COVID-19 antiviral medicines are available to treat eligible people with COVID-19 at home.
You must start taking COVID-19 medicines within the first 5 days of getting symptoms.
When taken early in your COVID-19 illness, antivirals can help you stay out of the hospital.
These medicines are free for eligible people within 5 days of their symptoms starting.
Talk to your doctor or nurse by phone to see if getting a prescription is right for you. If you are not registered with a GP in Te Tai Tokerau area, get in touch with Tuhiata Mahiora at 0508 884 428 (0508 tuhiata) to connect with a medical provider.
Am I Eligible?
People with a high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 are eligible for treatment with COVID-19 antiviral medicines. These medicines reduce the amount of virus in your body, so you do not get as sick and you are less likely to go to the hospital.
You can get free antiviral medicines if you:
have COVID-19 and symptoms or you are a Household Contact and have symptoms, and
became sick within the last 5 days, and
are eligible for the medicine.
Eligible people include:
Māori or Pacific people aged 50 or over
everyone aged 65 or over
anyone aged 50 or over with fewer than 2 COVID-19 vaccinations
anyone with a severely weakened immune system
anyone with Down syndrome
anyone with sickle cell disease
anyone who has previously been in critical high-dependency hospital care from COVID-19
anyone with 3 or more high-risk medical conditions.
Contact: 0508 (Tuhiata) 0508 884 428
office@tuhiata.org.nz
Information sourced from: Covid-19.health.nz