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High Cost of COVID
By Sean Pan
Yan Liu, a housewife from Guang- Drug Impacts
zhou, China, spent RMB ¥8,200
(US $1200) for a packet of Pax-
lovid in late December, 2022. Mainlanders
Weeks before that, the Chinese gov-
ernment dropped its zero-COVID “I bought the drug in case any- na. Yan bought her Paxlovid from
policy, easing COVID-19 testing one in my family gets infected for a scalper on WeChat. After spend-
and quarantine rules. After this the second time since catching ing RMB ¥8,200 (US $1200), she
measure, infection cases increased COVID-19 again can bring even has not used any of the medicine
dramatically in many mainland more serious health problems,” the yet.
China cities. 42-year-old woman says.
“I will not regret buying Paxlovid.
Alongside the skyrocketing All family members of Liu were It is about health, an essential
COVID-19 infection number, the tested positive in December, 2022, thing. Money should be spent on
price of Paxlovid increased more except her seven-year-old son. health,” she says.
than 3.5 times from its original
price of RMB ¥2,300 (US $335). “I learned about Paxlovid from my According to the National Medical
peers. After that I noticed someone Products Administration (NPMA)
Like many people in China, Yan selling it in a WeChat group chat of China, the drug is an investiga-
scrambled for this foreign oral for parents in my child’s school,” tional medicine used to treat mild
treatment approved by Beijing in Liu says. to moderate COVID-19 patients.
December, during the peak of the
inflation. The supply shortage of the drug Pfizer, the manufacturer of Pax-
has fostered a black market in Chi- lovid, writes on its website that
