New study finds effective anti-viral therapies are not widely used among Americans

A national poll recently found that FDA-approved anti-viral therapies Paxlovid and Molnupiravir are not popular among Americans, despite their effectiveness against the COVID-19 virus.

According to the survey, only 11% of infected individuals had been prescribed with the antiviral therapy. The study was conducted by the COVID States Project, a consortium of universities comprised of Northwestern, Harvard, Northeastern, and Rutgers.

Northwestern professor James Druckman was a member of the consortium that distributed the survey and recently commented on its findings.

According to Druckman, “The lack of use likely reflects poor knowledge about availability and also general fatigue – that also has left boosters notably low,” said Druckman.

“It would be very helpful if medical practitioners and providers made a more concerted effort to inform patients about antivirals and clarify the benefits — and the relative convenience of obtaining them.”

Druckman is the Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and associate director of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern.

Learn more in Northwestern Now’s article, “Paxlovid is vastly underused despite being widely available, study finds.”