According to a novel study, it appears that the COVID-19 pill from Pfizer provides little to no benefit to younger people. However, it still seems to be highly efficient in lowering the risks of hospitalization and death in older people.
The research was published earlier this week and involved no less than 109,000 patients from Israel.
The result is calling into question the use of Paxlovid in the United States as well since it’s been deemed efficient and convenient for at home treatment by the American government.
In fact, to purchase this drug and make it available in drugstores everywhere, the Biden administration has spent over $10 billion.
Still, the study proved that Paxlovid was indeed able to reduce hospitalizations for those with ages over 65 by around 75 percent!
Unfortunately, younger adults seem to not get nearly the same benefits from taking this pill as those with ages between 40 and 65 saw no positive results.
These findings seem to reflect the continuous changes of the virus as well as the pandemic itself.
More precisely, the drug doesn’t make as much of a difference in the health of younger adults partially because the vast majority have already developed a form of protection against the virus, be it through immunization or prior infection antibodies, greatly reducing their risks.
University of Minnesota researcher and physician, Dr. David Boulware, stated that “Paxlovid will remain really important for those with the highest risk of severe COVID-19, such as seniors and those with compromised immune systems. But for the majority of Americans who are eligible now, this really does not have a lot of benefit.”
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In the United States, Paxlovid was authorized late last year by the Food and Drug Administration for all those 12 and older who are at high risk because of health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
They based their decision on a Pfizer study that showed it was efficient in treating unvaccinated or re-infected patients.
About this, Boulware, who was not involved in the new study, said that “Those people do exist but they’re relatively rare because most people now have either gotten vaccinated or they’ve gotten infected.”
And sure enough, Pfizer also reported earlier this summer that another research of theirs on the effects of Paxlovid on healthy adults failed to show significant benefits but the results are yet to be published in any medical journals.
