Increase Access to COVID-19 Antivirals for Kentucky Patients

With a surge of COVID-19, influenza and RSV infections, health officials have warned this fall could bring a tripledemic. Just since September 9, Kentucky has had an average of 54 hospital admissions for COVID-19, an increase from the previous two week period, according to the latest data available from The New York Times COVID-19 tracker.

The growing threat of another serious public health crisis shows the need to equip our healthcare providers with the therapeutics and medications needed to treat patients at the onset of their symptoms. Equally as important, patients in underserved populations, who are most at-risk of infection, must be able to easily access these treatments regardless of their zip code.

Unfortunately, due to government red tape, pharmacists are having to jump through hoops to request and order COVID-19 antiviral therapeutics on top of dispensing medications and counseling patients on medication adherence. This means some Kentuckians can’t access COVID-19 therapeutics in a timely manner, which could lead to more hospital admissions and worse health outcomes.

With nearly nine in 10 Americans living within five miles of a pharmacy, it’s critical for HHS to remove these administrative barriers to care so pharmacists can increase the availability of lifesaving COVID-19 therapeutics and protect our vulnerable community members from a potential tripledemic— just as they did when delivering COVID-19 vaccines during the height of the pandemic.

Alleviating timely barriers to care for providers means Kentuckians can be the healthiest versions of themselves.