Biden administration moves to stave off shortages of monoclonal antibodies - The Washington Post

The Biden administration moved this week to stave off shortages of monoclonal antibodies, taking over distribution of the critical covid-19 therapy and purchasing 1.4 million additional doses.

Monoclonal antibodies are free and effective against covid-19, but few people are getting them.

Department of Health and Human Services will, at least temporarily, set the rules for distribution of monoclonal antibodies instead of allowing states, medical facilities and doctors to order them directly.

“This 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,” he added.

And in Florida, a spokeswoman for DeSantis said in a statement: “It is regrettable that the Biden administration would play politics with people’s lives during a pandemic, by withholding a life-saving treatment and providing mixed messages to Americans.” She was referring to President Biden’s vow last week to ramp up distribution of therapeutics for covid-19.

Alabama, Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana — all states where the delta variant of the virus has been surging in recent months — have been using 70 percent of the monoclonal antibody supply in recent weeks, according to a person familiar with the situation.

In Texas, the Department of State Health Services alerted monoclonal antibody providers of HHS’s warning that “the national supply has considerably decreased and states should expect lower amounts of therapeutics available for shipment in the coming weeks,” according to Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the state health department.

In Tennessee, Bill Christian, a health department spokesman, said in an email that some people have been turned away because of delays in receiving shipments of the medication.

In Mississippi, a state department of health spokeswoman said in an email that the state already allocates its medication based on how much each site is using and has enough on hand for now.

According to data from a meeting last week with stakeholders involved in monoclonal antibody distribution, 2.17 million doses of the therapy have been shipped to 8,003 sites and 938,000 have been used.