Managing COVID in the Neo-Confederacy

This story isn’t getting nearly as much attention as it deserves:

Pfizer says that its COVID-19 pill reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89%, in a clinical trial that tested the drug in adults with the disease who were also in high-risk health groups.

The oral medicine is called Paxlovid. Similar to Merck’s new pill that was approved in the U.K. on Thursday, Pfizer said its drug showed good results when administered within five days of the first COVID-19 symptoms.

Based on the strength of the trial’s results, Pfizer says it will stop enrolling people into more clinical trials for the pill and will instead send the results it has so far to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to seek emergency use authorization.

“These data suggest that our oral antiviral candidate, if approved or authorized by regulatory authorities, has the potential to save patients’ lives, reduce the severity of COVID-19 infections, and eliminate up to nine out of ten hospitalizations,” Pfizer CEO and chairman Albert Bourla said.

Both of the antiviral medicines from Pfizer and Merck attack the coronavirus by interfering with its ability to replicate itself.

Pfizer says its pill is also helped by co-administering a low dose of ritonavir, a drug used in HIV/AIDS treatment regimens. Ritonavir helps protease inhibitors like the Pfizer drug persist longer in the human body, making them more effective in fighting a virus.

Officials in both the U.S. and U.K. say that effective COVID-19 pills could be a game-changer in the fight to end the pandemic, because the pills can easily be administered at home. 

Combined with high enough vaccination rates these sorts of therapies should cut the hospitalization and death rates from COVID-19 down to normal flu season levels, at least in the developed world, and possibly also in the United States.

Speaking of which, some neo-confederate judges in the 5th circuit decided that Biden’s vaccinate mandate for employers has to be stayed immediately because it raises some difficult issues under the Federalist Society’s Super Secret Constitution:

Hey, isn’t this the very same court that wouldn’t even allow a district court to hold a hearing on granting a preliminary injunction in the case of a Texas law that violates SCOTUS precedent right on its face?

Not only is it the same court — it’s the same three-judge panel!

Update: Stephen Breyer still hasn’t retired, because he has to stay on the SCOTUS in order for the American people to retain their faith that federal court adjudication in this country is a non-partisan enterprise.