U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, speaks to members of the media as he walks the Senate subway on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, on Tuesday May 19, 2020.
Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | fake pictures
Republican Senator Marco Rubio said Thursday that the shortage of a coronavirus treatment reported in Florida hospitals is due to a “bad disconnect” with the Trump administration about the needs of his state.
Rubio, whose state is dealing with a massive increase in Covid-19 cases, said on Twitter that he heard reports as recent as “last night” that “various hospitals” in Florida have “little or no supply” of remdesivir, an antiviral drug. developed by Gilead Sciences.
Drug shipments to Florida are coordinated by the federal government, Rubio tweeted, and “we have a bad disconnect between what they think we need and what we really need.”
Last week, the administration sent two shipments of remdesivir to Florida, an amount that “was not based on the recent increase in hospitalizations for COVID-19” and that will not be enough to get past the state until the next expected delivery on April 27. July. , a Rubio spokesperson told CNBC.
“Hospitals are still looking for additional supplies of Remdesivir, as well as better communication with the federal government and a shorter wait time between submitting requests and fulfilling those requests,” the spokesperson said.
“Senator Rubio and our office have spoken with the White House and HHS, and we are working to ensure that the Florida hospital system receives the necessary resources to care for patients with COVID-19.”
Neither the Department of Health and Human Services nor the White House responded to the senator’s tweet.
Rubio, a frequent advocate of President Donald Trump, said Monday that several Florida hospitals had recently expressed concern about a “potentially critical shortage of Remdesivir.”
“I am in contact with federal officials hoping to address this issue immediately,” Rubio wrote on Twitter.
The reports emerged days before the Trump administration revealed that it had ordered hospitals to begin submitting their data on coronavirus patients directly to HHS. The information had previously been released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency within HHS that authorities say used an outdated data collection system.
On Wednesday, HHS spokesman Michael Caputo said the CDC’s data tracking system, the National Health Safety Network, caused a week delay in data that was driving administrative decisions compared to the reality in hospitals. During the Covid-19 pandemic, such a delay could cost lives, as HHS officials use the data to make potentially vital decisions, such as how to distribute the country’s scarce supply of remdesivir.
While there is no vaccine available for coronavirus, some studies of treatments like remdesivir have shown promising results. A Gilead study published on Friday found that remdesivir reduced the risk of death for seriously ill patients by 62% compared to standard care alone.
In June, the Trump administration announced an agreement with Gilead to supply the U.S. with more than 500,000 remdesivir treatment courses for its hospitals through September. According to HHS, that figure represents almost all of Gilead’s projected production for the next three months.
Florida is in the midst of a record peak in coronavirus cases. On Sunday, he reported more than 15,000 new cases, marking the highest total in a single day of any state.
The spread of the virus in the sun state comes months after other hot spots across the country, such as New York, managed to stop transmission. Other states, such as California, Texas, and Arizona, are also experiencing a significant increase in Covid-19 cases.
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