About Covid-19
More than 40 states say they will meet or beat Biden’s May 1 deadline for vaccine eligibility for all adults: The headline is the story.
AZD1222 US Phase III primary analysis confirms safety and efficacy: After the past couple days’ criticisms about data problems, Astra Zeneca reported its vaccine’s corrected stats:
“76% vaccine efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19
100% efficacy against severe or critical disease and hospitalisation
85% efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 in participants aged 65 years and over”
India detects several variants including a new double mutant strain: The headline is the story. But the good news may be:
The Coronavirus Variants Don't Seem to Be Highly Variable So Far: “SARS-CoV-2 may be settling into a limited set of mutations.” The article discusses the concept of convergent evolution to explain this phenomenon.
Global COVID-19 cases rise for 4th straight week:”In its latest weekly snapshot of global COVID-19 activity, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday that cases rose for the fourth week in a row, led by cases in the Americas and Europe, with deaths now leveling off after a 6-week drop.
Though much of the rise was spread across four of the WHO's regions, rises were especially steep in certain countries, such as India, where cases were up by 35% over the previous week.”
Carcinogen Found in Hand Sanitizers That Plugged Covid Gap: “An assortment of hand cleaners that flooded into the market after mainstays disappeared from retail outlets contain high levels of benzene, according to Valisure, a New Haven, Connecticut-based online pharmacy that tests products for quality and consistency.” See the article for a list of these products.
'I don’t want to be the one who gives it to people': Many Americans won't eat out, fly until COVID-19 herd immunity arrives: “A growing share of Americans would feel safe resuming activities like dining out or flying within a few weeks of their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine, but 25% to 30% would wait until the nation reaches herd immunity, according to a Harris Poll survey for USA TODAY.
Their attitudes bode well for what’s expected to be a historically robust recovery from the coronavirus recession. But the sizeable share of people who prefer to wait until at least 70% of the population is immune could mean a less roaring launch to the rebound as some activity shifts to late summer and fall from midyear.”
Krispy Kreme’s ‘sweet’ vaccine promotion leads to bitter Twitter war: I won’t give away the details of the story…but this article is a great social/cause marketing case study.
Thermo Fisher deploys sensors for detecting airborne COVID-19: “The company said its AerosolSense Sampler is designed to help hospitals, nursing homes, schools, offices and other locations surveil high-traffic areas for elevated levels of the pathogen, providing an early-warning layer of screening that can be combined with individual diagnostic tests after the pandemic begins to subside.
The toaster oven-sized machine collects aerosol samples and traps any pathogens on a removable cartridge—with the ability to completely filter the air of a 1,000-square-foot room in under 20 hours—which is then analyzed in a laboratory using Thermo Fisher’s established TaqPath COVID-19 molecular test kit.”
About pharma
Opioid Industry Documents Archive: Just placed online from UCSF and Johns Hopkins University: “The archive contains emails, memos, presentations, sales reports, budgets, audit reports, Drug Enforcement Administration briefings, meeting agendas and minutes, expert witness reports, and depositions of drug company executives. The archive serves as a living repository of information that can be used to learn from the opioid epidemic so as to improve and safeguard public policy and public health, and to ensure that the opioid-related harms that have taken place never occur again.”
The Tuskegee Legacy Project: Willingness of Minorities to Participate in Biomedical Research: “The broad goal of the Tuskegee Legacy Project (TLP) study was to address, and understand, a range of issues related to the recruitment and retention of Blacks and other minorities in biomedical research studies. The specific aim of this analysis was to compare the self-reported willingness of Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites to participate as research subjects in biomedical studies, as measured by the Likelihood of Participation (LOP) Scale and the Guinea Pig Fear Factor (GPFF) Scale….The findings revealed no difference in self-reported willingness to participate in biomedical research, as measured by the LOP Scale, between Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites, despite Blacks being 1.8 times as likely as Whites to have a higher fear of participation in biomedical research on the GPFF Scale.”
CVS launches new mental health initiative: “In an effort to simultaneously alleviate the strain on providers and expand access to mental health resources, CVS is adding virtual and in-person behavioral healthcare offerings in select HealthHUB locations.”
This step is not only an expansion of services, it is a departure from “quick care” models in retail outlets.
FDA slaps new warning on GlaxoSmithKline's Shingrix based on post-marketing findings: “Wednesday, the FDA alerted the public that it has added to the ‘warnings and precautions’ section of the shingles vaccine’s label language about an increased risk for a rare neuro autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). [Antibodies attack peripheral nerves.]
The update came after a post-marketing observational study by federal health agencies noted the risk during the 42 days following vaccination with Shingrix. The FDA stressed that ‘available evidence is insufficient to establish a causal relationship,’ and that the ‘benefits of vaccination with Shingrix continue to outweigh its risks.’”
About hospitals and health systems
National Hospital Flash Report Summary: March 2021: From Kaufman Hall and the AHA: “Operating Margin fell 30.8% (3 percentage points) from February 2020 to February 2021 without the federal aid, while Operating EBITDA Margin was down 22.6% (3.2 percentage points). With CARES, Operating Margin fell 23.4% (2.6 percentage points) and Operating EBITDA Margin fell 18.3% (2.4 percentage points) year-over-year (YOY). Looking at year-to-date (YTD) results, Operating Margin declined 48.0% (4.2 percentage points) without CARES and 36.0% (3.3 percentage points) with CARES.”
But not all facilities and systems are losing money: Advocate Aurora posts $558M in earnings in 2020, down from $1.4B in 2019: The not-for-profit, 26-hospital system said in its latest earnings report, posted Monday, that it generated $13.1 billion in total revenue for 2020, up 2.6% from 2019. Advocate Aurora is the latest hospital system to end 2020 in the black.”
About healthcare IT
Most pediatricians believe telehealth is here to stay: “An independent study commissioned by a pediatric virtual care company found that 92% of pediatricians and clinicians believe that telemedicine will remain part of health practices in the future.
Virtually all of the 787 pediatricians and clinicians who responded to an online survey reported currently using a telemedicine platform, with 96% saying they offered telemedicine during regular business hours.”
About the public’s health
Dr. Rachel Levine makes transgender history in confirmation as assistant secretary of HHS: The headline is the story.
About health insurance
Avoid these 8 types of health insurance, 30 patient organizations say: Great advice!
”Here are the eight health plans the coalition highlighted and asked lawmakers to review:
Short-term, limited-duration insurance
Healthcare sharing ministries
Farm bureau plans
Grandfathered plans
Multiple employer welfare arrangements and association health plans
Spurious single-employer self-insured group health plans
Minimum essential coverage-only plans
Excepted benefit plans
Read more here.”