Don’t mess with the vaccine: FDA

As America’s sputtering Covid vaccine rollout* continues, questions are coming up about changing the schedule of doses, or even cutting them in half.

Don’t do this, says the FDA. Those changes “are premature and not rooted solidly in the available evidence.”

“If people do not truly know how protective a vaccine is, there is the potential for harm because they may assume that they are fully protected when they are not, and accordingly, alter their behavior to take unnecessary risks.”

* Actually 50+ separate rollouts

Floyd County: Wear your masks and wash your hands

The latest numbers show a frightening 20 percent positivity rate in Covid-19 tests.

Reminder: Nominate Someone for a 2021 GPhA Award

The submission deadline is February 1, 2021!

Do you know a Georgia pharmacist who deserves recognition for his or her work?

Perhaps an amazing young pharmacist, an outstanding innovator, or someone who has worked hard to fight drug abuse? Or maybe it’s someone who has spent a lifetime in service of others and the profession of pharmacy.

It’s that time of year — time to start choosing the best of the best in Georgia pharmacy, and that means we need your nominations for the 2021 awards.

They’ll be presented at the 2021 Georgia Pharmacy Convention in Amelia Island, Florida.

Who are we looking for? Check out the details on that awards page, including criteria and a link to nominate.

• Distinguished Young Pharmacist Award
• The Excellence in Innovation Award for Pharmacy Practice
• The Larry L. Braden Meritorious Service Award
• The Bowl of Hygeia

These are GPhA awards, but the nominations come from you — and that’s what gives them meaning!

Remember: The deadline for submissions is February 1, 2021.

No good deed…

Like a neighbor borrowing your chainsaw to cut down your favorite tree, it seems that P. gingivalis bacteria likes to borrow growth molecules from V. parvula, a “common yet harmless bacteria in the mouth” and then destroy your gums. The stronger the friendly(ish) V. parvula gets, the more power it gives to the nasty gingivitis-causing bacteria.

It’s a totally one-sided relationship, too, as “V. parvula received no obvious benefit from sharing its growth molecules,” according to University at Buffalo researchers.

Be very afraid

So the U.K. variant of Covid-19 spreads faster than its more-common cousin, but the current vaccines should prevent it. But then there’s the South African version, which, it seems, may not be as vulnerable to the vaccine.

Specifically, the variant found in South Africa has more mutations in its spike protein. […] If the spike protein accumulates too many mutations, it may become unrecognizable to the immune system, allowing the virus to avoid detection in the body; this is the potential concern with the new variant.

Set your Google Alert to keep an eye on “501.V2”.

The rising

Were you worried about drug companies’ not making enough money? After all, demand has dropped during the pandemic (and there are those pesky drug-pricing rules from HHS). Fear not! They’ve already begun raising prices for 2021 — on average at more than twice the rate of inflation.

A different vaccine question

Why isn’t there a vaccine for fentanyl? Yes, it’s possible, and yes, it’s being researched.

The prototypes for these vaccines were established 50 years ago by chemically coupling heroin or fentanyl derivatives that are too small to induce antibodies to antigenic carriers —such as tetanus or diphtheria toxoids. Injecting this combination can produce antibodies against fentanyl within 6 weeks.

And yes, they work: “proven to reduce brain fentanyl levels by 50% to 80% depending on the dose of fentanyl taken”.

But right now, only the government is researching the potential of an opioid vaccine to help rein in the epidemic — why not private industry? (Hint: Could it be the profit potential?)

Free PrEP has started

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force gave a grade-A rating to preexposure prophylaxis for HIV. That means that, starting this year, the Affordable Care Act requires all private insurers to cover PrEP treatment (e.g., with Descovy or Truvada) with no out-of-pocket costs to patients.

Note: Those drugs can also be used to treat HIV, but the law only requires them to be free for prevention.

Don’t end up like this guy

Please, folks, take care of your mental health. We’re all a bit stressed these days, but the end is in sight (in a good way).

Nobody puts pharmacists in the corner

Not even Walmart. Facing a lawsuit from the U.S. government for its role in the opioid crisis, now former Walmart pharmacists say they were raising red flags for years.

“They told me, ‘Do not reach out to the DEA, do not call the police. If you do so, your employment is going to be terminated immediately,’ ” [pharmacist Ashwani] Sheoran said, describing a warning he said was issued by his supervisor.

ICYMI

Haven, the healthcare “venture” from Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan, is shutting down. It lasted three years.