Image: APA/AFP/ZHANG
“Due to regionally different infection rates and different prescribing practices by doctors, there is currently a Paxlovid bottleneck in some pharmacies,” confirmed the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists on Thursday upon request. According to the Ministry of Health, there are still enough supplies and work is underway to redistribute them to pharmacies.
“The federal government has procured 180,000 packs of Paxlovid and delivered them via wholesalers to public pharmacies, home pharmacies and hospital pharmacies,” said Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) the day before in the short message service X (formerly Twitter) in response to reports of poor availability in Viennese pharmacies. “Of these, a total of 121,000 packs of Paxlovid were delivered to public pharmacies. By the end of October 2023, around 95,000 packs had been handed out to customers in the pharmacies. The billing figures for November are not yet available,” the Chamber of Pharmacists explained in a statement.
“Working on redistribution”
“We are working with the Chamber of Pharmacists to redistribute existing stocks to those pharmacies that currently do not have Paxlovid in stock. At the same time, we are examining the procurement of additional quantities to ensure continuous supply at all times,” tweeted 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 the distribution or new purchases would take.
Criticism came from the Vienna Medical Association on Thursday. “The current shortage of Paxlovid, the failure in 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 according to a release. “With Paxlovid, an effective drug has long been available in Austria to prevent severe Covid disease progression, especially in people at risk,” she emphasized. The tablets can be prescribed by general practitioners, among others. You should start taking it soon after symptoms begin.
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Source: Nachrichten
