GOP gubernatorial candidate Allen West released from hospital after Covid-19 diagnosis
By Ashley Killough, Ed Lavandera and Kay Jones, CNN
Allen West, Republican candidate for governor of Texas, announced Monday night that he had been released from Medical City Plano and will be recovering from Covid-19 at home until he tests negative.
West, who had not been vaccinated and was first admitted for treatment on Saturday, thanked the doctors and nurses who treated him and praised the monoclonal infusion therapy he received as treatment.
“This should not be about forcing people to take a certain shot,” he said in a short video posted to Twitter and Facebook. “But we should be offering and making sure people are aware of all of these protocols that are out there. And that’s one of the things I’m going to be committed to doing.”
West had posted on Sunday that he and his wife, Angela — who had been vaccinated for Covid-19 — received monoclonal antibody infusion therapy treatment in Dallas. While his wife was released, he was sent to Medical City Plano due to what he described as concerns over pneumonia related to Covid.
From the hospital over the weekend, West made multiple arguments on social media that government should promote Covid treatments — such as the Regeneron monoclonal antibody infusion — over vaccination. West, a former US congressman from Florida and the former chair of the Texas Republican Party, is challenging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in the Republican primary next year.
“As Governor of Texas, I will vehemently crush anyone forcing vaccine mandates in the Lone Star State. There are far better protocols that individual citizens can utilize and decide for themselves,” he wrote Sunday morning in a Facebook post.
He also promoted therapies like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin — two drugs that do not have proven track records of success in treating Covid-19 and that public health officials have recommended against using for Covid-19. Ivermectin, for example, is an anti-parasitic drug that can harm people who take it to treat coronavirus.
Abbott issued an executive order Monday night banning all state entities, including private employers, from enforcing vaccine mandates.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
