Megan Udinski, FISM News
In a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Tuesday night, Fla. Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo called out the Biden administration for intentionally withholding a lifesaving COVID treatment from the state.
In his letter to HHS Secretary Becerra, the Surgeon General Ladapo draws attention to the actions Gov. DeSantis has taken in the fight against COVID, such as the Seniors First vaccination initiative to vaccinate a more vulnerable population and creating a state-wide monoclonal antibody therapy available to reduce the burden on hospitals. He then proceeds to explain how, due to the Delta variant, which still accounts for 20% of the known COVID cases, and the increasing spread of the Omicron variant, the availability of the lifesaving tool of monoclonal antibodies is necessary.
As @POTUS said yesterday, solving the pandemic will happen at the state level. My letter to @HHSGov @SecBecerra: pic.twitter.com/1FRvimW9yB
— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) December 29, 2021
Ladapo refers to President Biden’s own statements in the letter when he writes, “President Biden recently stated that there is no federal solution to COVID-19 and solving this pandemic will happen at the state level. Therefore, as Surgeon General, I respectfully request that you allow states and healthcare practitioners to provide treatment options that best benefit the communities they know and love.”
He explains how Florida has one of the highest populations of seniors, and intentionally withholding a treatment option such as monoclonal antibody therapy creates a life-threatening shortage. He acknowledges that some treatments seem to be less effective against the Omicron variant, but that it should still be up to each healthcare practitioner to determine the best course of treatment for individual patients, and if the federal government limits the supply to Florida, they will prevent this best practice for doctors.
Florida has utilized this therapy successfully in combating COVID-19 and by mid-September had treated over 100,000 patients averaging 30,000 a week. Shortly after this milestone, HHS determined they would greatly reduce the number of monoclonal antibodies that would be distributed to Florida, among six other states.
The HHS stopped distribution of the antibody treatments made by Regeneron and Eli Lilly in regions where 80% or more of the cases appear to be from the Omicron variant because they seem to be less effective against that particular strain. This includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
While HHS continues to distribute GlaxoSmithKline’s Sotrovimab antibodies, as they appear more effective against Omicron, they have continued to withhold this supply from Florida, forcing Gov. DeSantis to make a purchase of his own from the company.
The surgeon general’s primary concern is that, as President Biden stated on Monday to the National Governors Association, there is “no federal solution” to the pandemic. Therefore, states should have the right to provide all possible treatments available to their citizens without the federal government interfering.