HOUSTON — It's not just testing people are looking for these days, but COVID-19 treatment, too.
In Texas, the state said it is running out of the only known antibody treatment to be effective against the omicron variant.
Five state-run infusion centers have completely run out of Sotrovimab, including the location in The Woodlands.
"Because this wave is so large, there's a lot of demand," said Dr. S. Wesley Long with Houston Methodist.
Long said there was no shortage of monoclonal antibodies during delta surges, but omicron is proving to be a different animal.
"Those monoclonal antibodies don't work against omicron," Long said. "They don't. They're just not effective."
The only one that works now is called Sotrovimab.
"There was a rationing scheme of Sotrovimab in terms of the distribution to the states," said Dr. Hana El Sahly with Baylor College of Medicine.
Doctors are warning people not to count on it being readily available.
"The problem is it's very new and the supply is extremely low," Long said.
At the state-run infusion center in The Woodlands, they're completely out and won't have more until sometime in January. For now, Memorial Hermann and Houston Methodist are still in supply and still administering to a select group of patients.
"It's reserved for people at risk of severe disease in an effort to keep them out of the hospital," Long said.
Experts stress that now more than ever, the fastest and easiest way to protect yourself is getting vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible.
"Monoclonal antibodies are not a replacement for vaccination," Long said. "If you're at high risk, you need to be very careful right now because there's just one option for treatment of high-risk patients and it's very very limited right now."
KHOU 11 News reached out to the White House for clarification and an updated timeline on when Texas could receive its next shipment of these monoclonal antibodies, but officials offered no new details.
We hope to learn more at Wednesday's White House COVID-19 Task Force meeting.