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The federal government’s sudden rationing of monoclonal antibody treatments, which keep Americans who get COVID-19 out of hospitals, is hitting Alabama hard, with some sites already running out of supplies or expected to run out soon.
The antibodies are very successful in stemming the effects of COVID-19 when given to patients soon after contracting the disease, which is caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. But a huge surge in demand in recent weeks has left what some officials have described as a national shortage, prompting the federal government to step in and start distributing what’s left.
Stringfellow and the Anniston Regional Medical Center had none of the antibodies left on Wednesday, according to Dr Almena Free, vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer. Other facilities in Jefferson and Huntsville counties are struggling to get enough treatment, Dr David Thrasher, a pulmonary intensive care physician in Montgomery, said the day later.
“Some entities have very few products and some projects run out of products over the weekend,” Dr. Karen Landers, health official at the Alabama Department of Public Health, told The Epoch Times in a report Friday. E-mail.
The shortage strikes at a critical time. The capacity of the intensive care unit is “beyond its full capacity,” Alabama health official Dr. Scott Harris told reporters in a virtual briefing Sept. 16. This means that there are more people in the state who require intensive care than there are beds to care for them.
COVID-19 is not entirely to blame, as many patients do not have the disease. But the shortage of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) will likely contribute to the problem. According to clinical studies and experts like Thrasher, 70% of patients who receive treatment soon after their diagnosis do not require hospital care.
“We were originally told [by the federal government] we were only going to get 70 percent of our allocation. This means that 30% of people go untreated and some of them will die, ”the doctor said.
” It’s not acceptable. … It is not fair what the federal government is doing, ”he added.
The federal government has dominated the supply of monoclonal antibody treatments from Regeneron and Eli Lilly. Depending on the model in place until early this month, hospitals and other facilities could order directly from the Biden administration, which would send doses directly to health centers. States did not have to worry about the costs, because the administration paid. The new model asks the government to ration doses, deciding how much to give each state. The change comes as, according to experts, supply is shrinking and new production is not sufficient to meet the burgeoning needs.
The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services have championed the change, saying it provides for more “equitable” distribution.
“Our role as the government overseeing the entire country is to be fair in how we distribute. We’re not going to give Florida a bigger percentage than Oklahoma, ”White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday.
“The transition to a state / territory coordinated distribution system gives health services maximum flexibility to get mAbs where they are needed most,” an HHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times by mail. electronic.
Several options are at stake for states facing a shortage. They can tap into the existing supply, taking doses from sites that have a lot and sending them to others that don’t. Or they can contact GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a UK-based company that hasn’t sold any of its products to the US government.
Florida is the only state that has started the process of sourcing directly from GSK, according to U.S. health officials. Health workers in some states, such as Mississippi and Arkansas, have said they have sufficient supplies and do not plan to be affected by the change in distribution model. Others, like Texas and Alabama, are pursuing but not pursuing the direct supply method.
Some have suggested that obtaining antibodies from GSK would prove too expensive.
“At the moment, we haven’t received any requests and it’s quite expensive,” a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health told The Epoch Times via email.
A treatment costs $ 2,100, a GSK spokesperson told The Epoch Times. This is the same price per dose in Regeneron’s last two contracts with the federal government. Eli Lilly’s is pretty much the same.
The federal government has locked down hundreds of thousands of doses of the drugs Regeneron and Eli Lilly, and GSK is the only other monoclonal antibody treatment approved for use in the United States today. U.S. drug regulators rejected an emergency use authorization request for a fourth drug earlier this month.
Officials in Michigan and Alabama told The Epoch Times that hospitals and other suppliers can order directly from GSK if they wish. In the meantime, states, like many others, are scrambling to try to redistribute supply to ensure there is enough at each facility.
To follow
Zachary Stieber covers American news, including politics and court affairs. He started at The Epoch Times as a reporter for the New York subway.
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