El Paso Is Officially Out of a Life-Saving Monoclonal Antibody Treatment

The State of Texas is informing residents that the state has run out of the monoclonal antibody treatment, a key treatment in the fight against COVID-19 illness. As COVID-19 cases surge across the nation, partly due to the omicron variant, communities across the nation are bracing for the impact of these cases. Lines for COVID-19 testing are getting longer every day, rapid tests are hard to find in stores, and people are once again stocking up on KN95 masks.

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After taking all of these precautions and practicing proper hygiene, some people are still contracting the highly contagious omicron variant of COVID-19. Once a person tests positive, the CDC recommends they isolate for at least 5 days while they recover from the virus. While some people are able to recover quickly, others need some additional help getting better faster.

One treatment shown to be effective against the omicron variant is the monoclonal antibody Sotrovimab. Unfortunately, those who need this treatment aren't going to be able to get it anytime soon according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The department announced at the beginning of the week that infusion centers across Texas have depleted all of their stores of Sotrovimab, per the USA Today website. But this isn't only a Texas issue, there is currently a nationwide shortage of the treatment and the federal government isn't able to send out additional treatments until sometime in January.

Sotrovimab has been found to be an effective treatment for COVID-19 patients with the Omicron variant to keep them out of the hospitals. Infusion centers will stay open though to offer other monoclonal antibody treatments. These treatments have been found to work well against other strains of the COVID-19 virus.