Hillsborough Residents Eager To Sign Up For Antibody Treatments

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — Department of Health-Hillsborough County officials said appointments are quickly filling at Hillsborough County's state-run monoclonal antibody treatment site, which opened a week ago in Tampa.

The site is located at Kings Forest Park, 8008 E. Chelsea St., and is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can serve up to 300 people a day.

It is one of 18 sites around the state opened by Gov. Ron DeSantis to help relieve area hospitals which are experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases due to the introduction of the more-contagious delta variant of the virus.

Other sites have been opened in Pinellas, Pasco, Alachua, Bay, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Duval, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Okaloosa, Orange, Palm Beach, Polk, St. Lucie and Volusia counties.

DeSantis hopes the treatment will keep those diagnosed with the coronavirus out of the already-overwhelmed hospitals.

“Early access to monoclonal antibody treatment saves lives,” DeSantis said.

Monoclonal antibody treatments can be prescribed by health care providers to those 12 years of age and older who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 and are at high risk for severe illness and hospitalization.

However, at DeSantis' direction, the state surgeon general has signed a standing order that allows patients to receive this treatment without a prescription or referral if administered by an eligible health care provider.

The antibodies help the immune system recognize and respond effectively to the virus. According to the treatment guidelines, they should be administered as soon as possible after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

The treatment is given through a transfusion that takes about an hour. Patients must then wait at the treatment center for about an hour to ensure there are no negative side effects.

Monoclonal antibodies help the immune system recognize and respond more effectively to the COVID-19 virus. The treatments are authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under an Emergency Use Authorization.

“Our goal is to reduce hospital admissions by increasing the accessibility of monoclonal antibody treatments,” said Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie. “By coordinating with local governments to set up an increasing number of these sites, FDEM and the Florida Department of Health are harnessing the talents and skill sets of both state and local government to deliver monoclonal antibody treatments to Floridians.”

In clinical trials, this treatment resulted in a 70 percent reduction in risk for hospitalization and death, and resulted in an 82 percent reduction in risk for contracting COVID-19 for people who were exposed to the virus by other members of their household.

“This specific therapy is not only proven to reduce the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death by 70 percent among higher-risk individuals but it has been made available free of charge nationwide by the federal government,” said FDEM Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kenneth Scheppke. “As a result of Gov. DeSantis’ leadership, we are expanding this lifesaving treatment statewide to those who need it most, and no one will be turned away from one of the state sites for an inability to pay.”

High-risk patients should get treatment as quickly as possible after testing positive for COVID-19.

Examples of medical conditions that may pose a higher risk for severe illness and could potentially benefit from this treatment include:

• Older ages (65 years of age and older)
• People who are overweight
• Chronic kidney disease
• Diabetes
• Pregnancy
• Immunosuppressive disease or treatments
• Cardiovascular disease
• Chronic lung diseases
• Sickle cell disease
• Neurodevelopmental disorders such as cerebral palsy
• Having medical-related technological dependence such as tracheostomy orgastrostomy.

Appointments can be made here.

Tampa General Hospital was among the first hospitals in the country to offer monoclonal antibody therapy. Located on the TGH main campus in the Global Emerging Diseases Institute, the hospital opened the state's first clinic in November.

The treatments are now offered at all major hospital groups in Tampa Bay including AdventHealth and BayCare.

During a news conference with Gov. Ron DeSantis, Tampa General Hospital CEO and President John Couris touted the benefits of the treatment.

The full video of the event can be found here.

“Although monoclonal antibodies have been used in earnest for almost all of 2021, they have not received much attention,” said DeSantis. “The results have been very positive, but the key is having patients receiving it in time, early enough in the infection to neutralize the virus. They provide your body an ability to fight back against the virus and results from the trials were a 70percent reduction in hospitalization or death.”

“The governor is absolutely spot on,” said Couris. “This is a therapy that is effective, but this is a therapy that is less known. This is a therapy that needs to be taken advantage of and Tampa General Hospital, USF and our private practice physicians are using it very successfully on positive COVID-19 patients.”

“We were the first system in Florida to offer monoclonal antibodies to COVID patients,” said Dr. Kami Kim of the USF Morsani College of Medicine. “So far we have treated over 1,600 patients with monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID. These treatments prevent the virus from infecting our cells. You probably heard them called ‘neutralizing antibodies’ and that is because they neutralize the virus. That’s a pretty powerful treatment against the virus that is very effective in our own studies and in studies across the country.”

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-produced molecules that act as substitute antibodies that can restore, enhance or mimic the immune system’s attack on cells. Monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19 may block the virus that causes COVID-19 from attaching to human cells, making it more difficult for the virus to reproduce and cause harm. Monoclonal antibodies may also neutralize a virus.

At the same time, Dr. Charles Lockwood, dean of the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, is urging everyone to get vaccinated.

“Vaccinations protect you from hospitalization, from death and from long-term COVID symptoms by about 90 percent,” he said. “If you have been vaccinated, you have about a 70 percent protection against mild to moderate infections.”

As of Aug. 19, 66 percent of Floridians have been vaccinated, according to the Florida Department of Health.

According to Couris, the surge in coronavirus cases are largely among the unvaccinated population. Last week, 150,118 people tested positive for the coronavirus, giving the state a 19.8 percent positivity rate.

With 61 percent of Hillsborough County residents vaccinated, the county has a 22.2 percent positivity rate. Last week, 11,161 Hillsborough County residents tested positive for the coronavirus.

Find out where the vaccine is offered here.