The US government will double, to 20 million against 10 million previously, its order for anti-Covid treatment from the Pfizer laboratory, US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday.
“These pills will dramatically decrease hospitalizations and deaths“, he promised, speaking before a meeting with his team dedicated to the fight against the pandemic.
“We have already placed the largest order in the world, and now I am doubling it“, he added from the White House.
The US executive had spent $ 5.29 billion for its initial order of 10 million treatments, which can be taken at home when symptoms appear.
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The pill against the Covid-19 of the American giant Pfizer was urgently authorized on December 22 by the United States Medicines Agency (FDA).
This antiviral medicine may be given to high-risk patients 12 years of age and older.
Pfizer’s treatment, marketed as Paxlovid, consists of a combination of two pills taken twice a day for five days, upon diagnosis and within five days of symptom onset, the FDA says.
The pill from the American laboratory can reduce hospitalizations and deaths in people at risk by 88% when taken in the first five days after the onset of symptoms, according to clinical trials.
The American authorities have also authorized urgently a treatment from the Merck laboratory, intended for adults at high risk.
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