3/ That’s who was studied. The Paxlovid study is not out yet so I’m waiting to read the list of risk factors but it’s stuff like obesity, immunosuppression, diabetes, asthma & hypertension.
Will this drug benefit people at less risk? Probably but we don’t know yet definitively.
4/ States are getting shipments of 1000s of doses of both Paxlovid & Molnupiravir already. Tennessee just got them and said they’ll be free and distributed by Walmart pharmacies.
5/ Pfizer’s FDA application is for #unvaccinated unhospitalized pts; that’s who they studied.
But @ArthurCaplan says refusing medicine to vaccinated person w breakthrough COVID & giving it to #Antivaxxer is impossible to justify. “No healthcare provider will comply.”
6/ He adds, “The goal of pandemic management is prevention, to prevent transmission. Any step that weakens efforts at prevention that lacks a scientific base is unethical in that it risks undermining support for prevention.”
7/ Paxlovid may give confidence to the unvaccinated that they have a way forward, but medical & regulatory pressure to get vaxxed must remain stout. It will be routinely used “off label” in vaxxed pts. Data in vaxxed are being sought. Unvaxxed were studied 1st to enrich ++ study.
8/ @pfizer is ramping up production to treat 21M by June. Molnupiravir already studied vaxxed + unvaxxed, which may be why their data are not as strong.
Anyone who qualifies should speak to their doctor.
1/🧵🎥 A young mom suffering #COVID. Her husband is scared.
We need to prevent serious long-term complications. Her new normal will likely include PTSD, Dementia, Depression & severe physical disability. (shown w Perm)
2/ what you need to know about ICUs, #PICS and #LongCOVID prevention:
I wrote this @thedailybeast piece👇 to help empower you as patients & families. It’ll tell you what you need to know & ask your team for amid the chaos and confusion.
3/ This patient on 100% O2 and high-dose propofol & fentanyl did not need both agents. When able, we try to avoid prop & benzos. We stopped Prop, continued Fentanyl & added dexmedetomidine because it’s shorter acting & won’t build up so much in her brain.
1/🧵 Brain + Body damage in #COVID & Critical Illness
Sepsis -bacterial, viral, fungal- can cause rapid-onset #dementia. Finishing this test should be easy at her age but Millions of brain cells are damaged!
2/ Our brain depends on a delicate balance of blood flow, nutrients & oxygen. When someone gets critically ill w #Covid or from other causes, that balance is dramatically disrupted. Small blood clots, dropping oxygen levels cause 🧠 damage.
3/ It’s odd to me that people don’t see severe COVID as a form of VIRAL SEPSIS. Sepsis is when infection of any kind causes your organs to begin to fail – lungs, brain, heart, kidneys. It’s EXACTLY what we see day-in day-out in the COVID ICU.
We watched this classic last night and it helped me think of how we all must be in community to lift one another up during these hard times…see ending clip here ☺️
1/🧵 Molnupiravir & Paxlovid are BOTH approved for EAU (emergency use) as pills for #Covid to reduce hospitalization and/or death if taken EARLY (w/in 5 days).
Both drugs reduce likelihood of you being hospitalized if you take them early. The actual scientific publication of Pfizer’s #Paxlovid is not out yet, so I’m waiting to read peer-review data before firm stance.
I’m getting lots of QUESTIONS about eating Tgiving turkey w people who are not #Vaxxed. A very safe thing to do is have people cleared by a rapid Ag test.
2/ It’s NOT a brain biopsy like PCR. More like picking your nose. 😂
Legit Rapid Ag tests you get commercially at a drugstore or online will tell you: AM I INFECTIOUS?
Am I shedding COVID virions in a quantity that places others at risk.
I’m NOT endorsing any one test here.
3/ PCR is the most sensitive way to detect COVID globally. @US_FDA & @CDCgov say so and that’s technically accurate. But (1) PCR takes too long & is not practical for YOUR purposes (outdated by the time you’re w mom). (2) PCR will stay positive way longer than you are infectious!