The University of Iowa Hospital & Clinics has information on the facts and expected availability of the new bivalent Omicron Covid-19 vaccine boosters.
Month: September 2022
What Happened to Miracle Whip?
Okay, the update on the Mayo vs Miracle Whip thing is not going as planned so far. A couple of days ago, we had tuna fish sandwiches using Miracle Whip.
This was not the Miracle Whip I knew growing up. Neither of us could appreciate much of a taste at all. It’s a crisis.
Even the label on the jar looks strange. Since when does Kraft call it “Creamy Mayo & Tangy Dressing?” Why do they need to use the word “Mayo?” And it didn’t have the tangy flavor I remember.
This is all because of aliens. I’m pretty sure this is a violation of the Intergalactic Federation for Preservation of Tanginess Standards (IFFPOTS). Look it up.
I never made Miracle Whip sandwiches with just Miracle Whip on two slices of bread. I also had a slice of lunch meat on them. In fact, I ate one Miracle Whip nitrate-rich lunch meat sandwich a day for lunch for years. Its’ a good thing scientists discovered that nitrates aren’t bad for you.
But the point is the Miracle Whip tasted tangy back in those days. What happened?
Maybe it’s because my taste buds are older. More likely it’s because aliens kidnapped me and altered my taste buds. Or maybe they altered the Miracle Whip itself.
We’re not done yet. There are other recipes to try.
What Would Make Psychiatry More Fun?
I just read Dr. George Dawson’s post “Happy Labor Day” published August 31, 2022. As usual, he’s right on the mark about what makes it very difficult to enjoy psychiatric practice.
And then, I looked on the web for anything on Roger Kathol, MD, FACLP. There’s a YouTube video of my old teacher on the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP) YouTube site. I gave up my membership a few years ago in anticipation of my retirement.
I think one of my best memories about my psychiatric training was the rotation through the Medical-Psychiatry Unit (MPU). I remember at one time he wanted to call it the Complexity Intervention Unit (CIU)—which I resisted but which made perfect sense. Medical, behavioral, social, and other factors all played roles in the patient presentations we commonly encountered with out patients on that unit where we all worked so hard.
Dr. Kathol made work fun. In fact, he used to read selections from a book about Galen, the Greek physician, writer and philosopher while rounding on the MPU. One day, after I had been up all night on call on the unit, I realized I was supposed to give a short presentation on the evaluation of sodium abnormalities.
I think Roger let me off the hook when he saw me nodding off during a reading from the Galen tome.
Dr. Dawson is right about the need to bring back interest, fun and a sense of humor as well as a sense of being a part of what Roger calls the “House of Medicine.” He outlines what that means in the video.
What made medicine interesting to me and other trainees who had the privilege of working with Roger was his background of training in both internal medicine and psychiatry. He also had a great deal of energy, dedication, and knew how to have fun. He is a great teacher and the House of Medicine needs to remember how valuable an asset a great teacher is.
CDC ACIP Meeting Today and Tomorrow: Covid-19 Vaccine Omicron Bivalent Booster Candidates
The CDC ACIP will meet today and tomorrow about the Covid-19 Vaccine Omicron Bivalent Booster candidates from Pfizer and Moderna. A vote is expected this afternoon.
Update: The committee voted by a majority to upvote the approval of the Pfizer and Moderna bivalent boosters this afternoon. There was one dissenting vote because there was no clinical data to present. There was a clinical study using the bivalent vaccine booster, but results would not have been available until November or December.
However, there was a complicated statistical predication model which showed that if the boosters were rolled out this month, many thousands of hospitalizations and deaths could be prevented as opposed to waiting a few more months. That got prioritized in order to approve the boosters now rather than wait for the clinical study results.
There was a lot of concern about the packaging of the boosters resembling other boosters which might lead to mistakes in administration. Pfizer has a booster vial that looks very similar to that of their bivalent Omicron booster, unless you closely read the tiny print on the vial which says it’s BA.4/BA.5.
The committee voted to cancel tomorrow’s meeting since they completed the goal today.
Go Retire Psychiatrist 