Pfizer CEO Says Even With Oral Pills, Vaccines and Boosters are Key to Fight COVID

While oral anti-viral COVID-19 can be a game changer, vaccination and booster shots continue to play an important role in the fight against the pandemic, said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.

The US drug maker on Friday announced that its new anti-viral pill against Covid-19 named Paxlovid can reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death by 89 per cent for adults at high risk of developing severe disease, when given within three days of symptoms appearing.

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First oral pill to treat high-risk COVID-19 patients has been approved for the first time in the UK to subdue the pandemic.

‘It is the second anti-viral pill, after Merck's Molnupiravir which has shown to halve the risk.’

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"The fact that we have a treatment is not at all a reason not to take the vaccine, in fact we should take the vaccine. Some unfortunately will get the disease," Bourla was quoted as saying in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box".

The anti-viral pills are "for people that already they get the disease. This is for sick people, the goal here is to prevent people from getting sick", he said.

That's where Covid booster shots come in, he added. "Boosters are needed because without them we will never get rid of this vicious cycle of the disease."

Test your Knowledge on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Coronavirus is a large positive-strand RNA virus that is surrounded by a protein envelope. The virus obtains its name from the S protein spikes on its surface, which resemble a crown. The overall pattern of increasing coronavirus cases is shown to spike up with the “second wave” of COVID-19.

With spiking effects of the second wave of coronavirus, the best way to keep it at bay is to follow COVID-appropriate safety practices like wearing a mask, regularly cleaning your hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue along with physical distancing (6 feet about 2 arm's length), that may help evade the severity of COVID-19 infection.

Some people still experience harsh breakthrough infections and symptoms, and that's where Pfizer's new pill, if approved, would be most useful. "We need to get to herd immunity," Bourla said.

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If cleared by US health regulators, both Pfizer's and Merck's anti-viral pills would likely be game changers in the ongoing global pandemic fight, the report said.

Pfizer plans to submit its data to the Food and Drug Administration "as soon as possible." Bourla told CNBC: "We plan to submit before Thanksgiving holiday."

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Over 50% of rheumatic patients who have contracted COVID during the pandemic had experienced so-called “long-haul” COVID, or prolonged symptoms of the infection, including loss of taste or smell, muscle aches and difficulty concentrating, for one month or longer.

The anti-viral pill made by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics was approved by Britain's medicines regulator on Thursday. Its emergency authorisation is pending both with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency and is likely to be reviewed later this month.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden on Friday said that he has secured "millions of doses" of Pfizer's anti-viral pill Paxlovid to treat Covid-19, Forbes reported.

It would be "another tool in our toolbox" for the country's efforts to combat Covid-19," Biden was quoted as saying. The US has also committed to buying 1.7 million courses of Molnupiravir if it gets approved by the FDA for emergency use.

Source-IANS