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Can antivirals prevent long COVID? Is monkeypox the next pandemic?

Paxlovid, a five-day course of pills from Pfizer, reduce the risks of getting hospitalized or dying because of COVID. Credit: Radio Alfa/Flickr Creative Commons
Paxlovid, a five-day course of pills from Pfizer, reduce the risks of getting hospitalized or dying because of COVID. Credit: Radio Alfa/Flickr Creative Commons

As new variants drive COVID infections and hospitalizations, antiviral drugs are an important tool to prevent serious illness or death.

Dr. Amesh Adalja is an infectious disease physician and a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. He says more studies are needed to determine if antiviral drugs can prevent long COVID.

Plus, is another pandemic on the horizon? We ask Dr. Boris Lushniak, dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Health, about the global spread of monkeypox. Find information about monkeypox cases in Maryland here.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Maureen Harvie is Senior Supervising Producer for On the Record. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and joined WYPR in 2014 as an intern for the newsroom. Whether coordinating live election night coverage, capturing the sounds of a roller derby scrimmage, interviewing veterans, or booking local authors, she is always on the lookout for the next story.