This treatment can protect vulnerable people from COVID. They might not know about it

Leanne Cook was glum but unsurprised when the tests confirmed what she and her doctors had expected: Even after three shots of a vaccine, she had no antibodies to protect her against COVID-19.

Her immune system had been hampered by the drugs she takes for her condition, a rare disease affecting her kidneys. As other vaccinated people began to let down their guard last year, Cook continued to minimize trips outside her home in Mission Viejo.

Then Cook heard about something that could plug those missing antibodies into her system — a preventive pair of injections called Evusheld. But health officials cautioned that there was only so much to go around.

Evusheld has been heralded as a way to armor people who remain highly vulnerable to COVID-19 even after vaccination. As government officials loosen masking requirements that have helped shield the immunocompromised, the preventive treatment has gained even more urgency for people who do not generate enough antibodies to gain protection from the COVID-19 vaccines.