Tag Archives: Healthcare

One Dose or Two? There are two theories out there about how to vaccinate.  One says, look, we have data only on the protocols that were adopted in the trials.  The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were administered in two doses, three to four weeks apart.  We know that works.  Don’t mess with it.  Stick to the protocol and make sure everyone getting these vaccines gets both doses in the proper time frame. The other says, our goal should be to get...

What I am writing about today is the up-and-coming changes to the PPACA resulting from the signing of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 by President Joe Biden. This is not Medicare-for-All or Single Payor; however, it is a big leap forward in making healthcare affordable for the next two years. Improved affordability will come with cost analysis and the impact on pricing and reduced administrative costs. I have touched upon those costs in early...

Coronavirus dashboard for March 8: Update on the effect of vaccinations My first post on the coronavirus was almost exactly one year ago, on March 10, 2020, “This is what exponential growth looks like,” warning that exponential spread was exactly what had started to happen in the US. We are now finally averaging the administration of over 2 million doses of vaccine per day, and according to the CDC almost 60 million people constituting nearly 20%...

How Do COVID-19 Vaccines Compare?, Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today MedPage Today has a good article detailing each of the approved Covid drugs as of today. The information includes company name, vaccine name, efficacy, trial participation, type of vaccine, dosage, and patient side effects. There is other information which is not necessarily needed for a typical or curious patient. If still interested, I included a link above. I think it is...

Coronavirus dashboard for March 3: as good news on vaccinations accumulates, the Dakotas already appear to be shambling towards herd immunity There is more and more good news on the vaccination front. In addition to the fact that the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine has been approved, President Biden has made use of the Defense Production Act to enlist competitor Merck in additional production of the J&J vaccine. Biden also announced...

A very few of us now living lived through The Great Depression; only a very few more of us lived through WWII; some more than that of us lived through the Korean War; more yet of us lived through the Vietnam Era; and so it goes up until now. All of us now living may have thought of the possibility of seeing another war, pestilence, the disaster of Climate Change, … , may have even thought of the possibility of experiencing a pandemic; but who amongst...

Coronavirus dashboard for February 23: vaccinations start to have a dramatic effect Totals US deaths, Cases, vaccinated one dose and two doses: – Coronavirus confirmed deaths: 500,310 – Confirmed infections: 28,190,159 – One Dose vaccinations: 44,138,118, and – Two Dose vaccinations: 19,438,495. The good news is, roughly 9.5% of the US population age 18 or over has received both doses of a vaccine. Over 20% has received at least...

Trade is great; trade is good. Since at least 2000 BCE, since the first inter-tribal (what was to become international) trading of horses, gold, silver, silk, foods, oils, wines, knowledge, technologies, …; trade between peoples has enrichened the lives of humans everywhere. Traditionally, trade was the great cross fertilizer. Without trade, our world would be a lot more like it was 4000 years ago than what it is like today. But first, before...

On the effects of COVID vaccination, Israel is the bellwether  I’m beginning to see some clickbait reports of COVID diagnoses after two doses of the vaccine, together with breathless reporting by some RW’ers and LW’ers that the vaccines are not very effective. I’m here to tell you to beware of these headlines and reports. For example, here is a report out of Oregon that 4 people were diagnosed with COVID after their second doses of vaccine....

Welcome to the vaccination Hunger Games That, dear reader, is a slight variation on what my sibling unit said to me when I related the saga of my attempts to schedule a COVID-19 vaccination. As I have mentioned from time to time, I am an Old Fossil. And, well, the supply shortage of the COVID vaccines has set off a fierce (if anything involving Old Fossils can qualify as “fierce”) competition for very limited appointment slots. What your...