Test to Treat: pharmacists say Biden’s major new Covid initiative won’t work

Program to facilitate access to antivirals will have a limited impact because pharmacists are restricted from prescribing the pills

A major new Biden administration initiative to facilitate access to Covid-19 antivirals will have a limited impact and fail to mitigate certain health inequities, major pharmacist groups argue, because pharmacists are restricted from prescribing the pills.

Announced in Joe Biden's State of the Union address, the Test to Treat" program is meant to address the maddening difficulty Americans have had in accessing Covid-19 treatments. The administration will channel newly increasing stocks of antiviral pills to major retail pharmacies that have in-house clinics, providing one-stop testing and antivirals access.