Despite national health officials insisting that Regeneron antibody treatments are ineffective for people testing positive for the omicron coronavirus variant, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that the state has ordered and will receive another 15,000 doses of the monoclonal antibody treatment drug costing $75 million dollars.
The treatments are 100 times more expensive than a COVID-19 vaccination.
Like antibody treatments, COVID-19 vaccines are free to Americans but cost the federal government $32 to $37 per dose.
DeSantis responded to the reduced federal allocation by negotiating a private agreement with GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceuticals to directly purchase thousands of doses of monoclonal antibody treatments for Florida.
“The state has more than $800 million available to quickly deploy monoclonal antibody treatments throughout the state, and the only thing holding us back is the insufficient supply of treatment from the federal government,” DeSantis said.