CDC boss tests positive for Covid AGAIN: Rochelle Walensky is diagnosed with virus just days after being given the all-clear
- Dr Rochelle Walensky has tested positive for Covid, the CDC reports
- She first caught the virus on October 21, but since has recovered
- Walensky is suffering from a ‘Paxlovid rebound’ after the drug initially cured her
- Dr Anthony Fauci and President Joe Biden also suffered similar rebounds
The head of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tested positive for Covid again – after a course of Paxlovid saw her recover from the virus.
Dr Rochelle Walensky initially tested positive on October 21 and tested negative sometime in recent days after taking Pfizer’s antiviral pill.
But the CDC said today her symptoms had returned and she was positive for the virus again on Sunday, October 30.
Paxlovid has proven effective at preventing serious disease and death among those at highest risk, including older people and those who are immune compromised.
Some who take the drug have experienced a return of symptoms after completing Paxlovid’s five-day regimen of pills.
These include President Joe Biden and Dr Anthony Fauci, who both also had their symptoms rebound after recovering using the drug.
Dr Walensky, 53, has received four doses of the COVID-19 vaccines, including a bivalent booster received on September 22.
The agency reports that she is suffering mild symptoms and will take part in her planned meeting virtually.
Dr Rochelle Walensky (pictured) has tested positive for Covid once again after she had tested negative in recent days, the CDC reports. It is a case of a ‘Paxlovid rebound’
Walensky has received four shots of a COVID-19 vaccine up to this point.
Her agency has warned repeatedly for Americans to get the bivalent booster in an effort to stave off a winter surge of the virus.
Uptick has been low so far, though, with only 22.8million having received the shot in the two months it has been available.
Up to 5.3 per cent of people that use Paxlovid will experience a rebound of symptoms.
These include President Biden, who first tested positive for the virus on July 21 of this year.
He would then leave isolation after two consecutive negative tests, but then test positive for the virus once again on July 30.
Dr Fauci experienced a similar phenomenon when he caught Covid in June.
He said that he beat the virus after a five day course of the drug. After testing negative for three days, his symptoms then returned.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, pictured, was filmed getting her COVID booster shot on September 22
Both President Biden and Dr Fauci fully recovered from the virus in the following weeks.
Scientists have not been able to determine why this rebound occurs, but believe it could be tied to the way the drug functions.
Paxlovid fights Covid by preventing its replication. After a course of a drug is finished, their could still be some infected cells lingering in a person’s body.
Once the Paxlovid is no longer around to stop replication, the virus is able to begin infected the body once more.
Cases of Covid after a Paxlovid rebound are usually mild and do not require significant medical care.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk