Covid-19: Pfizer says its Paxlovid pill drastically reduces severe disease

WASHINGTON, United States: (AFP) Pfizer said on Tuesday (Dec 14) that clinical trials confirmed its Covid-19 pill – a new type of treatment that should withstand the mutations seen with the Omicron variant – drastically reduced hospitalisations and deaths among at-risk people by almost 90%.

The announcement, which was praised by US President Joe Biden, came as a real-world study from South Africa showed two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 70% effective in stopping severe illness from the new strain.