On Friday of last week, in the late afternoon news dump from the Biden administration, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will begin rationing and managing shipments of the life-saving Covid-19 treatment known as monoclonal antibodies. This treatment goes by the brand name of Regeneron, among others, and has been instrumental in treating patients who test positive for Covid-19 and begin treatment early in the process.
While the demand for this specific treatment has been increasing, thanks in part to people like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lauding its effectiveness very publicly, the supply has remained steady across the country.
Starting today, however, all shipments and distribution of monoclonal antibodies will be managed by the federal government and must be approved by HHS before shipment:
The policy change that went into effect Monday is all but certain to result in cuts of the medication to some states, especially seven in the Deep South with high infection rates that have been using about 70 percent of the national supply.
Soaring demand for the therapy represents a sharp turn from just two months ago, when monoclonal antibodies were widely available and awareness of them was low. Consumers, doctors and states, amid little government promotion, were obtaining just a fraction of the available supply.
“HHS will determine the amount of product each state and territory receives on a weekly basis,” an HHS spokesman said. “State and territorial health departments will subsequently identify sites that will receive product and how much.” The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe new procedures that are still being explained to communities throughout the country.
“This system will help maintain equitable distribution, both geographically and temporally, across the country, providing states and territories with consistent, fairly distributed supply over the coming weeks,” he added.
Anytime the federal government starts talking about “equitable distribution,” it should send up red flags. Why did the Biden administration decide to take over distribution and limit the shipments and increase the time associated with receiving this life-saving drug? HHS claims it was to manage the supply and avoid shortages. So far, however, the maker of Regeneron has not reported delays in manufacturing or given any indication that the production of monoclonal antibody treatment is under stress. Yes, the demand is high, but the production is there to meet it.
Unfortunately, as everything is viewed through a partisan lens, you don’t have to examine the affected states closely to spot an alarming pattern:
Alabama, Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana — all states where the delta variant of the virus has been surging in recent months — have been using 70 percent of the monoclonal antibody supply in recent weeks, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The move by the Biden administration is immediately creating shortages on the ground in several states that wouldn’t be having an issue if not for federal intervention. Patient appointments are being canceled in some instances, and hospitals will now be waiting longer uncertain periods of time before receiving shipments:
In Tennessee, Bill Christian, a health department spokesman, said in an email that some people have been turned away because of delays in receiving shipments of the medication.
“HHS is reviewing all orders and as a result, facilities cannot anticipate shipments for scheduling patients. Instead, patients are being turned away, and appointments are canceled due to a lack of clarity on when treatment will be available,” Christian wrote.
In Mississippi, a state department of health spokeswoman said in an email that the state already allocates its medication based on how much each site is using and has enough on hand for now.
In Florida, the amount of monoclonal antibody treatment flowing into the state will be cut in half under the new Biden administration rules:
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said the Biden administration has slashed in half the state’s supply of monoclonal antibody treatments that have been critical in reducing deaths and hospitalizations from COVID-19.
“This is a dramatic reduction,” DeSantis said Thursday at a Fort Lauderdale press conference with healthcare providers. “We are facing a massive cut in antibody treatments. Abruptly.”
Florida’s supply has been reduced by more than 50%, DeSantis said.
If the goal is to save lives, then the goal should be to make this treatment available where it’s needed, regardless of partisan or policy divides. Soon it will be Michigan or California driving higher demand, or perhaps Oregon, a hotbed that is just starting to peak off record highs.
President Biden recently indicated a desire to increase shipments of Regeneron and other therapeutic to all states yet this move to ration treatments will accomplish the opposite of that stated goal:
On Wednesday, DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw suggested the Biden administration was retaliating against Florida.
“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,” Pushaw told the Washington Examiner.
Red-state governors immediately criticized Biden for rationing the antibody treatments. They said the decision was announced abruptly and came only a week after the administration pledged to increase the shipments to states by 50%.
As the coronavirus tends to move around seasonally, there’s no doubt that the infection rates and hospitalization rates will also move around with it. At this point, as was seen last summer, southern states were hit with a wave of infections. Once the summer was ending, the infection rates died down and other parts of the country, where the population was being driven indoors by changing weather, began to see more community spread and higher infection rates.
As it stands today, the federal government often steps in to solve problems that don’t exist. In this instance, it could cost lives by delayed shipments and or missed appointments due to these HHS rules. There is no doubt that the Biden administration has declared war on states and individuals that haven’t followed his desired Covid rules, and this may be yet another example of a form of retaliation that should have no place in medicine.
