DSHS: San Antonio’s Omicron monoclonal antibody treatment supply “exhausted” until next year

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — The Texas Department of Health and Human Services announced today that San Antonio’s supply of a COVID-19 treatment method has been “exhausted.”

The monoclonal antibodies infusion center in San Antonio is among other Texas regional infusion centers to have completely depleted their supply of sotrovimab, the monoclonal antibody effective against the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

DSHS said the inadequate supply is related to a shortage from the federal government and the medication will be unavailable until federal authorities ship additional courses of sotrovimab to Texas in January.

“Other monoclonal antibodies have not shown to be effective against the Omicron variant, which now accounts for more than 90 percent of new cases,” the department said in a press release. “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.”

DSHS said that two oral antiviral drugs authorized last week by the Food and Drug Administration will be soon available, but the department is expecting there to be a limited supply and did not provide a date in which the medication will be accessible.

The department says that COVID-19 infected high-risk individuals should contact their health provider to discuss treatment options and recommends all eligible residents get vaccinated and take preventative measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

The infusion centers in Austin, El Paso, Fort Worth and the Woodlands reportedly have also depleted their stock of sotrovimab.