Covid-19 Antivirals

Vaccines remain the primary defence against COVID-19, but early in December 2021 the UK Government announced that it had also made available other new treatment options for COVID-19 for eligible groups of patients.

Thousands of the UK’s most vulnerable people will be among the first in the world to access cutting-edge antiviral and antibody treatments. These new treatments are used in the earliest stages of infection and often taken at home. They must be administered as soon as possible after a confirmed COVID-19 positive PCR test has been received.

Important update for pharmacies:

If your Pharmacy is not on the list of Paxlovid providers, please do not dispense it.

Although Paxlovid is in the Drug Tariff and technically any pharmacy can dispense it, due to the additional learning required by pharmacists to safely dispense it and counsel patients, the ICB has tried to ensure that these prescriptions are presented and dispensed at specific pharmacies only.

If you are not one of these pharmacies it is requested that you return the prescription to the spine and refer patients to the pharmacies on the attached list. (Please note that the previously circulated list included Boots, but Boots no longer provides Paxlovid).