The Thai Ministry of Public Health has started administering a Long Acting Antibody (LAAB) treatment to three patients suffering from chronic kidney disease, to boost their immunity against COVID-19 infection, after it received the first lot of 7,000 doses of the medicine from AstraZeneca (Thailand) on Monday.

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has estimated that there are about 500,000 people in Thailand who have been diagnosed as immunocompromised and who need the LAAB treatment.

The LAAB treatment, tradename “Evusheld” (Tixagevimab and Cilgavimab), will be used for people who are over 12 years old and weigh more than 40kgs who suffer from kidney disease, have had an organ transplant, are immunocompromised or who use immunosuppressants.

One dose of the treatment will be injected into both sides of the hip and it will be effective for about six months.

The Disease Control Department has negotiated with AstraZeneca for the exchange of the 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, bought from the company, for 35.45 million doses of the vaccine and 257,500 doses of Evusheld.

So far, 7,000 doses of Evusheld have been received, with the rest to be delivered this year.
People who are immunocompromised are likely to get more severely sick with COVID-19 or be ill for a longer period of time. They are also more vulnerable to the disease than other groups of people.