This Pill Fights Off COVID-19, Including the Omicron Variant

The American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation Pfizer announced that its antiviral pill developed to treat COVID-19 should be effective against the Omicron variant, thus counting as a useful tool to prevent hospitals from overflowing. 

“Based on lab tests, the company anticipates that the medication will be able to tackle variants like Omicron because the drug works by blocking an enzyme involved in viral replication, rather than attacking a spike protein on the virus’ surface that contains most of the new variant’s mutations,” reports Matthew Perrone, health reporter with the Associated Press specializing in the intersection of medicine, money, and public policy.

When high-risk patients took the drug three to five days after showing Covid-19 symptoms, the risk of hospitalization and death dropped by 89%. Out of 697 unvaccinated Americans who took the drug as part of the trial, only 5 were hospitalized, and no one died. Pfizer plans on offering the drug to 300,000 Americans before the end of February 2022. While it can help infected people, vaccination remains the best solution to prevent contracting or spreading the virus.