To the Editor:
Our governor is telling all of us that she is looking out for the citizens of this state. If this be the case, why are we being denied therapeutic treatment for the COVID-19 and being sent to the hospital to possibly die after being placed on the ventilator?

Let’s take a look at Florida and the action taken there for fighting COVID-19. Florida was administering 30,000 doses per week to infected patients. The treatment saved countless lives; I feel my son was one of those survivors. He was treated in the hospital as an outpatient with Regeneron monoclonal antibodies. He was able to be back at work in less than one week.

The federal government slashed in half the number of doses of the monoclonal antibodies therapy shipped to Florida from 30,000 to 15,000 this week, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis. But because the federal government has a contractual agreement with the makers of the monoclonal antibody treatments, it has “locked out” anyone else from buying the product, the governor said ….

For those who are unaware of the Regeneron Pharmaceutical Company, this might interest you: Industrial Operations and Product Supply 81 Columbia Turnpike Rensselaer, NY 12144. Corporate Headquarters 777 Old Saw Mill Road Tarrytown, NY 10591.

Charles Milbert

Delmar

Editor’s note: Regeneron had an agreement to supply an additional 1.4 million 1,200 mg. doses of REGEN-COV to the United States government by Jan. 31, 2022, at a cost of $2,100 per dose. This new agreement follows two earlier agreements with the U.S. government announced in July 2020 and January 2021.

“The federal government’s priority is to allocate the limited patient courses doses of casirivimab/imdevimab [REGEN-COV] in an efficient, fair, and equitable manner to locations in the country that need it most,” according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which documents the methodology here.

Beginning in September 2021, the New York State Department of Health began managing the distribution process for monoclonal antibody therapeutics, including REGEN-COV, within the state. Each week, according to the health department, New York State is assigned a weekly allotment of product by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services based on COVID-19 case burden and utilization. Providers who make requests for the therapeutics may not receive the total amount requested.