Florida Is Mad Because the Biden Admin Won't Let It Hog Regeneron Doses
As noted in an earlier post, states like Florida have a problem. They have low vaccination rates because conservative politicians inflame their followers by railing about the government and framing vaccination as a matter of freedom. Meanwhile con-men (and women) target the same audience with disinformation about vaccine dangers in order to make money selling supplements and quack treatments.
As a result, lots of Floridians are unvaccinated; accordingly, lots of them are getting sick and dying. According to data compiled by the NY Times, in recent days Florida was the fourth-worst state for COVID-19 hospitalizations and the worst in the country for deaths.
This leaves a guy like Governor Ron "Florida Man" DeSantis in a precarious position. One one hand, it's overwhelmingly his supporters who are suffering and dying. On the other hand, he can't possibly come to his senses and take effective steps to get people vaccinated after he's dug himself so deep into that hole.
As noted in another earlier post, he (and other COVIDiot leaders) have realized there's a miraculous solution in antibody treatments like Regeneron. It can stop an infection in its tracks (which it unfortunately did for T****).
This option is catching on with ordinary vaccine resisters/refusers. The New York Times reports that people are viewing antibodies as an alternative to vaccination.
One guy in Houston quoted by the New York Times said: “If I can go get an infusion and feel as good as I do right now, man, I’d rather not take a vaccine that has just been developed. That makes me nervous, still.” Of course, Regeneron is every bit as much just-developed as the vaccines, and it costs like 100X as much.
Attitudes like this showed DeSantis he could have his cake and eat it too! He could maintain ideological purity and coddle anti-vaxxers he helped create, while insulating them from the consequences of their attitudes.
According to an article in Politico, Florida pursued this antibody strategy with gusto. It has been receiving 70% of the government's supply of antibody treatments—despite having only 6.4% of the U.S. population.
Someone in the Biden administration noticed this, and decided other states should maybe get some antibody doses too. So they reduced Florida's allocation to 55% of the total.
Note that even with this 15% cut, Florida is still getting more than any other state. The allocation is still way out of proportion to Florida's share of the population.
No matter, DeSantis and Sen. "Little Marco" Rubio are throwing hissy-fits. They complain that because the Biden administration will no longer let Florida hog the doses as much as it has been doing, it is the victim of partisan "payback" (for what, it is unclear). It's just so unfair!
In a philosophical moment, DeSantis lamented the low availability of the antibody treatments in general. “I think we could have averted, in this country, a lot of people going to the hospital. I think it would have saved a lot of lives.”
Hey Ron, you know what else averts trips to the hospital and saves lives? Vaccines! They are unquestionably safe and effective, they cost around 1/100th as much as Regeneron, and they are available in virtually unlimited supplies for everyone in the country, including Florida.
Image by Kevinsphotos from Pixabay
