Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/SZG20jo_yII   You’ve heard about it on TV and radio, and the headlines trumpet something like “Pfizer says its CoVid pill is near 90% effective.” Well….. let’s take a closer look at the available data   Pfizer’s Paxlovid is combination therapy including a novel protease inhibitor nirmatrelvir or PF-07321332 and an antiviral cytochrome inhibitor Ritonavir.  When these two drugs in separate pills are taken every 12 hours for 5 days beginning within the first days after symptom onset, they prevent hospitalizations and deaths for high-risk persons by 89%.  High risk would be older patients and those with complicating medical problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This according to a new analysis of 2200 participants.  An earlier study showed the Paxlovid drug combo to be 70% effective for those in a standard risk category.   This is exciting news, but there is a sketchy side.  First, all the information we see, hear, and read only comes from Pfizer press releases not fr