Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo wrote in a letter that President Joe Biden’s administration has purposefully blocked the state’s COVID-19 patients from receiving monoclonal antibody treatments, reported The Epoch Times.
Ladapo blamed Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra for creating an “artificial shortage” by authorizing a “dramatic reduction in the number of monoclonal antibodies to be allocated to the State of Florida,” according to the letter.
Although the treatments have effectively treated COVID-19, HHS and the Food and Drug Administration have stopped distributing Regeneron and Eli Lily’s monoclonal antibodies.
The federal government now only distributes Glaxosmithkline’s Sotrovimab monoclonal antibody treatments.
The agencies justified their decision by arguing that Glaxosmithkline’s monoclonal antibody treatment is effective against the cold-like Omicron variant, while Regeneron and Eli Lily’s products may not be effective.
Ladapo wrote that the federal government should not “limit our state’s access to any available treatment for COVID-19,” no matter its effectiveness against specific variants.
“Florida can expand treatment options for patients by distributing therapeutics to providers working in areas with a low prevalence of Omicron or clinics capable of variant screening,” his letter read.
The federal government has not simply stopped distributing certain monoclonal antibody treatments, but has been “actively preventing the effective distribution of monoclonal antibody treatments in the U.S.”
“The sudden suspension of multiple monoclonal antibody therapy treatments from distribution to Florida removes a health care provider’s ability to the best treatment options for their patients in this state,” Ladapo wrote.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appointed Ladapo in September, has been at odds with the Biden administration throughout the COVID-19 crisis.
DeSantis has prioritized early and alternative treatments, like monoclonal antibodies, while the Biden administration has placed all its hopes in the COVID-19 shots, which have caused severe adverse side effects and demonstrated waning effectiveness after only a few months.
An HHS spokesperson disputed Ladapo’s claims.
“With regard to monoclonal antibody treatments, the federal government has allocated about 22,000 doses in just the past two weeks (11,050 doses last week and 10,576 doses this week),” the spokesperson said. “That’s in addition to the approximately 28,000 doses of product that they have on hand from their previous orders.”
