Better COVID protection for Immunocompromised Americans with Evusheld – a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra

Help the 7 million immunocompromised Americans get protected from COVID by signing this Citizen’s Letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Background

There are 7 million Americans with compromised immune systems. The standard COVID vaccine doses aren’t enough to give any immunity. Fortunately, AstraZeneca has developed a medicine called Evusheld that can provide COVID protection for many immunocompromised people Unfortunately, the US Department of Health and Human Services has only ordered 700,000 doses – just 10 percent of what is needed (see There’s a new drug to prevent Covid-19, but there won’t be nearly enough for Americans who are eligible).

… even though the company that produces it, AstraZeneca can produce more:

The US government could purchase more doses if they wanted to,” the company spokesperson wrote in an email. “We already hold inventory of finished product that exceeds near-term forecast demand, and manufacturing capacity has been reserved with significant further quantities of product already in various stages of manufacture in the supply chain.”

You can help by joining our campaign to get Evusheld for those who need it….

just by signing a letter.

The Letter

Dear Secretary Becerra –

There are 7 million immunocrompromised Americans who need the protection that Evusheld provides against COVID-19. Many are already vaccinated but, unfortunately, the vaccine alone (even with extra doses) doesn’t provide enough protection. Others either can’t be safely vaccinated at all or receive no effective protection from the vaccines.

Their lives are valuable and they deserve protection.

To date, HHS has ordered only 700,000 doses and, based up the experiences of patients around the country, there is no systematic method for allocating the available doses nor method for making our immunocompromised citizens even aware that this tool exists that could literally save their lives.

It should be unacceptable to you that when asked about Evusheld, an HHS spokesperson responded:

“primary protection from COVID-19 related disease including immunocompromised populations is still through vaccination.”

The people of the United States deserve better:

Provide a plan for how many doses of Evusheld will be available to protect the entire affected immunocompromised population of the US.

Provide a schedule for when those Evusheld doses will be delivered to the US government.

Provide a plan for distributing those Evusheld doses to the people who need them.

Provide a clear process for states and organizations to quickly, effectively, and equitably deliver those Evusheld doses to those who need it.

Publicize to the relevant communities  the availability and benefits of Evusheld, the criteria for being qualified for it, how to get it, and who to contact in case of problems.

Sincerely,

Concerned Citizens

You can sign two ways

1. Just fill out this form and we’ll add your name to our letter and follow along as we work to get Evusheld for those who need it.

[contact-form-7 id=”43840″ title=”EvusheldSecBeccera1″]

2. Feel free to cut and paste and use this letter to contact Secretary Becerra. You can also send a Tweet to him at: https://twitter.com/SecBecerra / @SecBecerra

3. Even better, do both.