HANNAH BLEAU The Biden administration this week slashed the doses of lifesaving coronavirus antibody treatment to Florida, giving the state less than half of what is needed for a routine week, prioritizing “equitable distribution” — a move some suspect is a form of revenge against Republican governors whom the president vowed to get “out of the way.”
The Biden administration this week began to cut the distribution of monoclonal antibodies to red states, such as Florida and Alabama, contending those states, including Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, and Louisiana, are comprising too big a share of the supply in recent weeks — 70 percent.
“HHS will determine the amount of product each state and territory receives on a weekly basis,” a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (AFP/JOE RAEDLE)
“State and territorial health departments will subsequently identify sites that will receive product and how much,” the official continued, claiming the 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.”
Already, this has had a negative impact on states such as Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has been announcing more and more antibody treatment centers across the Sunshine State and battling the establishment media’s criticisms and misinformation along the way. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci has recognized the treatments as “effective intervention” for the Chinese coronavirus.
As a result of the Biden administration’s moves, the feds delivered less than half the needed doses to the Sunshine State this week. According to CBS12, they sent 30,950 doses “according to numbers from the governor’s office and confirmed by the Department of Health.” But normally, the state needs about 72,000 doses a week to meet the needs.
A Dallas County Health and Human Services nurse, right, injects a woman with her second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a county run vaccination site in Dallas, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. According to the unidentified woman receiving the shot, her employer required all employees to be vaccinated. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Christina Pushaw, press secretary for DeSantis, blasted the Biden administration’s move and suggested that “every corporate media outlet that publishes sensational stories about ‘overflowing hospitals’ in the South” should first “demand answers from the Biden Administration about why they’re restricting the supply of life saving COVID treatment to the South.”
“Supply of monoclonal antibody treatment to Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas & other Southern states restricted by Biden Admin with no real explanation besides ‘equity,’” she continued, asking, “How is it equitable to only send treatment for HALF the Floridians who need it, & NO state sites in Alabama?”
Some view Biden’s move as a form of revenge against Republican governors, as the president vowed during his divisive coronavirus speech this month to get certain governors who oppose his agenda “out of the way.”
“If they will not help, if those governors won’t help us beat the pandemic, I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way,” he vowed.
