“We won’t be able to use these products much more into the future,” an infectious disease specialist said.
Some of the monoclonal antibody treatments Florida deployed to combat the delta wave of COVID-19 over the summer won’t work against the new omicron variant that is rapidly spreading across the world, experts say. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced this week that its antibody cocktail has “ diminished potency ” against omicron but remains effective against delta. The U.S. government now is stockpiling another drug that appears to work against omicron, but supplies are a concern with cases rising across the country. Gov. Ron DeSantis promoted Regeneron’s drug extensively during the delta wave, earning the moniker “Regeneron Ron” from critics who said he should have focused on vaccines at events, too, something he stopped doing in the spring. Vaccine booster shots are an effective way to lower the risk of getting severely ill or dying from COVID-19, even with the new omicron variant, Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health “The advice to the public is to get vaccinated,” Adalja said.
