Considered a game-changer when it was authorized in December because of its strong performance in lowering the risk of severe Covid-19, Paxlovid — in combination with vaccines and boosters — is thought to be one of the best ways to protect people at high risk for severe illness. Because of these advances, Biden’s experience with the coronavirus should look a lot different from that of President Donald Trump, who was in the hospital for days in Biden’s symptoms are mild. He has a runny nose, an occasional cough and some fatigue.The President’s doctor, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, said “Joe Biden is vaccinated and twice boosted, that in and of itself decreases his risk of severe disease, hospitalization or death,” Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and academic dean of public health at Brown University, said Thursday. “You add on to it Paxlovid, which reduces — even in vaccinated people — that risk of hospitalization by another 80% to 90%, and the chance of anything bad happening to him is virtually zero.” What about side effects?Paxlovid’s Rebound cases have been reported between two and eight days after initial recovery. Most people who had new symptoms said they resolved in about three days, even without additional treatment.Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that when he got Covid-19, he took a five-day course of Paxlovid and was feeling better but had a rebound with worse symptoms. He went back on the drug and recovered.Ranney and other doctors say they don’t like to think of it as a rebound infection. Rather, Paxlovid does a good job of suppressing the virus and preventing the damage it can do, but it’s possible that the virus is not fully eliminated from the body and re-emerges. Some scientists think that some people metabolize Paxlovid more quickly than others and that they may need a longer course of treatment. Research is still underway. “We’re not seeing folks who end up with those symptoms with a need for hospitalization after taking Paxlovid, so the term ‘ …
What is Paxlovid, Biden’s Covid-19 treatment? – CNN
