{"id":43223,"date":"2021-09-19T13:18:28","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T17:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=43223"},"modified":"2021-09-19T13:18:28","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T17:18:28","slug":"playing-politics-with-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=43223","title":{"rendered":"Playing Politics With Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday The Epoch Times<\/a> reported that because of the Biden administration’s recent decision to ration monoclonal antibody treatments, the State of Alabama may run out of those treatments shortly.<\/p>\n

The article reports:<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s sudden rationing<\/a> of monoclonal antibody treatments, which keep Americans who get COVID-19 out of hospitals, is hitting Alabama<\/a> hard, with some sites already running out of or projected to run out of supply soon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The antibodies are highly successful at stemming the effects of COVID-19 when given to patients soon after they contract the disease,\u00a0which is caused by the\u00a0CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus<\/a>. But a huge jump in demand in recent weeks has left what some officials have described as a national shortage, triggering the federal government to intervene and start doling out what\u2019s left.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stringfellow and Regional Medical Center in Anniston didn\u2019t have any 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 source enough of the treatment, Dr. David Thrasher, a pulmonary critical care physician in Montgomery, said a day later.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSome entities are very low on product and some project running out of product over the weekend,\u201d Dr. Karen Landers, a health officer with the Alabama Department of Public Health, told The Epoch Times in an email on Friday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The shortage is hitting at a critical time. Intensive care unit capacity is \u201cbeyond full,\u201d Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama\u2019s health officer, told reporters in a Sept. 16 virtual briefing. That means there are more people in the state that require critical care than there are beds to take care of them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

COVID-19 isn\u2019t entirely to blame, as many patients don\u2019t have the disease. But the monoclonal antibody (mAb) shortage will likely contribute to the issue. Some 70 percent of patients who get the treatment soon after their diagnosis don\u2019t need hospital care, according to clinical studies and experts like Thrasher.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was no reason for the federal government to insert itself into something that was working.<\/p>\n

The article concludes:<\/p>\n

Some suggested getting antibodies from GSK would prove too expensive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time we have not had any requests for it and it is quite costly,\u201d a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health told The Epoch Times via email.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One course of treatment costs $2,100, a GSK spokesperson told The Epoch Times. That\u2019s the same price per dose in Regeneron\u2019s latest two contracts with the federal government. Eli Lilly\u2019s is about the same.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The federal government has locked up hundreds of thousands of doses of the Regeneron and Eli Lilly medicines, and GSK\u2019s is the only other monoclonal antibody treatment authorized for use at this time in the United States. U.S. drug regulators rejected an application<\/a> for emergency use authorization for a fourth drug earlier this month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michigan and Alabama officials told The Epoch Times that hospitals and other providers can order directly from GSK if they wish. In the meantime, the states, like many others, are scrambling to try to redistribute supply to make sure there\u2019s enough at each facility.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am reminded of the following quote:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there\u2019d be a shortage of sand.\u201d \u2013 Milton Friedman<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday The Epoch Times reported that because of the Biden administration’s recent decision to ration monoclonal antibody treatments, the State of Alabama may run out of those treatments shortly. The article reports: The federal government\u2019s sudden rationing of monoclonal antibody … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[967,12609,144,14174,14306,12407],"class_list":["post-43223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alabama","tag-covid-19","tag-michigan","tag-monoclonal-antibody-treatment","tag-regeneron","tag-the-epoch-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43225,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43223\/revisions\/43225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}