Retired RN Alece Carrigan has had three vaccinations for Covid-19. But with the high contagious omicron variant causing infections even in fully vaccinated and boosted people, Carrigan has been largely sheltering at home. After two years of being cautious, she is tired of being so isolated and wants to do what she had planned to do during retirement.
Carrigan said she is excited about the new Covid oral anti-viral drugs.
“These are the most important tools next to vaccines that have been developed to battle the pandemic,” Carrigan said. “If I knew I had access to the anti-viral pills if I got a breakthrough case of Covid, I would feel more comfortable stepping out into the world again with more normalcy.”
Carrigan said she checked with her physician and was told that if she came down with the Covid, the physician would be willing to prescribe Pfizer’s antiviral medicine Paxlovid, which the company states is 89 percent effective against hospitalization and deaths in adults at severe risk for Covid-19 complications.
“I’ve been reading there aren’t that many doses out there, and some people are finding it difficult to get their doctors to prescribe it,” Carrigan said. “Some local doctors don’t know about it. They don’t know where to find the medicine, and that is why I decided to do my own research. I went on the website for Walmart, and found out it was available at Huntsville, Rogers and Springdale. I hope between all three of them, one would have it if I needed it.”
Another local woman who had a breakthrough case of Covid despite being fully vaccinated and boosted said her doctor didn’t seem to be very familiar with Paxlovid and didn’t think the drug was available. She is in her 70s, an age group at higher risk for complications from Covid. She didn’t have to be hospitalized, and is recovering, but describes it as “a roller coaster ride” feeling better one day and worse the next.
She was disappointed at not being able to take the antiviral pill that she believes would have reduced the severity of Covid and potentially protected her from long Covid—a condition where symptoms continue for months.
ABC News reported recently that three quarters of the counties in the country are out.
“There were only 265,000 treatments rolled out in January when many millions more were planned,” she said.
Walmart states on its website that “available at no cost to eligible patients with a valid prescription, the authorized Covid-19 antiviral medications are an oral treatment that helps with mild to moderate Covid-19 symptoms & can help reduce the risk of hospitalization. Eligible individuals can ask their provider to send their prescription electronically to a Walmart or Sam’s Club pharmacy that has the medication in stock. Treatments are pharmacy curbside pickup or drive-thru only—please do not enter the store.”
Walmart said it worked closely with the federal government and state health departments to choose locations where states determined that the antiviral treatments were needed most. Although current supply restricts the medications’ availability to a limited number of areas, more Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies are expected to provide the medicines as more doses are produced.
Arkansas Chief Medical Office Dr. Jennifer Dillaha wrote in an email to the Eureka Springs Independent that the U.S. government has purchased the supply of the oral antiviral medication and provides a specific allocation to each state every two week. The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) is communicating with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to increase the allocation to Arkansas.
Dillaha said it is possible that people who are at high risk for severe Covid-19 may not realize that they are at high risk.
“The FDA has information for consumers on their website about the available treatments. The CDC also provides information for patients on their website at Treatments Your Healthcare Provider Might Recommend if You Are Sick. Of course, people may not have access to the internet, so it is important for people to contact their doctor when they have a positive test for Covid-19 to see what their options are.”
ADH is collaborating with the Arkansas Medical Society to provide education regarding the treatments for Covid-19 to health care providers around the state. For example, Dr. Atul Kothari and Elizabeth Woodland of ADH provided a webinar hosted by AMS on January 12 regarding the available treatments. A recording of the webinar is available on the AMS website at arkmed.org/covid-webinars/.
Dillaha wrote that the education provided by ADH and AMS will help physicians understand the differences between the treatments available.
“The only monoclonal antibody product that is currently available is Sotrovimab,” Dillaha said. “The FDA has revoked their authorization of the other monoclonal antibody products because they are not effective against the omicron variant. Those products are no longer available.”