99.9 percent

Of the 101 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated, more than 10,000 have gotten Covid-19 anyway. (More than a quarter of those experienced no symptoms.)

This is, in a way, great news. That real-world number means that about one-tenth of one percent of recipients has gotten sick — making the vaccines 99.9% effective.

By the way

The CDC says we’ve passed the halfway point, with most American adults now fully vaccinated (and more than 60 percent have had at least their first shot).

Y’all got a labor shortage?

NCPA wants to know about it.

Recently, NCPA reported that many members have told them that they’re having problems finding and retaining workers. They would like to know whether the issue is widespread among community pharmacists. Please tell them if you’re having issues by completing this short survey. We’re sure they would appreciate your input.

When is a urologist like a geologist?

When they’re studying kidney stones. It’s not clear how exactly they form, so a research team brought together by the Mayo Clinic includes geologists, microbiologists, microscopy experts, and others is working to figure it out. They’ve just published a paper in Nature Reviews Urology.

“Ultimately, our vision is that every operating room would have a small geology lab attached. In that lab, you could do a very rapid diagnostic on a stone or stone fragment in a matter of minutes, and have informed and individualized treatment targets.”

Methotrexate might block the Covid-19 vaccine

That’s according to an NYU study that found up to one in three people who take it “failed to achieve an adequate immune response to the vaccines.” This isn’t entirely a surprise, as methotrexate has been shown to interfere with the flu vaccine.

A different kind of flu vaccine

Biomedical engineers at the University of Buffalo have a new kind of flu vaccine. Instead of the usual dead or inactive form of the virus, this one is “a recombinant protein nanoparticle* vaccine.”

In English, that means billions of tiny spherical sacs course through body, bringing specific proteins to immune cells, “and they provoke those immune cells to respond more vigorously to the flu.”

This same nanoparticle technology — a vaccine platform — is also being tested with different proteins as a Covid-19 vaccine.

* Always with the nanoparticles

Missing the treatments

Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed did a great job putting the creation of Covid-19 vaccines into high gear. (Yes, we know that Pfizer wasn’t part of OWS, but that doesn’t change the fact.) The downside, we’re learning, is that the singular focus on a vaccine means that treatment options remain limited.

Worse, now, is that BARDA (the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) said it won’t review any more potential therapies because it doesn’t have the money, although the Biden Administration is starting to pivot to the hunt for treatments.

A drug’s got to know its limitations

Psychology researchers at Michigan State found that caffeine can only go far when you’ve been sleep deprived. Taking it after missing a night of sleep will help with simple tasks (e.g., rearing alpacas, writing a newsletter), but not so much on more complex ones (e.g., completing a list of tasks in order).

“Although people may feel as if they can combat sleep deprivation with caffeine, their performance on higher-level tasks will likely still be impaired. […] Caffeine may improve the ability to stay awake and attend to a task, but it doesn’t do much to prevent the sort of procedural errors that can cause things like medical mistakes and car accidents.”

Be careful with Ocaliva

The FDA is restricting the use of Ocaliva, aka obeticholic acid, because it can cause serious harm in patients with advanced cirrhosis of the liver. Read more.

We’re keeping an eye on this

The hunt for the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is getting interesting, with President Biden ordering a more-detailed look at where the virus came from. The genetics show that it wasn’t manmade, but — other than human contact with an infected animal — the other possibility is that Chinese scientists were working with the (naturally occurring) virus and it was released in a lab accident.

“As of today, the U.S. Intelligence Community has ‘coalesced around two likely scenarios’ but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question.”

* For purely humanitarian reasons, of course.