{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://barrymoore.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-barry-moore-mo-brooks-lead-effort-questioning-biden-administration", "Reps. Barry Moore, Mo Brooks lead effort questioning Biden administration for limiting Alabama's monoclonal antibody treatments", "2021-10-08", "2021", "2021-10", "Republican", "House", "AL", "Barry Moore", "M001212", "barrymoore.house.gov", "barrymoore", "https://barrymoore.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 Representatives Barry Moore (AL-02), Mo Brooks (AL-05), Mike Rogers (AL-03), and Gary Palmer (AL-06) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra conveying statewide concerns about the Biden Administration\u2019s policy change that would limit monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatments available to Alabama. This change disproportionately affects Alabama and other conservative states where this treatment has been used successfully.\n\n\u201cThis allocation change to the supply of monoclonals in the midst of a public health emergency delayed potentially life-saving treatments to many Alabamians,\u201d said Moore. \"The federal government implemented this change at a time when many Alabama hospitals were in the midst of a crisis from a rise in the delta variant. Adding even more government red tape to our hospitals at a time like this is inexcusable. This administration needs to stop playing politics when there are lives at stake.\u201d\n\n\u201cAccording to University of Alabama in Birmingham researchers, monoclonal antibody therapy reduces risk of hospitalization by 70% in high-risk unvaccinated persons,[1]\u201d said Brooks. \u201cBut, the Biden Administration is throttling Alabama\u2019s supply of mAb treatments according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.[2] The signers of this letter want answers from the Biden Administration about why they\u2019re reducing the number of lifesaving treatments available to Alabamians.\u201d\n\nThe letter reads:\n\nSecretary Becerra,\n\nWe write to convey Alabama\u2019s concerns regarding allocation of monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatments. As you know, mAb therapy is a proven and effective COVID-19 treatment. As such, we are concerned with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decision to change America\u2019s mAb allocations.\n\nHHS announced a plan for a new ordering process in which states are allocated mAb treatments based largely on each state\u2019s share of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Health care providers could no longer order mAb supplies directly from distributors and state health departments would order mAb supplies through HHS and then distribute mAb treatments to providers throughout the state. This change was done rapidly and with inadequate national input from states or healthcare providers, thus catching many healthcare providers off guard, especially in smaller clinics and more rural areas.\n\nHHS\u2019s change appears to have caused Alabama to experience a significant drop in mAb dose availability, thus unnecessarily putting lives at risk. Further, it appears many healthcare providers and clinics have struggled with anticipating shipments, resulting in patients being unable to receive the mAb therapy.\n\nWe ask HHS to clarify if the allocation formula will reduce the number of mAb doses allocated to states based on a state\u2019s ability to properly report to HHS how many mAb\u2019s were used.\n\nLastly, we request an explanation of why there has been such a lack of clarity by HHS on when treatments will become available.\n\nFurthermore, we request HHS to state whether the mAb distribution formula change will impact Alabama\u2019s allocation and, if so, HHS\u2019s estimate of how much Alabama\u2019s allocation will go up, or down, based on the new mAb allocation formula.\n\nWe look forward to receiving your responses to our questions.\n\n###\n\n[1] uab.edu, \u201cFive questions about monoclonal antibodies,\u201d August 23, 2021, https://www.uab.edu/news/health/item/12241-five-questions-about-monoclonal-antibodies.\n\n[2] Montgomery Advertiser, \u201cNew federal rules reduce Alabama monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID by 18%,\u201d September 22, 2021, https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/local/2021/09/23/alabama-monoclonal-antibody-treatments-reduced-biden-administration/5790810001/.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:24:51Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://barrymoore.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-barry-moore-mo-brooks-lead-effort-questioning-biden-administration"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4926469884812832, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}