Despite being fully vaccinated and boosted, Dr. Anthony Fauci tested positive for COVID-19 this month.
But after taking Pfizer’s anti-viral medication, Paxlovid, he is having a “rebound” of symptoms, even worse than the initial ones.
When Dr. Fauci initially tested positive for COVID-19 a couple of weeks ago, he experienced only “minimal symptoms.”
When they began to worsen, he was prescribed Paxlovid.
After Fauci finished the prescribed 5-day program on the medication, he took three rapid tests over three consecutive days, testing negative each day.
On the fourth day, “just to be absolutely certain,” Fauci took one more COVID-19 test and tested positive, he told the Foreign Policy Global Health Forum in an interview on Tuesday. After which, he experienced symptoms “much worse than in the first go-around.”
“It was sort of what people are referring to as a ‘Paxlovid rebound,’” Fauci said.
After experiencing the rebound, Fauci went back on Paxlovid.
“Right now I am on my fourth day of a five-day course of my second course of Paxlovid, and fortunately I feel reasonably good. I mean I’m not completely without symptoms but I certainly don’t feel acutely ill,” he said.
Do you think Paxlovid is a viable way to fight COVID-19?
Trust the science! ??? pic.twitter.com/jDK9rDKXqA
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.substack.com (@JordanSchachtel) June 29, 2022
Fauci is not the first to experience a “rebound” of symptoms after taking Paxlovid.
In fact, the CDC warned in May of the resurgence of symptoms after taking the anti-viral.
“Recent case reports document that some patients with normal immune response who have completed a 5-day course of Paxlovid for laboratory-confirmed infection and have recovered can experience recurrent illness two to eight days later, including patients who have been vaccinated and/or boosted,” the CDC document read.
According to the CDC’s guidelines, the anti-viral medication is authorized for those who have “mild to moderate” symptoms, and are likely to progress to more severe symptoms.
Day 3 on the Covid19 antivirals. Paxlovid mouth is a thing ? pic.twitter.com/i27Bp2ZYUa
— Scott is Grappling With MS (@GrapplingWithMS) June 24, 2022
Though Fauci took an additional cycle of Paxlovid, the Federal Drug Administration stated: “There is no evidence of benefit at this time for a longer course of treatment (e.g., 10 days rather than the five days recommended in the Provider Fact Sheet for Paxlovid) or repeating a treatment course of Paxlovid in patients with recurrent COVID-19 symptoms following completion of a treatment course.”
