Sen. Rubio calls FDA's new COVID-19 guidelines racist

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock on Tuesday, strongly criticizing the agency's decision to make race and ethnicity a factor in determining who receives COVID-19 monoclonal and oral antiviral treatments.

In the letter, Rubio categorically denounced the racist nature of the FDA’s new guidance, saying, “Rationing life-saving drug treatments based on race and ethnicity is racist and un-American. There is no other way to put it.”

The FDA guidance discriminates against whites, making them second-class citizens in the face of the COVID-19 medical emergency. If one reads between the lines, it becomes clear that the FDA believes that all non-white ethnic groups should receive the treatments before white Americans – based solely under the medical assumption that they belong to high-risk groups.

In his letter, Rubio lashes out against the FDA and the political motivations of the Democratic Party and says that he believes the left is attempting to “further divide America based on the color of our skin.”

Rubio further asserted that "Everyone that is at high risk should have a fair shot at our nation’s growing arsenal of COVID-19 therapeutics” and added that “one’s race or ethnicity should not be the driving factor that decides whether or not you live.”

Rubio's full letter can be read below:

Dear Acting Commissioner Woodcock:

January 11, 2022

I write with regard to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent guidance to healthcare providers that outlines which patients should be prioritized to receive COVID-19 treatments, and Democrats’ attempt to include an individual’s race and ethnicity as a primary factor for receiving treatment. A fact sheet for healthcare providers using the monoclonal antibody, sotrovimab, states that race and ethnicity can be considered “medical conditions or factors [that] may also place individual patients at high risk for progression to severe COVID- 19...”1 As a result, some state health departments, including the New York Department of Health, have followed suit by establishing race-based criteria for administering other COVID-19 treatments. Their December 27, 2021 notice stated that oral antiviral drugs should go to patients that “have a medical condition or other factors that increase their risk for severe illness. Non- white race or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity should be considered a risk factor, as longstanding systemic health and social inequities have contributed to an increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.”2

While our nation should seek to better understand and address real disparities that exist in health outcomes, that important work is a far cry from the rationing of vital medicines based on race and ethnicity. Rationing life-saving drug treatments based on race and ethnicity is racist and un-American. There is no other way to put it.

Healthcare providers should focus on individual medical conditions that research shows puts patients at higher risk. Appropriate factors include individuals 65 years or older, those who are obese, pregnant, suffering from chronic kidney disease, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and other conditions. Medical research has long documented that many of these comorbidities disproportionately impact people of color. Therefore, by prioritizing an individuals’ medical history, healthcare providers would ensure racial minorities at highest risk of disease, including all other high-risk patients, can receive these life-saving drugs.

This latest action illustrates how far woke Democrats are willing to go in their quest to further divide America based on the color of our skin. One’s race or ethnicity should not be the

driving factor that decides whether or not you live. Everyone that is at high risk should have a fair shot at our nation’s growing arsenal of COVID-19 therapeutics.

I call on the FDA to immediately update its guidance to prioritize patients based on their medical history and not on their race or ethnicity. Further, I urge the FDA to notify all state health departments to instruct them to do the same.

Thank you for your attention to this issue, and I look forward to your prompt resolution of this matter.

Sincerely,
Marco Rubio
U.S. Senator