Morouney’s 88-year-old mother experienced body aches, exhaustion and coughing, which she said had continued to worsen since her mother tested positive for COVID-19 on a rapid test on April 10. From Thursday, people with a positive COVID-19 test and prescription could access Paxlovid locally. The antiviral drug is used to treat COVID-19 within five days of the onset of symptoms and helps people out of hospital. Eligibility for the drug is determined during an evaluation. “On the (provincial) website, it says one of the categories is 70 or higher and so it’s 88 – is that enough?” asked. His mother seemed to meet the criteria of the province, but Morouney was confused about the steps required to take the drug and whether her mother was even eligible. After going to the Cambridge Assessment Center on Holiday Inn Drive, her mother was sent home without a prescription and was told she would get a phone call from St. Louis General Hospital. Mary’s the next day. The experience left her even more confused. Although Morouney was able to get a prescription after the phone call – where the doctor checked her mother’s symptoms and possible interactions between Paxlovid and previously prescribed drugs – the vague procedure left Morouney worried about losing her window. five-day treatment. The province’s expanded guidelines on who should be treated with antivirals have created confusion between who is eligible and who will actually receive a prescription, and the process of accessing medicines is also unclear. Dr Dave Arnott, co-chief physician at the COVID-19 Assessment Center in Cambridge, said people with mild to moderate symptoms are encouraged to call a primary care provider or go to an assessment center. After the visit to the evaluation center, if the patient meets the conditions and wants a referral for Paxlovid, he is referred to the General Hospital of St. Mary’s. “In this case, he may feel that two evaluations are being made for a patient,” Arnott said in an e-mail statement. “Patients are likely to feel similar when a community prescription is prescribed, as both the referring physician and the pharmacist will need to determine suitability and safety.” But Arnott said treatment with Paxlovid is not recommended in most cases. “The messages from the Department of Health are such that it recommends that anyone who meets the new expanded criteria be tested and referred for treatment,” Arnott said. “This is not in line with the science we have today. “The expanded criteria include many groups that the Ontario Science Board has not recommended for treatment.” Despite the lack of clarity about the expanded criteria, the goal is to get people to ask more questions if they have symptoms, rather than taking action, said Kelly Grindrod, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy. “The reason the government made the criteria much broader than that was that there was a problem with people qualifying assuming they did not, so they do not ask,” he said. Therefore, you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. And now what? For people with mild to moderate symptoms, Arnott encourages them to call a primary care provider or go to an assessment center if they think an assessment is needed or the COVID-19 online treatment provider said they qualify for treatment. After the visit to the evaluation center, if the patient meets the conditions and wants a referral for Paxlovid, he is referred to the General Hospital of St. Mary’s. Other treatment options include steroid inhalers, which are administered at the assessment center. If you are denied an antiviral drug, Grindrod said you should feel confident that your vaccines will help reduce your risk. “One of the challenges here is that the use of these drugs is quite complex, as are the actual clinical criteria you would use to select a treatment,” Grindrod said. SHARE:
