Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) announced Monday that he has obtained doses of lifesaving antibody treatment on his own, bypassing President Joe Biden’s move to take control of the care and ration doses as he sees fit.
“EXCLUSIVE: [Gov. Greg Abbott] says Texas is bypassing Biden admin’s restriction on monoclonal antibody treatments by procuring them direct from the provider,” radio host Dana Loesch posted Monday afternoon.
EXCLUSIVE: @GregAbbott_TX says Texas is bypassing Biden admin’s restriction on monoclonal antibody treatments by procuring them direct from the provider. #DanaRadio
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) September 27, 2021
Austin Bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News Bob Garrett detailed, “[Gov. Greg Abbott] says Texas has obtained its own supply of Regeneron, despite roadblocks from Biden administration, from drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen. State purchasing directly, Abbott tells [Dana Loesch]. ‘Consider this treatment,’ he tells people testing + for #COVID19.”
.@GregAbbott_TX says Texas has obtained its own supply of Regeneron, despite roadblocks from Biden administration, from drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen.
State purchasing directly, Abbott tells @DLoesch.
'Consider this treatment,' he tells people testing + for #COVID19. 1/2
— Bob Garrett (@RobertTGarrett) September 27, 2021
Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis similarly obtained his own doses of the lifesaving care for Floridians, bypassing Biden.
The governor posted a video Thursday announcing the move, captioned, “Governor DeSantis announces acquisition of additional doses of monoclonal antibody treatments to counteract the federal government reducing Florida’s supply of the Regeneron monoclonal treatments.”
Watch Now: Governor DeSantis announces acquisition of additional doses of monoclonal antibody treatments to counteract the federal government reducing Florida’s supply of the Regeneron monoclonal treatments. https://t.co/uNwlFXc3OT
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 23, 2021
As highlighted by The Daily Wire, the Biden administration announced they’d be rationing supply of the treatment, effectively cutting supply for hard-hit states like Florida and Texas.
The treatment has been found to reduce hospitalization and death from COVID by a stunning 70%, with almost no side effects, based on preliminary findings in recent studies. It’s also been shown to shorten the duration of symptoms by four days.
The move to take control of the supply was made to ostensibly limit potential shortages elsewhere, though there aren’t any signs of a treatment shortage. The takeover was widely criticized and even deemed an act of “partisan payback” by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).
“Antibody treatments aren’t a substitute for vaccines. But they have prevented thousands of hospitalizations including in breakthrough cases,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) posted to Twitter last Thursday. “Now in a move that reeks of partisan payback against states like Florida, the Biden administration is rationing these treatments.”
Notably, the effective treatment has been far underutilized, as highlighted in a detailed report by The Daily Wire earlier this month. The White House, ironically, was widely criticized for not promoting the treatment and for reaching far fewer Americans than they should have mere weeks before Biden announced his move to take control of the treatment.
The most prominent company providing the treatment is Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which has teamed up with the federal government to pass along the treatment to Americans for free. The company said in late August that it was reaching fewer than 30% of eligible patients — and that was up big-time from its numbers in July, when Regeneron reached fewer than 5% of eligible patients.
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Source: Dailywire
