Amid a soaring infection rate, Israel has confirmed over 550 coronavirus fatalities in the past month. Could some of these deaths have been avoided?
According to a Yediot Achranot report on Thursday morning, the answer to the question may be an outrageous “yes.” The report revealed that although Israel’s Health Ministry has already purchased thousands of doses of a COVID drug with a proven success rate in the US, it has failed to release it for mass use by Kupot Cholim to treat COVID patients at home.
In November 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization for Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment for mildly and moderately ill coronavirus patients, the month after former U.S. President Donald Trump received the still-experimental drug after he contracted COVID in October.
“Clinical trials showed that two monoclonal antibodies, casirivimab and imdevimab, administered together reducted reduce COVID-19-related hospitalization or emergency room visits in patients at high risk for disease progression within 28 days after treatment when compared to placebo,” the FDA press release stated at the time.
“My father began feeling ill a couple of weeks ago,” said Moti Leibowitz, an Israeli whose father died of COVID earlier this week. “We tried to get him treated with Regeneron, but our HMO said they don’t have the drug and even said they knew nothing about it. You have to know where to go to get it and we found one of the aid organizations that could provide the drug, but my father refused to go to the hospital to receive it. If he had been able to get it while at home, he wouldn’t have died.”
Senior health officials say that the public is paying the price for bureaucratic infighting. “It’s possible and necessary to purchase a large quantity of Regeneron,” health officials said.
“The drug must be administered in the early stages of the disease to be most effective, and not when a patient’s condition deteriorates and requires hospitalization,” Professor Galia Rahav Head of the Infectious Disease Department at the Sheba Medical Center, explained.
“HMO’s must be responsible for administering it to patients who are treated in the community.”
Dr. Erez Carmon, who heads the coronavirus response at one of the HMO’s has a different opinion. “Some drugs must be administered in a hospital setting,” he said. “HMOs do not determine what drugs are available. That is the Health Ministry’s job.”
The Health Ministry stated in response to a request for comment from Ynet that the existing supply of Regeneron has been directed for use in nursing home “but further use of the medication will be considered.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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11 Responses
Why do governments worldwide refuse proven treatment for covid instead of pushing the vaccine on everyone, including those who have natural immunity and those who prefer proven medical treatments in the event that they get infected with covid?
It makes me wonder what is really going on behind the scenes.
Is it any less “outrageous” than the publics refusal (unfortunately frum as well) to wear masks in closed places / shuls??
While the protection to the wearer of the mask is questionable, the fact that masks greatly prevent the spreading of the infection to others is almost undisputed. Perhaps if all would have been able to overcome the tremendous “nisayon” to not wear a mask a large amount if not almost all the 7000 and counting lives would not have been lost.
Israeli scientists had the knowledge to develop a vaccine long before Pfizer and Maderna. Israeli bureaucrats prevented them from doing the trials needed to complete its development.
As the article mentions, but doesn’t fully explain, while this drug is “approved” by the FDA (an EUA not full approval) its efficacy has been demonstrated only during early stage illness and ALSO requires a slow infusion process under nursing supervision. Many over-capacity hospital ERs in EY simply don’t have the staffing or resources to administer this drug and have focused on other therapies. Same here in the U.S. where literally millions of doses of the drug are going unused because of the resource limitations on its use. There is no big conspiracy to withhold any drug proven safe from patients who need it.
This is ridiculous. Regeneron is kept frozen. Takes an hour to defrost and then another hour to administer by iv. Providing it to people’s homes is not at all practical. Go to the hospital and stop complaining.
Baruch Hashem. No issues. All is well. No conspiracy to kill people. All good.
Baruch dayan hadimwits.
וייק אף פיפל
Pushing vaccines and lockdowns while denying treatment ( or worse) is what this pandemic has been all about.
At the end of the,the above mentioned person died because he refused to go to the hospital to get thr treatment Here in New York, you must go to the hospital to receive monoclonal anti-body treatment,
Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine have also had a lot of success with patients around the world, and are being ignored and disallowed nonetheless — even to be prescribed by credentialed doctors (as they apparently can only prescribe by ‘groupthink’). This is because there is a problem with the ‘official narrative’.
Of course there are foods and supplements that have been shown to help also, but that’s beyond allopathic approach altogether.
If I am not mistaken, this was used in the USA but only administered in a Hospital or ER setting. It is not a candy and medical decisions and policies are there for a reason.
הרי זה פלא
All the known liberals here respond the same way, “nothing going on” the liberal government is doing good, it’s too dangerous to give these medications, you need a hospital settings, the “highly effective vaccine” is more important, not wearing MASKS 😷 is the reason people are getting infected…..
Meanwhile “stupid” people who take these “dangerous” therapeutics don’t dye BH.
All the “STUPID” people who took Ivermectin Hydroxychloroquine zinc vitamin D C melatonin and didn’t dye and lived to tell their story don’t know what they are talking about. BUT all the “SMART DOCTORS” who told their patients that “these therapeutics don’t work, consequently their patients dying are the ones we should listen to, because they are following the CDC, who has “a great proven record” when it comes to treating COVID