Texas is getting shipments of an antibody medication used to treat patients with COVID-19.
"It has now arrived in Lubbock. It has also arrived across the State of Texas," said Governor Greg Abbott during a COVID-19 briefing in Lubbock. "Its best use is for the early stage of COVID cases in patients who are in the early iterations of COVID-19 and the goal is to give it to them at such an early date that it will keep them out of hospitals. That will be one of the strategies that we use to reduce hospitalizations."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month issued an emergency use authorization for bamlanivimab for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adult and pediatric patients. The medication is given through an IV infusion.
"Lubbock has already received its first allocation of this drug. There will be additional allocations made on a weekly basis," Gov. Abbot said. "Over the course of December, we are anticipating more treatments...and we are anticipating two vaccines to be approved, one by Pfizer and one by Moderna. In Texas, we are already prepared structurally for the quick distribution of those vaccines."