March 30, 2022 — President Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled a federal web site that guarantees “one-stop purchasing” without cost masks and COVID-19 exams, vaccines, and coverings.
The web site, covid.gov, additionally features a record of pharmacies that shall be a part of the brand new “test-to-treat” program.
“You’ll additionally be capable to discover our new test-to-treat places,” Biden mentioned at a information briefing. “These are pharmacies and different locations in your neighborhood the place you will get examined, and in case you’re optimistic, you will get life-saving remedies in a single cease.”
Quickly after his remarks, he obtained a second booster of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA and CDC authorized the fourth dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on Tuesday for Individuals over 50 and other people over 18 who meet particular circumstances.
For Individuals in search of a vaccine or a booster, covid.gov encompasses a hyperlink to vaccines.gov, the place you’ll be able to go to discover a native vaccination middle. The general public may use covid.gov to order free exams for house supply (customers are taken to covidtests.gov) and to seek out free masks, by way of a hyperlink to a CDC webpage.
You possibly can search covid.gov by deal with or ZIP code to seek out close by pharmacies, federally certified neighborhood well being facilities, Indian Well being Service websites, or Veterans Affairs (VA) clinics that provide test-to-treat providers.
All through the pandemic, it’s been arduous to seek out one supply to assist navigate all the things somebody would possibly must battle COVID, says Jen Kates, PhD, senior vp and director of world well being for the Kaiser Household Basis.
Covid.gov “is an effective step ahead to carry all the things below one web roof,” she says. A one-stop store “will facilitate entry.”
As states, counties, and cities start shuttering their very own government-funded applications, having the ability to simply discover websites for COVID-related providers could grow to be extra necessary, Kates says.
Some states and localities have been closing down websites due to a decline in demand and case counts. There’s additionally a priority amongst states that they will be unable to proceed if federal cash to reimburse for exams, vaccines, and coverings dries up.
The White Home has been warning that provides could run low if it doesn’t get not less than $22.5 billion in emergency funds to battle the pandemic. Congress has not but agreed on whether or not to approve that request.
Within the meantime, the White Home has lowered shipments of monoclonal antibodies to states by a 3rd, and Biden mentioned provides would run out by the tip of Could.
The president additionally famous that the federal government is not going to have sufficient vaccines available this fall to offer each American a second booster shot, though he mentioned there are sufficient for these over 50 and immunocompromised folks.
“Congress, we have to safe extra provide now,” Biden mentioned. “We will’t wait till we discover ourselves within the midst of one other surge to behave. It is going to be too late.”
Take a look at-to-Deal with Challenges
The president introduced the test-to-treat initiative in his State of the Union speech on March 2. The thought is that individuals who check optimistic for COVID-19 in a pharmacy or at a well being clinic can be eligible to obtain, immediately and freed from cost, considered one of two antiviral tablets approved by the FDA — Pfizer’s Paxlovid or Merck’s molnupiravir. Each should be taken inside 5 days after signs seem to stop critical sickness.
Biden mentioned that 2,000 places throughout the U.S. would now provide test-to-treat, together with 240 federally certified neighborhood well being facilities, Indian Well being Service websites, VA well being clinics, and greater than 60 Division of Protection medical remedy amenities.
Kates says the test-to-treat idea is necessary, however “the execution goes to be arduous.” However “we all know as quickly as you get a analysis, the earlier you get on remedy, the higher.”
She says COVID-related provide points with exams, vaccines, and particularly remedies like Paxlovid are going to create challenges. And pharmacists’ capability to deal with sufferers could be restricted in some states by legal guidelines that govern the follow of drugs.
Certainly, medical doctors’ teams have objected to pharmacists having the ability to dispense a medicine on to a affected person, due to the opportunity of unwanted effects. Pharmacists additionally aren’t more likely to know somebody’s full medical historical past, teams such because the American Medical Affiliation have mentioned.
And pharmacies have considerations that this system might solely be carried out by shops with on-site clinics, which might restrict the sort and variety of pharmacies that would participate.
Many of the test-to-treat pharmacies listed on covid.gov seem like giant chains, resembling CVS and Walgreens, or supermarket-affiliated pharmacies, though there additionally seem like some unbiased shops in some areas.
