Gov. DeSantis leaped into action against the Biden administration after the FDA revoked its emergency authorization for two kinds of COVID-19 antibodies as a treatment for the illness.
QUICK FACTS:
- Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling on the Biden administration to reverse its recension of authorization for two types of COVID-19 antibodies according to World Net Daily.
- DeSantis said that the FDA’s refusal to continue to endorse Regeneron and Eli Lilly monoclonal antibody treatments was damaging to Floridians and the American people.
- According to Fox News, Florida ordered more than 30,000 doses of both Regeneron and the sotorovimab monoclonal antibody treatment (which remains permitted) but HHS has not responded about updates about the order.
OFFICIALS’ STATEMENTS:
- DeSantis claimed the Biden administration has not provided “a shred of clinical data to support this action,” forcing “trained medical professionals to choose between treating their patients or breaking the law.
- “This indefensible edict takes treatment out of the hands of medical professionals and will cost some Americans their lives,” he said. “There are real-world implications to Biden’s medical authoritarianism – Americans’ access to treatments is now subject to the whims of a failing president.”
- The FDA argued “data show these treatments are highly unlikely to be active against the omicron variant,” which the CDC believes accounts for about 99% of current COVID cases. The move was meant to prevent side effects from treatments the FDA believes will not work.
- “In the future, if patients in certain geographic regions are likely to be infected or exposed to a variant that is susceptible to these treatments, then use of these treatments may be authorized in these regions,” the FDA said.
BACKGROUND:
- The FDA announced it was revoking its authorization because they didn’t find it to be effective enough against OMICRON, according to The Associated Press.
- The government agency could again re-approved the drugs if they prove to be effective against future variants.
- The report stated that doctors have resorted to other therapies, including two new antiviral pills from Pfizer and Merck.
