alix: i'm alix steel. welcome to bloomberg "commodities edge." 30 minutes focused on the companies, the physical assets, and the trading behind the hottest commodities with the smartest voices in the business. let's take a look at the top market stories of the week. we will is higher after opec ministers decided to stick to its plan to high production. this shows how weak the market currently is. this is the difference between december 2022 oil and december 2023 levels. the lord that goes, the weaker current prices are. it really underscores the puzzle of why opec increased production. the real question is, president biden, when do we feel that at the pump? the blue line is oil prices rolled over. the white line is where we look at average gasoline prices. prices have not come down yet. if oil keeps dragging lo

wer, you can see gasoline rollover, too. tin is definitely not softer. the metal is in the grips of one of the longest ever writing squeezes in the commodity market. the number of days that a commodity spends in backwardation, when the spot prices are higher than future prices. it shows how tight the market can be. tin is currently going on over 200 days, and it is not done yet. prices could get higher because of that. let's get into the ring. opec-plus versus president biden versus omicron. opec has increased production but they can change that at any moment. will, what was the reporting before the meeting and now after? >> the decision was somewhat avis prize. after the crash that we saw last

friday and the emergence of the omicron variant, that they would hit the pause button, take a moment to see what the impact is and come back in january, but they went ahead with the rise. clearly, the pressure from president biden helped. other consuming countries like japan, india, south korea started to tell. this month, opec wants to be a good friend to consumers. it is worth pointing out, they can come back at any time this month and change their mind. they want to know what the impact of the new variant will be. if it has a huge impact on economic activity, they may rethink. alix: do we think that the release will be shifted, changed? >> in the comments we had after the meeting, they said the

current release will go ahead as planned. it is interesting, the white house press secretary today said we are thankful to opec, we have a good relationship. that is a tone that we have not seen over the last few months. also, the administration at this stage takes the idea that there could be a second release off the table. prices do not justify that. alix: so they both give a little on that point. where is russia on this conversation? >> russia likes instability. when you are drilling in russia over the winter, it is harder to quickly dial up or down production the way you can in the gulf countries where it is easier to go on and off. they will be pleased that the group stuck to their plans. makes life easier for their companies.

russia is keen to be seen in lockstep with saudi arabia. it is not so much what the decision is, but that they come to common agreement with saudi arabia. alix: a pleasure to have you here in the studio, will kennedy. time for commodity in chief, talking to one executive in the commodity world. greening the sea is hard. 80% of the worlds trade moves on ships. most of those run on fuel oil, a mix of hydrocarbons made from crude. they make up almost 3% of co2 man-made emissions. the international maritime organization is the industry regulator. it has tried to clean. it eliminated the amount of sulfur that can be used on

ships. the goal is to lower emissions by 50% by 2050 versus 2008. some say it is not enough, and the industry has to d carbon eyes. they teamed up with other countries and companies to use a minimum amount of zero emission fuels by 2030. it is also a part of the first mover coalition, a partnership between the world economic forum and john kerry's office of u.s. climate. they will make purchasing commitments for lower carbon fuels and technologies in order to create a market for those supplies. the goal is 5% of deep-sea ships running on zero emission fuels by 2030. 10% of the volume of goods will be shipped with zero emission fuels by 2030, 100% by 2040. the problem is you need a lot of the fuel. for every bit of those so for

fuel you can use, you need more to go the same distance. customers need to ensure that there is supply. trafigura's solution is to push the i about to have a carbon tax between 250 and $300 a ton to make the industry make the transition. i asked what kind of carbon levy would need to have and what it would do. >> it will enable ship owners and operators to go out and invest in the engine technologies which will be widely available by 2025. the challenge that all these companies have today is that there is no fuel available. the fuel is not available because there is no demand. the problem is the cost caps on fossil fuels versus zero carbon fuels, fossil fuels cost $600

per ton. hydrogen based fuels will be costing around $1400 per metric ton. alix: what kind of pricing do you need for that to happen? >> about 250 and $300 per cubic ton. it is not insignificant. that is also why the industry cannot bridge this price cap itself. the question is is the imo ready to move ahead and incorporate this? alix: let's pretend it does. the current ships and vessels we have in the sea right now, what fuel can they take? >> the majority burn high and low sulfur fuel oil. in recent years, more dual engines that can burn lng, lpg. all of these have significant carbon content. we have not had the technology up to this point to change it, but this technology is available

by 2024, 2025. there are trillions of pension and private equity funds ready to be channeled into renewable energy. within renewable energy, we have the hydrogen based fuels. that is what we see as being the transport fuels of the future. alix: how much would it cost to retrofit the vessels on the sea to handle the green energy, like hydrogen or green methanol? >> to handle the hydrogen based fuels for engine retrofits, depending on the ship size, but approximate cost between $5 million in $20 million. it is not insignificant, but it is not uncontrollable. we have an historic opportunity. shipping has the opportunity to become one of the first sectors to d carbon eyes itself. alix: will any part of the shipping industry get stranded because of this transition?

>> we have a very long journey ahead of us in terms of transitioning the whole fleet. the younger part of the fleet will be able to retrofit. the older part of the fleet, before you have sufficient amount of hydrogen based fuels around, they will have to be scrapped anyways. i think it will be a natural phase out, like we did with the single hull phase out came in 20 plus years ago. alix: that was my conversation with trafigura. since this taping, the imo decided not to put a price on those extra fuels. they are confident that a member nation will bring forward a carbon proposal at the next meeting. trafigura remains optimistic. time for our commodity kicker.

it turns out those golden arches are not golden for the environment. mcdonald's is one outside contributed to climate change. they serve more beef than any other fast food restaurant on the planet. cows are the most harmful food for the planet, and hamburgers are responsible for a third of the carbon footprint. mcdonald's produces more emissions than norway. the burger chain has vowed to address the mormon planet, but an in-depth examination of the company's progress shows little if any movement. that does it for "commodities edge." this is bloomberg. ♪

matt: this is bloomberg markets. i'm matt miller. we will be hearing from president biden as he unveils the next steps to fight covid. plus, ahead of tomorrow's jobs report, we check in with labor and food inflation with not a marshall, owner of the ivy kitchen, member of the independent restaurant coalition. and we will talk with thomas england at -- thomas ingenlath, ceo of polestar, about the ev market, and pressure on public listings tied to china. let's take a look at what is going on in markets, and we are in rally mode once again today, at least for now. we haven't gotten any negative omicron headlines crossing the terminal. dow jones industrial average up

about 2%, adding 643 points. the s&p 500 up 1.5%. 4581. the 10-year yield coming up slightly. 1.4528. that means investors are willing to let go of the perceived safety of government debt. the bloomberg dollar index rising again. 1184. oil, a very interesting trade in commodities after the opec decision to keep production hikes in place in january. you can see nymex crude up 1%, $ 66.24. incredibly volatile over the last five trading sessions. it will be interesting to see what crude and commodities do throughout the rest of today's session. shares of apple dropping big today after the company was said to have told suppliers demand

for the iphone has slowed, taking the shine off of the stocks recent record high. for more, let's bring in our correspondent with bloomberg intelligence. is this demand falling or is this more of a production and supply chain issue? >> in our view, it's a supply chain issue. we see no reason for the demand to fall off from every -- any macro concerns. the luxury market is good. pricing has been an issue in the last quarter or so. they have cited it is a problem. it looks like it will extend into next quarter as well. matt: how long will we see the window open for this generation of iphones? the 13 is not really a transformational model. do some people give up and wait until september and go for the 14? >> we think that is more in the

summer months. we don't think that time is now. there could be some pullback in demand from the lack of supply but we think it will be pushed out into q2. when xfone doesn't come out -- the next phone doesn't come out until september, october. matt: i was in westchester county last month filling up an f-150 raptor. it cost me more than $150 and i thought, maybe i don't want to spend more than a thousand dollars on my next phone. i didn't actually think that, i am just saying it. is inflation actually affecting consumers iphone purchase decisions? >> we don't think so. for couple of reasons, a lot of the growth comes from the refresh cycle, people upgrading

their phones. in many cases, these are on payment plans anyway. whether you get it right now or in a few months later, that is really the critical point. but the monthly payment is kind of tied to it. people who buy dollar phones are not going to be hassled over a small increase in gas prices, frankly, in our view. matt: how are the rest of the products doing, the mac, watch, ipad, and the ancillary services that are now so key to revenue? >> we published a report today with a survey that we conducted on apple phones. we found some interesting takeaways. the first one was that apple services is becoming a bigger deal for android users to switch over. a lot of people said that if

apple, the icloud, applecare, music, if it is bundled with the price of the phone, they would be more likely to go to an iphone rather than android. that is a big deal for us. remember, there are 4.6 billion smartphones in the world, and ios only has about 770 million. the dictionary game will come over the long-term term from those android users that are currently using $300 phones, and as they get richer, they switch over to the iphone. matt: we feel more and more like we are driving smartphones with all the technology in cars these days. how soon until we see an apple car? are you confident they will actually put out a vehicle? >> i don't know, to be honest, what the answer to that is. one of the thing that has always made us a bit skeptical is, if

you look at companies like gm or tesla, gross margins are only about 20%. they are not that profitable compared to somebody like apple's services business which has gross margins of around 70%. the hardware line is in the high 30's. it is tough for me to think, if they are going to do something, they will do something unique that is not in the market, so they can charge a much more premium price, so that the gross margin continues to stay up. matt: thank you for the time, anurag rana. talking about apple, one of the biggest, if not the biggest weight on the s&p 500 today, although they are fighting back with some gains. i'm in berlin, and this country is starting today, stringent nationwide restrictions, but only on those who are not vaccinated against covid. the government is also paving the way to make these shots

compulsory in order to stop the massive surge we are seeing in infections. the problems is one of the worst in germany, in the entire western world, in terms of new daily cases. the unvaccinated are now not allowed to go into restaurants, not allowed to go into theaters, not allowed to go into non-essential stores, really anything other than grocery or hardware stores. government officials backed a plan to eventually make covid shots mandatory. it is obviously politically problematic, but chancellor merkel is on her way out. we saw today a big torchlight military parade to honor her after she leaves, after 16 years in service. still ahead, the omicron variant poses new threats possibly to the allegedly struggling restaurant industry. we will speak to a restaurant industry voice who is calling on washington to provide additional

support to restaurants. this is bloomberg. ♪

matt: this is bloomberg markets. i'm matt miller. the emergence of the omicron variant is a new wrench in the works for the restaurant industry which has already lost within $280 billion since the start of the pandemic. a survey out from the independent coalition of restaurants shows 86% of restaurants or bars did not receive government aid and are now at risk of permanent closure. you see that especially around big urban city centers like new york. joining us now is someone who did receive aid, also a board member at the irc. we want to welcome diane marshall, owner of the ivy

kitchen. we have been trying to gauge how consumers are reacting to omicron. we don't have a lot of official data yet, so it is great to get anecdotal takes. what are you seeing in detroit? nya: appreciate you having me and allow me to speak about the restaurant industry. people are scared. all around the state, people are worried. they were worried with the delta variant, and now with omicron, now just hitting the united states, people are worried. we don't have any government regulation right now in terms of capacity, seating capacity, face masks in the state of michigan, but people are wearing masks, some people are not coming out. people are scared and worried. i see people self imposing these restrictions right now.

matt: here, we are seeing lockdowns reinforced starting today. when we have it bad, the u.s. has had it better, and then when we get better, the u.s. gets bad again, it seems to be the pattern. what kind of assistance are you hoping for from state and federal governments? nya: we are hoping that people understand most people were not funded from the restaurant relief. we are hoping to get some of that replenished. we can save communities, jobs, and we can save businesses. currently, people are not coming into restaurants and bars like they used to. you think about covid over the last two years, and now we have a new variant on the horizon

that could be even worse. i just implore the government at all levels, federal, state, city, to replenish the restaurant relief. matt: we appreciate your input. thanks for joining us. i look forward to going to detroit soon and checking out your establishment. nya marshall, thank you for joining us. in an unexpected move, opec-plus goes forward with a january output increase. we will speak with ellen wald of the atlantic council to discuss what this signals for the oil price going forward, the supply-demand equation. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> we are following some breaking news outside of the

united nations headquarters in new york city. it went into lockdown after an armed man was seen pacing around the entrance gate. the man appears to be holding a shotgun. hostage negotiators recall call it in to apprehend the suspect. people inside you and headquarters were told to shelter-in-place. a spokesperson says the area has been secured and hopes that country authorities are on scene. a minnesota man who was recently in new york city has tested positive for the omicron variant of covid-19 according to officials. the man develop mild symptoms on november 22. he reported attending the anime in nyc convention at the javits center. the case is the first confirmed in minnesota, the second in the u.s. the biden administration is set

to resume the remain in mexico policy. they said it is in response to an august court decision that said the department of homeland security violated the law when it scrapped the program earlier this year. house democrats have come out with a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. it would fund agencies through february 18 and would have to pass both houses of congress. a boat is planned for later today. republicans have the power to drag out the process. global news 24 hours a day, on-air, and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. this is bloomberg. ♪ amanda: i'm amanda lang. welcome to bloomberg markets. matt: i'm matt miller.

we welcome both our bloomberg and bnn bloomberg audiences. here are the top stories we are following for you from around the world. opec-plus sticks to the plan after much debate. the group plans to proceed with its output increase, but also leaves the door open to revisit the decision as the omicron variant continues to spread. polestar also sticking with its plan of going public as pressure mounts on companies tied to china. we will speak to the ceo of the company that has strong ties to volvo. and goldman sachs executives push for a boost in their pay as bank leaders look to keep up with the ultra-wealthy. all that and more, coming up. amanda: the story of the markets is one of a bounce back, buy the dip, call it what you like.

financials are definitely in the leadership role. industrials are strong as well. we see the groups making up the tech stock as the weakest in the s&p 500. still in positive territory. most interesting of all is the fact that apple is trading well off of its lows of the session after it warrant on the demand for its iphone 13. that is something that tells you about market sentiment. all of those people thinking, i wish i owned apple when it was cheaper, and when it is cheaper, in they go. matt: to be fair, we just spoke with a bloomberg intelligence analyst on apple. he says it is still more of a supply chain problem than a demand problem. he sees strong demand through the summer for the iphone 14.

anecdotally, i ordered mine at the start of september and i just got mine. so it does take a little while to produce these things. amanda: we ordered a few weeks ago and we already received it. maybe you don't know the right people. meanwhile, the other big story of the day is opec-plus agreeing to proceed with its next oil production hike. 400,000 barrels a day of crude coming in january. that surprised traders. opec is reserving the right to change. ellen wald is the senior fellow at the atlantic council. pray to have you with us. it is that little asterisk on the decision that will keep people interested. members saying, if circumstances change, so will be. how do we read that? ellen: the way we should be that

decision is that they are not all that concerned about the potential effects of the omicron variant on demand, travel. they see that we are going to probably see some stock build in oil as we head into the new year. overall, their view of economic growth and demand is pretty strong, and this reinforces it. of course, they are leaving the door open just in case it turns out that everyone really wants to panic over omicron and shuts down travel and so on and so forth. they are reserving the right to reconvene and adjust as needed. matt: it looks like everyone wanted to panic. doesn't look like the market is waiting for excuses to sell? we have almost no information

about the omicron variant, we still don't know how serious a threat it is to human health compared to previous variants, and yet, the market was quick to so oil. ellen: the market was very quick to so oil. one of the largest drops we saw last friday in a very long time. i think some of it has to do with panic buying, speculation. perhaps also there was a sense that oil prices were a bit too high. going into last week, there was a divergence between the forecast from a lot of the big banks which were calling for higher prices, and organizations like opec and the iea which were morning, maybe you need to cool it. we are seeing oil stocks build. demand is strong but not that strong. i think the opec, iea forecast won out as we saw this

correction. people are not panicking quite as much about the potential effects of omicron, but oil is not surging as a result. there was some correction that was needed. amanda: this might have been a different meeting without omicron, but with the release from the strategic petroleum reserves, so do the two meet in the middle, would we have seen a different number if it was just above the spr? ellen: i think the scare over omicron provided opec with cover to be able to do whatever they wanted to do without looking like they were acting in response politically to the spr release. the biden administration came out and they said that they approved with opec's decision. remember, just because they have approved an increase of 400,000 barrels a day doesn't mean that all of that oil will be out on the market.

only certain producers have the capacity to increase. i would not be surprise if we do not see quite the increase that they are calling for. matt: you have a copy of your book behind you -- i was going to ask you about president biden's relationship with saudi arabia. let's listen in to what he now has to say about omicron. president biden: i am here to announce our action plan about covid-19 this winter. not that any of us are surprised but it is with combined advice from all of you that we have developed this plan. it doesn't include shutdowns or lockdowns but widespread vaccinations, testing, boosting, and more. there are five key actions i want to see us take this winter. first of all, expanding the nationwide booster campaign with more outreach, more appointments, more hours, more times, sites providing booster

shots for up to 110 million americans who are eligible for boosters. i was talking to one of my folks who does polling, national strategy, and he said there is some evidence in one poll -- i will not mention this because i'm not positive of the number, i was told as i was leaving the white house. there is an expectation that 30% of those not getting a vaccination would not get a vaccination because of the new variant, are now saying that they will get the vaccination. i hope that is true. launching new family vaccination clinics to make it easier for children, parents, whole families to be vaccinated in one place. new policies to keep our

children in school instead of quarantining at home. the third piece of this is making free at home tests more available than ever before, having them covered by your private insurance plans, available in thousands of locations, at community health centers and other sites for the uninsured. for increasing our search response teams, our doctors, nurses, i know people in this audience know incredibly well what that is. medical staff in communities with rising cases, overburdened hospitals, short on personnel. they make a gigantic difference. republican as well as democratic governors contact me, talking about thanking me for the search teams -- surge teams. it makes such a difference in some communities that are hit harder than others. i was beat to this in more detail in a second.

the fifth thing we are doing is accelerating our effort to vaccinate the rest of the world. strengthen the international travel rules for people coming to the united states. the plan i'm announcing today pulls no punches in the fight against covid-19. it is a plan that i think should unite us. i know covid-19 has been very divisive in this country, has become a political issue, which is a sad commentary. it shouldn't be, but it has been. as we move into the winter and face the challenges of this new variant, this is a moment to put the device of this behind us, i hope, to do what we have not been able to do enough up throughout this entire pandemic. get the nation to come together. unite the nation in a common purpose, to fight this virus, to protect one another, protect our economic recovery, and to think about it literally in a patriotic sense rather than how

you are somehow denying people basic rights. the plan i'm announcing today is a plan that our scientists and covert teams have recommended. while my existing federal vaccination plans are being reviewed by the courts, this plan does not add to those mandates. a plan that hopefully all americans can rally around. it should get bipartisan support, in my opinion. it should unite us, that continue to separate us. you all know that, as it relates to whether or not we will pay the federal debt, whether or not we will have a continuing resolution, some of my friends on the other team are arguing that if i do not commit that there will never be any more mandates, they will let us default. in the neighborhood that i'm from, they would look at me and say, go figure.

before i explain these actions in more detail -- and i will not embarrass you, doc, but i want to thank francis collins. you have done an incredible job at nih, one of the most important scientists in our time. i am not exaggerating a bit. after i was elected president, dr. collins i think was the second call i made to ask if you would stay on. it is because when i was vice president, i got to know dr. collins well, when i was given the opportunity to manage the cancer moonshot initiative. dr. collins is an incredible resource for our nation, and i am grateful. i mean that sincerely. everything he has done for this pandemic, advancing all kinds of medical breakthroughs, including mapping the human genome.

he recently announced that he would be stepping down as director of the nih after a consequential tenure, but the good news is that he will be returning to the lab at the national genome research institute. we look forward to his abilities. bad news for you, you are not getting rid of me. i will keep calling you all the time because there's a lot of other things that we can do. just point me in the right direction, and i will follow. i just received a briefing from dr. collins, dr. fauci, others as well, and i appreciate it very much. i think we would have all benefited if we had made my speech shorter and spent more time with these doctors. as they study the omicron variant, we have just two cases

reported in the united states, but as i explained on monday, this new variant is a cause for concern, not panic. we knew there would be cases of this omicron here in the united states, and it is here. but we have the best tools, the best vaccines, the best medicine and scientists in the world. we will like this with science and speed, not chaos and confusion. just like we thought back covid-19 in the spring and the delta variant in the fall. as a result, we enter the winter from a position of strength appeared to where america was last christmas. fewer than 1% of american adults were fully vaccinated. this christmas, that number is 72%, including more than 86% of seniors and vulnerable populations. last christmas, children were at risk without a covid-19 vaccine.

this christmas, we have safe and effective vaccines for children five and older, with 20 million children and counting now vaccinated. last year, a majority of our schools were closed around christmas time. now over 99% of schools are open. i have pledged you always to be straight, tell the american people exactly where we are. here it is. experts say the covid-19 cases continue to rise in the weeks ahead in the winter. we need to be ready. you can read the whole plan we are talking about at white house.gov. here are the five key points i to expand on slightly. we are expanding our national booster campaign to provide booster shots to all eligible adults. our doctors and scientists

believe that people who get a booster shot are more protected than ever from covid-19. i got to ask a question in a meeting, whether or not it increases the resistance to the variant that is being dealt with, but it is also stronger. it not only raises the total but it is stronger, makes things more powerful in terms of resisting. the center for disease control and prevention, food and drug administration, our top public officials recommend all adults get a booster shot when it is time. here is the deal. more than 100 million are eligible for boosters but have not gotten a booster shot yet. folks, if you are over the age of 18 and you got vaccinated before june 2, six months has gone by.

go get your booster now. go get it now. booster shots continue to be free. we have made available 80,000 locations coast-to-coast in the united states. 80,000 locations to get the booster. if you want to know exactly where to go, text your zip code to 438829 to find where you can go to get your booster shot now. we are making it easier than ever to get a booster shot. pharmacies have been cooperative, big and small, providing more appointments, including weekday nights, and weekends, so you can be vaccinated at a time that works best for you and your family. pharmacies will send millions of texts and emails to remind their customers to return to their booster shot.

the cdc has agreed that they can send text to that person when their time is up. pfizer and moderna, six months, j&j, two months. to reach our seniors, we are also collaborating with aarp, who will be reaching out to their 38 million members. they will make an aggressive effort, hosting virtual town halls to answer questions, and even arrange rides for seniors to get their booster shots. that will all be coming. my administration also contacted -- will contact 64 million people on medicare to remind them to get their booster shots. we have the ability to do that from the federal level.just like i did to make it easier to have folks get their first and second shots, i am providing paid off time for any federal employee who goes to get their booster.

if it is in the middle of the day, they can go. all they have to do is demonstrate that that is where they went. they will not be docked pay. i am also asking other employers in the private sector to do the same thing. no one should have to choose between getting a paycheck and additional protection from a booster shot. i want to reiterate, dr. fauci and dr. collins reiterate, if you are worried about the omicron variant, the best thing to do is to be fully vaccinated and then get your booster when you are eligible. we do not yet believe that additional measures will be needed, but so that we are prepared, if needed, my team is working with pfizer, turner, johnson & johnson to develop contingency plans for vaccines or boosters. i will also direct the fda and the cdc to use the fastest process available without

cutting corners for safety to get such vaccines reviewed and approved if needed. second, we are expanding our efforts to vaccinate children ages five and up. for any parent worried about omicron variant or the delta variant, get your child vaccinated at one of the 35,000 locations in the country, including doctors offices, pharmacies, children's hospitals, and 9000 pop-up clinics at schools. if you are wondering where to go, visit vaccines.com. today, we are launching hundreds of new vaccination family clinics across the country. they can offer vaccination for the whole family, one stop. children can be vaccinated, parents can get vaccinated, first or second shots, or their

boosters. family vaccination clinics will be held in community health centers and other trusted locations. some will be mobile to reach into harder to reach communities. booster shots for adults, vaccinations for kids, all at the same place, same time. when we first announced, i said the logistical problem, it was not just having enough vaccines, but once we got them, the logistical effort to get all communities and all areas vaccinated was a gigantic logistical undertaking. it would make any military proud being able to do it. because of the incredible talent, including our military, we got it done. we can do the same thing now as we continue to expand. we know parents of children under the age of five are wondering when the vaccine will be available to the little ones. that is the question that i most often asked now.

we had a function celebrating hanukkah, christmas, things at the white house. parents saying to me, i have a three-year-old. is there going to be a time where she or he will be ok? i strongly support the independent scientific review of vaccine usage for children under five. we cannot take shortcuts with that scientific work, but i will do everything in my power to support the fda to do this safely and as quickly as possible, when we get to that point. vaccinating our children is also critical to keeping schools open. while over 99% of schools are open now, we need to make sure that we keep that throughout the winter, this winter. this edc reviewing pioneering approaches like what we call test tuesday policies -- test tuesday policies -- to stay

policies. up till now, you go home and you quarantine. rather than being sent home to quarantine, they would be able to stay because tests would be available regularly. the cdc will be releasing the latest science and other findings in the coming weeks so that are schools can learn from the impediments -- excuse me, if there any impediments in this practice, they can learn to implement the best way to do this is. we want our children in school and we will take new steps to make sure they stay that way. the best step is to vaccinate your children. get them vaccinated. this winter, we will make free at home tests more available to americans than ever before. to better detect and control the delta variant, i may testing more affordable and convenient. i used the defense production act to increase the production

of tests. when i came into office, none of these tests were on the market. thanks to the work of all of you, we now have at least eight at home testing options. prices for those are coming down , but it is still not good enough. that is why i'm announcing that health insurers must cover the cost of at home testing, so that if you are one of the 150 million americans with private health insurance, next month, your plan will cover at home tests. private insurers already cover the expensive pcr tests that you get at the doctor's office. now, they will cover at home tests as well. for those not covered by private insurance, we will make free tests available at thousands of locations available for folks to pick them up and take on home. the bottom line, this winter, you will be able to test for free in the comfort of your home

and have some peace of mind. this is on top of the 20,000 sites already around the country like pharmacies where you can go in and get tested for free. we have to keep this going. fourth, we will help communities that experience rising cases this winter and improve the care for those who get covid-19. since this summer, we have worked with republican and democratic governors, many republican and democratic governors, to deploy what we call surge response teams. they provide needed staff for those overrun hospitals that are handling more patients than they can handle, for their emergency rooms, intensive care units that don't have the personnel available, they provide life-saving treatments in communities in need like monoclonal antibody treatments.

over 20 teams are deployed now. today, we will triple that, get to 60 teams ready to deploy in states experiencing a surge in cases over the winter. i just met with the governor in minnesota who is raving about the positive impact it has had on his state, but other states are in the same circumstance. i'm increasing the availability of new medications recommended by real doctors, not conspiracy theorists. for example, monoclonal antibody treatments have been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization by 70%. for unvaccinated people at risk of developing severe disease. we have already distributed over 3 million courses of these treatments to save lives and reduce the strain on hospitals. we have promising new antiviral pills on the horizon that could

help hospitalizations and deaths from people affected by covid-19. we secured enough supply of these pills already and early indication is that these treatments will remain effective in the face of omicron. we don't know for sure yet but that is the hope and expectation. like with the distribution of vaccines, we will ensure these medicines will be available to the hardest hit communities in america as well. fifth and finally, as we deal with the delta variant and now the omicron variant, all that are merged elsewhere, it all came from somewhere else, and ultimately to beat this pandemic, we need to go to where it came from. we also need to vaccinate the rest of the world. america has, in my view, continue to lead in that effort. we have shipped for free more

vaccines around the world and all other countries combined. over 280 million vaccines so far to 110 countries including south africa, where we delivered all the doses they requested. now, today, i'm announcing that we will accelerate the delivery of more vaccines to countries that need it. delivering 200 million more on the way to delivering more than 1,000,000,200 million doses for the rest of the world. let me be clear, not a single vaccine dose america ever sends to the rest of the world will ever come at the expense of any american. i will always make sure our people are protected first. vaccinating the world is not just a moral tool, a moral obligation that we have, in my view. it's how we protect americans.

as we've seen with this new variant. americans doing our part, but this is a global pandemic and everyone needs to fight it together. that includes countries we are helping that aren't particularly friendly toward us, their populations are in trouble. to their credit, the scientific community, particularly in south africa, quickly notified the world of the emergence of this variant. this kind of transparency is encouraged and applauded because it increases our ability to respond quickly to any new threats, and that's what we did. on the very day the world health organization identified the new variant, i took an immediate step to restrict travel from countries in southern africa. while we know travel restrictions can spread -- slow the spread, it cannot prevent it. it does give us a little more time to take more precautions at home to prepare