Paxlovid, a highly effective COVID drug, will be made available to more pharmacies

Paxlovid, a highly effective COVID drug, will be made available to more pharmacies¹

Transcript²

The White House is unveiling a new push to make more people aware of COVID-19 treatments like Paxlovid — because stockpiles of the life-saving antiviral have been sitting on shelves, unused.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

There's a lifesaving antiviral drug from Pfizer out there called Paxlovid. It's been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization from COVID by up to 90%. And yet, hundreds of thousands of doses of this drug are just sitting on pharmacy³ shelves, unused. Today, the White House plans to reveal a new push to make sure people know about it and to encourage doctors to prescribe it. NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith has details, and she joins us this morning. Hey, Tam.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE⁴: Good morning.

MARTIN: If Paxlovid is something that could save your life, why aren't people taking it?

KEITH: There are several reasons, but it all comes down to this - actually getting the drug is, as one health care expert put it to me, a bit of a rigmarole. You have to start taking it within five days of the onset⁵ of symptoms. So it is a race to get a COVID test, get someone to prescribe it, find a pharmacy that actually carries it and then start taking it. It is currently authorized⁶ for people 12 and up who have risk factors for severe COVID, but it turns out that's a lot of people because that could include being overweight or having asthma⁷ or diabetes⁸ or high blood pressure. But many doctors have been reluctant to prescribe it. One administration official on a call with reporters last night explained that a lot of docs are still operating from a scarcity⁹ mindset because back in December and January it really was scarce. But now, there are plenty of pills to go around.

MARTIN: So what's the White House plan to do something about this?

KEITH: Education and outreach and not just to potential patients but also to doctors and others who could prescribe it. A lot of patients simply do not know that Paxlovid exists, or their doctors tell them they don't qualify when they really do. Paxlovid is a bit complicated to prescribe. There are some drug-drug interactions, which means the doctors have to puzzle through their patient's medications list and decide, for instance, that they need to go off their cholesterol¹⁰ medication while they're taking the Paxlovid. The White House COVID team is providing doctors with information to make it easier to decide whether their patients are a good fit for the drug.

They're also announcing a new program with pharmacies to get these pills into even more retail¹¹ pharmacies - 10,000 additional locations this week with more to follow. And the administration is also working to expand its test-to-treat program, working with FEMA and the states to set up these one-stop shops where you could get tested and get Paxlovid with less of the rigmarole. But health professionals I've spoken to say the fact that people don't know about it and they aren't taking it when it could keep them out of the hospital is simply a failure. Today's announcement is an acknowledgment from the White House that getting the pills wasn't enough. They have to do more.

MARTIN: Right. So meanwhile, Congress is back this week, and the White House still doesn't have the $22 billion in additional COVID funding that they asked for last month. Any movement there?

KEITH: Not much. You might remember just before the spring recess¹², there was a bipartisan deal to fund less than half of what the White House had asked for, and it blew up. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer now says both parties must come back to the table and find an agreement, but the timeline he gave was weeks rather than days. The White House says that this lack of funding won't affect Paxlovid supplies today. This is about the next generation of antiviral pills or a variant-specific booster that might be needed this fall.

MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith. Extra points for using the word rigmarole, Tam, this morning.

KEITH: Twice.

MARTIN: Thanks so much. Twice.

KEITH: You're welcome.

1 pharmacies   

药店

参考例句：

• Still, 32 percent of the pharmacies filled the prescriptions. 但仍然有32%的药剂师配发了这两张药方。 来自互联网
• Chinese herbal pharmacies, and traditional massage therapists in the Vancouver telephone book. 中药店，和传统的按摩师在温哥华的电话簿里。 来自互联网

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 onset   

n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始

参考例句：

• The drug must be taken from the onset of the infection.这种药必须在感染的最初期就开始服用。
• Our troops withstood the onset of the enemy.我们的部队抵挡住了敌人的进攻。

6 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

7 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

8 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

9 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

10 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

11 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

12 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。