Here’s a promising development in the fight against COVID-19.

In a press release, Pfizer says its novel COVID-19 oral medication, known as PAXLOVID, greatly reduces the risk of hospitalization or death if taken with three days of the onset of symptoms.

The pharmaceutical company conducted the study on a group of patients who were considered high-risk for developing severe symptoms and found an 89% reduction in hospitalization or death compared to those who received a placebo.

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Pfizer has halted all testing due to the high efficacy of the medication and has passed the data along to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in an effort for the drug to receive Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla says the company is “laser-focused” on helping healthcare systems put an end to the pandemic:

Today’s news is a real game-changer in the global efforts to halt the devastation of this pandemic. These data suggest that our oral antiviral candidate, if approved or authorized by regulatory authorities, has the potential to save patients’ lives, reduce the severity of COVID-19 infections, and eliminate up to nine out of ten hospitalizations. Given the continued global impact of COVID-19, we have remained laser-focused on the science and fulfilling our responsibility to help healthcare systems and institutions around the world while ensuring equitable and broad access to people everywhere.

There’s no word on how long it will take for the oral medication to receive authorization for emergency use.

The pharmaceutical company Merck’s COVID-19 pill was recently approved for use in Britain, making it the first in the world.

Answers to 25 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

Vaccinations for COVID-19 began being administered in the U.S. on Dec. 14, 2020. The quick rollout came a little more than a year after the virus was first identified in November 2019. The impressive speed with which vaccines were developed has also left a lot of people with a lot of questions. The questions range from the practical—how will I get vaccinated?—to the scientific—how do these vaccines even work?

Keep reading to discover answers to 25 common COVID-19 vaccine questions.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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