Amid controversial accusations of stockpiling COVID-19 tests, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has publicly come blaming the federal government's failures on a lack of monoclonal and therapeutic treatments for COVID-19.
Florida was one of the most embracing states of the then-controversial COVID-19 treatment branded, "monoclonal." Now, the treatment is being sought after by both conservatives and progressives alike, with even Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried (D-FL) endorsing the treatment.
Last week, the Florida governor appeared on Fox News where he emphasized Florida's use of "therapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies.":
The federal government’s failure to focus on COVID therapeutics nationwide has cost many lives.
Here in Florida, we will continue to emphasize the importance of effective therapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies. pic.twitter.com/Fb3NbOA89k
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 8, 2022
"Well i think if you look back, there's a number of big failures in this pandemic. The school closures, which I know you guys were talking about, you know some of the lockdown policies of course, but the failure from the outset to really focus on therapeutics I think has cost us a huge number of lives," said Governor DeSantis.
The Governor then added, "It was almost like they said lockdown, masks, and then once vaccines came vaccine and that was it, and as we've seen now, particularly with Omicron is people still getting infected, regardless of their vaccination status, so you need to have am emphasis on therapeutics. I just think it's counter to their messaging and their narrative."
DeSantis then contrasted the current pandemic struggles with last Summer when Democrats accused him of being, "against the vaccine if you're for therapeutics when actually we had a lot of vaccinated people that were going. It wasn't all unvaccinated, but regardless, you want to have treatment options and so in Florida, we have really stressed that."
