JAMA paper says COVID-19 antiviral does little for vaccinated over-70s, but experts point to study limitations
Professors Allen Cheng and Paul Griffin cautioned against extrapolating the findings to Australia.
COVID-19 antiviral nirmatrelvir-ritonavir cuts neither hospitalisations nor deaths among vaccinated older adults, a US-Canadian study has suggested.
However, Australian experts say the ‘natural experiment’ study is hard to extrapolate.
The study, conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles and University of Toronto, covered 1.6 million Canadian residents aged 65-74.
The team analysed data from mid-2022 when authorities primarily used the drug for those aged 70 and older unless younger patients had risk factors such as immunocompromise or having had fewer than three vaccine doses.
