A (big) call for mandatory vaccinations

At least six pharmacy organizations — Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, APhA, AACP, ACCP, ASHP, and the National Pharmaceutical Association — are among the more than 50 national healthcare organizations have called for mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for healthcare workers.

We call for all health care and long-term care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. (Emphasis theirs)

We stand with the growing number of experts and institutions that support the requirement for universal vaccination of health workers. While we recognize some workers cannot be vaccinated because of identified medical reasons and should be exempted from a mandate, they constitute a small minority of all workers.

Not long after…

The Department of Veterans Affairs has said that it will require most of its front-line health workers to get the vaccine.

Off and on

The bad news is that people trying to lose weight didn’t do so well at the beginning of the pandemic.

The good news, according to WW (formerly Weight Watchers) is that they got back onto their diets and continued losing weight after a few months.

If this doesn’t get guys to vaccinate, I don’t know what will

Getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 can cause both erectile dysfunction and male infertility. So found the researchers at the University of Miami’s Reproductive Urology Program. (Guys, I’ll spare you the details — let’s just say Covid-19 can affect both blood flow and sperm count.)

Take out some aggression

Those little clay disks are just asking for it, and GPhA’s giving you a chance to give it to ’em.

It’s the 2021 Ready. Aim. Phire! — a chance to shoot some obnoxious clay pigeons out of the sky while benefitting the Georgia Pharmacy Foundation.

Mark your calendars and check your liability policy — then sign up for the fun on Friday, September 24, from 1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. at the Big Red Oak Preserve in Gay, Georgia. It’s open to both singles (we’ll group you up) and teams of four.

We’ll supply the guns, the ammo, the targets, and the training. You bring your eye and a love for the smells of gunpowder and barbecue. Join us to experience the natural beauty of one of Georgia’s finest sporting clays courses … and shoot things.

Click here for info and register today!

(Psst: There are a bunch of sponsorship options, too — check ’em out!)

Bigger ain’t better

Obesity is bad for you for a list of reasons (heart issues and diabetes for starters), but now Aussie researchers say you can add dementia to the list. Apparently “increased body fat incrementally leads to increased atrophy of grey matter in the brain and consequently higher risk of declining brain health.”

How so? They’re still investigating, but the current thinking is that “inflammation and metabolic abnormalities” are to blame.

ICYMI: “It’s too late”

An Alabama physician wrote an emotional Facebook post about dealing with the deaths of unvaccinated people.

“One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.”

A few days later when I call time of death, I hug their family members and I tell them the best way to honor their loved one is to go get vaccinated and encourage everyone they know to do the same. They cry. And they tell me they didn’t know. They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color they wouldn’t get as sick. They thought it was ‘just the flu’. But they were wrong.

Original post.

Elsewhere: Illinois’ new law

Illinois became the eighth state to allow over-the-counter contraception. Its new law “allows pharmacists to provide 12 months of hormonal contraceptives — such as birth control pills, rings and patches — without a prescription from a doctor.”