The White House is rapidly making the COVID-19 drug Paxlovid more available, as the Biden administration puts renewed emphasis on treating COVID-19 rather than trying to prevent it.
As cases rise, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, MD, said the administration is expanding access and use of Paxlovid, a medication made by Pfizer used to treat people 12 and older who have contracted COVID-19 and are at high risk of severe disease. Though approved in December, it has not been widely distributed.
Paxlovid has been found to reduce the risk of COVID-related hospitalization by 90%.
Jha said the administration is increasing the number of sites in the United States that can order doses of the treatment directly from the federal government. Within the next couple of weeks, he said, they will double from 20,000 to 40,000.
There will also be an expansion of test-to-treat sites, where patients can receive treatment right after testing positive, along with a campaign to inform doctors and nurse practitioners of the growing Paxlovid supply.
"We want to lower the severity of the disease that people get if they get infected," Jha said. "Treatments like these, vaccines we have developed, these are the key essential tools we need to get through the rest of this pandemic."
