WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden’s administration is aiming to expand access to COVID-19 oral antiviral treatments like Pfizer Inc’s Paxlovid by doubling the number of locations at which they are available, the White House said on Tuesday.
Pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy program for distributing antiviral treatments will be able to order the free treatments directly from the US government starting this week.
Currently, pharmacies depend on states to obtain the pills. The government sends the treatments to select pharmacies, as well as directly to states and community centers. Under the current system, the treatments are available in around 20,000 locations.
The administration expects to boost their direct distribution to more than 30,000 locations soon and reach 40,000 sites over the coming weeks, the White House said.
“Treatments are really the next phase of this pandemic, where we have to make the treatments, these highly effective treatments, widely available,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said in an interview on CNN.
Demand for Paxlovid has been unexpectedly light due to complicated eligibility requirements, reduced COVID testing, and potential for drug interactions.
Paxlovid was expected to be a major tool in the fight against COVID after it reduced hospitalizations or deaths in high-risk patients by around 90 percent in a clinical trial.
There are only a few proven antiviral treatments. The others are Merck & Co’s far less effective rival pill molnupiravir, and Gilead Sciences Inc’s intravenous remdesivir.
The United States has agreed to buy up to 20 million pills at around $530 a course and Pfizer is on pace to produce 3.5 million courses earmarked for US use by the end of April.
Through the first half of April, US data shows it has distributed around 1.5 million courses and that pharmacies still have over 500,000 available.
The government also plans to roll out more federally supported test sites as part of its “Test to Treat” initiative that allows Americans to get tested for COVID-19 at a pharmacy and receive free pills if they test positive.
There are currently 2,200 such sites and the White House expects an additional 10,000 to come online right away.
The administration also aims to boost patient and provider awareness through public education campaigns.
US to widen COVID antiviral pill distribution
https://arab.news/bbg2e
US to widen COVID antiviral pill distribution
- Currently, pharmacies depend on states to obtain the pills
- Under the current system, the treatments are available in around 20,000 locations
UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza
- In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out
- Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development.
Guterres “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,” he added.
Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials.
The ban includes Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories — the majority of whom are in Gaza.
NGOs included in the ban have been ordered to cease their operations by March 1.
Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence.
Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.
On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying “the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out.
Nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data, leaving infrastructure decimated.
About 1.5 million of Gaza’s more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.
