US: Anthony Fauci heaps praise on Merck's new COVID drug that reduces death rate by half

The United States top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci commended a new drug for treating COVID-19 after trials revealed it cut hospitalisations and fatalities by half. Speaking at a White House press conference on Friday, October 1, he said that Molnupiravir's data are impressive. The drug has been developed by Big Pharma firm Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics reported news agency Sputnik. President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, Fauci stated that he was briefed on the findings of a clinical trial, which he termed as impressive. However, he refrained from revealing when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would approve the drug for the prescription. Although he assured that the FDA would evaluate the trial results as quickly as possible before approving the drug.

Meanwhile, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis claimed that monoclonal antibody therapy has cut hospitalisations by about three-quarters in his state, a figure that matches the latest World Health Organization data. He stated that his administration set up 25 monoclonal antibody sites across Florida, which resulted in about 70 per cent reduction in COVID hospitalisations, reported the news agency.  Meanwhile, last month, Dr Fauci warned that COVID-19 is "nowhere near under control" in the United States as cases have soared more than ten times higher than they need to be to end the pandemic. His comments came after he issued a warning about forthcoming Coronavirus mutations, which he claimed could be even more contagious than the Delta Variant, reported Axios, an American news website. 

'US has high percentage of ‘vaccine hesitant’ population'

Dr Fauci further stated that the reported case counts are low, implying that the actual infection rate is significantly higher. “You can't hang around in a country our size and have 100,000 infections a day. Before you start feeling comfortable, you have to get well below 10,000,” he was quoted as saying by the news website. He went on to add that the threat of a pandemic should diminish as vaccination rates rise. It should be mentioned that  America has a considerably higher percentage of the ‘vaccine hesitant’ population, refusing to get the shots citing health reasons. In the United States, 56 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated, with another 65 per cent having received at least one dose. Stressing the importance of vaccination, Fauci had stated that it is critical in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the community.

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