There are no binding measures, but prevention as the holidays approach. As the number of Covid-19 infections rises again, the government has announced the establishment of a “conditional prescription” that allows doctors to prescribe the antiviral Paxlovid in advance.
Thanks to this novelty, patients at risk (that is, those over 65 years of age, or who suffer from chronic diseases or cancers) can benefit this Saturday from this recipe, which can be offered as a preventive measure during a simple follow-up medical visit. The only condition: that these patients have no contraindications.
However, even if they already have the prescription, the antiviral can only be given to them if symptoms of Covid-19 appear and if their test is positive.
Save time and avoid serious forms
The goal: to save time by ensuring that patients at significant risk can start treatment as quickly as possible once the virus has been detected, Paxlovid preventing the infection from progressing to severe forms.
According to the Health Risk Surveillance and Anticipation Committee (Covars), Paxlovid continues to be under-prescribed despite its marketing in January. “There were around 15,000 prescriptions during the month of October, but that’s still not enough. We really need to use it a lot more,” said Brigitte Autran, chair of the committee.
In addition, as the end-of-year holidays approach, the Government invites the French to adopt responsible behavior and insists on the advisability of carrying out a new booster dose to avoid facing a ninth wave of Covid-19 at the beginning of 2023.
Source: BFM TV
