ATLANTA — Dramatically fewer Black and Hispanic adult outpatients were given the leading antiviral medication for COVID-19 than White and non-Hispanics — even as medical professionals knew they were less likely to get equivalent treatment because of long-pervasive racial and ethnic disparities.
Researchers studied those disparities in outpatient treatment for 692,570 adult outpatients around the country in the weeks of April-July 2022 and reported their findings in a recent weekly MMWR of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In particular, the study focused on how the racial and ethnic groups were prescribed Paxlovid, the preferred therapeutic for high-risk patients.
The study came months after medical and public health professionals expressed concern that Black and Hispanic COVID-19 patients would not receive medical care equivalent to that received by white and non-Hispanic patients. Researchers said they hoped their findings would result in expanded programs to increase awareness of, and access to, available outpatient COVID-19 treatment.
