COVID-19 Reinfects People Who Took Pfizer Antivirus Treatment

Last year, the US Food and Drug Administration FDA provided the consent to utilize an antiviral treatment called Paxlovid. The initiative is an addition to the potential solutions against the dangerous coronavirus that caused the pandemic.

Paxlovid, Treatment for COVID-19?

(Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
NEW YORK - JANUARY 26: A Pfizer sign hangs outside their headquarters after a news conference discussing the planned merger of Pfizer and Wyeth on January 26, 2009, in New York City. Pfizer plans to acquire Wyeth for $68 billion, creating the world's largest biopharmaceutical company.

The wide-scale distribution of Paxlovid in hospitals and other medical facilities commenced in December 2021, following the studies on its efficacy. Later on, individuals that took the treatment began to experience better health status, evidently improving their protection against COVID-19 infection.

After a five-day treatment with Paxlovid, most people claimed that the effects were enough to protect them from the coronavirus, and many were also reported as COVID-free. But through the months that followed, many patients who took the supposed solution experienced reinfection and were reportedly testing positive and showing symptoms after the treatment.

According to a report by NBC, the reinfection rates ramped up in people given Paxlovid. Since the confirmation of these cases, questions among the public have arisen, including if these Paxlovid receivers are infectious, could go out to the public, or are at risk of severe infection and hospitalization.

There were also doubts about the Paxlovid treatment and how it was approved in the first place.

Paxlovid was developed through a clinical run by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. According to their press release, studies yielded promising efficacy rates from the antiviral drug. Pfizer carried out one study between July and December 2021 that involved drug treatment for unvaccinated subjects. Results showed that the protection causes 89 percent less infection in the patients, evading their systems from severe stages that likely result in death.

Today, the reemergence of the COVID-19 symptoms and positive tests among Paxlovid patients do not have corresponding guidelines from either Pfizer or the US health authorities.

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Findings of Coronavirus Reinfections in Paxlovid-Treated Patients

According to the NBC report, some Paxlovid-treated patients who developed rebound infections included a 31-year-old and a 71-year-old person. Based on their accounts, the COVID symptoms reappeared after the course of Paxlovid treatment. Local health specialists provided various answers regarding the state of their systems.

In a study titled "Rapid Relapse of Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection Following Early Suppression with Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir," experts from the VA Healthcare System discussed the case of one of the specified Paxlovid receivers.

The man, aged 71, was fully vaccinated and boosted with the common COVID-19 vaccines. Before the shots, he reported the emergence of several symptoms from the infection.

According to the observations, experts confirmed that the case was not reinfection but was the same coronavirus infection kept in the man's body. There were no records of the patient being resistant to Paxlovid.

FDA does not fully approve the Paxlovid treatment yet, and specialists are not yet allowed to prescribe amounts of the solution during prognosis. While waiting for answers about the supposed protection against the coronavirus, people with reinfections could check their isolation intervals through the COVID-19 quarantine calculator provided by CDC.

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