The CDC ACIP recommended implementation of the 2024 Covid-19 vaccine and the timeline is in the implementation slide set. CDC plans to use CDC Everything messages. Insurance plans, including Medicare, will cover the cost.
Category: health care
CDC Advisory Committee Makes New Recommendations for RSV Vaccine
I looked at one slide set for the Respiratory Syncitial Virus (RSV) vaccine. I didn’t watch the meeting. The ACIP Adult RSV Work Group Clinical Considerations powerpoint presentation recommend transitioning away from the shared clinical decision-making (SCDM) component for getting the RSV vaccine.
Slide 4 seems clear:
“All adults aged 75 years and older should get a single dose of RSV vaccination.
All adults aged 60-74 years and with certain chronic medical conditions or other factors that increase the risk of severe RSV disease should receive a single dose of RSV vaccination.
These recommendations would replace the SCDM recommendation, meaning that adults aged 60-74 years without risk factors for severe RSV vaccine, are no longer recommended to receive RSV vaccination.”
Stat News has a report which includes comments on the unanimous vote in favor of the above.
Reminder: CDC ACIP Meeting June 26-28 on Vaccines Including Covid-19 and RSV
Just a reminder about the upcoming CDC ACIP meeting on vaccines, including RSV and Covid-19.
Great Rounding@Iowa Podcast on Preventing & Managing Heat-Related Illness
The Rounding@Iowa podcast has many fascinating and helpful episodes, not the least of which is this one on heat-related illness. The days are getting hotter and we need to pay close attention to what happens in our bodies when exposed to excessive heat.
86: Cancer Rates in Iowa – Rounding@IOWA
Iowa's cancer rates are among the highest in the country, and they are rising. In this episode of Rounding@Iowa, Dr. Gerry Clancy and guest experts Dr. Mary Charlton and Dr. Mark Burkard discuss the data, risk factors, and prevention strategies clinicians can use to make a difference. CME Credit Available: https://uiowa.cloud-cme.com/course/courseoverview?P=0&EID=81274 Host: Gerard Clancy, MD Senior Associate Dean for External Affairs Professor of Psychiatry and Emergency Medicine University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Guests: Mark E. Burkard, MD, PhD Professor of Internal Medicine-Hematology, Oncology, and Blood and Marrow Transplantation University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Director, University of Iowa Health Care Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center Mary Charlton, PhD Professor of Epidemiology Director, Iowa Cancer Registry Iowa College of Public Health Financial Disclosures: Dr. Clancy, Dr. Burkard, Dr. Charlton, and Rounding@IOWA planning committee members have disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Nurse: The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine designates this activity for a maximum of 0.75 ANCC contact hour. Pharmacist and Pharmacy Tech: The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine designates this knowledge-based activity for a maximum of 0.75 ACPE contact hours. Credit will be uploaded to the NABP CPE Monitor within 60 days after the activity completion. Pharmacists must provide their NABP ID and DOB (MMDD) to receive credit. UAN: JA0000310-0000-25-090-H99 Physician: The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 0.75 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Other Health Care Providers: A certificate of completion will be available after successful completion of the course. (It is the responsibility of licensees to determine if this continuing education activity meets the requirements of their professional licensure board.) References/Resources: Iowa Cancer Plan
June CDC ACIP Meeting on Covid and Other Vaccines
There’s an upcoming meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) June 26-28, 2024. They’ll discuss the new Covid-19 vaccine and several other vaccines including RSV.
About That Artificial Intelligence…
I’ve got a couple of things to get off my chest about Artificial Intelligence (AI). By now, everyone knows about AI telling people to put hot glue on pizza and whatnot. Sena and I talked to a guy at an electronics store who had nothing but good things to say about AI. I mentioned the hot glue thing and pizza and it didn’t faze him.
I noticed the Psychiatric Times article, “AI in Psychiatry: Things Are Moving Fast.” They mention the tendency for AI to hallucinate and expressed appropriate reservations about its limitations.
And then I found something very interesting about AI and Cribbage. How much does AI know about the game? Turns out not much. Any questions? Don’t expect AI to answer them accurately.
FDA VRBPAC Meeting: Vaccine Targeting Lineage JN.1 for Fall 2024
I didn’t get a chance to watch the June 5th FDA advisory committee meeting on the new vaccine formulation for Covid-19 for this fall. There is a nice summary on the Minnesota CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy).
The committee unanimously upvoted the selection of the JN.1 lineage strain (which includes JN.1, KP.2 etc) for Covid vaccines this fall in the U.S.
As usual, Director Dr. Jerry Weir’s slides (summary slides 22-26) provide excellent background and clear discussion.
In Memory of L. Jay Stein
I was thinking of one of the Johnson County judicial mental health referees I often worked with years ago. L. Jay Stein died in 2014. I looked up his obituary the other day and was a little surprised to find I had written a remembrance for him. I’d forgotten it.
“I will always remember my first encounters with Judge Stein. I was a first-year resident in psychiatry at The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. He often presided at mental health commitment hearings at which I was often the nervous trainee providing “expert testimony” as the treating physician. Jay taught me and countless other psychiatry residents about the importance of procedure. His knowledge was prodigious. But it was his compassion, his fairness, and his inimitable sense of humor I will always treasure.”
Judge Stein’s vocabulary was impressive. Even his recorded telephone automatic replies sounded amusingly erudite. Occasionally, when I had a question about legal procedures in mental health I would call him but get his answering machine. These out of office replies were entertaining and sounded very much like the way he did during commitment hearings. I can’t remember all of it, but it began with something like, “Once again, your request has been denied…” It made me think of what I might hear at a parole hearing—not mine of course.
L. Jay Stein was wise and funny.
Mindfulness Video
Great mindfulness video below. Millions of views.
FDA VRBPAC Meeting on Covid Vaccine for Fall of 2024
The voting question for today’s FDA VRBPAC Meeting on the Covid Vaccine strain for this fall is:
“For the 2024-2025 Formula of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S., does the
committee recommend a monovalent JN.1-lineage vaccine composition?
Please vote “Yes” or “No” or “Abstain.”
The FDA Selection of the 2024-2025 Formula for COVID-19 vaccines briefing document has a thorough review on the issue.
Go Retire Psychiatrist 