With Covid deaths rising to about 1,500 per week, researchers question why Paxlovid use has remained low among high-risk patients.

A study of a million high-risk people with Covid found that only about 15 percent who were eligible for the drug took it. If instead half of the eligible patients in the United States had gotten Paxlovid during the time period of the research, 48,000 deaths could have been prevented, the authors of the study, conducted by the National Institutes of Health, concluded.

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    11 months ago

    I feel like the education around this stuff has kind of fallen off.

    On one hand, we need to learn to live with covid, and we can’t live in fear, but that doesn’t mean we should just ignore it and treat it like a common cold. People need to test early, they need to tell their doctor if they’re positive. This is usually pretty treatable if you do some simple stuff.

  • Jyek@sh.itjust.works
    3·
    11 months ago

    It’s also a miserable drug to take. Better than being dead but man… It makes your mouth taste like you’re sucking on pennies for days on end and the chills and aches and the shits… by God the shits…

    • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
      9·
      11 months ago

      I’ve seen Paxlovid take somebody from having a fever so high they were hallucinating to tired-but-ok within a few hours. The side effects are unpleasant, but for somebody who is seriously ill, they’re a lot better than the disease.

    • ramble81
      1·
      11 months ago

      What in the world were you taking? When I was on it it cut things down to a minor cold for me. No other issues.