Is The Antibody Treatment the Reason People Are Not Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine?
Midland Memorial Hospital was the first hospital in the Permian Basin to provide the monoclonal antibody treatment, so is that the reason people are not getting the COVID-19 vaccine?
According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, in the past few months, the monoclonal antibody treatment has been in the national news again with reports of southern states placing almost 3/4 of the orders.
This came from seven southern states where governors are mainly promoting antibody treatment as part of their COVID-19 strategy.
Russell Meyers, CEO of Midland Health, says there is a good supply of antibody treatments at Midland Memorial Hospital.
He did state that the antibody treatment is still in emergency authorization status just like the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines at this time.
But some people want to get the antibody treatment over the vaccine which has Meyer perplexed.
“It’s hard for me to understand why you wouldn’t take that option (vaccination) when it's safe and known to be effective,” said Meyers. “A strategy to allow yourself to be infected, so you can take a treatment doesn’t always make a lot of sense.”
The antibody treatment is a successful treatment but you risk getting admitted to the hospital which is not a good option in the event of another surge.
“Why not get the vaccine?” said Meyers, “It's safe and effective, and in most cases will prevent you from getting sick and in the vast majority of cases, prevent you from being hospitalized. … Those are the patients that have died recently are patients who are overweight, have chronic medical conditions, and are unvaccinated. So, please, do get vaccinated if you're in those categories.”