| A pill that could potentially treat COVID-19 is being considered a “game-changer.” But experts are emphasizing that it’s not an alternative to vaccinations — which remain the most effective path to ending the coronavirus pandemic if enough people get vaccinated.
Yet, the average number of people getting vaccinated — at 270,531 per day— is the lowest it’s been since Aug. 15, according to Friday’s data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A little over 65% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated, the data shows.
At the same time, the U.S. hit a grim milestone Friday, surpassing 700,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. tops the world for COVID-19 deaths, followed by Brazil with nearly 600,000 fatalities, according to the data.
The news from Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics on Friday that they created an antiviral pill that can reduce COVID-19 hospitalization and death by 50% was hailed by health experts, although they cautioned it wasn’t a replacement for vaccinations.
“This can be used in conjunction with the vaccine. And it’s not an alternative to vaccination. We still have to try to get more people vaccinated,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told CNN on Friday.
Gottlieb acknowledged that the antiviral medicine could be effective for those who choose not to get vaccinated as well as those who catch the virus while fully vaccinated.
“This is the most impactful result that I remember seeing of an orally available drug in the treatment of a respiratory pathogen, perhaps ever,” Gottlieb told CNN. “I think getting an oral pill that can inhibit viral replication — that can inhibit this virus — is going to be a real game-changer.”
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