“It happened without a lot of fanfare but is a key milestone in our pandemic response,” said Dr. Some Bay Area residents say they’ve been able to get Paxlovid quickly and easily, in some cases on the same day with minimal effort. Marin and San Mateo counties are opening new Test to Treat sites where residents can get tested and, if they’re positive, get a prescription on the spot. Contra Costa County has set up a 24/7 phone line to help connect residents with doctors who can prescribe Paxlovid, if appropriate. During the earlier omicron surge that peaked in January, the pills were so new and scarce that only the very highest-risk people could get them and even then they were hard to find for many. That makes this current swell of cases the first where the promise of antiviral pills - hailed as game changers when they were first authorized in late 2021 - will be put to the test. Paxlovid, like HIV drugs, is a protease inhibitor that prevents production of new viral particles, while molnupiravir stops viral genetic material from being accurately copied. If anyone was looking for a sign that society can live with the virus, this is arguably it.īoth drugs work by stopping replication of the virus in the body. And two antiviral pills, Pfizer’s Paxlovid and the less commonly used molnupiravir from Merck, are for the first time no longer in short supply. Most Americans are now vaccinated, and many are boosted, with vaccines that are extraordinarily good at reducing the risk of severe disease and death. is at a juncture that would’ve been unimaginable a year ago - in a good way. Latest news: Complete coverage of the coronavirus pandemic “But a lot of people would be sicker than me, and in life situations where they didn’t have the freedom to make six phone calls.”ĬOVID-19 Map: Data on trends in the Bay Area and across California
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She feels lucky to have a regular health care provider that she knows how to reach and that she eventually got her hands on the five-day course of 30 Paxlovid pills. Smith has chronic lung issues and is used to advocating, sometimes stubbornly, for her health. Meanwhile, some patients are unaware such a treatment is available, whether they qualify, or how to get it. Many don’t know which pharmacy to send the prescription to since not all locations have it, despite the federal “Test to Treat” program adding sites each week. Many doctors aren’t comfortable yet prescribing the new drug, in part because Paxlovid has the potential to interact harmfully with common medications and thus requires a careful review of the patient’s regimen.
Robert Califf to local Bay Area health officers are now daring to talk about “zero COVID deaths,” thanks to the combined power of shots and pills.īut the health care system, as on so many other occasions during the pandemic, is struggling to catch up to this vision. Unlike remdesivir and monoclonal antibody infusions - treatments that have been around longer, but require people to go to a hospital or clinic - antiviral pills have been lauded as a cheap, accessible way anyone could get treatment at home by picking them up at a pharmacy.Ĭombined with widespread vaccination and boosting, the pills offer a promise unthinkable when the pandemic started in 2020: that almost nobody should die from COVID anymore. Public health officials are racing to raise awareness and improve access to Paxlovid so people like Smith can halt mild COVID symptoms before they get more serious. “You would’ve thought I was the first person to have ever asked for this, which seems like a public health education flaw, but also an organizational flaw,” said Smith, who is vaccinated and boosted and qualifies for the drug because her weight puts her at higher risk for progressing to severe disease. Paxlovid Rebound: Here’s how doctors are managing the recurring COVID symptoms.All the while, the clock was ticking because she began the process three days into her symptoms and Paxlovid must be started within the first five days of onset to properly do its job. Instead, Smith spent the next two days on the phone, speaking to several doctors and CVS pharmacists before tracking down the Pfizer drug at a pharmacy in Oakland.
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