Another Reason to Skip the Vaccines

Merck Asks FDA For ‘Emergency Use Authorization’ For COVID-19 Pill, Cuts ‘Risk Of Death Or Hospitalization By Approx. 50%’ | The Daily Wire

As treatments get better and better, the need for vaccine mandates gets less and less. And yet, we’re hearing about them more and more. Why is that?

Pharmaceutical company Merck announced Monday that they and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics were requesting emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for molnupiravir, its experimental antiviral COVID-19 pill.

“Merck has submitted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral medicine, for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults who are at risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization,” Merck announced in a press release. “The companies are actively working with regulatory agencies worldwide to submit applications for emergency use or marketing authorization in the coming months.”

The request was based on “positive results from a planned interim analysis” which “evaluated molnupiravir in non-hospitalized adult patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who were at risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization.” According to the interim analysis, “molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by approximately 50%.”

Of course, the treatments have had about as much testing as the vaccines, so there’s no guarantee of avoiding harmful side effects here, also. The point is that we have options. We have far more options than we did a year ago. We should take advantage of them.