The Biden administration's messy response to getting the pandemic under control doesn't merely apply to there not being enough rapid tests, but to treatments as well. On Wednesday, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) sent a letter to Health & Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra inquiring about monoclonal antibody treatments (mAb), especially since those like the Sotrovimab are "running dry" in Texas.
Bottom line: There are people in Texas being denied COVID treatment because the Biden administration is interfering with the monoclonal supply while pushing an unconstitutional vaccine mandate.
— Nate Madden (@NateOnTheHill) December 30, 2021
Unacceptable. https://t.co/jvnj2C2zUg
The Sotrovimab treatment appears to be the only one working with patients with the Omicron variant. As the letter quotes, the Sotrovimab website warns on the home page that "GSK has entered into a contract with the U.S. government to purchase sotrovimab. Sotrovimab is not available for commercial purchase at this time. More details of government directed distribution will be provided in the coming weeks."
Rep. Roy's letter also lays out yet another issue. While the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) previously claimed that the Omicron variant made up 73.2 percent of cases, the revised number, Leah highlighted, went down to 22.5 percent for the week ending in December 18 and 58.6 percent for the week ending in December 25. As Roy's letter highlights, the more dangerous Delta variant still made up 41 percent of cases for last week.
The HHS department is still behaving under Omicron being projected to be the prevalent strain, though. "Beginning next week (the week of Jan 3), and in alignment with HHS guidelines, [does] not plan to allocate bam/ete or REGEN-GOV to jurisdictions in regions with greater than 80% prevalence of the Omicron variant," Rep. Roy's letter quotes.
Concerningly, Rep. Roy mentions that he had also sent out letters on September 13, 2021 and November 16, 2021, but they went unanswered. Thus, this letter is asking once again what was asked in previous letters and at a hearing from September 17, 2021, including:
1) Is there, or has there ever been a shortage of any monoclonal antibody treatments in the U.S.? If so, which treatments? 2) Is there an expected shortage of any monoclonal antibody treatment in the U.S.; and If so, which treatments? 3) What is the U.S.'s manufacturing capacity for monoclonal antibody treatments?
Rep. Roy in his letter doesn't hold back from criticizing the HHS department:
The above questions should not be hard for your Department to answer, and perhaps now more than ever it is imperative your Department begins to be transparent with Congress and the American people about what to expect from the mAb supply chain and distributions. The decisions your Department made surrounding disruptions have only gotten worse as COVID-19 had continued to circulate through communities. The fallout of these decisions could prove fatal. This, while your Department has not even at a minimum been transparent about the manufacturing capabilities and supply levels of various mAb treatments whilst denying commercial purchase to block separate recourse to a life-or-death situation.
Roy's letter says he "look[s] forward to receiving immediate answers."
Same in Florida and many other states. It’s unconscionable, we warned the Biden Administration about the winter surge for months and urged the federal government to ramp up supplies of MAB treatment as promised. They failed to listen. https://t.co/oWkNgKKzzs
— Christina Pushaw ?? (@ChristinaPushaw) December 30, 2021
This appears to be a pattern for the administration, with not only tests that could and should have been ordered in October, but mAb treatments as well.