White House officials said On Thursday, they introduced a new model for distributing Paxlovid, a Covid-19 oral drug manufactured by Pfizer, to be treated by more people and to keep coronavirus mortality relatively low. did. As the number of cases increases..
The federal government will evaluate patients who test positive at a clinic in Providence, Rhode Island, and immediately begin reimbursement to prescribe Paxrovid to eligible patients. Opened in Newyork and Illinois. Federal workers have also been dispatched to the Minnesota State Proving Ground, Where to “test and treat”Said the White House.
“Basically, what we’re trying to do is be able to almost prevent Covid’s death. I think we’re pretty close to that,” said Whitehouse Covid-19. Coordinator Dr. Ashish K. Jha said in an interview Wednesday night. “Deaths from this disease should actually be more and more rare.”
Significant obstacles We stick to providing Paxlovid to anyone who can benefit from Paxlovid. Over 1 million government-purchased Paxlovid courses are still available. According to the data Collected by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.For vague eligibility guidelines open to broad interpretation — medicines Approved For “mild to moderate” Covid-19 people over 12 years of age at risk of severe illness — some doctors hesitate to prescribe pills or require extensive consultation.
As of Wednesday, the United States had an average of more than 110,000 new coronavirus cases each day. According to the New York Times databaseIncreased by about 30% in the last two weeks. But it is considered to be a considerable underestimation, Because Americans are becoming more and more dependent on home exams, and their cases often remain unreported. The average number of new deaths in the last two weeks is less than 400 per day.
Dr. Ja More modest mortality A combination of immunity partially given by the vaccine and Paxlovid’s success, which has been shown to significantly reduce the likelihood of severe forms of Covid-19 in high-risk people when initiated early in the infection.
Federal health officials continue to warn of risks, especially to vulnerable people, urging older Americans to stay up to date on vaccination.Last week, the CDC Strengthen the second booster recommendation Those over 50 years old. However, Dr. Ja said the current gap between national infection and mortality is a promising moment in a pandemic, and Covid-19 may not be so deadly.
Dr. Ja said he is using more Paxrovid in northeastern states, where vaccination rates are already high, and acknowledged that different results could occur elsewhere in the country. In some northeastern states, the situation seems to be stable. In these states, the spring surge was the first to be seen in cases.Still high, but case rates are leveling off or starting to decline New jersey, new york When Rhode Island..
“I’m worried that the virus has spread to other parts of the country, has low boosts, and has so far been using less Paxlovid. Infections, whether or not this phenomenon is seen. The disease does not lead to many hospitalizations or deaths, whether it lasts or not, “Dr. Ja said.
Pharmacists are not yet able to prescribe their own medicines. This is a step that reduces the time it takes for a patient to get medicine.
The Food and Drug Administration “sees and thinks about this,” said Dr. Jha. “Whether they make changes, when and how they make changes, etc. are entirely in their wheelhouse.”
Many patients are still processing Sometimes-a tedious procedure in itself: Identify the location of the virus test, get a Paxlovid prescription from your healthcare provider, and find a pharmacy that will carry the pill within a few days of the first onset of symptoms.
Dr. Ja said he was dissatisfied with a colleague of the doctor who told him that Paxrovid was limited to patients over the age of 65.
Many places in the government’s test-to-treat program are CVS MinuteClinics With an in-house nurse practitioner and doctor’s assistant who can prescribe medicines, reservations are required and can be exorbitant for those without health insurance.
Michael Ganio, Senior Director of Pharmacy Operations and Quality at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, said the system from test to treatment is suffering. Lack of federal funding for Covid-19 uninsured care.. He said federal-sponsored test-to-treatment ideas, although limited in scope, could serve as an important example for state and local authorities to implement similar programs. ..
“I don’t think it’s possible for the federal government to launch these enough to ensure fair access nationwide,” he said.
Still, with the proliferation of confirmed cases and increased awareness and availability of Paxlovid, prescriptions have exploded in recent weeks, with 25,000 to 30,000 written daily, Dr. Jha said. .. The White House said in a news release Thursday that more than 182,000 prescriptions for oral antivirals were met last week. Today, more than 300 sites have been certified as test-to-treat sites since a month ago, and nearly 40,000 pharmacies and other locations are using antiviral drugs.
Pharmacies can now also order Paxlovid directly from the federal government.
Without strict reporting requirements, the federal government has a hard time understanding who is receiving Paxlovid. This data can be the key to knowing if the most risky Americans, such as nursing homes, are receiving medicines.
Dr. Ja said federal authorities will get more detailed images in the coming weeks from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Kaiser Permanente, and several groups tracking people who received the drug from certain hospital systems. He said he needed to get started.researcher We are also investigating cases of symptoms that are clearly rebounding. After taking Pax Rovid, he said.
“My hope is that a bunch of these organizations will show a lot of data in the coming weeks,” he said.
Mitch Smith When Chloe Reynolds Report that contributed.
