Clinical

In spite of public health messaging (some of which highlights healthcare providers and patients of color), there continue to be disparities in vaccination rates from one demographic group to another across the United States. As noted in an article just published online by JAMA Health Forum, U.S. neighborhoods with a higher percentage of white and Asian residents and higher mean incomes were more likely to have high rates of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 compared with neighborhoods …

Back in March, Antiviral Research published an article declaring that ivermectin—known as a treatment for various parasitic conditions in humans and animals—was found to inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. Some patients, presumably spurred on by exaggerated, out-of-context, or downright erroneous reports on the internet, took that as encouragement to seek out prescriptions for ivermectin and to self-treat for COVID-19. Now they are suffering the consequences, which include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, as well as …

Recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that people who are not vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 virus are five times more likely to get COVID-19 and 29 times more likely to be hospitalized if they do get infected. At the same time, according to a new report published in Lancet Infectious Disease, people who get COVID-19 in spite of being vaccinated are 50% less likely to experience “long” COVID-19. The research, …

We tend to be dismissive of patients who express concern about the safety of the currently available COVID-19 vaccines—all of which have been shown to reduce transmission and severity of the virus, with low incidence of any side effects. While the motives of some of those individuals may be suspect, there are some who are genuinely fearful that their perceived consequences of getting the vaccine are more compelling than the proven benefit. Those who have …

Most public health efforts to contain spread of COVID-19 have been just that—public. It’s not without good reason, given how easily the virus can pass from one person to another and the great number of people most of us are exposed to every day. However, new data just published by JAMA Network Open should serve as a reminder that what we’re exposed to when we’re out of the house becomes what we expose our family …

Among the myriad reasons people are declining to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is concern that getting vaccinated would increase their risk for blood clots. Like many rationalizations of the vaccine-hesitant, it’s based on misinterpretation of a nugget of truth. Relaying the findings of an article just published in the British Medical Journal might be useful in helping you set the record straight. The fact is that vaccination with either the AstraZeneca/Oxford or the Pfizer BioNTech …

The currently available vaccines against COVID-19 have been performing admirably against the virus in general—but there’s a precipitous drop-off in effectiveness when it comes to the Delta variant, according to new data published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Overall effectiveness among the three vaccines had been 91% previously, while it’s only 66% since the Delta variant became the dominant strain in the United States. On the flip side, it’s important to underscore to patients …

As the Delta variant continues to undo much of the progress the U.S. has made in coming back from the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers are still uncovering things we never understood about the virus to begin with. The latest revelation, according to research released by the Journal of Gerontology, is that adults 75 years of age and older may present with a constellation of symptoms that look very different from those younger patients display. Perhaps most …

One of the oft-heard objections to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine has been that “they’re not really approved” by virtue of their being OK’d for use under the Food and Drug Administration’s Emergency Use Authorization. Now that the Pfizer vaccine has complete approval from the FDA (with Moderna expected to follow shortly), it’s time to find out which vaccine-hesitant patients were really waiting for this moment and which were just offering up a convenient excuse but …

News concerning the advisability and availability of booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines has been evolving almost as quickly as data regarding new cases of the virus itself lately. Most striking was an announcement from Rochelle Walensky, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that her agency now recommends a third dose of some vaccines for certain patients—though that will likely expand in due time. The decision is in line with a …