Category: Brief Messages or Announcements

Moderna Files for FDA Authorization of Updated Covid-19 Vaccine

The Moderna corporation announced in June 2023 that it filed for FDA authorization of its monovalent XBB. 1.5 vaccine.

Pfizer also announced the same message in August. It’s on page 4 of the Pfizer Earnings Call.

Shout Out to University of Iowa Hospitals Doctor Joseph Zabner!

Here’s a big shout out and congratulations to my former University Hospitals colleague Dr. Joseph Zabner who received the 2023 Distinguished Mentor Award.

New Dominant Covid-19 Variant EG.5

There is a new dominant Covid-19 variant called EG.5. It’s also called Eris. It’s descended from the XBB strains. It’s in the Omicron family and there is no indication it causes more severe disease and would be susceptible to current vaccines.

UI Hospitals & Clinics Gets U.S. News & World Report Recognition

This is just a shout-out to The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics for once again being recognized as one of the top hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

The Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Department ranked 6th in the nation.

The Empire Fires Back

I saw this reply tweet posted to the web. It was the reply of Sean Kirkpatrick, PhD, the director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in reply to the testimony of the witnesses at the House Committee’s UAP hearing on July 27, 2023. I’m not sure we’ll hear much more about it.

What’s Up with Shared Clinical Decision Making for the RSV Vaccine?

There are probably some questions about the new Respiratory Syncitial Virus (RSV) vaccine. Because I’ve seen TV commercials about the new website RSVandMe, I checked on a few things the other day.

The RSVandMe website and the companion website are both produced by the RSV vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). As such, I consider them marketing commercials.

I checked the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website and saw that the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended approval of the RSV vaccine at their June Meeting (covered earlier on this blog):

Adults 60 years of age and older may receive a single dose of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine, using shared clinical decision-making.

The term “shared clinical decision-making” is clarified on the CDC webpage at this link.

The upshot of shared clinical decision-making is that it’s up to the provider (the list of providers include pharmacists). So far the list of recommended vaccines does not yet include RSV, so it probably needs updating. It looks like the ACIP MMWR recommendation page also needs updating.