The government will be working to ensure that Eli Lilly's experimental COVID antibody product, which has been approved for emergency use, will be available for underserved hospitals and individuals, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday.
"We had exactly the same concerns with Gilead's Remdesivir when it came out originally and was in limited supply," said Azar on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "We're going to follow the exact same mechanism in terms of distribution."
He said the medication will be allocated based on the hospitalization and disease burden nationwide.
"Initially, the initial shipments will go to hospitals because they have the infusion capabilities to set this up for outpatient individuals who have tested positive, but we're going to be launching and exploring with Lilly, other types of infusion capabilities, outpatient infusion centers, other forms of administration," said Azar.
He added that work is continuing on efforts to deliver the antibody treatment through a simple immunization.
Meanwhile, the administration is still working to provide support and temporary shelters in parts of the country that are being hit by the growing numbers of COVID infections, just as they were in large cities like New York or Chicago earlier this year, Azar said.
"As you get more cases, you get more hospitalizations," he said. "It's just simple math. That's where this Lilly antibody that we have approved. This is a historic day. We have a 90 plus percent effective vaccine and a monoclonal antibody, and we're going to back up our states and health care systems with capacity."
He also commented on a potential upcoming transition of powers, should Joe Biden's contested election be confirmed.
"We are prepared for any transition," said Azar. "We have plans for that. It's done under statue, every four-year cycle. We're ready for that if there's a determination that there's a transition."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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