Texas Exhausts Supply of Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Effective Against Omicron

Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announced on Monday the state exhausted its supply of Sotrovimab “due to the national shortage from the federal government.”

Sotrovimab is the monoclonal antibody treatment that is effective against the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The omicron variant accounts for over 90 percent of new coronavirus cases within the state, according to local officials.

There are other monoclonal antibody treatments available, like the one made by Regeneron. Still, those are not effective against the omicron variant.

Infusion centers in Austin, El Paso, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and the Woodlands received 2,694 doses of Sotrovimab from the federal government on December 17.

The state does not expect to receive more doses from the federal government until next month.

The Texas commission said:

The federal government controls the distribution of monoclonal antibodies, and the regional infusion centers in Austin, El Paso, Fort Worth, San Antonio and The Woodlands have exhausted their supply of sotrovimab, the monoclonal antibody effective against the COVID-19 Omicron variant, due to the national shortage from the federal government. They will not be able to offer it until federal authorities ship additional courses of sotrovimab to Texas in January.

Texas anticipates Pfizer’s paxlovid and Merck’s molnupiravir, two new oral antiviral drugs authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week, will be available in a limited capacity to Texas residents soon.

Texas DSHS encouraged individuals to take preventative measures, such as wearing masks or getting vaccinated, to protect themselves against coronavirus and the omicron variant.