Antibody treatments not being used

BONITA SPRINGS.JESS -- WHY DO PEOPLE THERE SAYTHEY’RE GETTING THE SHOT?WHILE VACCINES START TO GETDISTRIBUTED IN SOUTHWESTFLORIDA, HEALTH OFFICIALS AREGETTING FRUSTRATED THAT HUNDREDSOF THOUSANDS OF ANTIBODYTREATMENTS, AREN’T BEING USED INTHE MEANTIME...EVEN THOUGH THE PRESIDENTPROMOTED ANTIBODY TREATMENTS TOHELP FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19.NEWSY HEALTH REPORTER LINDSEYTHEIS EXPLAINS WHY:37-:461:45-1:51Nat- hospital Two FDA antibodydrugs with emergency approvalcould help keep Covid patientsout of the hospital..

Butthousands of doses are sittingunused across the country.

Dr.John Hammer, Infectious DiseaseSpecialist, Swedish MedicalCenter it’s been a bitfrustrating over the course ofthe last month or two Dr. JohnHammer is an infectious diseasespecialist in Denver, Colorado.He says one issue... many aremissing that sweet spot whenthey can get the medicine for itto work best-in the first weekof illness.

Treatments have tobe given via an IV, and gettingIV centers up to administer itis also difficult.

Hammer’swaiting on that to begin hisstudy for the Eli Lilly drug.Dr. John Hammer, InfectiousDisease Specialist, SwedishMedical Center - We have a placewhere we could do it that wouldbe safe for providers and forpatients.

But we just can’t getthe staffing or haven’t beenable to to get it up and runningto date.

The antibody treatmentswere highly praised to help atrisk covid patients from gettingseverly sick, especially afterPresident Donald Trump receivedRegeneron’s antibody cocktailwhen he was hospitalized forCovid in October.

POTUS SOT-DATE Oct 7thhttps://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/131395970210402304758-1:02 "It was unbelievable.

Ifelt good immediately." HHSnumbers show of the more than530 thousand doses available,only a little more thanhalf-some 290 thousand doseshave been shipped to hospitals.Even less is getting topatients-only 5% to 20% of doseshave been used.

There’s alsosome cost confusion.

Under dealsthe drugmakers made with thefederal government, the dosesare free.

But, depending oninsurance coverage, patients mayhave to pay for administeringthe drug.

The NIH and theInfectious Disease Society ofAmerica have said there’s notenough data to recommend eithertreatments.

Hospital pharmacistsNewsy spoke with say thatuncertainty may play into somepatients passing up thetreatment.

Bottom line-moreresearch and data needs to bedone, so if someone isconsidering they want eitherantibody drug, consult yourdoctor about a clinical trial.Dr. John Hammer, InfectiousDisease Specialist, SwedishMedical Center(zoom 1)[Notes:00:00:28] You may or maynot get the agent, but at leastit will give us some data as towhether these agents act