New drug protects against COVID-19
Health P.E.I. identifying which high-risk patients will get Evusheld
As masking requirements ease and the rest of the pandemic public health measures disappear into the past, a new Covid-19-preventing medication is on its way to P.E.I.
Evusheld, a monoclonal antibody prophylactic from Astrazeneca, can help prevent COVID-19. It’s best suited for people who are immune compromised but can’t be vaccinated.
“It’s administered before someone’s exposed to the virus. It is not for treatment of COVID-19 infection, and it is not for prevention in people who have already been exposed to the virus,” said Dr. Heather Morrison, P.E.I.’S chief public health officer, to Saltwire Network by phone on May 4. “It’s very particular. It’s pre-exposure prophylaxis.”
The medication is administered in two intramuscular injections and is aimed at those who are severely immunocompromised.
P.E.I. is in the process of securing its per-capita allotment of 105 treatment courses. Because the requirements for effectiveness are so specific, those who are eligible will be contacted directly, said Morrison.
“We are in the process of working with Health P.E.I. to identify and distribute (to) those who might need Evusheld,” said Morrison. “They’ll be able to identify which particular cancer patient might need it, for instance.”
DIFFERENT TREATMENT
Evusheld is a new drug, and is not the same as Paxlovid, an oral antiviral treatment for individuals who have contracted COVID-19 and are at risk of serious illness.
As of April 30, P.E.I. had administered 1,445 Paxlovid treatments to Islanders. Of those, only three have been admitted to hospital for COVID, said Morrison.
"So, I think we have a very good system in place in these first couple months to make sure that Islanders who will benefit from antiviral treatment have the opportunity to prescribe Paxlovid.”
Evusheld is not like Sotrovimab either, said Morrison.
Sotrovimab is an intravenous monoclonal antibody treatment that has been in use since late 2021. The treatment is administered to patients within seven days of contracting COVID-19 and only if they aren't a good fit for Paxlovid.
These days though, Sotrovimab isn't used as much because it's not as effective against the BA.2 COVID-19 variant.
Evusheld is expected to be effective in preventing BA.2 infections for up to six months, said the statement from the Department of Health and Wellness.
Morrison said that as of May 4, 70 per cent of COVID-19 cases in P.E.I. were the BA.2 variant.
WASTEWATER TESTING
Along with preventative medications and treatments, P.E.I. is also making its way through the COVID-19 pandemic by keeping an eye on the virus from a different angle - wastewater.
P.E.I.'S Chief Public Health Office (CPHO) began its COVID-19 sewage surveillance program in Charlottetown and Summerside on May 5.
“We're looking at population-level surveillance for COVID-19, which testing wastewater allows us to do,” said Morrison.
Waiting until now to begin monitoring wastewater allowed the CPHO to learn from programs in other provinces and develop the best testing methods.
Testing sewage for COVID-19 can serve as an early warning system because the virus is often detected in wastewater before individual cases are detected by traditional surveillance, like positive COVID-19 tests, said Morrison.
“This will be really important as we go into the fall to see if there's an early detection of increased cases,” she said.
SAMPLES GO TO NATIONAL LAB
Sewage samples will be collected twice a week and shipped to the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Man., for analysis.
The national lab will not only test for COVID-19 in the wastewater, it will also sequence some of the samples to check for new COVID-19 variants, said Morrison.
Morrison also acknowledged the sampling is a collaboration of the CPHO, the National Microbiology Laboratory, the municipal governments of Summerside and Charlottetown as well as the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action.
It will take time for trends to emerge and Morrison said she will collect the wastewater results for a few weeks before releasing publicly.