Your first dose

Take your first dose of PAXLOVID in the morning or evening (depending on when you pick up your prescription), or at the time your healthcare professional recommends.

  • Do not remove your PAXLOVID tablets from the blister card before you are ready to take your dose
  • All tablets in a dose should be taken at once or one right after the other
  • Swallow tablets whole. Do not break, chew, or crush the tablets
  • PAXLOVID can be taken with or without food

Speak with your healthcare professional if you have any questions or experience any side effects from taking PAXLOVID.

If you are taking a ritonavir- or cobicistat-containing medicine to treat hepatitis C or HIV-1 infection, you should continue to take your medicine as prescribed by your healthcare professional.

Follow-up doses

Repeat at the same time each morning and evening until you have taken all the tablets.

  • Take PAXLOVID at the same time each morning and evening
  • Don’t stop taking PAXLOVID without talking to your healthcare professional, even if you feel better

Eligible patients with moderate renal impairment
Take 1 pink tablet of nirmatrelvir with 1 white to off-white tablet of ritonavir by mouth 2 times each day (in the morning and in the evening) for 5 days. For each dose, take both tablets at the same time.

Eligible patients with severe renal impairment (including patients on hemodialysis)
On Day 1, take 2 pink nirmatrelvir tablets and 1 white ritonavir tablet together (blue part of the blister card). On Days 2 to 5, take 1 pink nirmatrelvir tablet and 1 white ritonavir tablet together (pink part of the blister card). PAXLOVID tablets should be taken once daily at the same time each day. On days when you have hemodialysis, PAXLOVID should be taken after the procedure.

If you miss a dose:

  • By less than 8 hours, take it
  • By more than 8 hours, skip it and resume your next scheduled dose
  • Don’t take more than 1 dose at a time
  • Make sure you take all your doses

Call your healthcare professional if:

  • A side effect bothers you
  • You take more than 1 dose at a time
  • You don’t feel better, or you feel worse after 5 days
  • You have any questions

What’s in the box

Each box contains 1 or several blister cards with doses of PAXLOVID. Each dose contains 2 types of medicine: nirmatrelvir tablets (pink) and a ritonavir tablet (white to off-white).

There are 3 dose pack options available for PAXLOVID: the standard dose pack, a dose pack for eligible patients with moderate renal impairment, and a dose pack for eligible patients with severe renal impairment. Talk to your healthcare professional to make sure you have the right dose pack.

Take a closer look at PAXLOVID packaging

Learn about what’s inside and on the box

Standard Dose Pack

The box contains 10 single-dose blister cards, with each blister card holding 1 dose.

Dose Pack for Eligible Patients With Moderate Renal Impairment

The box contains 10 single-dose blister cards, with each blister card holding 1 dose.

Dose Pack for Eligible Patients With Severe Renal Impairment

This box contains a single 5-dose blister card.

For more dosing information, see our Patient PAXLOVID Packaging Flashcard.

Have more questions about PAXLOVID?

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Why Take PAXLOVID

Who Can Take PAXLOVID

How to Get PAXLOVID