Story at a glance
- New York City mayor Eric Adams announced New Yorkers can order antiviral COVID-19 pills for free right to their doorstep.
- Due to limited supply, New Yorkers who test positive for COVID-19 and are at higher risk for severe illness will be prioritized.
- Currently, the Food and Drug Administration has given emergency use authorization to two oral, at-home COVID-19 treatments.
Newly confirmed New York City mayor Eric Adams had plenty of good news to share over the weekend, including the availability of COVID-19 antiviral medication that New Yorkers could have delivered right to their doorstep for free.
Adams held a press conference over the weekend where he touted more than 75 percent of all New Yorkers have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which is more than 11 percent ahead of the national average. The mayor also announced that oral antiviral pills to treat COVID-19 infections were now available for free, same-day delivery through the city’s Health Department’s pharmacy partner Alto Pharmacy.
However, because the antiviral pills are on short supply, those who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are at higher risk for severe illness will be prioritized in receiving the treatment.
Ted Long, senior vice president of ambulatory care and population health at New York City Health + Hospitals, said in a statement that “as a primary care doctor right here in the Bronx, for the past two years I’ve been fighting to help my patients with COVID, and dreaming of the day when I could give them a pill that could save their life,”
“Today, that day is finally here — and we’ll even deliver that pill to your home to remove all barriers to New Yorkers getting this life-saving treatment.”
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Long also said that those who don’t have a doctor that could prescribe them COVID-19 medication can still call the city’s hotline at 212-COVID19 for assistance.
Currently, there are two oral, at-home medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization, Pfizer’s Paxlovid and Merck’s molnupiravir. Both pills help stop the virus from reproducing, which in turn reduces the amount of virus in the body and prevents symptoms from getting worse.
Both drugs required a series of pills to be taken daily. Paxlovid is prescribed as three tablets taken together twice a day for five days, with amounting to 30 tablets. Molnupiravir requires four pills every 12 hours for five days, totalling 40 pills.
However, both pills are not a substitute for vaccination, with the FDA reiterating that neither pill is authorized as a pre-exposure or post-exposure prevention of COVID-19.
There are also monoclonal antibody treatments available as COVID-19 treatments, but they can only be administrated in a hospital or in a health care setting capable of providing acute care comparable to inpatient hospital care.
Adams’ announcement comes as New York State Department of Health announced four confirmed cases of the new omicron subvariant BA.2. Though the World Health Organization does not consider BA.2 to be a cause for concern as more infections pop up in countries around the world.
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