FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says a new move by the federal government to change how monoclonal antibody treatments are allocated will mean hardship for COVID-19 patients.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that demand for the treatment has gone up with the spread of the delta variant. The new plan is for HHS to determine how much supply of the treatments each state will receive on a weekly basis, evaluating how many treatments are used and how many new cases of the virus each state reports per week.
Speaking from a medical center in Fort Lauderdale Thursday afternoon, DeSantis touted the state's track record with monoclonal antibody treatments. There have been more than 90,000 treatments administered at 25 centers throughout the state so far.
DeSantis has credited the treatments with a drop in hospitalizations across the state.
"They're saying that all of the reduced amount will go to the state, and we're now responsible not for sourcing our sites, which we're happy to do, but any infusion center, any provider, any hospital will have to come through the state," DeSantis said. "And to just spring that on us starting next week -- we're gonna have to do that? There's gonna be a huge disruption, and patients are gonna suffer as a result of this. And so we're gonna work like hell."