The past month has seen increased scrutiny of the potential benefits and drawbacks of Paxlovid after Joe Biden and his top medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, received the drug to treat their Covid-19 cases.

Infectious disease experts say the dearth of knowledge about the drug – some of it simply because it’s new – and misconceptions about its usefulness have limited its ability to keep patients from becoming more sick from the virus.

“I think some clinicians have unfortunately written off Paxlovid as not a good option for patients who would very much benefit from it based on what is a misperception that it doesn’t work or doesn’t do a good job,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “I just worry that we are robbing people of an important tool.”