WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Low-income and uninsured people in the United States are facing hurdles to obtain COVID-19 antivirals, NBC News has reported.
Though the COVID-19 antiviral pills are an easier, cheaper and more effective method of treating the virus, they are not easy to obtain, especially for those who are low-income or uninsured, said the U.S. media network Sunday.
The patients will need a prescription from a doctor to get the newly authorized antiviral drugs in a pharmacy. However, low-income or uninsured patients often do not have a doctor and could not afford one without insurance.
The current barriers only exacerbate a pandemic response in which only those who have time and money can respond to the virus and seek treatment, said the report, citing medical experts and ethicists.
From the cost and availability of COVID-19 tests to having access to vaccines, they said, the pandemic has increasingly stratified those who can afford the tools to fight the disease and those who cannot.
"Through all this we've seen that communities that are in highest need are the ones that have the lowest access, and that certainly includes low-income people and communities of color," Dr. Taison Bell, the director of the medical intensive care unit at University of Virginia Health, was quoted as saying, adding that it is something that concerns anyone "who has an eye toward equity."
