Have you been able to get Evusheld? Or find where it is offered?
I am an immunocompromised rheumatoid arthritis patient. If you are immunocompromised have you been able to find the drug EVUSHELD. It is used to treat immunocompromised patients as a measure to help prevent COVID and its serious side effects. Major news outlets are reporting supplies at Mayo but no medical professional I have spoken with knows where to get it. It must be acquired with a prescription from a doctor. News media (Kaiser Health News, New York Times) also report that pharmacies and doctors have supplies that are going unused.
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I am glad you got the Evusheld shots, Ginger! As for the cherry picking, I am of 2 minds. On the one hand, I absolutely agree that the people who need the stuff most should get it first. On the other hand, have a look at, for example, Michigan at Rob Relyea's site. Assuming you have the link to his site, which I believe was posted here, you can use it to navigate to Michigan and see their Evusheld situation. They have 11,568 doses of Evusheld available, and many sites that have it are flatliners or close to it. ("Flatliners" are places whose supply stays the same, because they never administer doses. It's not the fault of the place itself -- nobody is sending patients there to get the drug!) How reasonable is it to call 11,568 doses an "extremely short supply," and to cherry pick the patients who get it? On the one hand, 11,568 doses is a small amount compared to the number of people who could benefit from the drug. On the other hand, it is probably a pretty large amount compared to the number of people who are currently asking to get it. Even if some of those asking are not in direst need -- maybe they are only moderately immune compromised, rather than severely so -- still, they qualify according to the EUA. Why deny them the drug?
Maybe it would make sense to deny the drug to people who are not severely immunocompromised if there was some project operating that was quickly getting word out to the relevant docs and patients to promptly get the severely immunocompromised patients the shot. In that case, it would be reasonable to hold the 11,568 doses for the rush that's about to come in the next couple weeks as that project takes effect. But there is no project, is there?, to get the word out to docs and patients, to get it out to LOTS of them, PERSUASIVELY. So under the circumstances I'm not sure it's reasonable to be stingy with the Evusheld that's on the shelves. Especially since I have read in several places that it's likely to be substantially less effective against BA.4 and BA.5, so if BA.4 and BA.5 become the dominant variant we may need to come up with an updated version of Evusheld anyhow. (However, I am not a medical professional, and am not able to judge whether what I've read about the current version of Evusheld becoming obsolete if BA.4 & 5 dominate is valid.)
My rheumatologist prescribed Evusheld for me. To try and stop my rapidly progressing vasculitus mononeuritus multiplex that started this December, I've had rituximab, cyclophosphamide, medrol infusions, along with cellcept and medrol oral. My "b" cell line is... fully down, and my "t" line is quite compromised. I'm unable to avoid my household members, who are routinely exposed.
@clcaev Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect!
Since your rheumatologist prescribed the Evusheld shot for you, were you indeed able to get it?
And forgive me for being curious, were you vaccinated beyond that for Covid-19? How about your family members? I live in a very small town surrounded by residents who basically refused to get vaccinated, and just yesterday heard from a knowledgeable person that Covid-19 is running rampant around here.
Ginger
Yes. I was able to get Evusheld. I'm immune compromised to an extreme as we attempt to stop my vasculitus (I had my second flare ~3 weeks ago). I was told I'm due for another booster, however, it'd be pointless ... since I don't have any "b" cells.
Before my disease started, I had both vaccinations and had been boosted. Although I had some kind of cold when my disease started, I was COVID negative and an anti-body test later (for a shell protein?, not the spike protein) showed that I had not been recently infected. All my family members are vaccinated. I live in a big city. The positivity rate here has gone up immensely the last few weeks. My child's school just had a super-spreader event that infected a large number of kids and teachers. So many now have just given up and are going for herd immunity. I've heard otherwise reasonable people say: "well, if they aren't vaccinated by now, nothing we can do about it" as a justification for moving forward with policies that will cause spread of COVID.
I do hope you find safety. Really not much thought goes into protecting those who cannot be vaccinated, or those whom the vaccination would be pointless.
@clcaev Yep, we have to take our safety into account each day, don't we? Super spreader events can be scary! We want to be sociable, we long to get out into events, but simply cannot run the risk. I truly get it!
Being immunocompromised, like we both are, makes it a challenge each day. Here's to vigilance and health!
Ginger
Hi all, I am 70+ dx with MCD. I have had two vaccines plus 1 booster. I had one monoclonal infusion 12/2021. I am currently taking Tacrolimus 3mg 2X daily. I was recently denied the Evushield vaccine by my PCP. Has anyone with upto date vaccines had the Evushield vaccine prophylactic. Are there any precautions against having the vaccines plus taking Evushield? I don’t want to overdose on vaccines, but I am a very busy person and don’t want the possibility of COVID. I do mask and try to wash my hands frequently. Thanks for any feedback
One of my husband’s doctors suggested that I might be able to get Evushield. I have a query out on the patient portal to see if I qualify and can get it at Mayo. I will update you when/if I learn more.
I applied for this right after it’s release to Banner-Boswell Hospital. My Rheumatologist in Surprise sent them the forms and I have not heard anything from them.
@SusanEllen66 Gosh, it sounds like you need to contact both your rheumatologist and the hospital, to see what the holdup is! It's gotta be difficult to have been waiting this long!
Ginger
Hi Ginger,
How did you find out that your immunity from the standard vaccines needed Evusheld? *I'm wondering what tests were used*.
My PCP says I'm immunocompromised, but my hematologist insists my antibodies are good. Maybe they simply use different tests?
I grew up in Oregon on the McKenzie River. @raye