and to be sure about security and safety of our own people.

JANE FERGUSON: Some countries announced today that they have ceased evacuations.

Others pledged to continue operations.

BORIS JOHNSON, British Prime Minister: Clearly, what this attack shows is the importance of continuing that work in as fast and efficient a manner as possible in the hours that remain to us.

And that's what we're going to do.

JANE FERGUSON: The United Nations is planning a joint meeting on the Afghanistan crisis on Monday.

AMNA NAWAZ: We will talk to Jane in just a moment.

But first, this evening, President Biden spoke from the East Room of the White House, responding to today's terrorist attack in Kabul and defending his plan for full U.S. withdrawal.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive.

We will not forget.

We will hunt you down to make you pay.

I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command.

Over the past few weeks -- I know you're -- many of you are probably tired of hearing me say it -- we've been made aware, our intelligence community that the ISIS-K, an archenemy of the Taliban, people who were freed when both those prisons were opened, has been planning a complex set of attacks on United States personnel and others.

This is why, from the outset, I repeatedly said this mission was extraordinarily dangerous and why I have been so determined to limit the duration of this mission.

As General McKenzie said, this is why our mission was designed -- it was the way it was designed to operate, operate under severe stress and attack.

We have known that from the beginning.

And as I have been in constant contact with our senior military leaders -- and I mean constant, around the clock -- and our commanders on the ground throughout the day, they made it clear that we can and we must complete this mission.

And we will.

And that's what I have ordered them to do.

We will not be deterred by terrorists.

We will not let them stop our mission.

We will continue the evacuation.

I have also ordered my commanders to develop operational plans to strike ISIS-K assets, leadership, and facilities.

We will respond with force and precision at our time, at the place we choose, in the moment of our choosing.

Here is what you need to know: These ISIS terrorists will not win.

We will rescue the Americans that are there.

We will get our Afghan allies out.

And our mission will go on.

America will not be intimidated.

And I have the utmost confidence in our brave service members who continue to execute this 0:11:08.529,1193:02:47.295 mission with courage and honor to save lives and get Americans, our partners, our Afghan allies out of Afghanistan.

AMNA NAWAZ: And "NewsHour" special correspondent Jane Ferguson joins me now from Doha.

Jane, good to see you.

Thanks for the time.

This area where the explosions took place today, you know it well.

You were there in - - just a day or so ago.

Just tell us a little more about this area and describe it for us.

JANE FERGUSON: It was always an extraordinary scene, Amna.

You had -- basically, it was initially a road surrounding the airport, or towards the entrance of the airport.

And on one side of the road, you had a compound that had been a hotel.

It was called the Baron Hotel.

But it was really a hotel run by a security firm, so it was a specialist, secure hotel.

And it had come to actually host the British forces when they had come in.

And so, outside the Abbey Gate, which was the main gate to that hotel on the street, that's where we saw swarms of people.

That's where we had been filming all week.

Massive amounts of civilians were showing up.

Just down the street, maybe 30, 50 yards, there was that deep canal that was basically surrounded by razor wire and that American forces had been using to try to sort through people as they were trying to get into the airport.

As a scene, I had never really seen anything like it before, because you saw service members from many different militaries there mingling with the public, the public who were obviously very stressed and very panicked to get out of the country, but not belligerent, very cooperative with soldiers.

So, you had -- I saw soldiers from Canada, from France, Italy, Germany, as well as the main ones being from the United States and the U.K. forces.

On the outer perimeter, you also had Taliban fighters who were somehow trying to control the crowds.

But they were largely just a little bit further down.

There was no checkpoints as such for people coming in that would have necessarily stopped and frisked them or searched them.

There were no dogs, no metal detectors, nothing like that.

It was a much more chaotic scene.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, Jane, we know now ISIS-K, K for Khorasan, which is the Central Asian faction of the Islamic State, has claimed responsibility.

What do they gain from an attack like this at this time?

JANE FERGUSON: This is an attack that is a win-win from their perspective.

They are the archenemy of the Taliban.

They have been fighting them for several years now.

They fight over territory, fighters and money and, essentially, the resources.

So they have been fighting them for a long time.

This makes them -- this helps them make the Taliban look like they are less in control of the capital.

And it also means that they get these incredibly high-value targets by hitting American soldiers.

So, for them, this is something that probably -- an opportunity that wouldn't have presented itself quite so easily before.

This is a huge victory from that perspective for them.

Now, in terms of trying to make the Taliban look like they have less control over the city, it's important to remember the Taliban themselves have even sort of hinted that they did not expect to take Kabul so quickly.

Since they have taken it, they haven't yet formed a government.

Things in the city seem relatively calm.

The airport is chaotic.

But, that being said, it's important to remember that any opposition that they could have faced actually melted away.

The Taliban didn't win the city.

They didn't fight for it.

Their control over the city is not necessarily secure.

It's not necessarily guaranteed.

And this is a message from ISIS to the Taliban as much as it is to America that they can't take anything for granted in terms of territory and the capital city of Kabul.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jane, briefly, before I let you go, is there any way to even know, does this mean more chaos in these final days before the U.S. withdrawal?

JANE FERGUSON: It's certainly not looking good.

The president, President Biden, has committed to trying to continue bringing Americans out of Afghanistan.

How they're going to do that is going to become even more of a logistical challenge.

It's already been one.

They're going to have to get the crowds away from the airport somehow.

And all the while, in the background, there's fear that growing conflict between ISIS and the Taliban could escalate in the city.

We have seen so far not the urban warfare scenes that were predicted whenever the Taliban might enter Kabul city.

But that's not guaranteed.

And there's a fear of open fighting between the two groups, which could lead to incredible insecurity across Afghanistan.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is special correspondent Jane Ferguson, who just evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, herself in the last couple of days, reporting from Doha, Qatar.

Thank you, Jane.

JANE FERGUSON: Thanks, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: And our Lisa Desjardins joins me now to talk about the president's remarks, the first time we have heard from him since these attacks today.

Lisa, you have covered him for years.

What did you make of what the president had to say?

LISA DESJARDINS: I think this was real insight into his thinking, something that a lot of us have been wanting to see for days, as his decisions were being questioned.

This was the Senator Joe Biden who was the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

This is an area that he has a great amount of depth on.

However, one thing I noticed, he was very blunt about where his thinking is coming from.

A lot of people wonder, where is this coming from?

His military commanders.

He said again and again they were unanimous, he said, in how they should do this.

Should we have stayed longer?

No, they were unanimous it shouldn't be.

Should we send more troops now?

No, the military commanders, he said, tell me we should not send more troops now.

He also stressed that it's the -- this sort of strange dance with the Taliban that is under way right now that is part of his thinking, that, in fact, they are -- he wants to leave by August 31 because the Taliban, in his words, that coordination has allowed people to flow to the airport in an important way.

I also think it was notable that you have that Joe Biden who was reaching out as the mourner in chief, and it felt palpable, to me, what he was saying about the loss of a dozen American service members.

But at the same time, he was also saying, we will not forgive, we will not forget.

A lot of questions remain about what that means, what exactly his response will be to whomever carried out this attack.

AMNA NAWAZ: This is clearly, so far, one of the biggest days of his presidency, and we say so far.

But what does it mean politically moving forward?

This was not necessarily what they expect it to be dealing with at this stage.

LISA DESJARDINS: The stakes on every level are so high for people's lives and also politically for this country.

Republicans see this as an opportunity to say President Biden is not the man you thought you were electing, he's not competent, you cannot trust him.

He's saying things that may not be the same as what those on the ground are saying.

Democrats right now are sort of holding their breath.

Many of them privately are saying, we're worried.

They're advising the president, some of them publicly, to extend the deadline, even though he hasn't.

And that's remarkable for Democrats to come out and say, we think you're making a mistake here on this major decision.

There's a lot of nervousness among them, because margins in the House and Senate are very close.

And if President Biden wants to get through his very ambitious agenda, even in the next couple of months, he needs public momentum behind him.

And there's a lot of questions about how this affects that precisely.

When Congress comes back -- it's on recess right now -- we will have hearings.

We will have a lot of discussion about this, a lot of questions for him, for his administration.

Right now, it's still a real-time disaster, and a lot of lives still at stake.

And that's what you heard from the president.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's a lot on this president's agenda, but, clearly, a devastating day for a very personally invested president as well... LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.

AMNA NAWAZ: ...

I think it's fair to say.

Lisa Desjardins, covering President Biden for us, thank you.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: And now for more on how the evacuation mission might be affected by today's attacks, we get two views.

Retired Colonel Mike Jason had a 24-year career in the Army.

In 2012, he was a battalion commander in Northern Afghanistan.

He is now interim executive director of Allied Airlift 21, which seeks to support the U.S. government's efforts to evacuate Afghans who worked with America over the past 20 years.

And Lisa Curtis was a senior director for South and Central Asia on the National Security Council staff during the Trump administration.

She was a CIA analyst in the 1990s and served in U.S. embassies in Pakistan and India.

She's now a senior fellow at the Center For a New American Security.

Thanks, and welcome to you both.

We appreciate you being here.

Colonel Jason, I want to start with you and just get your reaction to the remarks from the president and him saying he does not regret doing what he's done and evacuating, staying these extra days, but that he's sticking to that August 31 deadline.

COL. MIKE JASON (RET)., U.S. Army: Well, thanks for the opportunity.

I mean, working this nonprofit group of veterans right now doing our best to connect and get our allies out and facilitate the evacuation, what I looked for tonight in the remarks from earlier General McKenzie and then the president was a commitment to finish the mission or at least keep going.

And that's -- after today's attack, that's what I was looking for.

That's all we needed was, we got at least five more days, and we can get -- put more people on airplanes.

That was critical.

And that gives us a little bit more oxygen.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa Curtis, what about you?

What did you hear from the president?

Did anything surprise you, particularly the very strong pledge to retaliate, to go after whoever is behind today's attacks?

LISA CURTIS, Former U.S. National Security Council Staffer: Yes, the president was very resolute.

As you said, he committed to hunting down the perpetrators of the attack.

And he committed to finishing the evacuation.

And that did surprise me.

I thought that he might speed up the evacuation process or just shut it down, quite frankly, because I think the reason he has been so adamant about sticking to the August 31 deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops is because he feared such an attack as we saw today.

But now that it has happened, I think he knows that we need to hunt down the perpetrators and we need to continue the mission.

We can't be cowed down by the terrorists.

He was very clear about that.

And he was clear he is listening to his military advisers.

We know that he hadn't listened to his military advisers about the drawdown decision, drawing down to zero, but he was very clear today that he is listening to them and taking their advice.

AMNA NAWAZ: Colonel Jason, what about this risk balance at this point, though?

Because we know the threat persists.

General McKenzie said that even earlier today in his briefing.

President Biden says the mission will be seen through.

Even these extra three or four days, doesn't that put more U.S. troops in harm's way?

COL. MIKE JASON: I mean, of course it does.

This is -- like the president said it, this is an extremely risky mission, right?

So, I'm not going to question the commanders on the ground.

I don't envy their position.

But I have been on the other side.

And it's a very, very careful balance of force protection and achieving the mission.

And they have an incredibly tough job.

I think we heard in a previous segment a description of having to be there.

I think General McKenzie talked about in his press conference.

Again, having -- I have been at those checkpoints.

You have to pat people down, and you have to be right among the crowd.

If we're going to achieve the objective, our moral and national obligation of getting our allies out, we have to do it with the people, and we have to process them and get them on aircraft.

And that's the balance.

And that's what our commanders are dealing with on the ground.

Extremely risky.

They're not sleeping, I mean, 20 minutes, an hour of sleep a night.

They have been there over a week.

Very challenging conditions.

It's hot.

And it's dangerous.

But I'm -- again, I'm heartened to hear that our national leadership is committed and we're going to keep going.

And those commanders will have to balance that risk for five more days.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa Curtis, what about the complicated matrix on the ground there between the perpetrators of these attacks, ISIS-K, the Taliban, who have been fighting the U.S. for the last 20 years and are now working with them to help evacuate American forces?

I mean, explain that to us a little bit and how the U.S. is going to manage this.

LISA CURTIS: Well, we have been getting indications that some kind of attack was being planned, likely by ISIS-K. And we know that they have the capabilities to conduct this kind of attack.

So, nobody was surprised, I think, by the attack and the fact that ISIS-K claimed it.

And I think the president was very clear that we are working with the Taliban and that this attacker happened to get through.

But we, the U.S., will continue to try to work with the Taliban in getting as many Americans and Afghans out of the country moving forward.

So I think that the president was very clear on the difference between the Taliban and ISIS-K, and that they are mortal enemies, and they do fight each other.

So it is a complicated scenario that we're facing.

And, unfortunately, these attackers got through, and we have lost 12 of our extremely courageous Marines, 15 others wounded.

One Naval medic also was killed.

So this is a very sad day for the United States.

But I think the president did the right thing and showing our resolve in moving forward and staying committed to the mission and not allowing the terrorists to deter us from finishing the mission we started.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa, I want to stick with you for just a minute.

There is an estimate that, in leaving at the pace that we are, the U.S. could leave behind some 250,000 wartime, allies.

Is there any moral obligation beyond the 31st for the U.S. to continue to try to get them out?

LISA CURTIS: I think we do have a moral obligation to get as many Afghan allies as we can out.

Clearly, we're not going to be able to get everybody out by the time U.S. soldiers start returning home.

But there is still an ability.

It won't be as easy, obviously.

But the U.S. can still try to get Afghans out even after our forces are no longer controlling the airport.

There are other countries there that we can work with, countries like Qatar, Uzbekistan.

We can look to their assistance in helping us in this endeavor.

And with the Taliban - - we do have leverage with the Taliban.

The president alluded to this.

They want to be -- they want international recognition.

They want access to financing.

So we can continue this mission of getting our Afghan allies out, even when U.S. forces return home.

AMNA NAWAZ: Colonel Jason, in this final minute, I want to ask you, because you have been working to evacuate some 20,000 people.

I know you have submitted a list.

What does that look like in the days ahead?

It was already so difficult for people to make it to the airport.

How does the U.S. do it in these final three or four days?

COL. MIKE JASON: I mean, I think I want to recognize the courage of the 60 Afghan allies and their families who gave their lives today.

I mean, these were people that gave everything to us for 20 years and lined up with the gate for a chance at a better life with nothing left.

In addition to those 13 casualty notifications tonight, there are 60 dead Afghans that are probably, more than likely, our allies.

And so that's their courage.

And they will be back the minute the gate is open.

They will be back tomorrow.

And volunteers -- like, there are many organizations like ours and Team America, No One Left Behind.

We're all working together.

I have 250 volunteers working 24/7 talking, texting, trying to guide them through this danger.

And we have built this list.

And we have documented now over 28000 Afghans and their family members.

Individually, we have recorded all their records that are trying to get out.

And that's the record.

That's the promise.

That's what we have turned over.

And we continue to cooperate with United States government.

We're prepared to work with nongovernment organizations or humanitarian organizations.

But we will keep that record, and we have the moral obligation to continue to working down that list until we get everybody we can out of danger.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's retired Colonel Mike Jason and Lisa Curtis joining us tonight.

Thank you both for your time.

COL. MIKE JASON: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other news: A top COVID-19 model projected nearly 100,000 more deaths in the U.S. by December 1.

Researchers working on the model at the University of Texas also said the number could be cut in half if more people wear masks.

Also today, Illinois became the latest to issued an indoor mask mandate.

And Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker ordered health care workers and educators to get vaccinated or get tested weekly as hospitals fill up.

GOV.

J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): Our current vaccination levels are not enough to blunt the ferocity of the Delta variant hospitalization surges in some regions.

Hospital administrators are asking for more help to manage the sheer number of incoming patients.

AMNA NAWAZ: In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott imposed a ban on state or local mandates requiring vaccinations.

And, overseas, the World Health Organization reported vaccinations in Africa have tripled in the past week, but only 2 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated.

We will focus on Africa's plight later in the program.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was to have met today with President Biden at the White House.

That was delayed until tomorrow, after the bombings in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Israel eased commercial restrictions on Gaza to allow the flow of more goods.

Palestinian protests against the Israeli blockade had led to clashes this week that killed one Palestinian and critically injured an Israeli policeman.

A new tropical storm has formed in the Caribbean tonight, and could grow into a major hurricane that strikes the U.S. Gulf Coast this weekend.

The storm, named Ida, was passing Jamaica late today and heading toward the Cayman Islands and Cuba with up to a foot of rain.

It's on track now to reach the Central Gulf states on Sunday.

Seven U.S. Capitol Police officers, meanwhile, sued former President Trump today, accusing him of inciting the January 6 assault on the Capitol.

The federal suit also names his ally Roger Stone, plus the Trump campaign and members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

Two similar suits have been filed recently by Democrats in Congress.

There's more fallout from the sexual harassment scandal that drove New York Governor Andrew Cuomo from office.

Tina Tchen resigned today as president of Time's Up, an advocacy group for sexual misconduct victims.

Tchen had admitted to extensive consultations with Cuomo as the scandal unfolded.

She said today that her continued tenure had become too divisive.

And, in economic news, new claims for jobless benefits rose slightly for the first time in five weeks to 353,000.

And on Wall Street, stocks gave a little ground.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 192 points to close at 35213, the Nasdaq fell 96 points, and the S&P 500 slipped 26.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the chief of Miami police on mandating vaccines for law enforcement officers; COVID cases spike across Africa, amid a limited supply of inoculations; we visit Texas to examine the nationwide trend of criminalizing homelessness; plus much more.

Following the full FDA approval of a COVID-19 vaccine, an increasing number of cities and states are now mandating employees roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated, or submit to weekly testing.

But, as William Brangham reports, there's been some intense pushback from law enforcement and first responders across the country.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's right, Amna.

In Chicago, responding to that city's October vaccine mandate, the head of the police union said his members won't comply.

This has literally lit a bomb underneath the membership.

He said: "We're in America, G-damn it.

We don't want to be forced to do anything, period.

This ain't Nazi F-ing Germany."

Similarly, in Los Angeles, a city fire department captain went online and blasted the imminent vaccine mandate for all city employees: CAPT.

CRISTIAN GRANUCCI, Los Angeles City Fire Department: This is not a political issue.

This is not left-right.

This is not Democrat-Republican.

This is not vax-unvax.

This is a fight for freedom of choice, free will.

This is a fight against tyranny.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Joining me now is a police chief who does support vaccine mandates for front-line workers.

Art Acevedo is Miami's chief of police.

Chief Acevedo, great to have you on the "NewsHour."

You heard these criticisms before, I know.

Explain why you think it is a good idea, why we should have everybody vaccinated on the front line?

ART ACEVEDO, Miami, Florida, Police Chief: Well, because we know we're out making public contact as first responders, and that our number priority is the health and well-being of the work force and the public itself.

And so we would hate to unwittingly spread a deadly virus to a member of the community.

And so I believe in the vaccine.

I believe in the science.

And, quite honestly, when you look at the data, less than 1 percent of people that have died from COVID are people that are vaccinated.

So, you got to go with the odds.

And the odds are that you're much safer when you're vaccinated, and so is the public.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I know, in Miami, you guys have not instituted a mandate yet.

That's a city decision.

But you're getting pushback already from your union.

I'd like to read a quote here: "It is the stance of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police that vaccinations are a choice that should be made personally, without coercion or threats.

Should chief Art Acevedo attempt to mandate vaccines, we will be forced to challenge said mandate."

How do you respond to that?

ART ACEVEDO: Well, look, we're public servants.

And vaccines have been required, whether it's school, employment, the military.

And so I would just say that, fortunately, here in Miami, we're starting to see, with the uptick due to the Delta variant and the lethality of the Delta variant, and now with the approval, formal approval by the FDA, we're starting to see more and more employees are coming up and saying, hey, I'm getting vaccinated, I'm going to go do it.

And so we're still hopeful that the common sense will win the day, that we won't have to mandate them.

But I think that the time will tell where we go as a city and as a nation.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, as you say, Florida is suffering record high cases, near record daily deaths.

The hospitals are full.

Funeral homes don't -- can't keep up.

What is your sense as to why this resistance exists among the rank-and-file?

ART ACEVEDO: I wish I knew the answer to that.

Unfortunately, it's just another indication of the division in this country, where we politicize everything.

Like, I encourage people that, when you want to find out about the weather, you go to a meteorologist.

When you want to find out about what to do in terms of a vaccine or a virus or a public health issue, you go to the doctors.

You go to the scientists.

And so, luckily, again, with the FDA approval, I think that people are starting to get more comfortable with it.

And I'm hopeful that common sense will win the day moving forward.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Do you think this is all partisan politics, though?

Because I have heard from a lot of people that there are people out there, they may not consult the CDC or epidemiologists or public health officials.

Do you feel like you guys have done a good enough job trying to assess rank-and-file's questions about the vaccine, and then try to address those questions?

ART ACEVEDO: Yes, we are.

We are paying attention to the information.

We're giving information to folks.

And -- but to say that it's not a political issue, I listened to the sound bite you played earlier, lord, you would think it was beginning of the revolution just because you want somebody to get vaccinated, where the data and the science shows -- look, vaccinations are not a new science.

Vaccinations have been saving lives forever.

I'm starting to print and tweet out letters that I do for all peace officers that come to my attention that have died.

I have always done line-of-duty death letters.

And I can tell you, I have signed hundreds of letters for active-duty members of law enforcement.

(CROSSTALK) WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's law enforcement who have died of COVID?

ART ACEVEDO: Of COVID.

And it's been hundreds for me.

So I'm tweeting those.

I just started tweeting them recently.

I did 10 a couple days ago, six last night.

I just did 10 more today -- two more today.

And so they're just adding up.

And I can tell you, as I speak to my work force, I don't think we're going to have to mandate, because I just got off the phone a little while ago with a member of our department that was very hesitant, for whatever reasons.

He's been in the hospital.

And he says: Chief, the second I get back to work, and I'm already telling my friends, this has been the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life.

I came close to dying.

And I am going to get vaccinated in exactly about 90 days as soon as I can, because I bit the bullet.

I dodged a bullet, they are saying, and I don't want my friends to go through this, and I don't want to see a friend die.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: A lot of the union chiefs and other representatives have been saying, if you mandate this kind of a thing, you're going to see people not showing up for work.

Do you worry that that might be a downstream consequence?

When you need police the most, you might not have them.

ART ACEVEDO: Well, look, whether you have them or whether they're out with COVID or they're being buried from dying from COVID, it's an issue either way you go.

I know the collective heart of the American police officers.

They are dedicated, brave professionals.

And I'm confident that whatever decision is made across the country from different departments, different places, folks will make the right decision for the right reasons.

And, again, because of the fact that we have had Pfizer now approved formally, Moderna, it's my understanding, is going to be approved very shortly, the comfort level is going up.

And I think, hopefully, in the next matter of weeks, in a couple months, you're going to see many more people, because we are experiencing that here already.

And that gives me a lot of hope.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Art Acevedo, chief of police, the city of Miami, thank you so much for being here.

ART ACEVEDO: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: The Delta variant is ravaging the continent of Africa.

ICU beds and oxygen are in desperately short supply.

Vaccines are increasingly scarce, with less than 10 percent of people expected to be vaccinated by the end of the year.

Special correspondent Isabel Nakirya in Kampala, Uganda.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: Asumpta Bahenda has been trying to wash away her near death experience for two months now.

She suffered from a severe case of COVID-19 in June.

ASUMPTA BAHENDA, COVID Survivor: I started feeling like I was going to die.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: An ambulance evacuated her more than 170 miles from Western Uganda to the capital, Kampala, but finding a bed in a hospital was almost impossible.

With damaged lungs, Asumpta needed immediate admission to an ICU.

When she finally found a bed in a private hospital, oxygen was in short supply.

ASUMPTA BAHENDA: There's a moment where they were rationing oxygen.

They come and remove the oxygen from you and take it to somebody else who's struggling.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: Uganda is going through a severe second wave.

When cases shot up, the lucky few got beds when a patient died.

It seems almost everyone lost someone close to them.

ASUMPTA BAHENDA: They told me, "Your friend has gone, but you have to fight for your life."

ISABEL NAKIRYA: Public hospitals across Uganda ran out of personal protective equipment during the height of the pandemic in June.

Irene Nakasita managed to get a hospital bed some 25 miles out of the capital, but there were no doctors on hand to monitor her deteriorating condition.

IRENE NAKASITA, COVID Survivor: I said I can't take chances with my life anymore.

I need to get out of the facility, whether discharged or not, because I had actually not seen any professional doctor walk to me to support me throughout.

There were only nurses.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: The limited supply of vaccines is another issue.

Asumpta and Irene had received only their first doses one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and were waiting to get their second doses, when they were infected.

Uganda has vaccinated just about 1 percent of its population of 40 million.

So far, it's received less than two million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, not nearly enough to vaccinate half the population, which it says it wants to do before fully reopening the economy.

Cases are soaring in neighboring Tanzania, but it's open for business.

The country's former President John Magufuli, who died in office in March, was skeptical of the virus.

He downplayed the risks of COVID-19 and even shunned mask-wearing in favor of healing prayers and traditional herbal remedies.

But under a new president, Tanzania has made a dramatic turnaround and reversed policies on COVID-19.

It started to release data on coronavirus infections.

And Tanzania is now ramping up vaccinations with its first shipment of vaccines from the United Nations global COVAX program.

SAMIA SULUHU HASSAN, President of Tanzania (through translator): My fellow Tanzanians, I thank all of you who are here today to support me and show Tanzanians that the vaccine is not a disaster.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: But not all Tanzanians are signing on.

Silvia Senya spent 22 days in emergency care with COVID-19 and almost lost her unborn baby.

She's not convinced the vaccines are safe.

SILVIA DEOGRATIOUS SENYA, COVID Survivor (through translator): I will wait.

I won't get the jab right now.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: In the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite increasing cases of the coronavirus, there's growing skepticism and deep mistrust of vaccines.

The country has returned more than a million vaccine doses donated by the African Union because so many Congolese have refused to get the shots.

Many people have taken false messaging and conspiracy theories to heart.

PATRICK MAKINU, Businessman (through translator): The COVID-19 vaccine has been rejected by most Congolese and some foreigners for a good reason.

The spirits of our ancestors are using it to punish whites.

It is something that we don't fully understand.

But the goal of those foreigners is to destroy Africa.

MERDI VUATA, Motorcycle Taxi Driver (through translator): Some passengers I have met have warned me against taking the COVID-19 vaccine.

They keep telling me that I will die after getting the jab.

Many people have told me the same thing, so I have decided not to take it.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: Public hospitals in DRC's capital, Kinshasa, are ill-equipped.

The country battled the Ebola epidemic for years, depleting its health care system.

Hospitals are running out of protective gear, but some health workers are determined to keep taking the risks to save lives.

Dr. Emily Lebughe came to work even after contracting COVID-19.

DR. EMILY LEBUGHE, Kinshasa General Hospital (through translator): I had a fever and decided to treat it with acetaminophen.

But I had to keep on working, because the community and the COVID-19 unit needed me.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: In West Africa, in Nigeria, the highly transmissible Delta variant is setting off a spike in daily coronavirus infections.

And the number of actual cases may be much higher than reported, signaling the start of a third wave, says Dr. Emmanuel Okpetu.

DR. EMMANUEL OKPETU, Nigeria Public Health Physician: When you look at the population of 200-million plus, we have not still tested enough.

So it is possible we have a lot of missed cases.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: South Africa has reported the highest number of cases and the highest number of deaths from COVID-19 in Africa.

It also has one of the highest vaccination rates on the continent, at 6 percent, but it's still far from the target.

University of Cape Town researcher Benjamin Kagina says access to vaccines is vital.

DR. BENJAMIN KAGINA, University of Cape Town: As long as we have this problem of inequity and access to vaccines, it means that the virus will be somewhere out there circulating.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: Africa has vaccinated just 2.5 percent of its 1.3 billion population, despite a surge in cases, with most of the countries depending on donations from wealthy nations.

The U.S. recently donated millions of dollars to Nigeria and South Africa.

India played a major role in bringing in millions of doses, but the country put a stop to vaccine exports for its own domestic use in April.

African Union envoy on vaccine acquisition Strive Masiyiwa is pushing diplomats to release vaccines.

STRIVE MASIYIWA, African Union: Those are being politically restricted.

It's not the manufacturers, but it's the -- it's political.

ISABEL NAKIRYA: Despite promises from more wealthy nations to send vaccines to Africa, more than 80 percent of the doses have gone to people in high-income and upper-middle-income countries.

The WHO says most people in the poorest countries will need to wait another two years before vaccines are available to them.

For now, for Asumpta, and millions of other Africans, the deck seems stacked.

They will keep waiting for their vaccines, while new waves of COVID-19 sweep across the continent, putting their lives at risk.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Isabel Nakirya in Kampala.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, cities across the country are struggling with homelessness.

Austin, Texas is among them.

Two years ago, it decriminalized activities related to homelessness.

Then, this year, citizens voted to reverse that.

The Texas legislature also banned public camping statewide.

Stephanie Sy reports.

STEPHANIE SY: Until very recently, this spot under a North Austin bridge was home for Freddie Williams.

Is this where you were living?

This is it?

FREDDIE WILLIAMS, Homeless: Yes, this is it.

STEPHANIE SY: For two years, the 47-year-old camped here, until getting in a fight with another camper that escalated.

He says he left to avoid arrest.

So this is just kind of what was left, and then people kind of rummaging through... FREDDIE WILLIAMS: Pretty much.

STEPHANIE SY: ... to see what they could find of value.

FREDDIE WILLIAMS: Yes.

STEPHANIE SY: A former oil worker, Williams says he once had a job, a home, and a family.

But his divorce led to drinking, which led to losing his job.

He committed forgery, which landed him in prison.

Since getting out, he says he's struggled to find work and housing, and continues to struggle with drug abuse.

FREDDIE WILLIAMS: I felt like I had everything.

I had it all figured out, had everything together, man.

And then you get that monkey wrench thrown in there, and you figure out that you really don't know what's going on.

And you try to plan stuff, man, and the plans never work out.

STEPHANIE SY: What would it look like right now for you to have a second chance?

Would that be housing?

Would that be a job?

What do you need?

FREDDIE WILLIAMS: Both, a house and a job.

STEPHANIE SY: One of the country's fastest growing big cities, Austin is also one of its least affordable, with a median home price that recently hit almost $575,000.

As the city has grown into a tech and culture hub, the problem of how to help the more than 2,000 unsheltered people has divided Austin.

DIANNA GREY, Homeless Strategy Officer: The most important thing in getting people shelter or housed is having shelter or housing available.

STEPHANIE SY: Dianna Grey oversees the city's efforts to address homelessness.

She asked to speak remotely amidst a surge in COVID cases.

DIANNA GREY: The thing that is most correlated with an increase in homelessness is an increase in housing prices.

And so, while lack of affordability isn't the sole cause of homelessness, it is what we see drive increases over time.

STEPHANIE SY: Two years ago, Austin's liberal-leaning City Council effectively made it legal to camp and sleep in some public places and panhandle.

It was part of an effort to stop the revolving door from the jails to the streets, and to better help unsheltered residents connect with services.

That move, along with COVID-19, which reduced capacity at shelters, made the city's homeless population visible to all.

Many Austinites recoiled.

WOMAN: Well, the city of Austin will reinstate its homeless camping ban.

WOMAN: Over the weekend, voters passed Proposition B. STEPHANIE SY: In May, voters by a wide margin approved a measure which prohibits unsheltered people from sleeping in public, something advocates say they can't help but do.

Now Austin police can issue citations with fines as high as $500 for sleeping on the streets, or even lying on a park bench.

If violators fail to move or show up in court, they could be arrested.

AMANDA RIOS, Austin Resident: What we have seen has caused trauma and have caused all sorts of unwarranted and unwanted chaos on our streets and in our city.

STEPHANIE SY: Amanda Rios supported Prop B.

She and her husband have lived in their home in Northeast Austin for around 14 years.

Because of their proximity to the highway, there have always been some homeless people nearby.

But after the city stopped enforcing ordinances against public camping, she says things got much worse.

AMANDA RIOS: I go to the library and I see trash.

I can't go to the park because there's homeless tents, there's drug needles.

There's drug deals going down in the middle of the day.

In front of our home, we heard and saw a woman being sex trafficked.

And we saw the men going in and out of her tent.

And we saw her and we heard her cries.

And my husband -- my children's window is close to the street.

And they heard her.

STEPHANIE SY: There are laws against drug and sex trafficking, and their enforcement has no direct connection to Prop B.

But Rios says criminals exploit the homeless and hide among them.

AMANDA RIOS: I know people who were in drug trafficking, they were arrested, and it started an avenue for them to get help.

And so they went to jail, and, because of jail, they were able to change their life around.

STEPHANIE SY: At Amanda's home, we met Cleo Petricek, who last year co-founded Save Austin Now, a bipartisan political action committee that got Prop B on the ballot and is now suing the city to enforce it.

She's a Democrat and former probation officer, and says low-income communities like this one face far greater impacts from allowing homeless people to set up camp.

We spoke to her in a park where an encampment had cropped up.

She says the homeless themselves shouldn't have to live like this.

CLEO PETRICEK, Save Austin Now: I felt like no one was being served by the inhumanity of the conditions that they're in.

This is not California.

This is Texas.

We have high heat and we have frozen winters.

We have had homeless individuals freeze to death.

And we have also had homeless die from the heat.

STEPHANIE SY: She believes Prop B is about getting homeless people the help they need, even if it means possible arrest.

CLEO PETRICEK: I'm a former probation officer.

I do not believe we should be building more prisons or imprison people who have mental health and drug issues.

They should be in mandatory help or drug treatment, absolutely.

The problem is, if you don't have that component, the compulsory element of forcing them into that, who will receive that service?

CHRIS HARRIS, Criminal Justice Project: A lot of people continue to have misconceptions about what Prop B was and what it's going to do.

But there's no money or help associated with it.

It's purely to criminalize people for unavoidable acts associated with extreme poverty.

STEPHANIE SY: Chris Harris works on the Criminal Justice Project at Texas Appleseed, an Austin-based nonprofit that focuses on issues of social, economic and racial equity.

In 2019, he pushed for decriminalization, citing a city auditor's report that said 18,000 citations were issued from 2014 to 2016 for activities related to homelessness; 90 percent of violators failed to show up in court, and, of those, 72 percent were issued warrants for arrest.

CHRIS HARRIS: While you have a warrant, you can't get an I.D.

Guess what you can't get when you don't have an I.D.?

Anything.

You can't get a job.

You can't get housing.

Even some services are cut off from you.

So it actually made the problem worse for a lot of folks.

STEPHANIE SY: He also says allowing camping on the streets led to an outpouring of resources to address the problem.

CHRIS HARRIS: We understand now the full extent of the homelessness crisis that we face.

And it's driven volunteers, donations, city investments, private investments into housing, into services in an unprecedented fashion.

STEPHANIE SY: Earlier this year, the city unveiled a plan to use $106 million in federal funds to dramatically increase rental assistance, build more long-term housing, and open new temporary housing shelters.

But there is still more need than housing supply.

MARCIA COLLARD, Recently Housed: We're out of the heat.

We have a roof over our head.

STEPHANIE SY: Adam Cartwright and Marcie Collard were each homeless for five years, most recently in downtown Austin.

MARCIA COLLARD: We had so many people throw glass bottles from the cars at our tents and said: "You all white trash.

You all need to get a job.

You all need to get housing.

You all don't need to be out on the street."

ADAM CARTWRIGHT, Recently Housed: For someone would yell out, "Go home," it's, like, this is technically our home.

(LAUGHTER) STEPHANIE SY: Then, earlier this month, their camp was cleared and they were offered a room in this converted hotel, as well as case managers to help them find permanent housing and deal with any other issues, like mental health or addiction.

Dianna Grey, the city homeless strategist, says around 90 percent of those who've been offered housing under the city's new efforts have accepted it.

But there simply isn't enough for everyone who needs it.

FREDDIE WILLIAMS: This is the entrance.

STEPHANIE SY: Right here?

FREDDIE WILLIAMS: Yes.

STEPHANIE SY: Without an offer of housing, Freddie Williams is now planning to camp in these poison-oak-infested woods to avoid a run-in with police.

FREDDIE WILLIAMS: The people that have voted to put this Proposition B into place, they were just tired of seeing us.

That's all that mattered to -- they didn't care about us being homeless, where we was at or anything.

They just didn't want to see us.

STEPHANIE SY: Are there are a lot of people like you that are going to be trying to hide in the woods?

FREDDIE WILLIAMS: The majority of people that was under the bridge over there where I was at, they're trying to find -- they're scattering right now.

STEPHANIE SY: Hiding out of sight and, advocates for the homeless worry, out of mind.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy in Austin, Texas.

AMNA NAWAZ: And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

Thank you for joining us, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon.