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Friday 14 January 2022

COVID-19 pill rollout stymied by shortages as omicron rages

Continued from Front ties. to those at the highest risk, tion. the U.S. have developed
But final testing showed it including cancer patients, The only pharmacy dis- complex means of decid-
The U.S. didn't make the was far less effective than transplant recipients and pensing the drug was more ing who should get the
kind of mass purchases in Pfizer's pill and carried sig- people who have lung dis- than an hour's drive away, scarce medications, based
advance that it did with nificant risks, including the ease or are pregnant. New so Campbell had a friend on patients' symptoms, their
vaccines. potential for birth defects York's guidelines also rec- pick it up for him. underlying medical risks,
Because of the time it takes when taken by pregnant ommend prioritizing certain "I felt a bit privileged in a where they live and wheth-
to manufacture Pfizer's women. As a result, it is con- racial and ethnic minorities, way," he said. "The odds er they are healthy enough
pill, Paxlovid, the compa- sidered the last-choice op- given their higher rates of that it would land in my to travel for an infusion.
ny says it can supply only tion under federal guide- severe illness and death. plate in the right amount of "What do we have on
about 250,000 courses of lines. States are distributing the time were pretty extraordi- hand?" is the first question,
the treatment by the end Merck said it has delivered pills differently. nary." said University of Maryland
of this month. 900,000 courses of the drug In Michigan, all initial ship- At the same time, there Medical Center's Dr. Greg
The U.S. has ordered and is on track to ship all 3 ments went to 10 phar- is a shortage of antibody Schrank. "Among those
enough Paxlovid to treat 20 million ordered by the U.S. macies in the hardest-hit medications, the infused therapies, what's the most
million people, but the first by the end of the month. areas. Pennsylvania, Mary- or injected drugs that can effective and how can we
10 million orders won't be Since last month, the gov- land, Texas and many oth- head off death and hos- direct it to the people that
delivered until June. ernment has sent states er states have distributed pitalization. Only one of we know are of greatest
White House COVID-19 co- enough Pfizer pills to treat the pills more widely, so them, from GlaxoSmith- risk?"
ordinator Jeff Zients said this 164,000 people, allocating that at least one pharmacy Kline, appears effective The increasingly compli-
week that the government them by population. That in each county carries the against omicron, and it, cated treatment picture
collaborated with Pfizer to approach is coming under drug. too, is being rationed. comes as exhausted, frus-
help speed up develop- fire from some states with Despite the strict prescrib- Federal officials are limit- trated hospital workers try
ment of the pill by several heavier caseloads. ing guidelines, some pa- ing shipments of it to about to manage rising admis-
months, and that officials The amount allocated to tients have been able to 50,000 doses per week. sions.
continue to work with the New York — enough to get the pills through luck This week, the govern- As of Sunday, nearly
company to look for ways treat about 20,000 people and persistence. ment announced it is buy- 128,000 Americans were in
to boost production. — is just not enough, said Craige Campbell, a web- ing 600,000 more doses, on the hospital with COVID-19,
Pfizer said it is adding ca- Health Commissioner Dr. site manager from Desert top of 400,000 purchased in surpassing the all-time high
pacity: "We expect to use Mary Bassett. Hot Springs, California, be- November. of around 125,000 last Jan-
our strong manufacturing "We need more of these gan leaving messages with At the UPMC hospital sys- uary. While fewer COVID-19
capabilities and our ex- drugs in order to make his doctor immediately tem in Pennsylvania, the patients now require inten-
tensive supplier network to them alter the course of after testing positive for staff can treat fewer than sive care, the surge is push-
continue to improve output the pandemic and reduce COVID-19 and developing 1,000 patients per week ing hospitals to the break-
rapidly." hospitalization," she said. a 101-degree fever. De- with antibodies, down from ing point.
Merck's pill, molnupiravir, is State guidelines gener- spite having no underlying as many as 4,000 earlier in Considering that threat,
easier to manufacture and ally recommend doctors health conditions, he was the pandemic. Pfizer's pill arrived just in
available in greater quanti- give priority for the drugs soon able to get a prescrip- Doctors and nurses around time, Schrank said. q

PAHO: Omicron to become dominant

variant in Americas shortly

vaccination has meant million on Jan. 8, from 3.4 cases, while Canada is also
that COVID-19 deaths million cases on Jan. 1. The registering a rebound. In
have not increased at the number of cases was 250% the Caribbean, Puerto Rico
same rate as infections. higher than a year earlier, and the Dominican Repub-
"While delta is still causing when there were 2.4 million. lic have seen the highest
new infections in the Ameri- It said that in the first week increases, while Belize and
cas, based on current of 2022, deaths related to Panama have seen rises in
trends, omicron is on track COVID-19 in the Americas Central America.
Associated Press to become the dominant increased 31% from the In South America, Bolivia,
By GISELA SOLOMON cas in the coming weeks, strain in our region," Caris- previous week. Ecuador, Peru and Brazil
Associated Press where confirmed cases sa Etienne, director of the The omicron variant, which have all registered rising
MIAMI (AP) — The Pan have reached record lev- agency known by its initials spreads more easily, has numbers of cases, with Ar-
American Health Organiza- els. PAHO, said during an on- been detected in 42 of the gentina and Paraguay re-
tion said Wednesday it ex- The health agency added line news conference. 56 countries and territories porting a 300% increase in
pects omicron to become that although healthcare PAHO said coronavirus virus of the Americas. coronavirus cases over the
the predominant corona- systems face challenges infections across the Ameri- The United States is report- past week, according to
virus variant in the Ameri- with rising hospitalizations, cas almost doubled to 6.1 ing the highest number of the health organization. q