Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he is “very worried” with Democrat Joe Biden’s choice to restrict the movement of monoclonal antibodies to states during a surge in demand by southern states.
“Just last week on Sept. 9th, President Biden said that his White House would be increasing shipments of antibodies in Sept. by 50%, and then on Sept. 13th, his HHS announced it was taking over the antibody supply and that it would control the distribution, and on Sept. 14th, the announcement was over 50% of the antibodies that were used in Florida would be reduced,” DeSantis said. “So this is a huge drop off, and I would say it is doubly problematic since what Shane Strum and people in Tampa General and other hospitals have been doing this, they are not getting it from the state.”
“What the HHS and the Biden White is now doing is they are saying all of the lowered amount will go to the state, and we are responsible for sourcing our sites but also any infusion center or hospital has to come through the state, and to just push this on us beginning next week, we will have to do that,” DeSantis said. “There will be a large disruption and patients will suffer and some will die if we allow this.”
DeSantis said he will “work like hell to ensure” Florida “is able to overcome the obstacles that the Biden administration” have imposed on the state, saying that the treatment has guarded many lives in the state.
“To pull the rug out after the president himself said there would increase the distributions by 50%, it is very problematic,” DeSantis said. “What I am doing though, is we will cover the bases.”
DeSantis said yesterday with GlaxoSmithKline executives and he believes that Florida will order their new monoclonal antibody from the company directly so he will not have to deal with Biden’s restrictions on the treatment.
The GOP governor has, if this move succeeds, hopefully started a trend that will spread to other states in the union. But knowing the Biden White House, the Democrats will find a way to disrupt this strategy before it even begins.
WATCH:
Florida's @GovRonDeSantis confirming this– saying today he will seek to buy monoclonal therapies directly from GSK, circumventing the HHS process. pic.twitter.com/YX8MKBxAEd
— Forrest Saunders (@FBSaunders) September 16, 2021
Author: Scott Dowdy
