UC San Diego Health said they began distributing AstraZeneca's antibody cocktail, Evusheld, to severely immunocompromised patients in early January and is expanding access as supply increases.
“It was very disappointing and depressing. I still had no protection and needed to continue isolating from the world,” Shanken said.Shanken became a candidate for UC San Diego Health's Evusheld treatment and has since received both doses of the cocktail. After two years of limiting contact with family, the treatment is allowing her to help plan and attend her daughter's wedding. She is also in remission from cancer.
So far, at least 350 immunocompromised individuals have been treated with the drug at UCSD Health centers alone, Dr. Shira Abeles said. UC San Diego Health is enrolling students and employees in a new study that will investigate how long immunity to COVID-19 lasts after vaccination or contracting the virus. UCSD Chief Medical Officer Dr. Christopher Longhurst spoke with NBC 7's Catherine Garcia about how the “Neutralizing Antibody Project” will work.
Lucy Horton, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Diego, said that Evusheld as PrEP can provide an additional layer of protection for the vaccinated and vulnerable but that it “should not be viewed as an alternative to or replacement of vaccine.”