The percentage of Hispanic patients with covid-19 who received treatment with the drug Paxlovid is 30 percent lower than that of white patients, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) indicated that “outpatient medications are effective in preventing severe covid-19 and are important in mitigating the pandemic.”
“Paxlovid is the most commonly prescribed drug and the preferred therapy for qualifying outpatients,” he added.
But racial and ethnic disparities in the treatment of covid-19 outpatients persist, the MMWR warned.
In the period from April to July 2022, the proportion of COVID-19 patients over the age of 20 treated with Paxlovid was 36 percent lower in African American patients and 30 percent lower among Hispanics, according to the report.
“These inequalities existed between all age groups and patients with compromised immune systems,” clarified the MMWR.
For this analysis, the MMWR looked at data collected between January and July 2022 on 692,750 COVID-19 patients, of which 22.2% were over 65 and 60.5% were women.
The study found that expanding programs to raise awareness and access to available outpatient treatments for COVID-19 can help protect people at high risk of serious illness.
