I think maybe Trump did something right.

Sign up for alerts

News Alert Aug. 23, 2:07 p.m. EDT Trump to announce emergency authorization of convalescent plasma to fight covid-19. Scientists see benefits, but not a breakthrough. President Trump plans to announce the emergency authorization of convalescent plasma for covid-19, a treatment in broad use that already has been given to more than 70,000 patients, according to officials familiar with the decision. The blood product is derived from patients who have survived covid-19. Many scientists and physicians believe that convalescent plasma might provide some benefit but say it is far from a breakthrough. The issuance of an emergency authorization would make it easier to get in some settings. But former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said it already is widely available, so the change would be “incremental.” Read more

Arturo Casadevall, chair of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, expressed support for an emergency use authorization earlier this week, saying it could make it somewhat easier to access the treatment. The lack of an authorization “makes it harder, particularly in hospitals that don’t have the resources to do all the paperwork that is needed to be part of the expanded access program” facilitated by the Mayo Clinic, he said. “Simply because they’re so busy, the hospitals are stretched.”