, Columnist
Who Should Get First Dibs on Pfizer’s Covid Pill?
The immune-compromised patient could benefit from Paxlovid. So might the unvaccinated. Here’s why there won’t be enough for everyone.
Pfizer headquarters in New York.
Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
Scientists who’ve been reluctant to talk up any new Covid-19 treatment are suddenly using the expression “game changer” to describe the Pfizer antiviral pill Paxlovid. But the changed game will include rationing.
It’s no coincidence that it works the same way as the drugs that changed everything with the AIDS epidemic. Called protease inhibitors, they turned HIV from a death sentence to a manageable disease.