Why older people aren’t getting boosted

With most Covid-19 deaths these days in the over-65 crowd, you would think they’d rush to get the latest booster. But nope — not even a third of them have … even though 94% got the first two shots.

What’s up with that? There seem to be several reasons.

  • “Booster fatigue”: The 10-minute process of walking into a pharmacy, asking for a shot, and signing the form is too burdensome.
  • They had a bad reaction to the initial vaccines, and figure the risk of hospitalization is worth it, rather than possibly feeling sick for a day or two.
  • They’re trying to time their booster in relation to a planned trip*.
  • They don’t have television, radio, the Internet, or newspapers and aren’t aware of the new boosters.
  • The boosters aren’t 100% effective, so why bother?
* This actually makes at least a little sense.

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Anytime and anywhere you want it!

 

Which came first?

What we thought: Vaccine side effects cause vaccine hesitancy.

The reality: Vaccine hesitancy causes side effects. It’s a variation of the “nocebo” effect, found Israeli researchers: People who are hesitant about vaccines tend to self-fulfill their prophecies.

What’s particularly bad about this is the vicious cycle it creates, as anti-vaxxers spread fear, making people hesitant, and that increases their likelihood of having side effects.

Congress on the case

Stopping CMS’s class-actions

It’s one thing for CMS to reject a drug, but it’s quite another when the agency rejects an entire class of them.

Specifically, some lawmakers are unhappy that CMS said it won’t cover any monoclonal-antibody treatments for Alzheimer’s. (It’s willing to cover Biogen’s Aduhelm, but only for patients in clinical trials.) They’ve introduced a bill that would require CMS to evaluate each new drug individually, not as part of a class. The hope is that potentially effective drugs won’t be denied coverage because they’re in the same class as drugs that failed clinical trials.

Demanding action from the powerless

A bipartisan group of senators don’t think HHS and the FDA have pushed the secret red button* hard enough to fix the drug shortages problem. Thus they’ve sent a Strongly Worded Letter™ …

… expressing “strong concern” about the amoxicillin shortage for patients and general public health. [They] are pushing for FDA and HHS to start working more forcefully to address the amoxicillin shortage along with the other drug shortages.

As to what the agencies can actually do — well, not very much. As one expert pointed out, “FDA can’t make any drug company make any drug no matter how critical or life-saving. This is really up to the generic drug makers to make these products.”

* It’s right next to the president’s secret dial for lowering gas prices.

 

Yet another cheap Covid preventer

In between vaccines and treatment are ‘ways to prevent Covid’ by preventing the SARS-CoV-2 virus from taking hold — useful for people who can’t get vaccinated for whatever reason.

The latest of these preventatives could be ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) — the off-patent liver drug. Apparently (British researchers found) it happens to regulate a molecule that controls whether or not the ACE2 receptor is receptive.

In other words, UDCA can close the doorway that SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter cells.

Caveats: So far it’s only been tested in the lab, in hamsters, and in human organs (but not humans). Also, because UDCA is off-patent, there’s not a lot of money to be made; don’t expect to hear much if it works in humans.

No, suicide doesn’t increase over the holidays

And yet the myth continues to spread. In fact, suicides tend to decrease in the winter — December and January rank 12th and 10th among the months. The good news is that news stories are now beginning to debunk the myth rather than spread it, although spreading is still more common.

Clearing the indoor air

Got patients with COPD? A simple air cleaner — sorry, “home air purifier” — can improve their cardiovascular health. Johns Hopkins researchers found that indoor air pollution is often bad enough that it can affect respiratory function, which can lead to heart problems.

At the end of the experiment, all 46 participants with active HEPA and carbon filters had improved markers of heart health, specifically a 25% increase in heart rate variability. Participants without the active filters saw no increase.

Those filters (a quick Buzz analysis found) run from about $200 and up, depending on size and how many fancy blinking lights they have.

The health indicator no one talks about

The “mixture of protective proteins and salts, with water” that comes out of your nose. Business Insider puts aside the “Business” to share “Here’s what the color of your snot really means”.

The mucus in your nose serves many functions. Its color can tell you and your doctor a lot about what’s going on in your body — especially when it’s been an abnormal shade for a long time.