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THE VILLAGES, Fla. – Some Americans questioned recent guidance the Biden administration issued stating that race or ethnicity could place patients at high risk of severe COVID-19 infection and more quickly qualify them for monoclonal antibodies and oral antiviral medications.
“We’re all in it, the virus is a virus, and you can get it no matter what you are,” Ben told Fox News.
President Biden in a recent photo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Dave, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said he thinks medicine should be available for everyone.
“I don’t see why race is always mentioned nowadays,” Dave said. “You walk into a clinic, you should get taken care of. Whether you’re Black, White, Indian, Japanese, whatever your nationality is, it shouldn’t matter.”
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION GUIDANCE PRIORITIZES RACE IN ADMINISTERING COVID DRUGS
The Food and Drug Administration approved emergency use authorizations of sotrovimab – a monoclonal antibody proven to be effective against the omicron variant – only to patients considered “high risk,” according to a fact sheet the agency released.
FDA sign at its headquarters in Washington.
The guidance, updated in December 2021, said “medical conditions or factors” such as “race or ethnicity” have the potential to “place individual patients at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19.”
“We spent decades trying to get away from using race to judge anybody for any reason,” Brian, of Michigan, told Fox News. “And this is a disease that strikes everyone.”
SEN. MARCO RUBIO DEMANDS FDA CHANGE GUIDANCE PRIORITIZING RACE IN ADMINISTERING COVID DRUGS
“But there are high-risk groups, elderly people with preexisting medical conditions,” he continued. “Doctors and whoever treating COVID should focus on symptoms and vulnerability, not on race, I think. I think dividing people up by race for any reason whatsoever is completely wrong.”
“I totally disapprove of what Biden has been doing since the day he took office,” Brian said.
Dave from Massachusetts weighs in on Biden administration COVID-19 policies.
Sharon, who lives in The Villages, Florida, said she voted for President Biden and approves of the job he has done so far.
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“I think he’s got a tough road to hoe, but I think he’s going to do OK,” Sharon said.
But Dave told Fox News: “I think he is doing terrible. I don’t think we’re headed in the right direction.”
“Prices going up, food going up,” he continued. “We were doing well with Trump, even though, like I said, I’m a Democrat, and I think things have gone downhill.”
Kyle Morris and Isabelle McDonnell contributed to this report.
