There are currently regional bottlenecks in the supply of the corona drug Paxlovid in Austria, including in Vienna. The problem must be solved by redistributing existing stocks; the Vienna Medical Association sees an urgent need for action and declares: “The Minister of Health has failed!”
As reported, Paxlovid is poorly available in some places due to regional differences in infection rates and different prescribing practices. According to the Ministry of Health, there are still sufficient stocks and work is underway to redistribute them among pharmacies.
Sharp criticism came from the Vienna Medical Association on Thursday. “The current shortage of Paxlovid, the failure of the logistics of the flu vaccination and the fact that it is still not clear whether there will be enough antibiotics and medicines for children by the end of the cold season are of great concern to us.” said Vice President Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied.
Effective medicine against severe Covid courses
“With Paxlovid, an effective drug has long been available in Austria to prevent the serious progression of Covid disease, especially in people at risk,” she emphasized. The tablets can be prescribed by general practitioners, among others. You should start taking it as soon as symptoms start.
“The federal government has purchased 180,000 packs of Paxlovid and delivered them via wholesalers to public pharmacies, home pharmacies and hospital pharmacies,” Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) emphasized on Wednesday. “A total of 121,000 packs of Paxlovid have been delivered to public pharmacies. By the end of October 2023, approximately 95,000 packs had been distributed to customers in pharmacies. The invoice figures for November are not yet available,” the Chamber of Pharmacists said in a statement.
“We are working with the Chamber of Pharmacists to redistribute existing stocks to pharmacies that do not currently have Paxlovid in stock. At the same time, we are exploring purchasing additional quantities to ensure continuous supply at all times,” said Rauch.
The Chamber of Pharmacists welcomed this measure. In addition to public pharmacies, the redistribution also includes the quantities still stored in hospital pharmacies and doctor’s medicine cabinets, it was explained. It was unclear how long distribution or new purchases would take.
Source: Krone
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