Last year, the media perpetuated the narrative that Trump was to blame for a shortage of desperately needed ventilators to treat COVID patients. The most popular example is former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo claiming he needed 30,000-40,000 ventilators. He accused Trump of letting New Yorkers die for not providing them. The problem was that New York had more than enough ventilators and eventually started giving extra ventilators to other states that needed them more.
Yet that fake narrative seems to be getting a lot more attention than the fact that the Biden administration is now rationing monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID due to a shortage of the drug. The Biden administration had previously promised to “accelerate access” to the treatment, but now, according to the Washington Examiner, Biden’s Health and Human Services Department will “control and restrict how much of the treatment supply goes to each state.” States had previously been getting the treatments directly from the manufacturers.
These restrictions are most likely to impact southern red states including Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee—which have been using the treatment in an effort to stave off rising hospitalization rates. Tennessee clinics are already running low.
Biden’s sudden decision to ration these treatments was blasted by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who believes this sudden rationing is targeting his state.
“It is regrettable that the Biden administration would play politics with people’s lives during a pandemic by withholding a life-saving treatment and providing mixed messages to Americans,” DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw told the Washington Examiner.
“I will fight like hell to overcome Biden’s cruel decision to drastically reduce lifesaving monoclonal antibody treatments for Floridians. We’ve seen steep reductions in hospital admissions due to early treatment efforts. It’s wrong to penalize Florida for his partisan bitterness,” DeSantis said on Twitter.
I will fight like hell to overcome Biden’s cruel decision to drastically reduce lifesaving monoclonal antibody treatments for Floridians. We've seen steep reductions in hospital admissions due to early treatment efforts. It’s wrong to penalize Florida for his partisan bitterness. pic.twitter.com/24APj0r50K
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 17, 2021
DeSantis credits the treatments with the decline in COVID hospitalizations.
“Our focus on early treatment with the monoclonal antibodies has made a real difference,” DeSantis said earlier this week. “Our admissions today are the lowest they’ve been since the middle of July, and it’s fallen, very, very quickly. Over the last many weeks, we had a big decline.”
House Republican Chip Roy of Texas is demanding answers from the Department of Health and Human Services “to know why they are rationing Regeneron and other monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID.”
“I will report back whatever bull crap they are shoveling,” he said on Twitter.
After I sent a letter to HHS demanding to know why they are rationing Regeneron and other monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID, we were told we have a briefing today at 2:00 Texas time. I will report back whatever bull crap they are shoveling. #TakeAmericaBack
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) September 17, 2021
Trump was criticized relentlessly over a ventilator shortage that simply wasn’t real. Yet the mainstream media doesn’t seem to care that the Biden administration is suddenly rationing monoclonal antibody treatments, which could cost lives. CNN spun the rationing as a positive thing. “The US government is buying more doses of monoclonal antibody treatments for Covid-19, and the Biden administration is taking over distribution in order to avoid shortages of the key therapeutics,” the network reported earlier this week.
It’s funny how things change.
The Biden administration promised to increase access to these drugs and instead will be in control of how much each state gets, leaving the decision up to a highly politicized bureaucracy. Nothing good can come of this. Trump advised states to purchase PPEs directly from manufacturers in order to cut out the federal government as the middle man so they could get much-needed supplies faster. Biden, however, is choosing the path of making the government the gatekeeper of who gets what, which likely means the process will be slowed down in addition to being politicized.
