antivirals, monoclonals are available but not used

• COVID treatments, once in short supply, are now readily available but many don’t know the drugs exist.
• Experts point to shifts in the pandemic and a lack of knowledge among physicians as reasons.
• To be effective, all treatments need to be started as soon as possible after symptoms begin.

At the beginning of the year it was hard to access treatments for COVID-19 because they were in high demand and supply was tight.

Now, antiviral treatments like Paxlovid are readily available, but not many people are benefiting because they don’t know the drugs exist. 

“There are so many doses sitting on shelves not being used because of a lack of education among physicians,” said Dr. Daniel Griffin, an infectious disease specialist at Northwell Health in New York.