Walmart has been authorized to receive antiviral pills that help fight against COVID-19 infections. The Food and Drug Administration has given emergency use approval (EUA) for Pfizer’s Paxlovid as well as Merck’s Molnupiravir. Both these pills are available at pharmacies of Walmart and Sam’s Club this week, with a prescription.
Walmart said that supplies will be available at certain stores. Customers and health professionals have to go to the COVID medication page on their website and locate the closest store or club where the pills are available. They have to send the electronic prescription and pickup the medication at drive-through pharmacy windows or through curb side pickup.
The Bentonville, Arkansas retailer said that it had worked closely with both the federal government as well as the state health departments to determine the locations where the antiviral treatment pills would be made available. All the concerned parties want to provide the medications in areas where it is needed the most as current supplies have restricted the availability to a certain number of states.
Kevin Host, senior vice president of pharmacy for Walmart, released a statement where he said that the retail giant was committed to providing access to new treatments for COVID-19 including antiviral medications after they received federal approval.
Hart also said that the medication offered customers the option to recover at home and helped to lessen the burden on the hospitals and communities in the nation. He added that the big box retailer was proud to support their communities by providing
everyday essentials
healthy food
vaccines
medications
other health care needs.
He said that everyone needed to “work together to weather the pandemic.”
As omicron is surging across both the nation and the globe, the U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA) had given two oral medications emergency use authorization.
Pfizer’s Paxlovid received EUA on December 22. It can be used by adults and children in the age of 12 and above and weighing at least 88 pounds. It consists of nirmatrelvir tablets and ritonavir tablets.
Merck’s Molnupiravir tablets received EUA on December 23. They are capsules that contain molnupiravir. Only adults can get prescriptions for these antiviral medications.
Antiviral medications from both Pfizer and Merck are used to treat mild-to-moderate infections of SARS-CoV-2. These pills are used to treat high risk individuals to prevent the infection from becoming serious COVID-19 which includes hospitalizations and deaths.
