Biden administration sued over records covering COVID-19 treatment rationing

06/16/2022 / By Belle Carter

The Functional Government Initiative (FGI), an organization dedicated to raising public awareness about the officials, decisions and priorities of the government, sued President Joe Biden’s administration for not providing records of the distribution of a Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) treatment on time.

FGI is seeking records that will explain why the administration stopped shipments of monoclonal antibodies to Florida and other states.

However, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and sub-agencies National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have not complied with legal requirements outlined in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), prompting FGI to file a case.

Combat COVID, an official U.S. government site, encourages people who are at risk for serious COVID-19, have tested positive for the disease or have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive to consider a monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment.

“The mAb treatment can block the virus that causes COVID-19 from entering cells in your body and limit the amount of the virus within your body. This means you may have milder symptoms and may decrease the likelihood of you needing to stay in the hospital,” the website said.

In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted this on its website: “The Food and Drug Administration has issued emergency use authorizations for certain antiviral medications and monoclonal antibodies to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 in people who are more likely to get very sick.”

The mAb treatment has been authorized by regulators against strains of SARS-CoV-2, and Florida is one of the first states to promote the treatment. (Related: Medical scientists cautiously describe 100% CURE for cancer using new monoclonal antibody treatment.)

FGI has requested all records of communications referencing the development and implementation of the processes for determining the amount of mAbs to be distributed to each state or territory that had requested them.

“The only way we’re going to be able to obtain these documents is through a lawsuit and that’s why we are suing HHS, NIH, and NIAID,” FGI Communications Director Peter McGinnis told the Epoch Times.

Monoclonal antibody rationing decision could be politically motivated

McGinnis revealed that the rationing decision was “potentially motivated by politics,” noting that top administration officials and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have had arguments over the move in public.

FGI emphasized that this makes it important to see emails and other records concerning the decision.

“Hopefully, it’s not. I would hate to live in a world where we have a pandemic on our hands and the White House is restricting essential medical supplies over, ‘We don’t like this governor in the way that he attacks us, we’re not going to let him have this,'” McGinnis pointed out.

Additionally, the federal government handed out doses for free to the states, but the arrangement largely left states unable to order any doses themselves when the Biden administration started rationing in the fall of 2021, hitting states such as Florida and Texas.

At the same time, other states saw no change or an increase in allocation.

FGI filed the requests for information back in February and the HHS acknowledged them, but no update has been provided since. The law states that within 20 days the agency should notify the requester whether they will comply or not. The NIH sent an automatic acknowledgment and had an employee reach out for clarification, but only after the 20-day limit. After FGI responded to the questions, the NIH stopped replying.

Furthermore, NIAID told FGI on May 10 that the requests were being reviewed and expressed that the estimated time was six months. There was no clear feedback on whether a search was underway or whether a review merely referred to deciding whether or not to process the requests.

FGI asked the court to order the plaintiffs to provide the records within 10 days.

Visit Pandemic.news for more news related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Watch this video that talks about why Joe Biden banned monoclonal antibodies.

This video is from the JosephJenkins channel on Brighteon.com.