What’s good about this pill is that it’s only given to people who have tested positive and likely it’ll only be prescribed to people with risk factors. In the trial, the placebo group saw a 7% hospitalization rate. That is very high, and many of the other 93% surely had a bad time as well. The risk of possible long-term side effects when weighed against a very real risk of hospitalization is an easy choice. It’s different from vaccines in that way. Vaccines are given to healthy people, so there is basically zero risk tolerance.