COVID will evolve to evade popular antiviral treatment Paxlovid, a critical line of defense for the unvaccinated and those at risk of severe disease and death from the virus—of this, Deborah Birx is certain.
During her time as White House COVID response coordinator under former President Donald Trump, from March 2020 through January 2021, Birx oversaw the development and widespread distribution of COVID tests, treatments, and vaccines. American innovation in combating COVID, however, slowed to a crawl after the initial hurried push—and it leaves her frustrated and worried about the future, as the virus continues to evolve to pick off COVID treatments and chip away at the protection vaccines provide.
“I’ve been really upset that the federal government has not prioritized next-generation vaccines that are more durable, next-generation monoclonals, and long-acting monoclonals,” Birx told Fortune in an interview at the magazine’s Brainstorm Health conference, held earlier this week in Marina del Rey, Calif.
Omicron is mutating to bypass the initial arsenal of weapons developed for use against it. Already, its changes have rendered every universal monoclonal antibody treatment—administered to people at high risk of hospitalization and death—useless. Eventually it will take down Paxlovid too, Birx says.