Health Officials Fear Pfizer COVID Pill May End up on the Black Market

According to a report released on Saturday, the Health Ministry’s senior health officials are afraid that the new COVID-19 medication introduced by Pfizer may end up on the Israeli black market. Last week, the Health Ministry had decided to give emergency approval for Paxlovid, the antiviral oral medication. On Thursday, the first shipment of the COVID-19 pill landed, which comprised of tens of thousands of the pill. There are mild side effects associated with the drug and it has shown an almost 90% reduction in deaths and hospitalizations amongst patients who are more likely to suffer from severe symptoms and illness.

It is also important to note that Israel is amongst one of the first countries to have received the pill. Israel. According to the latest Israel news, the Health Ministry will begin administering the medication to sick patients in the near future. It is said that the pill costs around $530 per patient for Israel, even though it is unclear as to how much they will charge the patients for it. Those who receive the drug will experience light symptoms, but they will still be at risk of suffering from severe ones in case the disease progresses. Teams will be sent out by health providers for distributing the pills to all those people who are quarantined at home.

The medical personnel will provide guidance about how to take the pills and give them over to the patient, which means it is possible that the patient may hold onto the drug rather than taking it. Health authorities are concerned that some patients may decide not to take the medicine and instead sell them to the highest bidder online, or by any other means. According to media reports, there could be a demand for the drug in the black market because its supply will be limited initially. Some people may test positive for the coronavirus, but not qualify for receiving Paxlovid.

A senior official said that this would lead to a demand for the drug in the black market because they had the perfect conditions for it. The warning came as there is a surge in coronavirus infections because of the highly contagious Omicron variant. More than 8,900 cases were recorded over the weekend alone, as per the statistics provided by the Health Ministry. As of Saturday night, there were more than 30,000 active cases in Israel and the positive test rate had gone past the 4% mark. Over a month ago, the daily cases of coronavirus in Israel had been around 500 per day, but they have crossed the 4,000 per-day mark in the last few days.

However, it should be noted that there hasn’t been a similar rise in severe cases or hospitalizations for that matter. The number of serious cases was 101 on Saturday and patients in critical condition stood at 42. In the past week, there were two deaths and this brought the total death toll from the beginning of the pandemic to 8,244. The ‘R’ number, which indicates how many people are infected on average by a positive coronavirus patient had reached 1.76. If the number goes over 1, this means the virus is quickly spreading.

The ‘R’ number is calculated by the Health Ministry on a rolling average of 7 days and take the most up-to-date figure in the last 10 days. There has been a steady increase in the rate of the spread in the past month. The greatest increase in infections in the last month has been seen in children between the ages of 5 and 11. On Saturday, some researchers from Hebrew University said that the number of cases of the Omicron variant in the country are expected to reach the 20,000 mark in the next week. This will continue to increase in mid-January. The health system is expected to be over-burdened because of the wave of infections and those who are not vaccinated.