Monoclonal antibody treatment site in Immokalee sees slowdown in COVID-19 patients
Liz FreemanNicole Plein didn’t waste any time once she got her positive test result for COVID-19.
She scheduled an appointment for the monoclonal antibody treatment Wednesday at the state-run site in Immokalee in eastern Collier County, a half hour drive from her home in LaBelle.
The Immokalee site is one of 25 state-run monoclonal antibody treatment clinics — another is in Bonita Springs — for people with mild or moderate cases of COVID-19. Combined, more than 107,000 people have received the treatment so far at the state sites, according to state Department of Health spokesman Weesam Khoury.
But Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday at a media briefing in Tampa that starting next week, the federal government will reduce the state's supply of the monoclonal antibody treatment from Regeneron by more than half. The numbers drop to 17,800 doses and that includes to hospitals, from about 40,000 doses a few weeks ago.
As a result, some of the state-run clinics may be closed. DeSantis did not say which ones.
"Cutting the medication to Florida and other states is wrong, and it is inconsistent with the promise made a few weeks ago (to increase it)" DeSantis said.
The state clinics alone were using around 30,000 doses a week, DeSantis said. Now the clinics and hospitals combined will be limited to the 17,800 doses next week, he said.
Dr. Larry Antonucci, president and chief executive officer of Lee Health, the publicly operated hospital system in Lee County, was with the governor Thursday and said Lee had received 8,000 doses. He did not comment on the reductions.
But, he said, the use of monoclonal antibodies has been a game changer.
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Allowed under emergency use authorization by the federal government, the monoclonal treatment uses laboratory-made proteins that mimic how the immune system fights off viruses. Studies show it reduces serious illness and hospitalizations by 70%.
Florida has reported 3,528,698 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began last year, ranking third behind California and Texas for reported cases.
DeSantis traveled the state in August announcing the opening of the monoclonal antibody clinics, including the Immokalee location, for people with active disease and especially for those at high risk for hospitalization due to chronic medical conditions such as obesity and diabetes. He has faced criticism for not promoting vaccinations to the same degree that can prevent infection.
But on Sept. 13, in an attempt to fend off a shortage, federal officials announced they were changing how they distribute the monoclonal antibody supply to states.
DeSantis said there had been no advance warning from the Biden administration of the reduced doses, and that days earlier, the federal government had pledged to increase the supply to states.
Florida received 27,850 doses of the Regeneron supply and 3,100 doses from a similar therapy made by Eli Lilly last week alone, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s distribution schedule.
Related:Collier County's weekly COVID-19 cases fall nearly 26%, while Florida's drop by nearly a quarter
DeSantis said Thursday the state has also secured 3,000 doses of GlaxoSmithKline's monoclonal antibody treatment, sotrovimab, which has emergency use authorization from the federal government for use against COVID-19.
Seven states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas – combined were using 70% of the 1.4 million doses of monoclonal antibody made by Regeneron that the federal government had purchased, according to reports from The Washington Post, CNN and Politico, all of whom cited an unnamed federal sources.
How busy is the Immokalee site?
Plein is one of more than 1,200 people who have been treated at the Immokalee site since it opened Aug. 26 in a vacant storefront at 1500 Lake Trafford Road, Khoury, the DOH spokesman, said.
Plein, 51, said she got tested for COVID-19 this past week after she lost her sense of taste and smell, which she knows are symptoms of the virus.
“It was in the back of my mind,” she said. “You really don’t want to eat.”
“I have no idea how I got it,” she, said of getting infected with COVID-19 even though she was vaccinated in April. That makes her a “breakthrough” case, someone who got infected despite being vaccinated.
“I travel for my job,” she said. “I think I got it at (a restaurant) from touching a door handle.
She learned about the Immokalee clinic from a pharmacy staff member in LaBelle.
For the first three weeks it opened, the Immokalee site had been averaging 60 people a day. That volume has tapered off, down to 20 people a day, said Landon Guerrero, a supervisor with Garner, a Texas company that does disaster response work under contract with the state of Florida.
Guerrero said he doesn't know how many people coming to the site in the rural farmworking community are local residents verses people from out of the area.
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He has distributed flyers around Immokalee about the clinic, where the treatment is free, but said he is concerned there isn’t enough promotion. He said none of the flyers are in Spanish, which is one of the main languages spoken in Immokalee.
The state DOH website promotes the therapy and all clinic locations, and the hours are weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. which may not be convenient for some working families.
Immokalee was hard hit by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic last year and limited state sources for testing and treatment led to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to complain to the governor's office seeking a field hospital, which never materialized.
The international group Doctors Without Borders sent a team to Immokalee in summer 2020 where it found a COVID-19 positivity rate of 36%, six times higher than the state average.
The Immokalee-based nonprofit Healthcare Network does extensive outreach to Immokalee farmworkers about COVID-19 and refers clients those who test postive to the treament site, according to spokeswoman Gabrielle O'Boyle.
The network's COVID-19 outreach response team provides testing three days a week and on select weekends to reach the working community, she said.
Recent data shows 214 tests were given Sept. 15 and 53 were given two days later, she said. On Sunday, Sept. 19, the team did 66 tests during a three-hour event.
"Positivity rates through our community testing events have dropped below 20%, hovering around 15-18%," O'Boyle said in an email. "Clients who test positive are referred to the monoclonal clinic in Immokalee for treatment. Last week, 142 people were assisted on (our) COVID-19 resource line."
In addition to testing, vaccinations are available daily at the network practices, she said. The positivity rate found at the practice locations is 10%, she said.
Who is coming to the monoclonal antibody clinic?
Most of the people coming to the monoclonal antibody clinic in Immokalee are not vaccinated, said Angela Duckworth, a registered nurse at the site who works for Therapia Staffing, a Coral Springs company under contract with the state to staff the site.
“Probably 75% or higher are not vaccinated,” Duckworth said. “A lot of the people are saying their kids are going to school and get infected and then the whole family gets infected.”
She wished more people would get vaccinated but understands the reluctance.
"It is hard to reach people when it comes to the chatter of 'don't get the vaccine,'" she said.
About 65% of Collier residents are fully vaccinated as of Sept. 21 which is sixth among the 67 counties, according to DOH data. Roughly 75% of Collier residents have gotten at least one dose.
Statewide, 69% of residents have received at least one dose and 59% are fully vaccinated, according to DOH.
The process for getting the monoclonal antibody therapy is four injections, usually two in each arm, Duckworth said. It takes about 10 minutes and people must wait at least 15 to 20 minutes for observation for a reaction, she said. Ideal is an hour observation but a lot won’t wait that long, she said.
Erika Vazquez, 34, came from Clewiston after getting a positive COVID-19 test Monday. She had not been vaccinated.
“I wanted to get it but the (vaccine) I wanted was Pfizer,” she said, adding that the health department in Clewiston only had the Moderna vaccine.
She doesn’t know how she got infected. She didn’t want her employer disclosed but knows she has to be out of work for 10 days.
“I want to get the shot before the worst comes,” she said referring to virus symptoms. “I’ve just had a headache and body ache.”
Brett Kelman of the Tennessean in Nashville contributed to this report.