“Detecting COVID-19 and preventing COVID-related hospitalizations are critical to our fight against this virus,” said Abbott in a prepared statement. “Testing sites, additional medical staff, and continued shipments of therapeutics from the federal government will help us continue to save lives and mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
The governor said in a statement Friday “the Biden administration has cut supplies of monoclonal antibody treatments and testing kits when they are needed most, the State of Texas is urging the federal government to step up in this fight and provide the resources necessary to help protect Texans.”
Since March 2021, the governor has stood pat on his position that mitigation efforts, such as mask or vaccine mandates, are not the business of the state and instead has asked Texans to take personal responsibility and to use the tools they know work when fighting the pandemic.
DSHS also has requested additional allocations of sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody therapeutic that is proven to be effective in fighting the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and reducing hospitalizations.
The agency also requested that the federal government continue to supply the State of Texas with Regeneron and bamlanivimab, monoclonal antibody treatments for other strains of COVID.
DSHS has also requested three teams of medical personnel to provide additional support to hospitals in urban areas of the state that do not have DSHS-contracted staff.
Earlier this year Texas sued “The Biden Administration’s new vaccine mandate on private businesses is a breathtaking abuse of federal power,” Paxton said in a news release. “Bottom line: Biden’s new mandate is bad policy and bad law, and I’m asking the court to strike it down.”
