Mobile treatment units rolling out, DeSantis says
Regeneron antibody cocktail will be offered to high-risk residents
Gov. Ron DeSantis revealed on Thursday the creation of mobile rapid response units to deliver the COVID-19 antibody treatment Regeneron to Floridians at higher risk for the virus.
Regeneron, a monoclonal antibody cocktail, is a treatment for those who have already gotten sick. The Food and Drug Administration gave it emergency use authorization late last year. DeSantis said vaccination, while effective at preventing severe illness and death, hasn’t been as successful as hoped in preventing waves of infection.
“COVID’s not going to go away,” DeSantis said. “So the question is how are we going to approach it. You can approach it on the front end by protecting yourself, but of course, if you end up in a situation where you are infected and at high risk, getting in here early, this is the best shot we’ve got right
now to keep people out of the hospital and keep them safe.”
The mobile units have already begun operating in northeast Florida, and DeSantis said they will be expanded throughout the state. A long-term location will be set up at a Jacksonville library, the governor’s office added later, and strike teams will be sent to longterm care facilities.
“The surgeon general is probably going to do a standing order which will make our sites available to people if they meet the certain criteria,” DeSantis said. “They won’t even necessarily need a prescription from a doctor.”
Kami Kim, professor and director of the Division of Infectious Disease & International Medicine in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, said monoclonal antibody cocktails such as Regeneron have proven effective in preventing major symptoms.
Getting vaccinated is also important, Kim said. But maximum protection comes only after two shots and six weeks, “and we’re in the middle of a huge surge . ... So yes, the vaccine is really, really important. But if you’ve already come up with COVID, then [there’s] the monoclonal antibody.”
But, she stressed, “the number one strategy is probably going back to social distancing again and wearing masks. And obviously, Gov. DeSantis has his view on that, which most public health people would not entirely agree with.”
DeSantis has been increasingly under fire for his tempered response to the skyrocketing COVID numbers in Florida. He spoke at an event in Jacksonville, one of the areas where hospitals have been overwhelmed.
The state had more than 15,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 through Wednesday, with data reported from 230 of 261 hospitals reporting to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Cases also continue to climb, with another 24,753 tallied on Wednesday, a record high. The state has now passed 40,000 deaths from COVID19 since the pandemic began.
DeSantis had previously criticized officials who had warned about breakthrough infections among the vaccinated, arguing it only deterred people from getting vaccines in the first place.
But on Thursday, he acknowledged that while vaccines are successful in preventing severe illness and death, some infections are happening among those who have gotten the shots.
“What you haven’t seen is widespread vaccination limiting waves,” DeSantis said. “It’s not just in Florida or the whole South, it’s all across the world . ... Vaccination is clearly helping reduce serious illness, it’s reducing your likelihood of being hospitalized. But you also have [vaccinated] people who are being hospitalized. So what tools do you have that make the most sense?”
The governor held multiple events at vaccination sites over the winter and early spring to promote getting shots, but he hasn’t held one since May.
Instead, DeSantis has focused on treatments such as Regeneron. He said clinical trials have shown early Regeneron treatment reduces the likelihood of hospitalization by 70%.
Unvaccinated Floridians who begin the treatment, he cautioned, might have to wait to get inoculated for even longer following their illness because of antibodies in their system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends waiting 90 days after finishing treatment.
While many vaccine skeptics say they are concerned about the shots’ emergency use authorization by the FDA, the Regeneron antibody cocktail is in the exact same situation.
“The data are pretty clear that the vaccine prevents your chance of getting severe COVID,” Kim said. “Mild COVID that doesn’t land you in the hospital is still better than COVID that lands you on a ventilator and possibly dying.”