As COVID-19 cases in China rise following the ease of zero-covid policy, residents are rushing to buy medicines even from black markets.
Antibiotics are typically the first line of defense against Strep A infections, and despite initial opposition from the government over fears of a supply shortage, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) this week issued two waves of emergency rule changes to help pharmacies with limited stocks.
The rising pandemic is increasing the need for such therapies, but the Chinese have discovered that pharmaceuticals are in short supply throughout the increasingly stretched healthcare system.
Social media posts and press articles indicate that individuals are seeking out online sales channels to acquire non-China-approved generic versions of foreign-manufactured medications.
One user on the popular Weibo platform, which is similar to Twitter, stated on Sunday that she was purchasing generic Paxlovid manufactured in Bangladesh since she had an elderly family and was unable to obtain any in China.
She stated in the post, which has since been deleted, that although she had read that China had imported tens of thousands of cartons of Paxlovid, the potentially life-saving medication was inaccessible to regular citizens.
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The same day, a second Weibo user demanded easier and more expedient access to the drugs. The poster uploaded an image of an advertisement for generic copies of Paxlovid manufactured in India that can be dispatched the same day as the date of payment and arrive within two to four weeks.
After three years of propaganda portraying COVID-19 as a particularly lethal virus, the supply strain may also be exacerbated by increased anxiety among the Chinese about its hazards.
As the government’s official stance shifts a top medical adviser compared it to a cold so has the public discourse. State-run media have produced pieces cautioning that antiviral medication is not necessary for everyone.
AstraZeneca’s preventive antibody medication Evusheld is available in a medical pilot zone on the southern island of Hainan.