If you’re thinking vaccination, that’s the best prophylaxis for most of us, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Consider folks who have impaired immune systems – people with cancers of the very immune cells that are supposed to respond to vaccination, folks on chemotherapy or immuno-suppressant medicines, and people who have autoimmune disorders. Vaccination may or may not call up an adequate immune response in such individuals. That same vulnerability means that if these folks get COVID and recover from it, they may do so without developing adequate natural immunity. So, what are these folks supposed to do?
You will likely recall that when His Most Petty, Orange, Twice-Impeached Hatefulness caught COVID, he was given an IV infusion of an antibody cocktail. That particular treatment is no longer effective against SARS-CoV-2 because the virus has mutated so much since then. Enter Evusheld – a long-acting antibody infusion that can be administered prophylactically so that even immuno-suppressed folks can have protective, anti-COVID antibodies.
Evusheld provides months of protection against COVID. This matters because almost half of COVID hospitalizations are occuring among folks who are immunosuppressed despite being properly vaccinated. Evusheld is FREE (covered by the government) and there is a huge supply of it sitting on shelves unused because folks either don’t know about it or wrongly believe that being vaccinated is sufficient protection for them.
So, if you take immunosuppressive medicines like methotrexate, prednisone, some -mab or -nib drug for cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid or other autoimmune arthritis, lupus or a host of other conditions, ask your health care provider about Evusheld.
By the way, unlike some politicians, I have absolutely no financial interest in Astra-Zeneca – the manufacturer. Here’s the Medscape article that prompted me to write this blog entry.