On Saturday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the distribution plan for remdesivir will be modified to state health departments. The initial shipments last week were sent to select hospitals, but the process has changed due to calls for transparency as the initial distribution process was perceived as opaque and arbitrary.
From the announcement: "State health departments will distribute the doses to appropriate hospitals in their states because state and local health departments have the greatest insight into community-level needs in the COVID-19 response, including appropriate distribution of a treatment in limited supply. Healthcare providers interested in administering the donated experimental drug should contact their state health department."
Another important takeaway from the announcement is that 607,000 vials of remdesivir will be distributed in the United States. Gilead announced the donation of 1.5 million vials, but that donation is worldwide. The United States will receive about 40% of the total donated amount.
