Pfizer’s ‘Got COVID Paxlovid‘ ad campaign has drifted away alongside traditional flu season, which seems odd. Thanks to Pfizer’s COVID Jab, Flu season can be all year round, but Paxlovid can’t help, and it says that on the package insert.
- PAXLOVID is not authorized for use as pre-exposure or post-exposure prophylaxis for prevention of COVID-19 …
- PAXLOVID is not approved for any use, including for use for the treatment of COVID-19.
It sounds a bit dishonest to suggest the best treatment for a COVID infection is Paxlovid when it has not been approved for that use. You can’t take it to prevent COVID. You can’t take it after you get COVID. And it is not approved for any use, including the treatment of COVID. But the Biden Administration pre-purchased billions of doses from Pfizer and leveraged their buy to get the FDA to issue a EUA, after which we discovered what Paxlovid could do. It could suppress symptoms but not clear the virus turning you into a COVID-Trojan Horse.
Paxlovid always became synonymous with COVID-rebound, which is a nice way of saying once you can no longer legally take it (The EUA restricts use to five days), your symptoms can return (rebound). You may even end up sicker than before you took it.
Billions of doses, no refund, and not many folks have lined up to get their free, not approved treatment. As in, not authorized. As in, emergency use, but what emergency and to what end?
Last year, the U.K. Daily Mail reported on a study that found Paxlovid can increase the risk of blood clots when taken with blood thinners and irregular heartbeat when taken with heart pain medications. Researchers also found it can cause liver toxicity when taken with statins. Do you really believe every doctor has made sure to take his patients off statins before prescribing this drug?
Remember, this drug is being dispensed in pharmacies without a doctor’s prescription as if it’s candy. Do we even know all its potential safety concerns? No, but we do know it’s contraindicated with many drugs. Also, keep in mind that technically Paxlovid was only accorded EUA status for high-risk patients – the very sorts of people who will largely be dependent upon drugs with such contraindications.
Paxlovid doesn’t work or play well with the very people for whom it was meant. And this, we are told, is the best medical science can manage, reinforcing our public health progression from ‘do no harm’ to “harm is good if it pays.”
