As Covid rises again, killing about 1,500 Americans each week, researchers are trying to understand why so few high-risk patients are taking Paxlovid, a medicine that is stunningly effective in preventing severe illness and death from the disease.
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1/ the drive should be to stop getting Covid (clean air and masks - so report on that)
2/ most people aren’t testing positive until days after symptoms start - so less effective
3/ lack of access
4/ cost
Do better. You are the NY Times.
You have to start it within 5 days of symptoms to be effective. You go to the dr at 3 days of symptoms and aren’t testing positive yet so they won’t give it to you. At six days of symptoms you finally trigger the test but they won’t give it to you because you are beyond five days of initial symptoms
"Average Americans have terrible access to extremely expensive healthcare, it is a total mystery why they don't have easy access to ridiculously priced drugs when they get sick."
Vote blue. Here in MA we have close to universal coverage. Not free for all, but not bad, and the care is …well, their access. Still issues, but so much better.
If you're in Massachusetts, you can schedule a free telehealth visit through https://mass.gov to get Paxlovid. My doctor's office initially told me I didn't meet the criteria so they wouldn't prescribe it to me, even though I actually did. I'm not sure why the nurse at my doctor's office didn't know this.
in NYC, you can call the COVID hotline and it's a simple telehealth phone call - I had a prescription waiting for me at the closest CVS within 30 minutes of dialing the number
Everyone I know who gets diagnosed with covid gets diagnosed at the local Urgent Care walk-in clinic, they won't write prescriptions and send you to your GP, your GP can't see you for weeks and by then it's too late. The US healthcare system is one giant systemic failure
Maybe it’s the same reason a far-leftie here accused me of evilly hoarding Pax, as it “should be reserved for “people who actually need it,” after I said I’m 54, immunocompromised, and took a single course of the drug after testing positive in Dec. Surely the result of Russian left-entry propaganda
Some will still get it for free, Pfizer has some program to get it for less (qualifiers unclear), but who is going to have time/energy to navigate all that when they get sick (cause only then you'd get a prescription). Many insur. plans have no drug coverage before deductible, it's a nightmare
It’s the same for a lot of the Medical Assisted Therapy prescriptions treating addiction. They are super expensive w/o insurance. And the voucher only brings it down from $1000 to $400 if you don’t have insurance. What addict trying to get clean has $400 lying around?
Just awful. I'll vote for Martians if they deliver reasonably priced healtcare for all (happy to add % to my taxes if it will ensure no one needs to worry about costs if/when they inevitably get unwell, small to catastrophic level ill).
In Alberta, Canada, it's very difficult verging on impossible to qualify for Paxlovid -- the criteria is very restrictive. And the last time I checked, there was an ample stock of Paxlovid just sitting on the shelves, waiting to expire.
I didn't realize I had COVID-19 until my sense of smell went off; I'd been feeling crappy for a couple of days. All the guidance says to start right away.
(Also, the one symptom that hit hard was fatigue - it's like how when I get a migraine, the meds need to be within reaching distance.)
Nope. Too many people would die because of the dangerous drug interactions with commonly prescribed medicines for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.
If it’s got dangerous interactions it should not be OTC (imo). But like you say, it could have a maximum copay of $10. According to another article, it should be free for most consumers. Attached excerpt is from the following article.
When I had it, I asked my doctor if I could have it and then told me I wasn’t eligible with no explanation as to why. I was too sick to fight it so I was out of luck.
Hard, shmard—the vaccine is effective, but not miraculous. I got every vaccine available as soon as it was available, took precautions my acquaintance thought extreme, and still got infected, and sick.
There are plenty of measures one can and should take. But pandemics do not have magic bullets.
Vaccines are a collective choice, if (almost) everyone is vaccinated the numbers drop. You got covid (I'm assuming it's that) because all around are not immunized.
Are we arguing? I’m fairly certain of my route of transmission, from another vaccinated person. I am happy to see that we are now talking about statistics, about which we can agree, and not about vaccination solving the problem of uptake of and access to treatment, which is where this thread began.
…we can also agree that social behavior was a factor in my infection, since my suspected vector was someone who, by virtue of working outside the home, was moving out and about in an undervaccinated world.
In Germany the second booster shot is only recommended for high risk patients and those over 60. No exceptions for public transport commuters, people with public facing jobs, carers for tose it‘s recommended for. I have no idea why they want us to contract it again and again. 🤷🏼♀️
In Brazil it's for everyone, free, yearly now. I think people with health issues have to take more but that's not the majority of the cases.
I really don't get all the fuss about getting a shot against illness.
I got covid, flu, yellow fever, hepatitis B the last year and I feel fine!
Many doctors adhere very strictly to the vaccine commission‘s recommendations and unfortunately during Covid the head of that institution has outed himself as a vaccine denier. Absolutely incredible that he hasn’t been replaced. 🤬
Maybe the can’t get it? Over here in Europe too many doctors don’t prescribe it, claiming “Too many side effects, too young, too healthy”… it’s terrible
Yes. Friends in UK have been desperately trying to get covid vaccines, and they can't even be bought OOP. It's horrible they're just throwing people's health into the dumpster. Many of us can afford decent quality masks, but for those who can't, and not even get a vaccine? 🥹
My 80 year old mother (prediabetic, high blood pressure) was told she didn’t qualify for a prescription. Thankfully she recovered well on her own. Alberta, Canada
These are the things I was told by my doctor when asking if I could get a prescription to be ready when I get sick. They won’t prescribe it to just anyone and many who could benefit aren’t getting access to it because of these conditions. In Ontario anyway, don’t know about the rest of Canada.
That’s wild. I’m inAmerica but Swiss friends also report challenges obtaining ADHD meds like Vyvanse and Adderall. I was able to get Paxlovid after texting my regular doctor that someone living in my household tested positive. Didn’t even need to show her a positive test or visit her office.
That’s crazy to me! When my husband tested positive and I wasn’t yet but was symptomatic I was told no unless I got a positive test. I ended up not taking it or needing to but only on day 4 did I receive positive pcr results. I didn’t test positive on a rapid test til day 9.
I got it through the pharmacy when I got Covid. Was eligible at the time because I was over 6 months from booster (was waiting for the XBB booster to be available which was a mistake in hindsight). There was a document from Ontario Health I found that listed it. Think criteria changed now though.
One of the conditions for receiving Paxlovid in B.C. in August 2022 was having current kidney function bloodwork. I get regular bloodwork so the doctor could tick that box over the phone. It took at least 1/2 hr for her to fill in the form and still missed some things. I've heard it is easier now.
In Saskatchewan my 78-year-old parents were denied Paxlovid when they had COVID because they didn't have other outstanding conditions. I'd argue that just being 78 is one.
See, now this makes me question who DOES qualify then? White 40-yr old hedge fund managers?
Is this a shortage issue with Pfizer? Nah.
Are they letting it all rot on shelves like they did the PPE we reserved for HCWs who didn’t use it? Maybe.
Is it unsafe?
Too expensive for plebs?
Gatekeeping?
🤷🏻♀️
The cost our health care system in Canada negotiates with Pfizer is not the same as the consumer cost listed in the US. Our drugs are often far less expensive than in the US.
In Ontario, we have Sidehustle Ford so it’s about either cutting costs to starve system & look like saving money while giving contracts to billionaire buddies or it doesn’t align with his own ideologies—only the rich deserve the best healthcare. I’m sure I could get pax no problem at private clinic.
Anecdotally:
1. it's expensive
2. you need to catch Covid *early* for a doctor to prescribe it - most people think they just have a cold or allergies until suddenly they're leaving 1-star reviews on Yankee Candles
3. I remember hearing something about a Paxlovid "Covid rebound" effect?
Paxlovid, COVID tests, medical appointments all cost money. Are these being covered by insurance? Are tests/virtual appointments/prescriptions readily available?
On Medicare and Medicaid, all these were available to me for free, with the chance factor of my local urgent care’s policy.
Part of “readily” available is the response of individual prescribers, which is anecdotally shitty.
Another part is being plugged into both healthcare systems and science news.
Probably because it’s not horse worm paste and colloidal silver. Can we be honest here most of the people shunning modern medicine at this point are doing Darwin’s work
My wife got it two days before Christmas. Her PCP wouldn’t see her in person, but also wouldn’t prescribe Paxlovid over the phone. They sent her to urgent care instead.
Urgent care took her in, examined her, and then said they don’t prescribe Paxlovid without patient history.
My parents, aged 75 and 74, were told to take Tylenol and "tough it out like a bad cold". Their doctor gave absolutely no reason for not prescribing them Paxlovid. My mother is still coughing, 2 months later.
There is currently no conclusive evidence that the risk of rebound is worse, but HCPs are scrambling to keep up to date and many are failing. COVID rebounds for a lot of patients regardless of whether they take paxlovid. I thought this was clearly put: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/what-is-paxlovid-rebound-covid-rebound
Well my doctor said he thinks it helps against long Covid by reducing the virus in your body faster than if you just waited it out. My doc is at UCSF, a top hospital in the nation, I took it in Dec when I got COVID for the first time and tested negative within 8 days of first symptoms,felt fine in 3
There are drug interactions that prevent some from taking it, but the only side effect I had was a strange taste, though that might have been the COVID vs the drug. I did not have metal taste, just off.
Severity of presenting symptoms is not among the prescribing criteria, which are about mitigation of known risks of Covid to a range of people considered medically vulnerable. If you test positive and are on the vulnerable list, you are eligible.
Thank you for the reply. Didn’t want to argue with doctor about my symptoms being mild, though I was fast getting the appointment at onset. Going to go review vulnerability criteria to be better prepared the next go around.
I've taken Paxlovid and it definitely destroyed the COVID I had at the time, but it left my stomach in shambles for the next week and a half. I don't know if it was worse than the COVID, but it sucked.
The drug is $1400. It requires a prescription - so either an appt for your PCP that can take weeks or a trip to the ER which adds significantly to the cost.
Medicare covered completely through the start of this year, so that can’t explain why old folks haven’t been getting it. It’s just really hard to navigate the process fast enough.
Comments
2/ most people aren’t testing positive until days after symptoms start - so less effective
3/ lack of access
4/ cost
Do better. You are the NY Times.
https://www.test2treat.org/s/?language=en_US
https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1002565/ontarians-can-now-visit-local-pharmacies-for-paxlovid-prescriptions
Socialism and Communism for the win!
(Also, the one symptom that hit hard was fatigue - it's like how when I get a migraine, the meds need to be within reaching distance.)
Sell it in stores for $10 a box then if you want people taking it.
https://www.verywellhealth.com/paxlovid-commercial-market-transition-8384418
There are plenty of measures one can and should take. But pandemics do not have magic bullets.
And don't stop transmission or infection due to this.
I really don't get all the fuss about getting a shot against illness.
I got covid, flu, yellow fever, hepatitis B the last year and I feel fine!
Is this a shortage issue with Pfizer? Nah.
Are they letting it all rot on shelves like they did the PPE we reserved for HCWs who didn’t use it? Maybe.
Is it unsafe?
Too expensive for plebs?
Gatekeeping?
🤷🏻♀️
Countries that negotiate probably get lower rates, but still, it's expensive.
1. it's expensive
2. you need to catch Covid *early* for a doctor to prescribe it - most people think they just have a cold or allergies until suddenly they're leaving 1-star reviews on Yankee Candles
3. I remember hearing something about a Paxlovid "Covid rebound" effect?
Part of “readily” available is the response of individual prescribers, which is anecdotally shitty.
Another part is being plugged into both healthcare systems and science news.
Urgent care took her in, examined her, and then said they don’t prescribe Paxlovid without patient history.
Does that help?
Source: AP
Pharma companies: increase price to $1400
Nyt: why is no one taking paxlovid????