(LAS VEGAS) — Nine people died on Saturday in a “chaotic” traffic collision involving six vehicles in North Las Vegas, officials said.
“We have not seen a mass-casualty traffic collision like this before,” Alexander Cuevas, public information officer for the North Las Vegas Police, told reporters late Saturday.
Fifteen people had been involved in the incident, Cuevas said. Two were transported from the scene to University Medical Center, where one later died, he said. The other remained in critical condition, he said.
Officials said speed was a factor in the crash. It was unknown whether impaired driving had been a factor, they said.
The National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday that it is sending a go-team to investigate the crash in coordination with the North Las Vegas Police Department.
A Dodge Challenger heading north “at a high rate of speed” on Commerce Street ran a red light prior to the crash at about 3 p.m., Cuevas said citing statements from witnesses.
“And, with that, it struck multiple vehicles and, unfortunately, it was a chaotic event,” Cuevas said.
Several vehicles were pushed off the road into a vacant lot near the intersection of Commerce Street and Cheyenne Avenue, officials said.
The driver of the Challenger was among the dead, officials said. The deceased ranged from young juveniles to middle-aged adults, Cuevas said. Their identities will be released by the coroner’s office, police said.
“Our thoughts and our prayers are with the families who are experiencing a tremendous and unnecessary loss due to a careless, senseless act,” Pamela A. Goynes-Brown, a member of the North Las Vegas City Council, said.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Atlanta 129, LA Lakers 121
LA Clippers 115, Charlotte 90
Chicago 130, Portland 116
Detroit 115, Cleveland 105
Denver 136, Milwaukee 100
Orlando 110, Dallas 108
Phoenix 115, San Antonio 110
Minnesota 126, Utah 106
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
NY Rangers 3, Seattle 2
Los Angeles 4, Pittsburgh 3
Carolina 2, San Jose 1
Dallas 6, Boston 1
Columbus 6, Montreal 3
Minnesota 4, NY Islanders 3
Colorado 4, Buffalo 1
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Cincinnati 27, Kansas City 24 (OT)
LA Rams 20, San Francisco 17
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Purdue 81, Ohio St. 78
Wisconsin 66, Minnesota 60
Providence 65, Marquette 63
On Sunday, January 30, U2 frontman Bono and guitarist The Edge posted a video of them delivering a new acoustic performance of their band’s classic 1983 song “Sunday Bloody Sunday” that features a new final verse.
The debut of the updated version of the tune coincides with the 50th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” massacre — which served as the inspiration for the song — where British Army soldiers shot and killed 13 civil-rights protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland.
The black-and-white video, which was shot at one of the U2 members’ homes in Dublin, was posted on the group’s official YouTube channel along with the caption “30 January 2022 – With love, Bono & Edge.”
The newly written closing verse features the following lyrics: “Here at the murder scene/ The virus of fiction, reality TV/ Why so many mothers cry/ Religion is the enemy of the Holy Spirit guide/ And the battle just begun/ Where is the victory Jesus won.”
Here are the original lyrics of the song’s final verse: “And it’s true we are immune/ When fact is fiction and TV reality/ And today the millions cry/ We eat and drink while tomorrow they die/ The real battle just begun/ To claim the victory Jesus won.”
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” was originally featured on U2’s third studio album, War.
This weekend’s Saturday Night Live, hosted by Willem Dafoe, with musical guest Katy Perry, also featured a surprise appearance from former NFL player Peyton Manning, whose “Weekend Update” commentary on Saturday’s playoffs and Tom Brady‘s rumored retirement ended with him gushing over Netflix’s Emily in Paris.
The Spider-Man: No Way Home star Dafoe used his opening monologue to joke about his “expressive face,” which he “can’t control.”
“Maybe that’s why people come up to me and say, ‘You know what role you’d be perfect for? The Joker,’” he continued. “Always nice to hear that you’ve got the vibe of a sociopath,” the host joked.
Manning confessed to “Update” co-anchor Colin Jost that he, “had an hour to kill before the first game, so just for fun, I put on the first episode of Emily in Paris season two, and I watched the entire season straight through.”
“This show has everything: romance, adventure, sensuality, culture, a fresh take on feminism…a culinary tapestry so rich, I could only describe it as ‘food porn,’” he continued.
Regarding Brady’s possible retirement, Manning replied that it was “probably just speculation,” but if it were him he, “probably would retire, too, if it gave me more time to watch Emily in Paris.”
Responding to Jost’s shock at him blowing off football for the show, Manning explained, “Sure, watching football was the safe thing to do. That’s what everyone expected me to do, but if I’ve learned anything from Emily, it’s to follow my passions and always be true to myself.”
The episode also marked Jost’s co-anchor Michael Che‘s 155th appearance behind the “Update” desk, breaking Seth Meyers‘ record, surpassed by Jost in October. Che is also the first African-American “Weekend Update” anchor.
SNL returns February 26 with host John Mulaney and musical guest LCD Soundsystem.
The latest seres in the Power franchise, Power Book IV: Force, debuts Sunday, February 6 starring Joseph Sikora. In this spinoff, Sikora, who portrays Tommy Egan, has left New York City with hopes of taking over Chicago.
Executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has teamed with Jeremih and Lil Durk for the theme song, “Power Powder Respect.”
Jeremih is proud of the fact that he was involved in producing the track. “What I really look more forward to with that with the intro, is that people don’t know that I actually made the beat. It’s my first production placement,” he tells ABC Audio.
The Grammy nominee adds that he sent Fiddy several tracks, and was pleasantly surprised with the one he selected for the theme. “I couldn’t ask for nothing better. Even hearing it back and seeing the additional plays he made with it, adding on Lil Durk, just turned it into a real power play,” the “Down On Me” singer continues.
Jackson says he emphasized to Jeremih that the song has to reflect the series.
“Because it’s the theme, you don’t have to be Jeremih. You can do [or] say things that…relate to the show instead of just being what we would say next or what we would do next as artists,” Jackson says.
Since Power Book IV: Force is set in Chicago, 50 says it was key to have Windy City natives Jeremih and Lil Durk on the song.
“I had to make it feel like Chicago. So, you know, in order to do that, you know, I got Lil Durk involved and got Jeremih to bring me some tunes,” Jackson says.
Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in 2012; Lester Cohen/WireImage
Joni Mitchell has joined her old friend and fellow Canadian artist Neil Young in removing her music from Spotify because the streaming service continues to host The Joe Rogan Experience. Many in the medical community have claimed that Rogan‘s podcast spreads harmful misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.
In an online message, Mitchell writes, “I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”
Joni also posted a link to an open letter that was signed by hundreds of scientists and medical professionals asking Spotify to “immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform,” after a recent episode of the podcast aired that they allege included harmful untruths regarding COVID-19.
That same letter prompted Young to demand that his music be removed from Spotify if the service didn’t stop hosting Rogan’s extremely popular podcast. Spotify granted Neil’s request, rather cut ties with Rogan.
Following Young’s decision to leave Spotify, many artists expressed support for him, while quite a few others criticized him, suggesting that Neil’s actions were anti-free speech, and that Rogan had a right to express his opinions about the pandemic and vaccines.
In response to his detractors, Young maintained in an online note, “I support free speech. I have never been in favor of censorship. Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information.”
He added, “I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front-line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others.”
(LONDON) — Thousands of feet in the air, Willem Briers-Louw, a wildlife biologist, surveys the Zambeze Delta in Mozambique via helicopter — seeking the animal populations he helps to conserve and maintain in the bushland.
Cheetahs, one of Briers-Louw’s subjects and the fastest land animal in the world, could get a boost to its population if a new conservation method researchers are practicing in Africa is successful.
Biologists in Mozambique released a group of wild cheetahs in a “massive” protected area in the Zambeze Delta in August as part of a reintroduction project they believe is “crucial” to conserve the species, Briers-Louw, a wildlife biologist working on the project with the Cabela Family Foundation, the organization that funded the reintroduction project, told ABC News.
From the two-seat Robinson R22 helicopter, Briers-Louw can track the animals wherever they go and monitor their behavior — what they’re eating, whether they’re mating, when a litter of cubs is born. It’s one of the perks of the job, Briers-Louw said.
“Watching them at full speed chasing down [cleft-back] antelope is truly incredible to see,” he said.
The project was suggested by the foundation’s wildlife trust coordinators after a similar reintroduction for lions in the Zambeze Delta was successful, Briers-Louw said. In addition to the ample space and limited poaching in the preserve, the cheetahs are not prey for lions and have plenty of food sources to sustain a decent population.
Biologists found historical evidence that cheetahs occupied the area in the past after finding a book from 1914 described the animals, which was imperative for the reintroduction to be successful, Briers-Louw said.
Eleven cheetahs from South Africa and one from Malawi were transported to Mozambique over the summer. The big cats were stationed in a fenced area for months to get acclimated before the gates were opened to their new home, Briers-Louw said.
Two additional females, described as “valuable additions to the founder population,” were released in December. The researchers hope to maintain an interconnected conservation project where different countries work together to maintain as healthy a cheetah population as possible, Briers-Louw said.
What makes the project “novel” is the cheetahs were released into a sizable, unfenced area that could possibly support up to 100 cheetahs in the future, he added. In fenced preserves, a male cheetah looking to explore and find females is likely to hit an electric fence and turn around, Tamar Kendon, another wildlife biologist with the Cabela Family Foundation, told ABC News.
“It’s totally open, and they’re not constricted or not confined to a fenced area, so they can move pretty much wherever they want to,” Briers-Louw said. “And so we’ve seen quite a lot of exploratory movement within the first four or five months.”
The cheetahs’ newfound ability to wander causes “a bit of stress” for the researchers and presents a possibility for the need to collect them and bring them back, Kendon said.
Conservationists have been introducing cheetahs in small, fenced preserves since 1999, Briers-Louw said. Once cubs are born, they need new homes because those preserves can’t support larger populations.
“So Africa, at that time, was the only country with a growing cheetah population,” until biologists began practicing similar efforts around the world, Briers-Louw added.
All of the cheetahs seem to be thriving in their new habitat and seem to have started fixed movement areas, Briers-Louw said. The researchers track them on the ground, aerially via helicopter and through satellite imagery, which allows them to ensure they’re thriving and monitor other behaviors, such as mating, Briers-Louw said. Each cheetah is also outfitted with a GPS collar in case they move outside of the preserve, Kendon said.
Briers-Louw emphasized that it’s “not all sunshine and roses” for the health of cheetah populations around the world, and they were “strongly” on the way to extinction for the better part of two decades.
Cheetahs are currently listed as vulnerable, with their populations deceasing, on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. There are currently about 6,700 mature cheetahs in the world, according to the IUCN.
They only have about 9% of their historic range, and of that population, 30% are in protected reserves, Briers-Louw said. The main threats facing cheetahs are habitat loss, fragmentation of habitat and poaching, but they are also at risk of becoming trapped in snares placed for bushmeat, Kendon said.
The Zambeze Delta historically contained thousands of animals, but years of armed conflict and poaching led to a sharp decline of wildlife in the area, Briers-Louw said. While the Zambeze Delta has experienced a massive resurgence in animal populations in recent years, poaching still remains the biggest threat to carnivores in the region.
But the conservationists believe they are at a turning point where wildlife can once again thrive.
“Even though poaching is the biggest threat to the carnivores, we are at the point where it’s fairly controlled and limited to the point where it shouldn’t have any effect on the population,” he said.
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Looking to buy a new Kia Telluride sport utility vehicle? Expect to pay $48,509 — more than $3,700 above the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
Luxury SUVs like the Range Rover ($117,890) and Cadillac Escalade ESV ($102,584) are selling for $3,000 to $6,000 over MSRP, according to Edmunds, which compiled a list of the top 10 vehicles with the largest market adjustments in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Markups on sports cars are even more dramatic: dealers are asking (and getting) 5% over MSRP for the Corvette Stingray ($86,511) and 8% for Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 ($91,611).
“People are accepting these prices without complaining … they’re going with it and making the plunge,” Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ executive director of insights, told ABC News. “Dealer markups are happening all over the board. Manufacturers don’t really have control over it.”
The automotive industry has not been immune from the price hikes impacting nearly every industry. Desperate consumers are starting to surrender to the new reality: discounts, incentives and negotiating are so 2019.
In December, consumers paid on average $709 more than the suggested transaction price, Caldwell said, noting that the upward march in prices really took hold in August.
“We have not seen this happen before on an aggregate level,” she said.
And markups are impacting nearly 90% of car buyers, according to one estimate, forcing some automakers to threaten a dealer crackdown.
‘Out of control’ luxury markups
It’s the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the boxy, ultra-luxe ute driven by celebs and socialites, that may be the most extreme example of dealership markups. The base G-Class costs $174,650 though new owners are shelling out an additional $30,405 on average — if they’re lucky to get one at all. Caldwell said she knows of one woman who recently paid $50,000 above MSRP for a G-Class. Some Mercedes dealerships are even asking $337,000 for a 2021 AMG G 63 G-Class — more than $150,000 above the MSRP, according to Caldwell.
“This woman thought she got a good deal,” said Caldwell. “Consumers feel pressure to buy right away because inventory is so low.”
Some owners of the ultra-luxe G-Class have paid $150K above the six-figure sticker price.
And it’s not just the G-Class getting the markup treatment. The Mercedes GLS SUV and GLC Coupe SUV are also seeing massive price hikes. A Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman declined to comment when reached by ABC News.
Marc Van Hengst, a brand ambassador at the Jack Daniels Porsche dealership in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, called the car market “out of control” and said he disapproves of the outrageous prices dealers are charging.
“I don’t like to do markups. It’s bad for business and will scare people away,” he told ABC News.
Van Hengst said he sees prospective customers coming into his dealership and pleading with management for a 2022 911 GT3 — the hottest Porsche on the market now among enthusiasts. The 502-horsepower GT3 sprints from 0-60 mph in 3.2 seconds and comes with a starting price tag of $161,100. A quick search on Cars.com pulls up listings for $307,740 — $339,000 — even $349,900.
“You get a lot of performance [in the GT3] which a lot of people will not use at all … but people want the performance,” Van Hengst said. “The internet makes it seem like it’s the most desirable Porsche of all.”
Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, said 87% of consumers are currently paying above MSRP, which is already at a record high. The average new vehicle price is now $45,283 versus $35,000 in December of 2019, according to J.D. Power. The global chip shortage and supply crunch have led to surging prices, Jominy said.
“There are some crazy markups and the higher price point you go the crazier they are,” he told ABC News. “Automakers have never seen anything like this. But some of them are telling dealers to cool it with markups. It’s not in their best interest long term.”
He added, “The higher markups are like a tax on rich people.”
Cracking down
Ford and General Motors are actively trying to stop dealerships from heavily marking up the price of new vehicles.
Steve Carlisle, president of GM North America, addressed customer interest for the upcoming Corvette Z06, Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Hummer EV, GMC Sierra EV and Cadillac Lyriq in a letter sent to the automaker’s dealer network on Jan. 18, writing in part:
“Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that in connection with some of these announcements and launches, a small number of Dealers have engaged in practices that do not support a positive sales experience for our customers. This puts our collective interests at risk and generates negative press that reflect poorly on GM’s brands and your dealerships. Specifically, it has come to our attention that some dealerships have attempted to demand money above and beyond the reservation amounts set in GM’s program rules and/or have requested customers to pay sums far in excess of MSRP in order to purchase or lease a vehicle … GM will be forced to take action if it learns of any unethical sales practices or brokering activities that undermine the integrity that customers expect from the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac brands.”
A GM spokesperson confirmed the letter to ABC News, adding, “We want every customer to have a great experience. The majority of our dealers know this; however, we want everyone on the same page.”
In a tersely worded memo, Ford instructed dealers not to raise the price of its new F-150 Lightning electric truck nor demand that customers already on the reservation list make additional deposits or payments.
“It has come to our attention that a limited number of dealerships are interacting with customers in a manner that is negatively impacting customer satisfaction and damaging to the Ford Motor Company brand and Dealer Body reputation,” the memo stated.
A Ford spokesperson told ABC News in response to the memo: “The all-new F-150 Lightning represents a leap ahead in innovation for Ford trucks and is critical to the Ford brand and our dealerships as we move into a segment we’ve never competed. We are competing with others who have a direct model and we need to be very mindful of how customers perceive Ford and our dealer network. How our dealers treat customers has major implications not only on an individual dealer but the reputation of Ford and our dealers as a whole. We want to show customers how our Ford dealer network provides a better experience than anyone out there.”
Automakers displeased with excessive markups could penalize wayward dealers in the future with fewer allocations.
“Markups can sour the relationship with the customer,” Caldwell said.
Even the unloved compact car has seen its price skyrocket as consumers frantically snap up SUVs. Drivers who may have shunned sedans before are willing to buy any vehicle at this point, Jominy pointed out.
“We’re seeing very limited inventories and high prices in this market for the foreseeable future,” he said.
(TAMPA BAY, Fla.) — Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady is retiring after 22 years in the NFL, ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington reported.
Brady, the most successful quarterback in NFL history, has won seven Super Bowls — six with the New England Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — and won five Super Bowl MVPs and three NFL MVP trophies. He went to 15 Pro Bowls and was an All Pro in each of his MVP seasons.
“I understand the advanced speculation about Tom’s future,” Brady’s agent, Don Yee, told ESPN’s Schefter in a statement. “Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what’s being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.”
Brady’s last season came to an end with a loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round of the playoffs. In true Brady fashion, the quarterback led his team back from a 27-3 deficit, only to lose 30-27 on a field goal by the Rams as time expired.
Brady, 44, played two seasons with the Buccaneers after leaving New England in 2020. In his first season in Tampa Bay, he led the Bucs to their first Super Bowl win since 2003.
He holds virtually every career record by a quarterback, including most passing yards (84,520), pass completions (7,263) and passing touchdowns (624).
While Brady himself has yet to announce the move, his company, TB12 Sports, tweeted the star’s accomplishments and wrote “Thank you for it all, @TomBrady.” The account later deleted the tweet.
Brady has delved into several off-field endeavors in recent years, including his TB12 Sports, a health and wellness company, and the Brady Brand clothing line, which he launched earlier this month and will be sold in Nordstrom stores.
He told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he has been “very involved” in the clothing line.
“I’ve always kind of, you know, loved fashion and apparel, and I wanted to be as hands-on as possible,” he said.
Following the 2021-22 season, he had said he would talk with his family about whether he wanted to return for another season. Brady is married to supermodel Gisele Bundchen, with whom he has two children. He also has a son with actress Bridget Moynahan.
MORE: Tom Brady forays into fashion with new apparel brand that highlights college athletes
Brady was far from a highly touted prospect as a sixth-round pick out of Michigan by the Patriots in the 2000 NFL draft. But a hit by New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis on Patriots starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe in Week 2 of the 2001 season launched Brady into stardom in his second season. He ended up starting 14 games, leading the team to an 11-3 record and an upset win against the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl.
He won two more Super Bowls in the next three seasons, establishing himself as a star and the Patriots as a dynasty led by head coach Bill Belichick.
Brady also won Super Bowls with the Patriots in 2015, 2017 and 2019. He’s the only player to win Super Bowls in three different decades.
For years, Brady’s only kryptonite appeared to be the New York Giants and their quarterback, Eli Manning. The Giants defeated Brady’s Patriots in 2008 and 2012. New England had entered the Super Bowl in 2008 with an undefeated record and was looking to become the first team with an unblemished record since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
Brady’s only other loss in a Super Bowl came in 2018 against the Philadelphia Eagles — despite throwing for over 500 yards and three touchdowns.
The reaction to Brady’s retirement was swift. Former Patriots teammate Julian Edelman tweeted, “Thanks for the memories, babe.”
Several of his Tampa Bay teammates also tweeted about the news. Wide receiver Chris Godwin tweeted, “The best ever. Congratulations bro @TomBrady grateful to have gotten to share the field with you!” Bucs linebacker Devin White shared, “Congrats to the greatest QB to ever lace em up on a helluva career.” Wide receiver Cyril Grayson wrote, “Happy Retirement! THANK YOU FOR ALL THE GAME!”
(NEW YORK) — Dr. Albert Lam, a geriatrician who works with nursing home patients in Palo Alto, California, was excited to be among the first to prescribe the new antiviral pill Paxlovid after one of his patients tested positive for COVID-19.
Hailed as a “game-changer” in the pandemic, Paxlovid is a drug made by Pfizer that if taken within five days of being diagnosed reduces the chance of hospitalization and death by 88% for people who are at high risk of severe illness.
The treatment has proved so promising that President Joe Biden included it in a Jan. 4 televised speech on the omicron variant, announcing that the first batch had shipped on Christmas Eve. While production would take “months,” Biden said it was in “full swing” and promised the drugs were on their way.
“The United States has more pills than any other country in the world, and our supply is going to ramp up over the coming months as more of these pills are manufactured,” Biden said.
Lam’s patient, a woman in her 80s with a history of cancer, got the drug within 24 hours and responded well.
Since then, however, the doctor hasn’t been so lucky.
Whereas nursing homes were first in line to get COVID vaccines last year, Lam now regularly scours a publicly available federal database to see if a Paxlovid prescription pops up near his location. This week, his home state of California got 9,560 doses — about 24 prescriptions for every 100,000 people.
Five weeks after federal regulators approved Paxlovid and began distributing it to states, few people can find it — omicron’s aggressive rise has quickly outstripped supplies.
According to an ABC News analysis of federal data on Paxlovid in more than 3,100 U.S. counties, three-quarters didn’t have any of the drug on hand as of Jan. 27, and about three-fifths had no access to a provider offering Paxlovid.
States are given amounts based on population, but some face more demand than others. Among the states that have the lowest rates of Paxlovid treatment on hand are Alabama, California, Florida, Idaho, New Jersey, New Mexico and Texas, according to data released by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Race also seems to be a factor in access, at least for now: Urban counties with majority nonwhite population have the lowest average of doses on hand, whereas counties with less than 10% of its population being nonwhite have the highest average of treatments on hand.
Scarcity isn’t the only problem. Doctors and pharmacists told ABC News the process of obtaining the drug is opaque, even arbitrary.
In Nevada, for example, Paxlovid primarily goes to long-term care facilities like nursing homes. But in neighboring California, state officials use a complex formula that factors in rising case numbers with other risk factors. In the District of Columbia, a few Safeway grocery stores are the primary distributors, although city health officials have asked doctors to give priority to high-risk individuals.
Dr. Christian Ramers of the Family Health Centers of San Diego, a network of clinics for low-income patients, said his clinic was able to secure its first shipment of 100 treatments of Paxlovid two weeks ago as part of a Biden program aimed at improving health equity.
But the staff also had to set up a system, using federal guidelines, to decide who gets the drugs first because there just weren’t enough. Often, that’s meant prioritizing people who initially refused a vaccination and now are at much greater risk of dying.
“The volume has been just mind-blowing for the last three to four weeks — just absolutely insane,” he said. That spike “to us means hundreds to thousands of people vying for about … 40 to 50 treatment slots per day.”
For now, he said, the reality is “if you’re vaccinated and you’re under age 65 and you don’t have a medical condition, you’re not going to get Paxlovid.”
Adding to the confusion is that many doctors are nervous about prescribing the drug for many high-risk patients because of potentially dangerous interactions with other commonly used medications, including cholesterol-lowering drugs and certain anti-depressants. Advocates say more data should be collected on people in their 80s and 90s.
But there aren’t a lot of other options.
“It is a little disappointing, and it makes me wonder: Could we do more?” said Erin Karara, a pharmacy consultant who works with nursing homes and long-term care facilities. “I mean, we’re seeing entire wings of nursing homes or facilities converted to COVID units. … It’s a lot of people affected by it.”
For its part, both the White House and Pfizer said the drug was never expected to roll out in large numbers right away, in part because of the time it takes to secure raw materials and to scale up manufacturing.
The current plan calls for 265,000 courses of treatment in January, gradually ramping up to 10 million by the end of June and 20 million by the end of September.
This week, Pfizer told ABC News it plans to increase its production of Paxlovid overall to 120 million courses of treatment globally — some 3.6 billion pills total.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said producing the drug can’t be compared to its COVID vaccine.
“It is very different, the situation,” Bourla said at anindustry conference. “Any decent manufacturer of medicines can make it. But the chemistry, it is complicated, and it takes time to synthesize the active substance.”
Some conservatives still have been quick to criticize Biden’s handling of the rollout, with The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board deriding it as “Biden’s Operation Snail Speed,” writing, “Why didn’t it order more treatments sooner?”
According to one senior administration official, the White House did everything it could, including promising to Pfizer last July it would spend at least $1 billion on the drugs if it worked. This informal “handshake agreement” was intended to be a powerful incentive for the company, which doesn’t use government money to develop new products, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
By then, Pfizer had already spent months preparing its supply chain and developing the drug. It agreed to allow the U.S. to receive the world’s first shipments.
A company official declined to confirm details of private discussions with the White House before the drug became available.
“Thanks to this at-risk preparation — drawing on our deep expertise — we have already shipped hundreds of thousands of Paxlovid courses in the U.S.,” a spokesperson told ABC. “We continue to work quickly to ship courses in accordance with our agreed delivery schedule.”
Two years into the pandemic, doctors still have few ways to treat COVID-19 with vaccines as the most effective option. Treatment options dwindled further this week when federal regulators pulled authorization of two types of monoclonal antibodies that had been widely used in the pandemic, including the kind given to then-President Donald Trump.
The antibody cocktails, made by Eli Lilly and Regeneron, were found to be useless against omicron, now 99.9% of all U.S. cases.
Two remaining drugs, Remdesivir and Sotrovimab, have to be administered intravenously at a medical facility. Molnupiravir, the new antiviral pill from Merck and Ridgeback Therapeutics, found to be 30% effective at preventing hospitalization and death, is authorized only for high-risk patients who can’t access other treatments.
That leaves Paxlovid — if a person can find it and take it early enough, and if the medication doesn’t put them at risk because of other drugs they are taking.
This week, the Southern Nevada Health District in Las Vegas announced it received 120 prescriptions last week and was willing to offer the medication to anyone older than 12 who is at high risk of COVID and tests positive through their clinic.
“If we can identify and treat people early in the course of their illness who otherwise may have ended up in the emergency department or hospital … we can potentially reduce the impact on our hospital system,” said Dr. Cort Lohff, chief medical officer of the public health agency.
Lam, the doctor in northern California, said he’s hopeful access will improve, particularly for nursing homes and long-term care residents.
“Frankly,” he added, “I think that if we were able to target those advanced therapeutics for the most at-risk populations, I think we would really make a bigger difference in terms of our death rate.”
