Q&A On Pfizer’s COVID-19 Antiviral Pill

Ever since the pandemic began, scientists have been searching for a COVID-19 treatment that actually works and is easy to take. A year after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the first COVID-19 vaccines -- themselves remarkable achievements -- that holy grail appears to have been realized with Paxlovid, Pfizer’s antiviral pill.

In a randomized controlled trial, unvaccinated high-risk patients who took the pills within five days of developing symptoms were nearly 90% less likely to develop severe COVID-19 than those who received a placebo.

On the basis of that trial, the FDA greenlighted the medicine in late December, but supplies of Paxlovid were severely limited. Now, that shortage no longer exists, but getting the drug can still be challenging for some people. The Biden administration launched a new effort aimed at increasing uptake late last month.

With more and more people taking Paxlovid -- or wondering whether to take it -- Science Editor Jessica McDonald did a deep dive on the medicine, explaining how it works, who’s eligible to take it, and what the clinical trials show -- or, in some cases, don’t show.

For example, Jessica explains that Paxlovid hasn’t yet been shown to benefit vaccinated people, although experts expect it will still help those folks to some degree.

And she explores what’s known about a curious phenomenon in which some people taking Paxlovid appear to get better, but then test positive again and have a recurrence of symptoms.

Read her article "Q&A On Paxlovid, Pfizer’s COVID-19 Oral Antiviral" to learn more.

Reader: Someone told me that the reason for the lack of baby formula in the United States was that it was sent to the border children, the immigrants coming into the United States. Is it true?     

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: As required by a 1997 legal settlement known as the Flores settlement, the U.S. must meet certain standards of care when detaining minors, including providing them with food. 

The National Conference of State Legislatures explains the agreement in a blog post in which it writes: “Under the agreement, INS is required to place minors in the least restrictive setting appropriate to the child’s age and special needs, provide notice of rights, safe and sanitary facilities, toilets and sinks, drinking water and food, medical assistance, temperature control, supervision, and contact with family members, among other requirements.” A 2016 ruling confirmed that the Flores settlement applied to unaccompanied and accompanied minors.  

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has established a standard of care, known as Family Residential Standards, to comply with “its obligations under current law, court orders, and regulations.” The “food service” section of that policy states, in part: "The FSA will ensure the food service program provides for the minimum nutritional needs of toddlers and infants, ranging in age from newborn to four years of age." 

But feeding children at the border isn’t the cause of the shortage. We wrote about the causes in our story “Baby Formula Shortage Fuels Misleading Partisan Claims.” As we wrote, “the shortage has been caused by a recall and plant shutdown by a major manufacturer and ongoing supply-chain issues due to the pandemic.”

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "Pfizer Documents Show Vaccine Is Highly Effective, Contrary to Social Media Posts": The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine showed a final efficacy of 91% against symptomatic illness in its phase 3 trial. Social media posts wrongly claim recently released Pfizer documents show the vaccine is “12% effective.” That appears to be a misreading of data released more than a year ago. 
• "Plan B Pills Still Legal in Tennessee and Missouri, Contrary to Social Media Claims": Proposed legislation in Tennessee and Missouri would not regulate Plan B contraception pills, and experts say state “trigger laws” that would take effect if Roe v. Wade were overturned will not ban methods of birth control. But social media posts falsely claim that both states have banned Plan B – the morning-after pill. 
• "Navarro Falsely Links Fauci to Pandemic Origin": The U.S. indirectly funded some bat coronavirus research at a lab in Wuhan, China. But those experiments could not have led to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, because the viruses used were very different. Yet former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro repeated a false claim that Dr. Anthony Fauci “killed a lot of people” by funding the lab.
• "COVID-19 Vaccines Were Available Before Biden Took Office, Contrary to False Tweet": When Joe Biden was sworn in as president, two COVID-19 vaccines had already been authorized and millions of people nationwide had been vaccinated against the disease. But in a May 12 tweet touting economic progress made under Biden, the White House falsely claimed that “there was no vaccine available” at the time he was inaugurated.
• "Baby Formula Shortage Fuels Misleading Partisan Claims": A shortage of baby formula has provoked misleading partisan claims that suggest President Joe Biden is responsible for the “bare shelves.” But the shortage has been caused by a recall and plant shutdown by a major manufacturer and ongoing supply-chain issues due to the pandemic. 
• "Gates’ Investment in Startup Firm Is Not Related to Baby Formula Shortage": A fund backed by Bill Gates has invested in a startup working to develop lab-manufactured breast milk, but it won’t reach the market for several years. Yet, social media posts make baseless claims that Gates is behind the current baby formula shortage — which stems from supply-chain issues and the shutdown at a major manufacturing plant. 
• "Misleading Late Attack on Kathy Barnette in Pennsylvania Senate Race": A late attack ad from a super PAC supporting one of Kathy Barnette’s opponents in the Pennsylvania Senate Republican primary makes several misleading claims about Barnette, who has surged in the polls.