China’s Shortage of Antivirals Puts Vulnerable People at Risk

Such drugs play an important role globally in saving lives of vulnerable groups, including the elderly and unvaccinated people with underlying diseases. By preventing people from developing severe symptoms, antivirals can also take pressure off strained healthcare systems. While many regions in China have said infections have now peaked, hospitals are stretched to their limits.

Paxlovid is available in most top-tier hospitals and community health centers in a handful of major cities, but is being doled out in tight daily quotas. The drug is allocated to community health centers based on the number of residents most at risk of developing severe conditions, according to doctors and health officials.

China approved Pfizer’s treatment for emergency use in February 2022. It hadn’t imported enough of the medicine by the time it shifted rapidly away from its zero-Covid policies due to the low number of reported cases and the cost of Paxlovid, people familiar with the matter said.

“The real cause of all these shortages is really China’s sudden shift from zero Covid to total Covid,” said Dai Tinglong, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who has been tracking medical supply chains. 

Last year, Pfizer shipped a few thousand courses of Paxlovid to China, Pfizer Chief Executive

Albert Bourla

said Monday at J.P. Morgan’s healthcare conference in San Francisco. The company has increased that to millions in recent weeks, sourcing them from all quarters as demand rocketed in line with the surge in cases, he said.

He said Pfizer now expects production in China to begin in the first half of this year after the government sped up the review and approval and its local partner accelerated manufacturing capacity.