By Alice Park, March 24, 2022 1:17 PM EDT
Link: https://time.com/6159366/covid-19-drug-pharmacies-test-to-treat/
Why Biden’s Test to Treat Program Still Won’t Mean You Can Walk Into a Pharmacy and Walk out With a Prescription for a COVID
Health experts and pharmacists say the program is well-intentioned, but lacks a lot in execution
time.com
Summary
On March 1, President Biden announced the launch of the "Test to Treat" program; people get tested at a pharmacy, and receive antiviral pills if they're positive. The support for supplies of medications has increased at pharmacies across the US.
Due to the regulation of the US FDA that pharmacists cannot prescribe Paxlovid & Molnupiravir, only a fraction of pharmacy chains is available to provide a prescription for COVID-19 therapy. In other words, people in areas without a primary care physician should make an appointment or go to an urgent care centre. Its worst scenario is widespread of Covid, doing this whole process for the test and treatment. However, pharmacists argue that they were educated for evaluating patients for potential drug interactions and side effects, so they can prescribe.
Available medication for Covid-19: Remdesivir, Paxlovid, Molnupiravir, Monoclonal Antibodies
- Remdsivir: antiviral, disrupt making copies of SARS-CoV-2 virus, only available in IV form(hospital essential)
- Paxlovid: block SARS-CoV-2 from replicating; can derive kidney problems
- Molnupiravir: block SARS-CoV-2 from replicating, banned to pregnant women
- Monoclonal Antibodies: neutralize any virus floating around by soaking them up
SARS-CoV-2 can easily mutate, and any two of the aforementioned medications cannot be in use together. For Omicron, only Evusheld from AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline's Xevudy are effective.
Now, the access to the treatment is spotty and inequitable since the available clinics are focused around metro areas, not rural areas.
Some public health experts suggest telehealth can prevent the spread of the virus by cutting out in-person visits entirely. In the best scenario, people get tested themselves at home, get verification for disease via telehealth, get an evaluation by sending their medical history and current statement, get a digital prescription and get delivery of the antiviral.