Rajkumar bill would increase access to specific COVID treatment

Queens Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar has introduced legislation to increase access to a potentially life-saving COVID treatment. Photo via Rajkumar/Facebook

By David Brand

Queens Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar has introduced legislation to increase access to a potentially life-saving COVID treatment currently reserved for well-connected patients. 

The first bill introduced by Rajkumar, would force hospitals to inform patients with severe COVID-19 about the option to receive monoclonal antibody treatment, a type of treatment that introduces laboratory-created antibodies into a patient’s body. The treatment received  emergency FDA approval in November 2020 and has been used by ex-President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey after they contracted COVID-19. 

Hospital staff rarely notify patients that the treatment is available, however, Rajkumar said.

She said she encountered the issue while assisting a neighbor with COVID-19 last year. The hospital, which she declined to name, had the medication but did not have a protocol for administering it, she said. 

The treatment should not be restricted to in-the-know or elite patients, Rajkumar said.

“When Donald Trump tested positive, he received the treatment,” she said. “This bill would increase access to this medication and raise the level of care to that of the president and other influential people.”

The bill has 18 co-sponsors across the Democratic spectrum, from progressive Assemblymember Emily Gallagher to moderate Ed Braunstein.