and data usage of any major carrier, according to customers. as i observe investors balance risk and reward, i see one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. your strategic advantage.
and data usage of any major carrier, according to customers. i want to take you right to the state department. secretary blinken is doing some opening remarks and then he ll take questions. just this morning i announced another $580 million in covid relief funding to provide life-saving health measures in the places where suffering is acute. that brings the total to nearly $20 billion. it s not just the amount of our assistance but how we ve done it. rooted in science, based on need, with international institutions and with no political strings attached. we ve done all this because, as we see happening right now with the rise of the omicron variant, none of us will be safe until all of us are safe.
with omicron, it is a tough time to turn your back to it and work on the build back better. i agree, the new variant is a difficult backdrop for all of us in america. and we ll have to pay a lot of attention to how it plays out. and the other thing, chuck, your point about reconciliation versus not reconciliation, this is another reason why we should be changing the rules in the senate. we are putting everything into both republicans and democrats into these reconciliation packages because we can t pass anything in the order course because the ways that the rules work and abuse of the rules which is relatively recent. that would be a great relief to the american people as well and to bring back legislative order as we re contending with the emergency of the new variant. i think that that would be very appropriate. and be pretty healthy for the country to see that there are
university of minnesota. it s good to see you again. it s been a minute. let s start with some of the promising news that has come out today from moderna, releasing new data saying that its current booster increases antibody levels 37 fold, a bigger dose even more so. i m wondering what you think 37 fold should mean to everyone at home in this moment. well, right now, the public is incredibly confused by all of this. we have to cut through two different you might say buckets of issues around the variants and delta specifically and omicron. right now, you need that third dose. i wish we d stop calling it a booster. it s a three-dose vaccine. full vaccination is that. remember right now delta is still responsible for so many of the people hospitalized. you need that third dose to keep you from having a breakthrough infection and possibly a severe illness and death. we ve had over 800 people here in minnesota who have died, who
up. ire cyril vanier in paris. it s going to be a lockdown christmas in the netherlands to curb the spread of the omicron variant, scenes that european leaders had hoped were behind them are playing out once again on the continent. empty streets, shuttered shops, sports closes competitions suspended and schools closed. most of these measures in place until mid-january to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed. in denmark the cultural centers have been closed meaning cinemas, zeus, amusement parks. denmark just one of several european countries reporting record or near record high infections recently. countries with the highest vaccination rates hope to get by with slightly less restrictive measures. for instance, an 8:00 p.m. curfew on the hospitality sector in ireland, and here in france, a less drastic but highly visible move. there will be no fireworks at the eiffel tower on new year s