By Rachel Engel
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Paramedics are traveling to patient’s homes to administer monoclonal antibody therapy treatments for COVID-19.
Medstar of Michigan providers are delivering the doctor-prescribed antibody treatments to patients’ homes, which help reduce the chance of contracting the virus and fight it, WNEM TV5 reported.
“Monoclonal antibodies are something that is used for a patient who either lives in an environment where they are at risk of contracting COVID, or they’ve contracted COVID themselves and are fragile, medically fragile,” said Koby Miller, CEO of Medstar of Michigan.
However, Miller is careful to remind patients the treatments are not vaccine replacement.
“It’s really not a vaccine,” Miller said. “It’s a temporary measure that will build up your immune system. Of those patients who received it, none of them have had their situation worsen.”
Demand for the treatments have increased as the medical community becomes more aware of the benefits of monoclonal antibody therapy.
“When we first set the program up, we were probably getting a request every other day, every third day, maybe sometimes only once a week,” Miller said. “Now, sometimes there are 10, 12, 15 a day.”
It’s a prevention method, ultimately, Miller said: “We’re preventing the emergencies from happening in the first place.”