In a new meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials in people who are vaccinated and facing the current Omicron variant, presented at the Communicable Diseases & Immunisation Conference in Adelaide this month, neither drug reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death.
鈥淚鈥檓 much less confident than I was [that] they still are having an effect on outcomes,鈥 said Professor Allen Cheng, formerly a top COVID adviser and Victoria鈥檚 deputy chief health officer, who co-authored the study. 鈥淲hether antivirals are still worth their cost is not clear.鈥
The decreased effectiveness is likely driven by the COVID vaccines dramatically reducing the risk that the virus poses, meaning there is less benefit from taking an antiviral, the researchers said. The current variant, Omicron, is also less lethal than the earlier Delta variant.
The meta-analysis is preliminary and has not yet been published.