#Paxlovid

[dinosaurwithablog]

If you get covid, please, take paxlovid. You can only take it for the first 5 days you have covid. On the first day with covid, I took it, and I felt so much better that same day. It's miraculous. Volitile diarrhea is a side effect, but it's worth it. I took it in the morning and by the evening I felt great. They give you pills each day for 5 days. I took them all. I suffered symptoms from covid for only half a day, and then I felt wonderful. I couldn't believe it. I'm old and I have breathing issues so I was worried. Paxlovid took all my worries away. I'd be happy to be the poster child for this medication. Thank you, OP, for sharing how to get this med with everyone.

Opinion Here’s how to get free Paxlovid as many times as you need it

When the public health emergency around covid-19 ended, vaccines and treatments became commercial products, meaning companies could charge for them as they do other pharmaceuticals. Paxlovid, the highly effective antiviral pill that can prevent covid from becoming severe, now has a list price of nearly $1,400 for a five-day treatment course.

Thanks to an innovative agreement between the Biden administration and the drug’s manufacturer, Pfizer, Americans can still access the medication free or at very low cost through a program called Paxcess. The problem is that too few people — including pharmacists — are aware of it.

I learned of Paxcess only after readers wrote that pharmacies were charging them hundreds of dollars — or even the full list price — to fill their Paxlovid prescription. This shouldn’t be happening. A representative from Pfizer, which runs the program, explained to me that patients on Medicare and Medicaid or who are uninsured should get free Paxlovid. They need to sign up by going to paxlovid.iassist.com or by calling 877-219-7225. “We wanted to make enrollment as easy and as quick as possible,” the representative said.

Indeed, the process is straightforward. I clicked through the web form myself, and there are only three sets of information required. Patients first enter their name, date of birth and address. They then input their prescriber’s name and address and select their insurance type.

All this should take less than five minutes and can be done at home or at the pharmacy. A physician or pharmacist can fill it out on behalf of the patient, too. Importantly, this form does not ask for medical history, proof of a positive coronavirus test, income verification, citizenship status or other potentially sensitive and time-consuming information.

But there is one key requirement people need to be aware of: Patients must have a prescription for Paxlovid to start the enrollment process. It is not possible to pre-enroll. (Though, in a sense, people on Medicare or Medicaid are already pre-enrolled.)

Once the questionnaire is complete, the website generates a voucher within seconds. People can print it or email it themselves, and then they can exchange it for a free course of Paxlovid at most pharmacies.

Pfizer’s representative tells me that more than 57,000 pharmacies are contracted to participate in this program, including major chain drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens and large retail chains such as Walmart, Kroger and Costco. For those unable to go in person, a mail-order option is available, too.

The program works a little differently for patients with commercial insurance. Some insurance plans already cover Paxlovid without a co-pay. Anyone who is told there will be a charge should sign up for Paxcess, which would further bring down their co-pay and might even cover the entire cost.

Several readers have attested that Paxcess’s process was fast and seamless. I was also glad to learn that there is basically no limit to the number of times someone could use it. A person who contracts the coronavirus three times in a year could access Paxlovid free or at low cost each time.

Unfortunately, readers informed me of one major glitch: Though the Paxcess voucher is honored when presented, some pharmacies are not offering the program proactively. As a result, many patients are still being charged high co-pays even if they could have gotten the medication at no cost.

This is incredibly frustrating. However, after interviewing multiple people involved in the process, including representatives of major pharmacy chains and Biden administration officials, I believe everyone is sincere in trying to make things right. As we saw in the early days of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, it’s hard to get a new program off the ground. Policies that look good on paper run into multiple barriers during implementation.

Those involved are actively identifying and addressing these problems. For instance, a Walgreens representative explained to me that in addition to educating pharmacists and pharmacy techs about the program, the company learned it also had to make system changes to account for a different workflow. Normally, when pharmacists process a prescription, they inform patients of the co-pay and dispense the medication. But with Paxlovid, the system needs to stop them if there is a co-pay, so they can prompt patients to sign up for Paxcess.

Here is where patients and consumers must take a proactive role. That might not feel fair; after all, if someone is ill, people expect that the system will work to help them. But that’s not our reality. While pharmacies work to fix their system glitches, patients need to be their own best advocates. That means signing up for Paxcess as soon as they receive a Paxlovid prescription and helping spread the word so that others can get the antiviral at little or no cost, too.

{source}

[meeedeee]

https://wapo.st/49z3ocf

If you live in the United States, and have Medicare, Medicaid or no insurance you can get Paxlovid easily and for free for as many times as you need it. There is a new program called Pax Access

Even if you have health care insurance that will charge you a copay, you can use this program as well

All you need is a prescription. No proof of a positive COVID test, no health questionnaire and once you sign up you can take the coupon to your pharmacy immediately

Gift article, no paywall

https://wapo.st/49z3ocf

[liminalweirdo]

transcript:

"So I'm just getting over my first covid infection, and this is a PSA to fucking get paxlovid. I managed to get it within the first 24 hours of having symptoms, and I went from feeling like I got hit by a truck to practically having no symptoms within four days. Since nobody fucking masks anymore, but you should, I think it's important to have a plan for what you will do when you inevitably get covid, and try to reduce the impact that will have on you and your health.

Paxlovid not only reduces the symptoms that you have from covid, but also reduces the chance of developing long-covid after infection.

If you don't have a plan for how you will get paxlovid if you get infected with covid, send your doctor a message right now and ask "What would be the quickest and most effective way for me to get paxlovid if I get a covid infection."

It does have a lot of medications that it can't be taken with, so keep an eye out for that, you might not be able to take it. But cases are up significantly right now, and it's important to have a plan of what you will do to take care of yourself, if you get infected.

Also, take care of yourself and your community by masking, please." [end transcript]

❗️please read❗️ i should mention its still regulated to just be prescribed for “high risk” patients, but in the words of my doctor “thats stupid, everyone should have it”. So just keep that in mind when trying to get it. My doctor asked if ive ever had anxiety or depression, i said yes, and that was enough to get it. It was $6 with my insurance, but that will of course vary person to person. Repeat infections lead to higher chances of long covid, so having tools to resuce that chance is crurial to navigating this mass disabling event. Also take it with food, or the taste it leaves in your mouth will be even worse.

source, spencer_sunboy on tiktok

[sanguinarysanguinity]

For U.S. residents who are on Medicare, Medicaid, or are uninsured, and who have been prescribed the antiviral Paxlovid (used to reduce the severity of COVID19), the medication is free through Pfizer's patient assistance program. People who have private insurance might also be able to use the link reduce their co-pay.

(Or if you prefer the phone to a website, you can call 877-219-7225 to sign up.)

The list price for Paxlovid is $1400 for the five-day course, and now that the federal government is no longer providing the medication for free, some people are being told by pharmacies that they have to pay list price (because they are uninsured, or because the medicine is not covered on their insurance). If that's you -- or if your co-pay is steeper than you can afford -- please check out the patient assistance program above!

(Hat tip to Dr. Leana S. Wen at the Washington Post, who talked about the program in her latest column.)

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive (Daily updates!)

By Mary Van Beusekom, MS

New findings from two studies have tied use of the antiviral drug nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) to a reduction in COVID-19 hospitalizations and death, as well as to faster resolution of symptoms and less use of healthcare resources.

Benefit seen only in older patients For the first study, published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection, a Medical University of Vienna–led research team compared the effectiveness of Paxlovid with that of the antiviral drug molnupiravir (Lagevrio)—and with that of not receiving an antiviral—against hospitalization and all-cause death from January 2022 to May 2023. Participants were adults with mild to moderate infections and one or more risk factors for severe illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.

"The oral antivirals nirmatrelvir-ritonavir and molnupiravir are the mainstay treatment for Covid-19 in non-hospitalised adults at increased risk of severe disease," the study authors wrote. "Both oral antivirals were approved at the time of the study period (2022/2023) for the treatment of non-hospitalised patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19, but the current National Institute of Health guidelines favour nirmatrelvir-ritonavir over molnupiravir."

Of the 113,399 eligible COVID-19 patients in the retrospective cohort study, 10.7% received Paxlovid, 9.5% received molnupiravir, and 80.0% served as untreated controls. Over 96% of participants were previously infected with or vaccinated against COVID-19.

A total of 0.43% of Paxlovid recipients, 1.4% of molnupiravir users, and 1.13% of controls were hospitalized within 28 days (risk difference [RD], -0.7%; Paxlovid vs control RD, 0.26%). No Paxlovid recipients and 0.13% each of molnupiravir users and controls died.

The estimated risk of hospitalization was 0.57% in Paxlovid users and 1.09% in controls (adjusted RD [aRD], -0.53%). The estimated risk of death was 0.0% in the Paxlovid group and 0.13% in controls (aRD, -0.13%).

The number of patients needed to treat to prevent hospitalization and death was 190 in Paxlovid recipients and 792 in controls, respectively. These statistically significant aRDs were seen only among patients 60 years and older.

The estimated risk of hospitalization in the molnupiravir analysis was 1.36% in the molnupiravir group and 1.16% among controls (aRD, 0.2%). The estimated risk of death was 0.12% in molnupiravir recipients and 0.14% in controls (aRD, -0.01%).

"Among outpatients aged ≥60 years with Covid-19 in an Omicron-dominated era, treatment with nirmatrelvir-ritonavir was associated with a lower risk of hospitalisation and all-cause death within 28 days, albeit with wide confidence intervals and high numbers needed to treat," the study authors wrote.

"This finding was not observed in molnupiravir users and younger nirmatrelvir-ritonavir users. Future studies are needed to better define target populations that show greater benefit from treatment with nirmatrelvir-ritonavir," they concluded.

Proportion of patients seeking care slashed 73% The second study, a phase 2/3 randomized clinical trial published today in Clinical Infectious Diseases, also found protection against COVID-19 hospitalization and death in adults receiving Paxlovid and demonstrated a faster resolution of symptoms and lower use of healthcare resources compared with a placebo in high-risk patients.

The research was led by researchers from Pfizer, which developed Paxlovid. The drug was given to 977 symptomatic COVID-19 patients, while 989 were given a placebo, at 343 sites in 21 countries from July 2021 through December 2021, a Delta-predominant period.

Paxlovid significantly shortened the time to symptom relief (median, 13 vs 15 days; hazard ratio, 1.27) and resolution (16 vs 19 days; HR, 1.20) through 28 days and cut the number of COVID-related medical visits by 64.3% and the proportion of patients seeking care by 73.2%.

In total, 0.9% of Paxlovid recipients and 6.4% in the placebo group were hospitalized, for a relative risk reduction of 85.5%. Hospitalized Paxlovid recipients had briefer hospital stays, and none required intensive care or mechanical ventilation. Fewer patients in the Paxlovid group needed other COVID-19 treatments, and none died by 6 months, compared with 15 in the placebo group.

"The importance of having effective COVID-19 treatments such as NMV/r [Paxlovid] to reduce burden on healthcare systems, both ambulatory and hospital based, should not be underestimated," the authors wrote.

Study Links: www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S1198-743X(24)00508-1/fulltext

academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciae551/7889107

[chronicallydragons]

I’ve decided the taste of paxlovid is the taste of 🔥🔥VIRUS DYING🔥🔥 which means THIS IS THE BLOOD OF MY ENEMIES UPON MY TONGUE AS THEY FALL BEFORE MY DEFENSES

(It's so yucky I have to romanticize it somehow)

[porterdavis]

RAMQ to the rescue

I mumbled something about Paxlovid and my girlfriend grabbed me by the ear and marched me to the pharmacy on a Sunday night. Turns out the head guy was working due to staff shortage and the combination of looking at me in my sorry-ass state and getting the full effects of my g/f's charm, after 20 minutes of bureaucracy and paper shuffling I had a five-day course of the stuff --marked down from $1400 to 0. Sweet.

I still feel like crap but I know I have the state of the art medicine coursing through my veins.

[start-anywhere]

[lilithism1848]

[arinrowan]

Paxlovid Warning for Guanfacine

Guanfacine is contraindicated by Paxlovid, and if you take Paxlovid, you shouldn't take Guanfacine for about a week. Any doctor prescribing or the pharmacist administering should warn you in advance, but this post is some alternatives for the people who take it for anxiety or mood reasons based on my own personal experiences and NOT as a medical professional.

If you take Guanfacine to help sleep, I recommend melatonin. If you already take melatonin, try doubling or tripling your dose. If you take ambien, be aware Paxlovid can increase its potency or overdose risk, and try halving or quartering your regular dose.

If you take a benzodiazepine as a rescue med, be aware Paxlovid will increase its potency and overdose risk. Try halving or quartering your regular dose.

If you take marijauna for sleep or anxiety, there's no official medical info on how the drugs interact but be very careful about dosing. Same as above, try quartering or halving your normal dose.

Again, not a medical professional, but figured it might be helpful for people to be aware in advance.

[alessandriana]

Got my paxlovid prescription this morning and I felt about 30% better less than an hour after taking it, so that's awesome. Even the taste isn't particularly bad.

I get the impression that a lot of people don't know who qualifies to get paxlovid. It's not just people 65+. It's anyone who is high risk for progression to severe covid, including those who have or are:

* immune-compromised

* asthma

* obesity (>30 BMI)

* depression or other mental health conditions

* diabetes

* lung disease

* have smoked

* cancer

* cystic fibrosis

* HIV

* physical inactivity

* disabilities (defined at the link)

...and a lot more. There's a complete list of all the conditions CDC considers high risk here:

Highly recommend looking into it if you get covid.

[leafdlc]

i got covid for the first time early last month and it was minor, I thought. the second I tested positive I contacted my doctor and got paxlovid prescribed to me. I picked it up the same day and started taking the twice daily medication that night.

yes, paxlovid can help reduce/minimize long covid symptoms so I thought I would be fine. but to this day I still am only in the begining steps of recovering from the brainfog, forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, and trouble paying attention for longer periods of time.

it's horrible. it sucks shit. I am constantly missing my exits and turns when I drive, even WITH a navigator on my phone. I stop talking in the middle of sentences bc I forget what I was even talking about in the first place.

the way covid affected my brain makes me feel like I got another concussion, but without the pain or the dizziness or the nausea or any of the typical physical concussion symptoms that come with one.

I constantly see people in all groups all ages not masking over here. or coughing into the open air and sneezing without covering their nose and mouth with their elbow. didn't we learn this in preschool. what's your problem??? if you can do anything to stop or prevent someone else's suffering then why wouldn't you???

[liminalweirdo]

do you ever think about how Olympians — people in arguably the best physical health in the world — have unmitigated access to Paxlovid, but people with multiple disabilities like me "don't qualify."

Because I think about that a lot.

[spooniestrong]

[pandemichub]

More information about Stanford research goals and the RECOVER Program/Initiative:

[noah-liketheboat]

So apparently an uncommon symptom of covid is rash, and it’s mostly seen in young people (of which I am). And boy oh boy am I miserable.

I for real life thought I had scarlet fever bc it’s apparently just strep throat and a strep skin rash and I thought my sore throat was strep. Turns out I have covid and either an unrelated rash or a covid rash??? which is a thing you get????

If the rash isn’t gone by the time I finish the steroids and paxlovid (autoimmune disorder baybeeee) I will probably have to go get it cultured. Luckily it doesn’t look too gnarly except in places where I scratched too hard and my hEDS fragile skin reared its head. But like I’m so fucking uncomfortable and the paxlovid and steroids seem to be doing fuck all for it.

I just put on a fuckton of ✨lavender aspercreme✨ which is just 4% lidocaine. So now I smell aesthetic and feel goopy. But a little less itchy.