Opinion

The under-prescribing of Paxlovid may be our biggest covid policy failure

The United States suffers from a litany of policy failures in the response to covid-19. Low vaccine uptake in vulnerable populations such as nursing homes remains a major problem, as does the lack of investment in local and state public health infrastructure.

But one deficiency stands out above the rest: The antiviral medication Paxlovid is highly effective at preventing severe illness and death, yet the usage rate is staggeringly low. Only about 15 percent of high-risk individuals who contract the coronavirus are prescribed the drug.