Thread by @BrettKelman

The Tennessee state government now recommends vaccinated residents be denied access to monoclonal antibody treatment to preserve supplies for those who are unwilling to get vaccinated and remain most vulnerable by their own choice. A new story from me: tennessean.com/story/news/hea…

In other words, if you took the responsible step of vaccination to slow the pandemic and protect yourself and others, it may now actually disqualify you from getting one of the most effective treatments for the virus. If you did nothing, you can still get the care.

This new recommendation is a result of the feds capping supplies of antibody drugs. They did it because a few poorly-vaccinated southern states, including Tennessee, were using most the nation's supply.

Who loses out as a result? The vaccinated. tennessean.com/story/news/hea…

To be clear, the state's recommendation is based on guidelines from the National Institutes of Health. A Vanderbilt expert told me this is the right choice to do the most good in a bad situation.

I think the salient question is this: Could we have avoided this bad situation?

One last thing I should add: As my story stays, the state's recommendation does not include vaccinated people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed. They would still qualify for monoclonal antibody therapy.