Would Tamiflu-for-Covid Be Enough?

U.S. health officials last week announced a plan to use $3.2 billion to develop drugs against Covid and other viruses with pandemic potential. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s medical adviser on the pandemic, said these medicines could be taken at home after a person is already sick, comparing them to flu-fighting Tamiflu.

Tamiflu is one of the most recognizable antiviral drugs in the world and was wildly popular in 2009 during a milder swine flu pandemic. But the medicine fell out of favor when providers realized its benefits for most sick patients were limited and cases emerged of the virus developing resistance to the drug.