About hospitals and health systems
Court Rejects FTC Challenge To Philly Hospital Merger: “A Pennsylvania federal court on Tuesday rejected a bid from the Federal Trade Commission and the state to block a $599 million merger between Philadelphia-area health care systems Jefferson Health and Albert Einstein Healthcare Network. U. S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert issued an order and opinion that denied a request for a preliminary injunction, saying that enforcers failed to properly view the health care market in southeastern Pennsylvania.” In another story about FTC actions: 5 hospital deals challenged by the federal government in 2020.
About the public’s health
‘Natural Immunity’ From Covid Is Not Safer Than a Vaccine: Excellent article explains the headline.
Trump to order government to vaccinate Americans first: “President Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday affirming that Americans should receive coronavirus vaccines before any are distributed to other nations.”
WHO trial finds no benefit of 4 drugs for hospital COVID patients: “None of the four once-promising drugs evaluated for the treatment of COVID-19 in the ongoing World Health Organization (WHO) Solidarity Trial—remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, or interferon-beta-1a—prevented in-hospital death, reduced the need for ventilation, or shortened the duration of hospitalization.”
FDA Analysis Of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Finds It Effective And Safe: “The Food and Drug Administration released a detailed analysis Tuesday morning of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech ahead of a Thursday meeting of a group of independent experts that will advise the agency on whether to grant the vaccine an emergency use authorization.
The agency's analysis finds "no specific safety concerns identified that would preclude issuance of an EUA." Serious reactions were rare. Side effects are common, however, with a majority of study volunteers experiencing reactions at the site of injection, headaches and fatigue.
The analysis also affirms the previously stated vaccine effectiveness of 95%, assessed a week after two doses of vaccine. The vaccine doses are given 21 days apart.”
‘Route out’ of pandemic: UK gives 1st COVID-19 vaccine doses: “ A retired British shop clerk received the first shot in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program Tuesday, the start of an unprecedented global immunization effort intended to offer a route out of a pandemic that has killed 1.5 million.
Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, got the shot at 6:31 a.m. on what public health officials have dubbed “V-Day.” She was first in line at University Hospital Coventry, one of several hospitals around the country that are handling the initial phase of the United Kingdom’s program. As luck would have it, the second injection went to a man named William Shakespeare, an 81-year-old who hails from Warwickshire, the county where the bard was born.” The latter patient prompted the media to dub the event “The Taming of the Flu.”
WHO against mandatory COVID-19 vaccines:”The World Health Organization said on Monday (Dec 7) that persuading people on the merits of a COVID-19 vaccine would be far more effective than trying to make the jabs mandatory.
The WHO said it would be down to individual countries as to how they want to conduct their vaccination campaigns against the coronavirus pandemic.”
Here’s Why Vaccinated People Still Need to Wear a Mask: “…some vaccinated people get infected without developing symptoms, and could then silently transmit the virus — especially if they come in close contact with others or stop wearing masks.
If vaccinated people are silent spreaders of the virus, they may keep it circulating in their communities, putting unvaccinated people at risk.”
Recall the vaccine has a failure rate of 5%. It means that even if we vaccinate everyone in the country (VERY unlikely) there could be 1.75 million people infected.
A chimeric hemagglutinin-based universal influenza virus vaccine approach induces broad and long-lasting immunity in a randomized, placebo-controlled phase I trial: This trial addresses the problem of needing annual, targeted flu vaccine because of different antigens.
“Vaccination was found to be safe and induced a broad, strong, durable and functional immune response targeting the conserved, immunosubdominant stalk of the hemagglutinin. The results suggest that chimeric hemagglutinins have the potential to be developed as universal vaccines that protect broadly against influenza viruses.”
Not enough Pfizer vaccine doses? Blame the feds, not the company: reports: “Pfizer struck a deal with the U.S. government for 100 million doses of its COVID vaccine over the summer, but when the company offered more, President Donald Trump’s administration declined, according to anonymous sources who spoke to the New York Times.
Pfizer had offered 200 million doses in its first contract with the U.S.—enough to vaccinate 100 million people—but Operation Warp Speed opted for half that amount, added the Washington Post, which also cited anonymous sources. The company would not be able to supply additional doses until the summer, the sources said.”
Pfizer’s Vaccine Offers Strong Protection After First Dose: “The efficacy of the vaccine after the first dose is about 52 percent, according to Dr. William C. Gruber, senior vice president of Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research and Development. After the second dose, that rises to about 95 percent.”
Output of Oxford-AstraZeneca doses held up: “The UK government’s vaccines task force acknowledged on Monday that just 4m doses of the vaccine developed by Oxford university and AstraZeneca would be delivered this year, imported from the Netherlands and Germany. Earlier in the year, the task force had said it envisaged production of 30m doses in the UK by year-end…
The original plan was for all British doses to be produced through a supply chain set up by Oxford university and AstraZeneca in the UK.”
COVID-19 Reported Patient Impact and Hospital Capacity by Facility: This healthdat.gov link is the first publication of individual facility capacity.
Senate stimulus negotiators try to reach deal on whether companies can be sued over virus outbreaks: “One of the thorniest issues facing the bipartisan stimulus negotiations is the insistence by Senate Republicans that businesses and other entities have sweeping immunity from coronavirus-related lawsuits.
Many Democrats have refused to agree to such language, saying it could imperil workers.
But now both sides are attempting to craft a compromise on the “liability shield,” worried that the prolonged impasse could derail the broader spending bill at a time when the economy appears to be softening.”
About health insurance
CMS delays radiation oncology payment model till July:”CMS confirmed its radiation oncology payment model will not start until July in the 2021 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment Final Rule…
The payment model will test prospective, bundled payments to providers for 16 cancer types, aiming to improve care outcomes for radiotherapy patients while lowering Medicare costs. Under the model, payments would cover 90-day episodes of care.”
About healthcare IT
New smartphone tool to track side effects of the coronavirus vaccine may be vulnerable to manipulation: “The text-messaging system, called v-safe, is intended to provide early indications about possible adverse reactions from the vaccines. Using the messaging program, people who have received the shots can report symptoms and other health effects, such as missed work. Their responses could prompt phone calls from a team of safety professionals.
But the technology is raising red flags for some health and technology experts, who say hackers or anti-vaccine activists may be able to access the software to create false or misleading reports.”