A new pill will be made available to Australians who are particularly vulnerable to COVID this weekend, allowing them to treat the virus at home.
Paxlovid tablets will be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme on Sunday after the Therapeutic Goods Administration approved the drug in January.
The prescription-only medicine must be taken as soon as possible following a diagnosis and within five days of developing symptoms. It’s the first oral treatment of its kind designed to slow or stop the virus from replicating and aims to reduce the chances of hospitalisation in high-risk patients who develop severe COVID-19.
Pfizer Australia and New Zealand’s senior medical director, Dr Krishan Thiru, told Nine Network’s Today show the treatment does not substitute for vaccination against COVID-19.
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