How To Quickly Vaccinate Everyone

This morning, bright and early around 0300 (that was the timestamp upon it, I was blissfully asleep then), I received an email from a friend and his better half whom are expats in Kitahiroshima on the island prefecture of Hokkaido, in northernmost Japan, near where her parents reside.

He wrote in part that “Vaccinations for coronavirus have started here but only for those with the highest priority (which makes sense).”

In that message, he also included a copy of an email communique from the United States Department of State which read in part, “The United States Government does not plan to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to private U.S. citizens overseas.”

In my reply, I wrote in part,

Stupidity Reigns on Day 1 of Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccination

This is a PRIME EXAMPLE of STUPIDITY in the FDA, which should be ELIMINATED.

It’s also a prime example of stupid people.

You wouldn’t think stupid people would be in healthcare, would you?

And yet…

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StatNews.com
Labeling Confusion Led To Wasted Doses Of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine
By Olivia Goldhill @OliviaGoldhill
December 16, 2020

With the COVID-19 vaccine in short supply, hospital pharmacists found themselves in the unexpected position of throwing away one in every six doses of the first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines distributed this week in the United States.

The confusion came over labeling: The vaccine comes in vials labeled as containing enough for five doses. But pharmacists discovered that, after thawing and mixing the contents with a dilutent, each vial contained enough vaccine for six doses. Without explicit approval from the manufacturer, that final dose had to be discarded.

“It was overtly clear early on there’s some extra volume,” said Russell Findlay, Pharmacy Manager at University of Utah Health. His colleagues called Pfizer on Tuesday to ask if they could use the extra dose, said Findlay, but the company wouldn’t give a definitive answer.

Pharmacists and executives at several health care systems said

Are you over 65 & taking statin meds? Know anyone who is? It may not be worth it.

If you’re a prescriber, consider this research. If you’re a patient, or know someone who is, consider this for your, or their well-being.

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Statins Have No Primary CVD Prevention Benefit To Older Patients

Takeaway
Statins offer no benefit for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adult patients aged ≥65 y.

Why this matters
“[S]tatins may be producing untoward effects in the function or health of older adults that could offset any possible cardiovascular benefit,” say the study authors.

Study design
Researchers conducted post hoc secondary data analyses of patient data from a randomized, open-label clinical trial (N=2867; age, ≥65 y; 49.4% women; all without evidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease); patients were assigned to either a treatment group receiving pravastatin sodium 40 mg/d or a usual care (UC) group.
Funding: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; AstraZeneca; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Pfizer; National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; The Stroke Foundation.

Key results
Hazard ratios for all-cause mortality in the treatment group vs the UC group were