Despite the FDA’s emergency authorization of Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral pill Paxlovid in December 2021, some medical professionals say the treatment often goes unused. Last week, White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said on MSNBC that Paxlovid “is being underutilized.”
NYU medical ethicist Art Caplan joined Boston Public Radio Wednesday to weigh in on why more people have not received Paxlovid, which has shown to reduce hospitalization and death by 88 percent if taken within five days of symptoms.
“There are still hundreds of people dying of COVID, how can this be if we have an antiviral pill?” Caplan asked.
According to Caplan, part of the problem comes from a lack of testing because the drug is most effective within the first few days of infection. “You don't know you're infected, then you get out to six or seven days and you wind up in the hospital, it's too late, that drug doesn’t work,” he said. “It's gotta be sooner.”
The second problem comes from distribution. “There's plenty of places that don't have the drug yet,” he said. “We keep pushing the masks, but if we're giving up on the masks, we better be pushing harder on the antiviral pills.”
Lastly, Caplan thinks doctors need to do a better job of informing patients about the option. “Some patients say, ‘Well, it might cost me money, maybe there's some side effects from that antiviral, I'm going to try and tough it out,’” he said. “That is not the right answer to this, to being infected. There aren't that many side effects here. It works pretty well.”
In January, the federal government bought enough pills for 20 million Americans at around $530 per patient, distributed free for people who test positive and get a prescription from their doctor. But getting a test, doctor’s appointment and transportation can still end up costing patients. And in March, NPR reported that as federal pandemic funding began to run out, some regions have stopped covering testing and treatment for the uninsured.
At this point in the pandemic, the United States is reporting around an average of 410 deaths per day, a figure far lower than previous months, but one that Caplan says is preventable.
“Very few should be dying from COVID,” Caplan said. “Get enough tests, distribute the drug, make it affordable.”
Art Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City.
