Health dept. closes COVID antibody site at Manatee Memorial as supplies run out elsewhere
The Florida Department of Health-Manatee County announced Wednesday the state-run monoclonal antibody therapy treatment site at Manatee Memorial Hospital is closing.
The hospital said in an email with the Bradenton Herald it is “exploring potential ways to offer this service to the community, and we will provide more information as it becomes available.”
Those looking for monoclonal antibody therapy treatment locally can still go to
- Blake Medical Center, 2020 59th Street West in Bradenton
- Lakewood Ranch Dialysis, 8470 Cooper Creek Boulevard in University Park
- Bradenton Dialysis, 3501 Cortez Road West Suite 3 in Bradenton
- Sarasota Memorial Hospital, 1700 South Tamiami Trail in Sarasota.
Monoclonal antibody therapy treatment locations also can be found at FloridaHealthCOVID19.gov and by using the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ treatment locator.
Supplies ran out earlier this week at some Florida medical facilities offering the antibody treatment. The Miami Herald reported a total of four sites in Miami-Dade, Broward, Lee and St. Lucie counties temporarily closed Tuesday due to the shortage, before reopening Wednesday.
The health department said it will still send monoclonal treatment supplies to health care providers seeing high demand, and it has requested more supplies from the federal government as the omicron variant causes cases to rise again.
“Due to the federal government contracting directly with supplying providers to buy the treatments, the state can no longer directly obtain treatments as we have done previously, and we are dependent on the federal government for supply,” DOH-Manatee said in an email to the Bradenton Herald. “As we continue to monitor the severity of illness from omicron, the symptoms are still relatively mild.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touted state-run monoclonal antibody therapy treatment sites to fight against COVID-19 in August across Florida, and he visited Manatee Memorial to announce its site opening.
DOH-Manatee said monoclonal antibody therapy treatment is for individuals who contracted or were exposed to COVID-19, can prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death in high-risk patients who had COVID-19.
“Reduces the risk of death/hospitalization by 70-85 (percent),” the news release said. “Reduces the risk of developing symptomatic disease by more than 80 (percent).”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave emergency use authorization for two monoclonal antibody treatments in Nov. 2020, and continued to roll out emergency authorizations in 2021, but also said they are not a substitute for vaccinations against COVID-19.
