In his Jan 19 press conference, President Joe Biden pushed for vaccinating everyone against COVID-19, including babies as soon as the science shows it to be safe, as it presumably will. But he also mentioned treatment for patients who nonetheless become infected, observes Doctors for Disaster Preparedness (DDP) president Jane Orient, M.D.
“Additionally, we’re increasing the availability of new medicines recommended by real doctors, not conspir—conspiracy theorists.” At the press conference, he specifically named monoclonal antibodies and alluded to new pills.
Previously, Biden stated that he had doubled the government’s order of Pfizer’s Paxlovid, from 10 million to 20 million doses, while noting that it takes months to make a pill.
The federal government has been rationing monoclonal antibodies, which in any event are probably ineffective against the omicron variant, notes DDP.
The State of New York has received Paxlovid doses for treating only about 20,000 people. Its Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett observed that that is insufficient.
Paxlovid is authorized by the FDA under an emergency use authorization (EUA). It contains a protease inhibitor, nirmatrelvir, to prevent viral replication plus the HIV drug ritonavir to prevent the protease inhibitor from being broken down. According to Pfizer press releases, Paxlovid has been effective in early treatment of mild to moderate COVID.
The Merck drug molnupiravir, which also has an EUA, could be available sooner. But because it results in genetic mutations, it is feared that it could lead to new viral variants or result in cancer or birth defects in humans.
Meanwhile, the government is hoarding in the Strategic National Stockpile some 60 million doses of hydroxychloroquine, which were donated by generous pharmaceutical companies to treat COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine was FDA approved in 1955 and has been safely used by hundreds of millions of people for a variety of indications.
“Why is President Biden touting a medication that is mostly unavailable?” asks Dr. Orient. “And why is the government authorizing and recommending a medication that may be unsafe for many, while affordable, long-established drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are discouraged or suppressed?”
Doctors for Disaster Preparedness is a group of scientists (including physicians) founded in 1984, which provides information to help save lives in the event of natural or man-made disasters.