Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to enable GPs to prescribe antivirals, including Paxlovid, for the treatment of Covid in accordance with NICE evaluations.

Decisions on whether licensed medicines, including antivirals for COVID-19, should be recommended for routine National Health Service funding are made independently by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), on the basis of the evidence of costs and benefits.

The NICE recommends the antiviral Paxlovid, a combination of nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir, as an option for treating COVID-19 in adults, only if they do not need supplemental oxygen for COVID-19, and they have any of the following:

• an increased risk for progression to severe COVID-19, as defined in the guidance;
• are aged 70 years old and over;
• a body mass index of 35 kilogram per square metre or more;
• diabetes; or
• heart failure.

A phased implementation of the NICE’s recommendations on Paxlovid has been agreed, to allow more time for the NHS to put in place the capacity and infrastructure needed for the full rollout to all eligible patients. Prescribers, including general practitioners, are currently able to prescribe Paxlovid to NHS patients at the highest risk of severe COVID-19, in line with the approach to rollout set out in the NICE’s guidance.