A case of America first when it comes to Covid-19 drugs

ONCE again America is putting itself first, this time when it comes to covid.

The White House sparked anger after buying nearly all the stock of the drug remdesivir for the next three months.

Thankfully the Department of Health foresaw a problem securing enough supplies of the anti-viral pill that has been shown to speed the recovery of patients infected with the coronavirus.

NHS officials assured the public they had bought enough of the drug in advance to treat every NHS patient who needs it.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock previously hailed remdesivir as the

“biggest step forward” in treating Covid-19 when it was approved for use on the NHS in May.

The reassurance cames after the US Department of Health and Human Services said it had secured more than 500,000 treatment courses of remdesivir for American hospitals.

It represents 100% of the US pharmaceutical firm Gilead’s projected production for July, 90% of production in August and 90% of production in September, alongside an allocation for clinical trials.

The US did little to help itself with the backlash, going so far as to gloat about the purchase.

America’s Health Secretary Alex Azar, inset left, said: “President Trump has struck an amazing deal to ensure Americans have access to the first authorised therapeutic for Covid-19.”

At a time when the world is still struggling to combat coronavirus, the selfish States have made it clear that we might be in the same storm, but we are certainly not in the same boat.