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Opinion | Oral medications are a huge step forward in Michigan’s COVID fight
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The past two years have been trying for us all, particularly those of us that work in health care. As the chief medical officer for the Michigan Primary Care Association, I’ve seen Community Health Center patients of all ages struggle with COVID-19. Some of our patients have been hospitalized because they were so ill. Some have lost their lives to this virus.
Throughout this pandemic, there have been times when I have felt helpless against this new, challenging virus. But there have been many moments of hope and many important milestones, and now, we have more tools in the fight against COVID-19: oral medications.
In addition to monoclonal antibody treatment, Michigan regularly receives shipments of the oral medications paxlovid and molnupiravir to treat COVID-19 following their emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
As a physician, I’m excited about oral antivirals and their benefits. If you’ve seen your doctor during a bad case of the flu, they may have prescribed Tamiflu or a similar antiviral to lessen your symptoms. That’s exactly the goal of the COVID-19 antiviral medications — to keep your symptoms manageable so that you don’t get severely ill and need to visit the hospital.
Data from the trials for these drugs is promising. Trial data from Merck showed the drug molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization and death among high-risk COVID patients by 30 percent. In trials, Pfizer’s paxlovid reduced the proportion of people with COVID-19 related hospitalization or death from any cause by 88 percent.
The pills are designed for the outpatient treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19, which means you don’t have to go to the hospital to receive them. You do need to talk to a provider — both medications can only be prescribed by physicians, advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants.
Remember — even mild cases of COVID-19 can cause long-haul symptoms and complications in otherwise healthy people. Prevention really is the best medicine, which is why we continue to recommend patients to get vaccinated and boosted.
If you test positive for COVID-19 and are symptomatic, contact your health care provider about your treatment options. Your health care provider will need to determine the best course of treatment for your circumstances.
Thankfully Michigan appears to be on the back end of the omicron COVID wave, but now is not the time to underestimate this virus. I feel confident that I can help protect my patients from severe illness or hospitalization with the proven tools we know work — vaccination, boosters and now oral medications.
You can learn more about oral antiviral medications and monoclonal antibody therapy at Michigan.gov/COVIDTherapy.
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