US President Joe Biden's administration expands availability of Covid antiviral pill

US President Joe Biden’s administration is taking steps to expand the availability of the life-saving COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid, seeking to reassure doctors that there is ample supply for people at high risk of severe illness or death from the virus. Paxlovid, produced by Pfizer, was first approved in December.

The White House is now moving to raise awareness of the pill and taking steps to make it easier to access.

White House said it is stepping up outreach to doctors, letting them know they shouldn’t think twice about prescribing the pill to eligible patients. Also, the drug will now be distributed directly to pharmacies, in addition to existing distribution channels run by



states.

That is expected to boost the number of sites from 20,000 to more than 30,000 next week and eventually to 40,000 locations.

Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator said that Paxlovid will be widely available everywhere in America. The drug and antivirals like it “are the key essential tools that they going to need to get through the rest of this pandemic.

Meanwhile, three out of every four children in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus and more than half of all Americans had signs of previous infections. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers have estimated this in a report.