there is the green light. But virologists are against it. What are the risks?

The Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) will give the green light to the possibility that the family doctor prescribes the drugs antivirals, the anti-Covid pills. According to the Italian Federation of General Practitioners (Fimmg) Silvestro Scotti “it will be essential to guarantee doctors adequate training on the use of these molecules and their interaction with other drugs, just as it will be crucial to make antivirals more readily available. , for example also in pharmacies and not only in the centers currently indicated for their distribution ».

The fourth dose has started for over 80 years and for 60-79 year-old risk categories: 50 vaccinations performed at the former Bosi

Pfizer’s Paxlovid Pill

We are talking about Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill and the plan will be filled out by the primary care physician in the case of adults affected by Covid-19, who do not need supplementary oxygen therapy and who are at high risk of severe disease progression. According to Claudio Cricelli, president of the Italian Society of General Medicine and Primary Care (Simg), this decision will make it possible to reduce hospitalizations, intensive care and deaths. But before it becomes operational, it will still take several days.

I virology

However, there are some perplexities among virologists. Professor Matteo Bassetti, head of Infectious Diseases at the San Martino hospital in Genoa, says: «Leaving the prescriptions of antiviral pills against Covid to general practitioners will not solve the problem. Indeed: in a country like ours, where there is no profound infectious disease culture, it is a serious mistake. The prescription requires the compilation of an Aifa form, complex both before and after, plus they are drugs that have important interactions with other molecules. In short, it seems to me a populist decision. Antivirals must be prescribed with absolute appropriateness, otherwise we belittle them. I see a lot of politics and little science ». Up to now this drug has not had a wide diffusion. Why? Bassetti explains: «Antivirals have not been used in the Regions that have not been able to organize themselves. In Liguria, but also in Lazio and Tuscany, the distribution system worked. But the reality is that they have not been used because not everyone can take them ».

Professor Massimo Andreoni, head of Infectious Diseases at the Tor Vergata Polyclinic in Rome, also calls for caution. He premieres: “There is certainly a need to maximize the distribution of antivirals in pills which have proven to be able to reduce hospitalizations and the progression of severe disease, therefore the possibility of allowing the prescription also to the family doctor will simplify the ‘access to these drugs’. But there is the other side of the coin: «We need great attention, they are antivirals that must be experienced. Certainly the general practitioner may be able to manage these drugs, but from the AIFA the most correct information possible is essential because there could be a rush by the patients to the anti-Covid pill “. It should always be remembered that the limitation of this antiviral is that it can only be administered in the very first stage of the disease, within five days of symptoms. The pill is taken for five days, every 12 hours.