COVID-19 antivirals and vaccine boosters: an update and general considerations, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine

This article addresses the current debates over COVID-19 antivirals and vaccine boosters and takes other considerations into account: Whether the widespread use of antivirals will be possible and advisable What might happen if long-term efficacy of the vaccine is shown to be low, and how do we develop therapeutics to address the unmet need Why there are not enough new marketed therapeutics What we have learned from research so far and from other pandemics Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific community and the media have been debating over different items which have changed with time, including learning about the disease and the impact of health policy interventions and disease treatment (vaccines and repurposed marketed medicines). With the advent of the highly contagious Delta variant and the recent increase in infected and hospitalised cases, new questions have arisen (e.g. when the pandemic will end, what have we learned so far about the disease and its long-term consequences and why there are not enough new therapeutics). Many of the UK population are now receiving a vaccine booster, but it remains unclear whether this will be enough, or whether a multi-modal strategy will be required, including the development of a COVID-19 antivirus.
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news