‘We can’t shut down Alabama, or some of these other states simply for the fact that we might not be taking as many vaccines.’
‘I would hope that we would not get political with this. Red states, blue states–it shouldn’t be about that. It should be about everybody…’
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) today questioned Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) hearing about the decision by HHS to control the distribution of monoclonal antibody treatments and limit the supply of monoclonal antibody treatments to certain states.
Excerpts from Senator Tuberville’s remarks can be found below, and the full speech can be viewed here.
“We’re so fired up about the vaccine, and I am too – I’ve taken it. It’s not going to keep you from getting it, most of the time – it’s going to keep you from getting real sick, and I think everybody can agree with that. We need to focus more on therapeutics – I don’t think there’s any doubt about it – and testing. I’ve talked a lot of doctors, especially in the school systems. We need to be testing almost every day, or every few days, kids before they come. Now, they can have the virus, and if we wait until they get symptoms, they’ve had it for two days, and they’ve already been in school, and it’s been exposed.”
“I heard you say about equity, and I continue to hear everybody talk about equity, and I believe in that. But we need to save people’s lives. We can’t shut down Alabama, or some of these other states simply for the fact that we might not be taking as many vaccines. We cannot let people die and especially teachers. You know, we’re telling them to go back to school, and they want to go teach, but we can’t do that. So, I would hope that we would not get political with this. Red states, blue states–it shouldn’t be about that. It should be about everybody, if they need it, they get it, and we just need to be more prepared.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees
