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FDA Advisory Committee to Meet in May 2024 to Discuss Updating Covid-19 Vaccine
The FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will meet on May 16, 2024 to make recommendations on Covid-19 strain selections for the fall vaccine of 2024-2025.
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The Good and the Not So Good About Mental Health Treatment
Sometimes I write “depressing” blog posts. On the other hand, I have both good and bad news today. I found out that, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center, Iowa’s state psychiatric hospital bed availability is dismal according to 2023 figures. That’s actually not new. Although we rate last in the nation for this, we still…
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Thoughts on a Study of Sitting with Your Patients
I saw this interesting article on a study about the effect of chair placement on physicians’ behavior when in a patient’s room, specifically whether it altered the length of time a doctor spends with a patient or the level of satisfaction patients had with the interaction. In this study, it didn’t lengthen the time, but…
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Well, The Times They Are A’Changing at the CDC
We just found out that the CDC is, in fact, changing their recommendations on isolation precautions and other guidance for respiratory illness. It turns out the 5 day isolation rule for a positive Covid 19 test is going away. The Respiratory Virus Guidance page has changed as of today. Sena found out about it from…
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CDC ACIP Meeting on the RSV Vaccine and Some Dad Jokes
We watched the section of the CDC ACIP meeting about RSV vaccines on February 29, 2024. There was a lot of discussion on the safety of the vaccine. It looks like it will still have a requirement that you have a shared clinical decision-making meeting with your physician. I think that still implies you’d need…
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CDC ACIP Meeting on Covid 19 Vaccine Additional Dose
The CDC ACIP meeting on February 28, 2024 on the proposal of a Spring booster of the Covid 19 vaccine was interesting and confusing. Initially right after the morning presentations, we were a little confused about whether the committee was targeting only those who got the vaccine booster last fall or everybody. That didn’t make…
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Hot Mic in the NASA Control Room
By now, everybody probably knows about the Intuitive Machine lunar landing of the Odysseus space craft recently, broadcast from NASA. I happened to have a direct audio hookup to the control room during the hot mic episode which somehow didn’t get broadcast last week. Sam: OK, how’s Odysseus doing? Doug: Uh, we slightly overshot the…
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Thoughts on Upcoming CDC ACIP Meeting
Sena and I are talking about the upcoming CDC meeting on February 28th-29th next week. The agenda looks like they’ll be talking about an “additional dose” of the Covid-19 vaccine. Given the extent of vaccine fatigue going on, I tried to find a layperson-friendly article on the web about vaccine immunity with details about how…
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CDC ACIP Meeting February 28-29, 2024 to Discuss Covid-19 and Other Vaccines
There are news stories about a pending CDC-ACIP meeting (February 28-29, 2024) which might include information about a CDC recommendation to possibly add a 3rd additional Covid-19 vaccine booster this spring. The Covid-19 vaccine portion of the meeting is scheduled for February 28, 2024 at 8:30 AM EST. There will be a vote at 1:55…
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New Large Covid-19 Vaccine Study Shows Association with Rare Side Effects Which Other Smaller Studies Have Found
I’ve seen a couple of news stories about the CDC supported large study across many countries which essentially shows that Covid-19 vaccines can be associated with rare side effects. The stories might tend to raise anxiety about the vaccines’ overall safety, which has been repeatedly proven in other studies. The study is published in the…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 