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More Than 5,000 People Got Regeneron In The First Month Of The Free Jacksonville Clinic

KATHERINE HOBBS
/
WJCT NEWS
Jacksonville's state-run Regeneron clinic at the Main Library

Thursday marks one month since a free, state-run monoclonal antibody treatment clinic opened in Jacksonville. As of Wednesday, 5,603 people have been treated between the city’s original Bay Street location and its current Downtown Public Library location. City officials say the clinic gave shots to almost 300 people on Wednesday, Sept. 8, alone. 

Jacksonville’s downtown library clinic is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The antibody treatment is meant for people who have already been infected with coronavirus. Gov. Ron DeSantis has been promoting monoclonal antibody treatments, available now at 25 locations across the state, including Palm Coast as of this week. DeSantis was in Jacksonville last month for the opening of the first site and said he believes Regeneron should be the immediate response to a COVID diagnosis for people with other conditions. 

“Antibody treatment, it should just be part of the standard of care that if a high-risk person comes down with COVID that they're immediately referred to get a monoclonal antibody treatment,” DeSantis said in August. 

Still, the CDC says vaccinations remain more effective at preventing severe COVID-19 and nearly all adults who are hospitalized with COVID are unvaccinated. 

According to the most recent data from the Florida Department of Health, 60% of Duval County residents aged 12 and up have been vaccinated. 

Contact Claire Heddles at cheddles@wjct.org, (904) 250 - 0926, or on Twitter at@claireheddles.

Claire joined WJCT as a reporter in August 2021. She was previously the local host of NPR's Morning Edition at WUOT in Knoxville, Tennessee. During her time in East Tennessee, her coverage of the COVID pandemic earned a Public Media Journalists’ Association award for investigative reporting. You can reach Claire at (904) 250-0926 or on Twitter @ClaireHeddles.