A tablet for Covid-19? Why not?

The news that US has budgeted USD 3.2 billion to help develop antiviral pills for Covid-19 brings new hopes to humanity struggling to contain the pandemic caused by China-origin virus.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is the top infectious disease expert of US and he revealed the roadmap of US efforts to develop an antiviral tablet as a part of ‘antiviral program for pandemics’.

Dr. Anthony Fauci understands Corona better than many. He may even be knowing a few things about how the virus originated in Wuhan in the first place. After all, he even was instrumental in funding a study on viruse mutations by labs in Wuhan.

While the world will wait eagerly for this effort to succeed, Dr. Fauci has added a caveat by saying that vaccines remain the ‘centrepiece of our arsenal’.

Many health experts, including Dr. Fauci, have been underlining the need to develop simpler pill-based medicines that patients could take themselves.

Several drugs are being tested and are in experimental stage.

Antiviral drugs are not a novel concept. Antiviral drugs are available for several viral diseases including Ebola.

Even for Covid-19, many companies have been making efforts to develop an antiviral pill.

Pfizer is well ahead of others on this track. It has hinted that its antiviral pill is already in early-stage trial and would be ready by the end of this year if everything goes well.

In the treatment of viral diseases, vaccines remain the most potent weapon. However, tablets, if they are ever developed for Covid-19, can be a boon for poor and developing countries, where vaccine hesitancy makes the possibility of vaccinating everyone a tough task.

Pills, if they ever come, would be a godsend for a country like India. And everyone would hope that such a pill is developed as soon as possible.

However, until that happens, vaccination and social distancing should be everyone’s focus in the war against corona virus.