Texas out of COVID antibody infusion treatments

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announced Monday that all of their regional infusion centers have exhausted their supply of sotrovimab, the monoclonal antibody used to treat COVID-19 due to a national shortage from the federal government.

The federal government controls the distribution of monoclonal antibodies, and regional infusion centers were opened in Austin, El Paso, Fort Worth, San Antonio and The Woodlands.

DSHS they will not be able to offer this treatment until federal authorities ship additional courses of sotrovimab to Texas in January.

While sotrovimab has been used by providers to combat Omicron variant, other treatments for other strains of the COVID-19 virus are still available.

“Other monoclonal antibodies have not shown to be effective against the Omicron variant, which now accounts for more than 90 percent of new cases,” read a press release from DSHS. “The infusion centers will continue to offer those antibodies as prescribed by health care providers for people diagnosed with a non-Omicron case of COVID-19.”

Those DSHS Therapeutic Providers, as well as those operated by the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) are listed at meds.tdem.texas.gov.

Doctor’s note may be required for treatment.