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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
Medical validation:
December 13, 2022
Since Saturday, doctors can issue conditional prescriptions for Paxlovid. What is it and who can benefit from it? We take stock with Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo.
While the number of Covid-19 contaminations continues to increase, the Minister of Health François Braun announced on Friday the establishment of a “conditional prescription” allowing doctors to prescribe the antiviral Paxlovid preventively.
Taking Paxlovid is recommended in patients at risk
According to a statement from the Directorate General of Health (DGS) relayed at the end of October “Prescribers can issue the patient with a so-called ‘conditional dispensation’ prescription, which allows the patient to be dispensed Paxlovid up to 5 days after the prescription, upon presentation of a positive diagnostic test or screening for Covid-19 (RT-PCR or antigen or ATAG performed under the supervision of a healthcare professional)“.
Concretely, this means that patients at risk (those over 65 or those with chronic illnesses, cancers, etc.) can benefit from this prescription in advance this Saturday, during a simple medical visit. The preventive order will be issued for a period of three months.
To use it, the patient will nevertheless have to prove that he has indeed tested positive for Covid.
“This conditional order is basic and part of a personalized Covid strategy, not a systemic one, which is a good thing. As for the drug, it has a favorable benefit-risk balance in these patients.“, specifies Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo.
For the government, the objective of this measure remains above all to treat the most fragile patients as quickly as possible.
Paxlovid: a treatment still too little prescribed
If taken within the first three or five days of contamination, this antiviral can block the replication of the virus and therefore prevent the infection from progressing to a severe form.
But according to the Committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks (Covars), Paxlovid is still too little used.
“Ihere were around 15,000 prescriptions during the month of October, but that’s still not enough. You really need to use it a lot more“, assures Brigitte Autran, president of Covars.