Monoclonal antibody treatment centers are popping up throughout the country with the surge of new COVID cases due to the Delta variant.
Monoclonal antibody treatment is given to people who have tested positive for the virus to help keep them from being hospitalized.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis is advocating for the treatment clinics as cases rise, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently had the treatment after testing positive for the virus. Texas has nine new treatment centers.
Both governors who push for these clinics are staunchly against mask and vaccine mandates.
Experts say that vaccines and masks are the best protection against the virus, and that by utilizing them there would be no need for the treatment centers.
Director of the University of North Carolina Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Myron Cohen, states that the want should be to prevent a disease rather than treat it.
While experts continue to encourage vaccine and mask use, they are not against the clinics that offer antibody treatments for those that need them.
Many people who need the monoclonal treatment, which is a lab made drug that acts like natural antibodies in the body, are high risk; over 65, and chronic diseases like heart disease, obesity, diabetes, or high blood pressure.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected].