The White House is “in the process of ordering another half-million courses of AstraZeneca’s preventive treatment for immunocompromised individuals,” Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients is expected to say at Wednesday’s Covid-19 briefing.
“The federal government was instrumental in the research and development of this product — and our latest order will also bring us to over one million treatment courses available through end of March,” Zients is expected to say, per a copy of his remarks obtained by CNN.
About 7 million adults in the US are immune-compromised and could benefit from Evusheld, according to AstraZeneca. The federal government, which is the sole distributor of the drug, contracted for only enough doses to treat 700,000 people in December, and Wednesday’s announcement will build on that initial purchase.
Zients will also tout the previously announced purchase of 20 million courses of Pfizer’s antiviral pill, with the first 10 million courses expected to be delivered by the end of June 2022, as part of the administration’s “diverse portfolio” of Covid-19 treatments.
The administration spent much of the past year focused on manufacturing and scaling vaccine supply. But as the Omicron variant continues to spread, with surging cases and hospitalizations, some experts have warned current efforts to surge supply of therapeutics for those who do contract the virus are not enough.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
