MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – One of the newest monoclonal antibody treatment sites being opened by the state will be at Tropical Park in southwest Miami-Dade County, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday.
The Tropical Park site opens Saturday and will offer the Regeneron-brand treatment for COVID-19 patients seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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Those are the same hours for each of the state’s locations, including one at C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines that opened earlier this week. Each site can serve 300+ patients, the state says.
The treatments are paid for by the federal government and will be free to patients, who must have already tested positive for COVID-19.
“We are going to be able to do thousands and thousands of these treatments every day over and above what our health systems are already doing, which is also a lot,” DeSantis said.
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While the drug can lessen the severity of symptoms when used early on, medical experts stress that vaccines remain the best way of protecting against infection.
Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious diseases expert at Florida International University, says the monoclonal antibodies are a valuable option but not a substitute for getting vaccinated.
“These other things are much more invasive to your body, much more risky to your health, and you suffer the risk of the actual virus,” she said.
The state monoclonal antibody treatment sites are located at:
- Tropical Park, 7900 Southwest 40 Street, Miami-Dade County
- C.B. Smith Park, 900 North Flamingo Road, Pembroke Pines
- West Gate Park, 3691 Oswego Avenue, West Palm Beach
- Old Bonita Springs Library in Bonita Springs
- Kiwanis Island Park in Merritt Island
- Jacksonville Public Library
- Kings Forest Park in Tampa
- Camping World Stadium in Orlando
- Fasano Center in Hudson
- Ormond Beach Senior Center
- Bay County Fairgrounds in Panama City
- Northwest Florida Fairgrounds in Fort Walton Beach
For more information, go to floridahealthcovid19.gov.