Monoclonal antibody treatments for patients with Covid 19

Quin Hillyer reports,

the ability of viruses to mutate means that as greater numbers of people contract the coronavirus, the chances grow for a mutation that is not blocked by current vaccines. As it is, the vaccines that are about 95% effective at blocking the transmission of earlier variants are only 66% effective at blocking the delta variant (although, again, current vaccines do lessen the severity among the other 34%).

This is why officials should put as much energy into making treatments available as they did in making vaccines readily accessible.

if treatments can make coronavirus cases milder and of shorter duration, then a number of benefits accrue.

Milder cases mean fewer hospitalizations, opening up hospital beds for others. Milder cases make it less likely for deleterious long-term effects to take root in affected individuals. Cases of shorter duration mean the opportunities for infecting others are lessened. Fewer transmissions mean fewer chances for mutations, including possible vaccine-resistant mutations. And, of course, fewer deaths.

Fortunately, we already know not just of one treatment, remdesivir , that can be effective in improving a semi-significant number of patients, but of another, called monoclonal antibodies, that by almost universal medical agreement can reduce the chances of hospitalization and death from COVID-19. They tend to have very few serious side effects. Anti-mandate conservatives such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky tout the antibodies , as does the medical establishment led by the ubiquitous Dr. Anthony Fauci. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized their use during the pandemic, and the Biden administration wisely has “encouraged ” more widespread use while dedicating some $150 million to greater “access” to such treatments in “underserved communities .”

Just shy of 175 million Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 39.5 million people have contracted the disease, but fewer than 700,000 have received monoclonal antibody treatment, even though it is easy to administer.

Read more here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/obsessed-with-mandates-biden-has-failed-to-focus-on-coronavirus-treatments