Health Minister to seek approval for new Covid antiviral pills

The Health Minister's to seek government approval on the purchase of new Covid antiviral pills.

Stephen Donnelly will bring a memo on the purchase of the drugs, made by Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck, to Cabinet this morning.

Pfizer has said its antiviral pill reduces the risk of hospitalisation and death by 89 percent if given within three days of Covid symptoms.

The drugs are being looked at by the European Medicines Agency, but have yet to be given full approval.