The Coronavirus pandemic began over a year ago, and yet we are still trying to put an end to it. As sixty percent of Americans are now vaccinated, the COVID-19 virus is still changing, and the latest variant, Omicron, is ready to alter lives once again. Many people around the world are growing sick and tired of fighting this virus, and are ready for this nightmarish time to end. While people are over this pandemic and want to act like it never existed, a myriad of people’s lives is still being altered by its effects. Even those who are vaccinated e are once again at risk of the new variant, and some scientists say that the Omicron variant is highly contagious. This is dangerous, as it leaves no one fully protected against getting sick and spreading the virus.
On the bright side, possible solutions are in the works. Currently, the FDA is planning on releasing an at-home COVID pill as soon as next week. As the new Omicron variant makes things more complicated, case numbers are rising and more people are looking for an easy solution that could help. Having a pill that people can take at home would be beneficial for everyone. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, says, “It will probably end up being a quite limited subset of individuals who even qualify [for the drug].” Right now, the federal government has bought 3.1 million courses of the proposed pill, molnupiravir, which it will acquire between the date of FDA authorization and early next year. It is not yet clear how the pills will be distributed or how they will be dispensed.
While this is positive news regarding COVID-19, Omicron could be an obstacle to this. Depending on how strong and severe the variant is, pills such as the one previously described and alternate solutions to remain healthy could be ineffective. Many scientists are still saying that it is too early to have any definite knowledge on Omicron, but they know that any new variant is not good news.
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