Why doctors don't think vaccine skeptics' acceptance of a helpful COVID-19 treatment is sufficient
Monoclonal antibodies produced by Regeneron and Eli Lilly have become widely accepted as a successful treatment for COVID-19, reducing symptoms quickly and keeping infected people out of the hospital if they act quickly enough. Doctors and vaccine skeptics alike are proponents, but some medical experts argue the antibodies aren't enough on their own to make up for the slow-down in vaccine uptake, The New York Times reports.
The simple explanation is that the more people who get vaccinated, the fewer people there will be who need any sort of coronavirus remedy. Beyond that, the infusions also take a lot of time and require a lot of attention from hospital staff. They're also more expensive, costing the federal government about $2,100 per dose. "It's clogging up resources, it's hard to give, and a vaccine is $20 and could prevent almost all of that," Dr. Christian Ramers, an infectious disease specialist and the chief of population health at Family Health Centers of San Diego, told the Times. Basically, Ramers said, emphasizing monoclonal antibodies and playing down vaccines is akin to "investing in car insurance without investing in brakes."
The other worry is that they can't keep up with the pace of more serious outbreaks. For starters, the treatments only help individual patients, whereas vaccines have a snowball effect, and they also don't provide protective immunity (though the patients would have acquired natural immunity through their infection), the Times notes. Ultimately, while monoclonal antibodies are a vital tool in fighting the coronavirus, "something like that just doesn't scale," Dr. Howard Huang, the medical leader for Houston Methodist's infusion program, told the Times. Read more at The New York Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Magazine solutions - May 10, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 10, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine printables - May 10, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 10, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
'Box Trump in for real if he pulls another stunt. Put him behind bars.'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cow
Speed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and early
Speed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US bans final type of asbestos
Speed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Seattle Children's Hospital sues Texas over 'sham' demand for transgender medical records
Speed Read Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed records of any Texan who received gender-affirming care at the Washington hospital
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Afghanistan has a growing female suicide problem
Speed Read The Taliban has steadily whittled away women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan over the past 2 years, prompting a surge in depression and suicide
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US life expectancy rose in 2022 but not to pre-pandemic levels
Speed Read Life expectancy is slowly crawling back up
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Vallance diaries: Boris Johnson 'bamboozled' by Covid science
Speed Read Then PM struggled to get his head around key terms and stats, chief scientific advisor claims
By The Week UK Published
-
An increasing number of dog owners are 'vaccine hesitant' about rabies
Speed Read A new survey points to canine vaccine hesitancy
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published