Author: Peter

COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna should be "preferred" over Johnson & Johnson's shot, a U.S. government advisory panel said...after reviewing data on potentially dangerous blood vessel blockages from clotting associated with J&J's vaccine. The recommendation follows a strengthened warning the Food and Drug Administration added to the shot...The recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advisory panel...is likely to further constrain use of J&J's vaccine...READ MORE

The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to preserve its vaccination mandate for healthcare workers after legal challenges in several states...The Department of Justice released a legal filing...that seeks to overturn a ruling from a federal court late last month that blocked the mandate in 10 states...a divided panel in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government’s motion to hold off enforcing the ruling until an appeal can be heard...This week, a federal appeals court reinstated in 26 states the administration's vaccination mandate for health workers at hospitals that receive federal funding. As it stands, the vaccine requirement for Medicare and Medicaid providers is blocked by courts in about half of U.S. states but not in the other half, creating the potential for patchwork enforcement across the country...READ MORE

As the omicron variant sweeps through South Africa, Dr. Unben Pillay is seeing dozens of sick patients a day. Yet he hasn’t had to send anyone to the hospital...That’s one of the reasons why he...suspect that the omicron version really is causing milder COVID-19 than delta, even if it seems to be spreading faster...“They are able to manage the disease at home,” Pillay said of his patients. “Most have recovered within the 10 to 14-day isolation period.” said Pillay...In the two weeks since omicron first was reported in Southern Africa, other doctors have shared similar stories. All caution that it will take many more weeks to collect enough data to be sure, their observations and the early evidence offer some clues...READMORE

Nevada has become the first state to implement a health care premium surcharge on some 5,000 state employees not vaccinated against COVID-19 starting in July 2022...The Nevada Public Employees’ Benefits Program, which manages the health program for 43,000 members and 27,000 dependents across the state, approved a policy...to charge state employees $55 a month plus $175 a month for any unvaccinated dependents over the age of 18 unless they provide a legitimate health or religious exemption by the end of the open enrollment period, which will be assessed July 2022...The policy will help cover the costs of COVID-19 testing and hospitalizations associated with unvaccinated members, Laura Rich, executive officer of the Nevada Public Employees’ Benefits Program (PEBP), said...READ MORE

Nevada Department of Corrections Director Charles Daniels testified...that of all the potential complications from death row inmate Zane Floyd’s proposed execution, he is most concerned about the state’s drug supply...“My primary concern, quite frankly, is that all the necessary pharmaceuticals will expire,” Daniels told U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware...State law authorizes Daniels to plan and carry out execution protocols. While he is required to consult with Nevada’s chief medical officer about the drugs the state plans to use, the officials do not have to come to an agreement...Floyd was sentenced to die for fatally shooting four people and gravely wounding another in a Las Vegas grocery store more than two decades ago. He also was convicted of repeatedly raping a woman before the shooting...READ MORE

Drugs like AbbVie's Lupron, used to treat children with a condition that triggers premature puberty, have also gained use by transgender kids and their parents to forestall the development of sexual features...Hormone blockers, used to treat children with a condition that triggers premature puberty, have also gained use by transgender kids and their parents to forestall the development of sexual features. But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking issue with that trend...Texas...is investigating makers of the drugs, Endo and AbbVie, for allegedly promoting them outside of their FDA approved use without disclosing their risks...In Texas, Paxton is employing the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act to launch the investigation. The probe centers on AbbVie's Lupron Depot plus Endo's Supprelin LA and Vantas...The drugs are "being used to treat gender dysphoria even though they are not approved for such use," Paxton's office said in a statement...READ MORE 

Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine ‘may not be sufficient’ to protect against infection with the Omicron variant; but three doses of the vaccine neutralize the variant, according to a preliminary laboratory study released by the companies...it is the first data to indicate whether existing COVID-19 vaccines are likely to protect against the Omicron variant or not...Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech say a variant-specific vaccine could be ready by March should it prove to be needed to increase the level and duration of protection against Omicron...READMORE

Nevada health officials have confirmed the state’s second confirmed case of the coronavirus caused by the highly transmissible omicron variant, this time in a rural county...The second case was found in Churchill County in northern Nevada and involved an unvaccinated woman in her mid-40s, according to the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory...READ MORE

A federal judge overturned a roughly $4.5 billion settlement that legally shielded members of the Sackler family who stand accused of helping fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic, a decision that threatened to upend the bankruptcy reorganization of their company, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP...U.S. District Judge...said...the New York bankruptcy court that approved the settlement did not have authority to grant the Sacklers the legal protection from future opioid litigation that formed the linchpin of Purdue’s reorganization...READ MORE

A college student who argues he’s immune from COVID-19 because he was previously infected has lost his bid for an emergency court order that would have allowed him to register for classes while he presses his federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of UNR's mandatory vaccination policy...A U.S district judge from California...said in denying the temporary restraining order sought by 18-year-old Jacob Gold that he’s failed to establish a fundamental constitutional right to refuse vaccination...Gold claims that because he recovered from COVID-19, he has immunity superior to students who’ve been vaccinated and it is statistically impossible for a shot to benefit him...READMORE