Gavin Newsom received Paxlovid to treat COVID-19: How it works, who’s eligible, and how to get it
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Twitter he is positive for COVID-19 and is receiving Paxlovid treatments, which sparked questions about how the treatment works and its accessibility.KCRA 3 spoke with Dr. Vanessa Walker of Pulmonary Medicine Associates, who answered some of those questions.Q: What is Paxlovid and how is it administered?Dr. Walker told KCRA 3 it is two different types of anti-viral pills. You take 30 total pills in five days. According to study data, Dr. Walker said Paxlovid reduced hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 by 88%.Dr. Walker: By affecting that enzyme, it makes the virus unable to replicate the way it’s supposed to, which means it’s unable to create as many copies as it needs to in order to spread through your body and cause severe disease. The key is to take it early. These drugs are not meant to treat people once they get very sick, so they don’t really play that big of a role once you’re in the hospital or once you’re in the ICU.Q: How does Paxlovid compare to other treatments?Dr. Walker: Paxlovid is much more effective than Molnupiravir. If you go down the line of therapy, the front-line therapy would be Paxlovid for people who are qualified for it. Q: Who should take Paxlovid?Dr. Walker: The people that would benefit from this are people that are high-risk of having severe disease. That’s our elderly population and our patients who have other chronic health conditions.KCRA 3 staff note: The FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization says health care providers should consider the benefit-risk for an individual patient.Q: How do you decide whether or not to prescribe Paxlovid to a patient?Dr. Walker: For me, it’s exactly what we talked about: your risk. How likely is it that you are going to end up in the hospital with severe disease. The one thing I would like to stress is that means those of us who are fairly young and healthy and don’t have a lot of issues, you should not be taking Paxlovid once you get COVID. If I got COVID tomorrow, I would not write myself a prescription for Paxlovid. Q: Will Paxlovid be available for everyone to take at some point?Dr. Walker: I think that’s probably in the wings at some point. Just not technically right now. Q: You mentioned “rebound COVID” for people who have taken Paxlovid. What is that? Dr. Walker explained the issue occurs after a patient completes their five-day course of the anti-viral. A week after they stop the medication, they have COVID-19 symptoms again and test positive again even after tested negative. Dr. Walker: We’re still not really sure what exactly is happening with this. We don’t think that it’s a mutation. It’s not a new strain in your body. I think what happens is just in certain people the antiviral medication drops the viral load so low that it becomes undetectable, and once the medications go away, it’s able to build itself back up again and then causes the infection.”You are able to get a prescription of paxlovid through your doctor or health care provider. If you are uninsured, the California Department of Public Health has opened OptumServe Test to Treat sites that are free to uninsured people to get tested, be seen by a provider, and receive prescription antiviral pills. Here’s where you can find a Test to Treat site near you.KCRA 3 reached out to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office asking how he was able to receive the Paxlovid treatment.In a statement, a spokesperson said:”The Governor received a prescription from his doctor. Eligibility is determined by individual medical practitioners. The Governor wanted to publicize the use of Paxlovid to raise awareness about available treatments for physicians and providers who believe their patients can benefit from the treatment to avoid serious illness. Many who could benefit from Paxlovid are not getting it mainly from lack of awareness about its availability. It is important that Paxlovid is started early in one’s disease course to optimize its benefit. Patients who are experiencing new COVID symptoms should talk to their doctor about available treatments.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Twitter he is positive for COVID-19 and is receiving Paxlovid treatments, which sparked questions about how the treatment works and its accessibility.
KCRA 3 spoke with Dr. Vanessa Walker of Pulmonary Medicine Associates, who answered some of those questions.
Advertisement
Q: What is Paxlovid and how is it administered?
Dr. Walker told KCRA 3 it is two different types of anti-viral pills. You take 30 total pills in five days. According to study data, Dr. Walker said Paxlovid reduced hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 by 88%.
Dr. Walker: By affecting that enzyme, [that helps the virus replicate] it makes the virus unable to replicate the way it’s supposed to, which means it’s unable to create as many copies as it needs to in order to spread through your body and cause severe disease. The key is to take it early. These drugs are not meant to treat people once they get very sick, so they don’t really play that big of a role once you’re in the hospital or once you’re in the ICU.
Q: How does Paxlovid compare to other treatments?
Dr. Walker: Paxlovid is much more effective than Molnupiravir. If you go down the line of therapy, the front-line therapy would be Paxlovid for people who are qualified for it.
Q: Who should take Paxlovid?
Dr. Walker: The people that would benefit from this are people that are high-risk of having severe disease. That’s our elderly population and our patients who have other chronic health conditions.
KCRA 3 staff note: The FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization says health care providers should consider the benefit-risk for an individual patient.
Q: How do you decide whether or not to prescribe Paxlovid to a patient?
Dr. Walker: For me, it’s exactly what we talked about: your risk. How likely is it that you are going to end up in the hospital with severe disease. The one thing I would like to stress is that means those of us who are fairly young and healthy and don’t have a lot of issues, you should not be taking Paxlovid once you get COVID. If I got COVID tomorrow, I would not write myself a prescription for Paxlovid.
Q: Will Paxlovid be available for everyone to take at some point?
Dr. Walker: I think that’s probably in the wings at some point. Just not technically right now.
Q: You mentioned “rebound COVID” for people who have taken Paxlovid. What is that?
Dr. Walker explained the issue occurs after a patient completes their five-day course of the anti-viral. A week after they stop the medication, they have COVID-19 symptoms again and test positive again even after tested negative.
Dr. Walker: We’re still not really sure what exactly is happening with this. We don’t think that it’s a mutation. It’s not a new strain in your body. I think what happens is just in certain people the antiviral medication drops the viral load so low that it becomes undetectable, and once the medications go away, it’s able to build itself back up again and then causes the infection.”
You are able to get a prescription of paxlovid through your doctor or health care provider. If you are uninsured, the California Department of Public Health has opened OptumServe Test to Treat sites that are free to uninsured people to get tested, be seen by a provider, and receive prescription antiviral pills. Here’s where you can find a Test to Treat site near you.
KCRA 3 reached out to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office asking how he was able to receive the Paxlovid treatment.
In a statement, a spokesperson said:
“The Governor received a prescription from his doctor. Eligibility is determined by individual medical practitioners. The Governor wanted to publicize the use of Paxlovid to raise awareness about available treatments for physicians and providers who believe their patients can benefit from the treatment to avoid serious illness. Many who could benefit from Paxlovid are not getting it mainly from lack of awareness about its availability. It is important that Paxlovid is started early in one’s disease course to optimize its benefit. Patients who are experiencing new COVID symptoms should talk to their doctor about available treatments.”
