Vice President Harris Taking Pfizer’s Paxlovid to Treat Covid
Harris, 57, decided to start the treatment “after consultation with her physicians,” spokeswoman Kirsten Allen said in a tweet.
(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Kamala Harris will take Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid Covid-19 therapy pill after testing positive for the virus earlier Tuesday, a treatment decision coinciding with the Biden administration’s push to expand access to the medication.
Harris, 57, decided to start the treatment “after consultation with her physicians,” spokeswoman Kirsten Allen said in a tweet.
Harris tested positive for the coronavirus earlier Tuesday but was not exhibiting symptoms of the disease, her office said. She spent the previous week in her home state of California and had not seen President Joe Biden since the April 18 White House Easter egg roll.
She’s the highest-ranking administration official to report being infected.
Under the Food and Drug Administration authorization for Paxlovid, Americans treated with it are supposed to be at high risk for developing a severe case of Covid-19. A White House official pointed out Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, saying the risk of getting very sick from the virus increased beginning with people in their 50s.
The vice president’s diagnosis and treatment plan occurred on the same day as the administration announced that tens of thousands of pharmacies would be able this week to order Paxlovid, and that the government was launching new “test-to-treat” locations where Americans could take a test and, if positive, be immediately prescribed and given the antiviral treatment.
The pill must be taken early -- within five days of the onset of symptoms -- to be effective. The U.S. has said that about 500,000 courses of Paxlovid have been used so far, and the administration has committed to buying 20 million courses of the antiviral medicine.
Harris joins a number of high-profile lawmakers and administration officials, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Attorney General Merrick Garland, who have reported contracting the virus in the past month.
Senator Ron Wyden, who appeared with Biden last week in his home state of Oregon, and Connecticut Senator Christopher Murphy also said Tuesday they tested positive.
Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, said he tested positive on March 15, prompting the vice president to cancel several public appearances.
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