Yes -- all newer meds must be rationed, along some lines -- in any event -- but that sure seems to "reward" poorer health choices (at least as compared to older Tennesseans, who immediately went out and got the vaccine, but now have a Delta-driven breakthrough variant to contend with). Why would they be sent to the back of the line? Bizarre.
. . .“If we had enough to give this to every single person at risk of hospitalization, that would be ideal,” Dr. Karen Bloch of Vanderbilt University Medical Center told The Tennessean. “But with this limited resource, identifying those most at risk makes sense. Taking out the politics, the unvaccinated fit into that category.”
Monoclonal antibody treatment lessens the severity of Covid-19 symptoms, and with more cases of the highly infectious delta variant, the demand for it has soared.
But in recent months, 70 percent of the country’s supply has gone to seven Southern states: Alabama, Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana. . . .
Of course, these states are those with most heavily burdened case loads, per capita -- but a powerful argument exists, on the data, that the heavy case loads. . . are a result of the states' own very poor pandemic management / policy approaches.
I truly do want the best outcomes for everyone, nationwide -- and it should not be a death sentence to be a Democrat living in Florida for example. . . but the idea that these GOP governors are now saying the allocation is in some manner. . . unfair, to them. . . is preposterous. [Tennessee in particular sports the lowest percentage vaccinated -- just over 44 per cent, according to most recent data.]
As a nation of limited health care resources (due to purely fiscal restraints), I am troubled that these states taking the least responsible, least proactive approaches to managing the pandemic. . . are consuming the most -- of the higher end treatments, once a crisis in their geography (almost inexorably) arises.
नमस्ते
2 comments:
So, my initial thoughts on this were similar to yours. I have subsequently heard a bioethics physician give a talk on this subject.
The 'gist' is:
Those that have rec'd the vaccine, and get a breakthrough CoVID infection, are less likely to have a severe case and even less likely to die from the infection.
But, those that did not get the vaccine are ~17X more likely to get a severe case or die. Hence, the reason for 'favoring' those unvaccinated to receive these treatments.
It does still feel 'wrong' but, ethically~it is the right thing to do.
The crunch on this all is 'what will the insurance companies do?' If people start having to pay the bills, they will probably go get the vaccine.
Great comment — and wise, indeed.
Well-put. . . And your point about insurance ultimately driving vaccines over Regeneron therapies. . . makes eminent good sense.
I guess from an emotional point of view, I just wish humans were. . . Smarter.
Namaste
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