CDC: Far fewer minorities got key COVID-19 drug than whites

Disproportionately fewer Blacks and Hispanics with COVID-19 received Paxlovid, the nation's leading treatment for the disease, compared to whites infected, according to results of a three-month CDC study released Thursday.

Between April and July, Paxlovid prescriptions were 35.8% lower among Black patients compared to whites and just under 30% lower among infected Hispanics, the study showed. Similar disparities were also seen among whites compared to Asian Americans, American Indians and Pacific Islanders, researchers found.

Paxlovid, an antiviral oral medication, can be taken at home to help keep high-risk COVID-19 patients from getting so sick they need to be hospitalized. Researchers have found that Paxlovid reduces hospitalizations among people 65 and older by roughly 75% when given shortly after infection. 

Comparatively few minority patients, particularly those 50 and older with compromised immune system — at the greatest risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 — were being treated with the drug, according to the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study's authors suggest the disparities are linked to limited access to COVID-19 treatment facilities, previous negative experiences with health care services, implicit biases among providers, a lack of knowledge of treatment options, along with transportation, language and internet barriers.

Dr. Bruce Farber, Northwell Health’s chief of public health and epidemiology, agreed.

"The only way a lot of these people get access to medical care is through the emergency room when they're sick," Farber said. "And many of them are not that sick that they need to go to the hospital. But Paxlovid might prevent them from getting that sick or might help them to get better earlier."

In the first seven months of 2022, nearly 700,000 patients nationwide, aged 20 or older, sought medical care for COVID-19, the authors of the CDC study found. During that same period, use of Paxlovid increased from 0.6% of patients in January to 20.2% in April and 34% in July, the report said.

In total, nearly 12% of COVID-19 patients received Paxlovid doses from January to July, more than any other treatment, according to CDC data.

Racial and ethnic disparities also existed among minorities compared to whites — although not at the same rate as Paxlovid — for patients treated with remdesivir, a COVID-19 therapeutic administered intravenously, and monoclonal antibodies, which are injected.

Improving equitable outpatient COVID-19 treatment, experts said, must include raising patient awareness, educating clinicians and expanding patient access to prescribers.

"We've heard so much about COVID and about the vaccines, but the effectiveness of Paxlovid definitely did not have that same level of attention," said Martine Hackett, an associate professor of health professions at Hofstra University, whose research focuses on health inequities. "And so I think there was definitely a sense of distrust about the effectiveness of the medication."

Reversing the disparities in treatment options, Hackett said, is not impossible. She noted that many minority and low-income communities initially resisted taking the COVID-19 vaccination when it was first released.

But New York State Health Department data now shows that nearly 72% of Hispanics have completed their vaccination series, compared to 62.5% of whites and 56.3% of Blacks — a number that has continued to rise.

"As you had more outreach to communities, especially from trusted messengers, and you started to have vaccine availability within communities, so that people didn't have to travel or make appointments, you saw a narrowing of the gap in terms of race and ethnicity," Hackett said. 

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.