Biden Administration Secures , 20 Million Courses of Paxlovid.
Biden Administration Secures , 20 Million Courses of Paxlovid.
CNN reports that on April 25, a senior administration official said , 20 million treatment courses of Pfizer's antiviral COVID pill have been secured for the United States to purchase.
100,000 treatment courses will be provided to pharmacies per quarter as need and uptake are observed.
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A treatment course of Paxlovid consists of taking three pills twice a day for five days.
CNN reports that Pfizer released data last year showing that its antiviral COVID pill reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% if taken within a few day of exhibiting symptoms. Paxlovid first became authorized by the FDA at the end of December.
And there were very, very few pills around.
The administration worked incredibly hard to both increase production and acquisition, and the good news is we’ve made really substantial progress, Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, to NPR.
Now we’ve got to turn those pills into prescriptions and into the things that patients can get so that they can get better if they get infected.
We have a big set of efforts that we have been working on and launching, and we’re going to be doing a lot more this week, Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, to NPR.
On April 26, the administration is expected to announce expanded access to the pills via its federal antiviral pharmacy program.
It is estimated that over 30,000 locations may provide free treatments in the future through the test-to-treat initiative.
While the purchase of a significant amount of treatment courses has been secured thus far.
CNN reports that the administration "will not be able to purchase more" unless it secures further funding from Congress
