Since the second quarter of 2021, pharmacists have administered over 90% of all adult vaccines. Therefore, we need to ensure that laws allowing them to provide all ACIP-recommended, and/or FDA-approved, vaccines are adopted and maintained in every state. This is critical to address the healthcare equity issue, since low-income communities which are over-represented by racial and ethnic minorities have far better access to pharmacies than physician offices.
Policy & Ethics
Suicide - with or without medical assistance - is now available not only for those with terminal illness but for those suffering chronic conditions, mental illness (to be allowed in Canada beginning in March), or otherwise feel life is just not worth living. Some are against the practice - not just for fear of its overuse, but for its reflections on society. The libertarians are in an uproar. So, who’s right?
It’s a sad fact that minorities and women are underrepresented in clinical trials. As to why- that’s still a mystery. One thing is probable though; there’s some cultural mismatch between recruiters and the recruited. A recent study proposed a solution: simply pay minorities to participate. Is this valid – or another example of noblesse oblige – and cultural chauvinism?
As fentanyl-related overdose deaths soar to new heights, and with fentanyl found in stimulants, tranquilizers, and other recreational drugs obtained in the black market, it makes sense to let drug users use a simple test that detects fentanyl in products they are about to consume. But cruel and irrational drug paraphernalia laws in 42 states make it illegal for them to do so.
“The opioid epidemic” has triggered an extreme governmental reaction. While blaming legitimate manufacturers, curbing pain meds is the government’s go-to approach -- to the horror of those who legitimately need pain relief. Could the government have curtailed the problem from the get-go, and were they just asleep at the helm? Could present measures be a diversionary tactic?
Former surgeon general C. Everett Koop was a towering figure in the world of public health. A pediatric surgeon with deeply held religious convictions, Koop was an iconoclast willing to challenge the accepted wisdom of both major political parties when their platforms contradicted the evidence. What could public health officials today learn from Koop's example?
Policymakers often talk about protecting patients against the predatory practices of insurers and PBMs. It is about time for state and federal legislators to support such legislations to ensure that ONLY patients benefit from such patient assistance programs and to stop PBM and insurers from profiteering on the backs of patients.
The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) recently concluded that gas stoves have polluted our indoor spaces. So polluted that “more than 12% of current childhood asthma cases in the US can be attributed to gas stove use.” Could that be true? Only if you believe in Mathmagic.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) was “born” in 1971. Its “mother,” the pioneer of occupational medicine in America, Alice Hamilton, was born over 100 years earlier, dying three months before the Act was signed into law. It took more than fifty years after she was named the first woman (assistant) professor at Harvard Medical School, launching their industrial medicine department, for the country to recognize the need for such legislation. So, why did it take so long?
Cops are taking their own fentanyl “copaganda” too seriously. It’s one thing when it causes panic attacks among first responders, but another thing when it causes unjust charges to be piled on drug offenders who will likely be forced to take plea deals.
The 2016 and 2022 CDC opioid prescribing guidelines were based on the assertion that doctor over-prescribing to patients has been a major cause of opioid use disorder and overdose-related deaths. Published
data from the CDC and other sources reveals that this assertion was incorrect – and the CDC knew it was incorrect when it published its guidelines.
Acid indigestion. Just the words give me heartburn. Multiple remedies are available, both prescription and over-the-counter. But hundreds of thousands of people are claiming that they got cancer from one of them: Zantac. Their cases are pending in various courts around the country. The decision regarding the admissibility of their expert testimony in federal cases was just released. So, how did the plaintiffs fare?