If you’ve been exposed to Covid-19, should you have monoclonal antibody treatment? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Monoclonal antibodies remain a treatment option for those in early stages of Covid infection, even in the face of new oral medications that likely will be available soon. Brian Garibaldi, a critical care medicine expert at Johns Hopkins, says the data are persuasive.

Garibaldi: High risk individuals who are household contacts of people who have documented Covid, they got randomized to getting subcutaneous administration of monoclonals versus placebo. At a month it was about 80% effective in symptomatic infection. Eight months after that initial prophylactic infusion protection still holds to about 80%. So it’s likely that people who get monoclonal antibodies these antibodies are going to circulate at pretty high concentrations for months. We currently recommend that you don’t get vaccinated until 90 days past your initial monoclonal antibody infusion.  :31

Garibaldi notes that monoclonals are not a substitute for vaccination, however, so when you are eligible to receive the vaccine you should do so. And monoclonals require supervised administration and observation afterward. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.