Pfizer extension info

The Georgia DPH is letting everyone know that the FDA has updated its guidance for the shelf life of the Pfizer/BioNTech Cobid-19 vaccine.

On August 22, the FDA said the vaccine’s shelf life could be extended from 6 months to 9 months (if stored properly). The agency has now released some more information on that extension, including concerning the labeling of the BUDs. Read it!

Speaking of Pfizer…

The company’s CEO says eventually a Covid variant will emerge that will require you to buy a booster of its vaccine. But don’t worry! “We have built a process that within 95 days from the day that we identify a variant as a variant of concern, we will be able to have a vaccine tailor-made against this variant.”

Yankee stay home

ICYMI: The European Union would very much prefer that Americans not come visit just now — at least until we get the pandemic under control. Also off the safe list: Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

Thumbs down for HIV vaccine

Johnson & Johnson’s HIV vaccine has failed it’s first efficacy trial. Other studies of slightly different versions are ongoing, however.

Pharma companies quietly end Facebook ad boycott

Big news when pharmaceutical manufacturers said they would boycott Facebook until the company cracked down on hate speech.

Not-so-big news that those same companies kept those boycotts for … oh, a news cycle or two.

“Overall, pharma brands seemed to follow a similar pattern as many other companies who stopped spending for a month (or two or three) and then slowly resumed their normal patterns.”

Walgreens joins in

Walgreens says it will raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour by November 2022. That is all.

Shout-out to Jackson Healthcare

The Georgia company reopened a penicillin plant in Tennessee — taking it over from United Arab Emirates-based Neopharma. Without it, the U.S. would be entirely dependent on our good friends in China for our penicillin.

The 360,000-square foot factory will churn out enough Amoxil and Augmentin to stockpile the U.S. for five years, the company said in a release. In all, it’ll produce 2 billion tablets and 300 million capsules annually.

Flu season is here

The CDC has released its 2021–22 flu season guidance. You can read all 32 pages, including the charts and circles and arrows, or just skip right to “Primary Changes and Updates.”

Here, have something to worry about

There’s a new Covid-19 variant out there, and it has public health experts worried. It doesn’t have a Greek letter yet, so for the moment it’s C.1.2, and it “seems to be more infectious and even more resistant to vaccines than other variants.”

But don’t worry: So far it’s only been found in China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, England, Mauritius, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, and Switzerland. There’s no chance it could spread to the rest of the world in a matter of months, is there?

No manganese for you!

It’s the sequel to “Waltzing Matilda” — it’s “Starving Pneumonia,” courtesy of Aussie researchers. They figured out (after 10 years of research) how the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria is able to get manganese from humans. And it’s manganese specifically that it’s developed a unique method of absorbing.

“[I]t is selectively drawing the manganese in. Any disturbance of this gateway starves the pathogen of manganese, which prevents it from being able to cause disease.”

Now that they know what the pneumococcus needs, they can look for ways to starve it….

It’s for sheep

I heard from a friend whose cousin’s roommate saw a TikTok video that opening GPhA Buzz every day can prevent Covid-19. Sure, the “science” says it’s bunk, but who can you trust?

In unrelated news, demand is skyrocketing for the probably-useless-for-Covid ivermectin. (At least if they get it with a prescription, instead of at the feed store, it probably won’t do much harm.)

And yes, ivermectin poisoning is becoming an issue in Georgia among the “I would rather try horse de-wormer than get a vaccine” crowd.