Posted on 12/30/21
| News Source: i24
'We're adding an important tool to our toolbox in the fight against the virus'
Israel on Thursday received its first shipment of the Pfizer antiviral Covid pill Paxlovid.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett hailed the arrival as an important step in the fight against the pandemic, saying that "just as Israel was a pioneer in rollout of the third and fourth doses of the Covid vaccine, it is showing the way in offering its citizens the medication."
"It's is an important tool that we are adding to our toolbox to fight the virus," he added, thanking "his friend" Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Israel's Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz.
Pfizer said last week that clinical trials confirmed that Paxlovid reduced hospitalizations and deaths among at-risk people by almost 90 percent when it was taken in the first few days after symptoms appear.
Recent lab data suggests the drug retains effectiveness against the omicron variant.
Meanwhile, the number of patients hospitalized in serious condition in Israel remained stable as of Thursday morning even as daily Covid cases continued to rise, according to the latest Health Ministry data.
There were 3,947 newly verified Covid cases in the country with a positive test rate of 2.93 percent out of 157,328 total tests administered the previous day. A total of 94 people were seriously ill, with 46 of these patients critical and 38 on ventilators.