FORT MYERS, Fla. — Demand for monoclonal antibody treatment is seeing a rise to help fight against Covid-19.
The not-so-new form of treatment is being used to help fight against Covid-19. One nurse has seen the effects firsthand.
“It fixes people, it really does," says Traci Miller, Registered Nurse living in South Carolina.
Miller is a travel nurse currently living in South Carolina. She says she’s witnessed first hand the effects the monoclonal antibody treatment has done for Covid-19 patients.
“They are the holy grail of medicine. I’ve infused over 900 of these for Trident Medical Center out of Charleston, South Carolina under the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lee Biggs," said Miller. "As one of the only two infusion nurses on the floor, I’ve seen what the Bamlanivimab and what the Regeneron both will do.”
According to the FDA, the antibodies help the immune system recognize and respond to the virus. Following treatment guidelines, the antibodies should be administered as soon as possible after a Covid-19 diagnosis.
“People come in sick with Covid who had great lab results- who had oxygen saturations hanging around 90%- but literally couldn’t even hold their head up," Miller said. "We give them these antibodies because we just didn’t have anybody coming into the clinic one here, one there, maybe five a day. Our highest we had 20 and then drop back down to one or two all saying the same thing, why don’t people know?”
That has been the biggest challenge, according to Miller, is the accessibility for treatment. On Thursday, Governor Ron DeSantis announced a new antibody site opening in Immokalee. Bringing the state to 21 open sites while serving more than 13,000 patients. From Miller’s experience, the treatment is quick and efficient.
“One hour infusion time, though to my understanding, they were trying to drop it down to 30 minutes which, to me, was just a huge hit of antibodies," she says. "Our doctor agreed to let us stay at an hour and infuse it in an hour and then you stay for an hour afterwards. We check your blood pressure, temperature and everything before. We check you at the end and we check you when you leave and you’re good to go.”
Miller says she’d like to see more clinics open for the treatment. But, she’s happy to see the progress made so far.
“You don’t drive your car 500,000 miles and tweak the air filter- it’s not going to work. If you don’t fix the blood, you’re not going to fix Covid. So with the Ivermectin, with the things that fix that, monoclonal antibodies hits right in there- just because I’ve seen what it can do. When it comes to the monoclonal antibodies, on my life.”
For more information about treatments, you can find more information online right here.
