Elena Muñez, assistant doctor of the Infectious Diseases Unit of the Internal Medicine Service of the Puerta de Hierro Hospital.
The Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (Aemps) has added a recommendation for the use of Paxlovid in a new group of people: older than 80 years with any risk factor, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not. A new recommendation that adds to those already imposed such as those over 80 years of age who do not have the complete vaccination schedule against Covid-19 or that more than six months have elapsed since the last dose, and those over 65 years of age who have not been fully vaccinated and have some risk factor for poor progression.
This new recommendation has been well received by internists who consider that “the age poses an increased risk of severe covid and this new inclusion is aimed at trying to stop this progression to severe disease in these patients”, explains Elena Muñezassistant doctor of the Infectious Diseases Unit of the Internal Medicine Service of the Puerta de Hierro Hospital, to Medical Writing.
In addition, the internist points out that the factor of age is also added that “the efficacy of the vaccine against Omicron has dropped quite a bit, which is why hospitals are receiving more visits and admissions from people over 65 years of age.” To all this, Muñez adds that “this new recommendation is also in accordance with the current availability of the drug Paxlovid and seeing that its use is not so extensive”.
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“In some patients it will be possible to stop the progression to severe covid” |
Despite the fact that these recommendations are increased, Muñez recalls that doctors continue to see themselves “very limited when it comes to prescribing this type of drug, as is Paxlovid because they have many drug interactions And these patients for whom Paxlovid is recommended tend to have other treatments for other diseases, so you have to see which patients it can be prescribed for.”
How can Paxlovid affect older people?
Taking into account all the types of antivirals available to treat Covid-19, Muñez clarifies how it can affect the paxlovid prescription in patients older than 80 years with some risk factor (cardiovascular problems, for example) regardless of their vaccination. In this sense, the internist stresses that “the simple mild covid infection already destabilizes older patients.”
For this reason, Muñez explains that “we will have to see how it affects these patients, since in some patients yes it will be possible to stop the progression to severe covidbut not in others, taking into account the decompensation that these people already have previously due to the other pathologies they suffer from”.
In these last cases, the internist details that “it will not be possible to stop the progression of the disease and they will need a reinforcement of the Covid-19 vaccine to avoid infection,” she concludes.
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