MIAMI — A scarce monoclonal antibody for people who cannot build immunity from COVID-19 vaccines will be prioritized for distribution to Florida hospitals with large numbers of organ transplant and cancer patients, the Florida Department of Health said on Tuesday, signaling a change in strategy more than three weeks after the state passed over large medical centers and delivered the first shipment of the drug to a small clinic in Broward County.
Florida’s health department said that as of Jan. 14 “every registered provider that requested Evusheld received an allocation” and that the agency had identified 11 hospitals in the state with transplant and cancer patients and prioritized them to receive the drug, called Evusheld, which is manufactured by AstraZeneca.
“Evusheld is an important tool for providers to help protect these very high-risk patients,” Weesam Khoury, a health department spokeswoman, said in an email. “To efficiently distribute this vital therapy, the Department prioritizes and ensures that transplant and oncology centers receive allocations of AstraZeneca for their patients.”
