The first shipment of the long-acting antibody drug “Evusheld” is expected to arrive in Thailand on Monday (25 July) and will be administered immediately to patients with kidney failure and organ transplants.
According to Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control (DDC), 7,000 of the ordered 257,500 doses will be delivered on July 25.
The DDC director-general said the drug would initially be prescribed to organ-transplant recipients and patients with chronic kidney disease who require dialysis, immunosuppressants. He added that one dose of Evusheld should provide six months of immunity against COVID-19.
Evusheld will also be administered to patients over the age of 12 who are underweight or have not received their COVID vaccinations.
The Ministry of Public Health opted to purchase 257,500 doses of Evusheld from AstraZeneca and reduce its vaccine order with the drugmaker from 60 million to 35.4 million doses. The medication is expected to be distributed to state-run hospitals nationwide.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Evusheld is an intramuscular injection containing two long-acting antibodies. The U.S. agency advises healthcare providers to administer Evusheld only to individuals who are not currently infected with the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 and have not had a known recent exposure to a carrier of the virus. (NNT)
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