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Many Healthcare Workers Unsure About COVID Vaccine Boosters for Themselves, Kids
A survey of more than 4,100 healthcare personnel (HCP) at a New York healthcare system from 2021 to 2022 reveals that 17% were hesitant to receive the recommended COVID-19 vaccine booster, and 33% were unsure about vaccinating their children. Many of the HCP polled held unsubstantiated beliefs not only about COVID vaccines but also childhood vaccines.
The Northwell Health–led study, published in Vaccine, involved 4,165 HCP who completed the mandatory COVID-19 primary vaccine series, had intact immune systems, and took electronic surveys from December 2021 to January 2022. The aim was to identify links between sociodemographic and employment factors and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines among HCP overall and a subset who had children.
A small fraction of HCP (6.9%) said childhood vaccines were unsafe and that the risks didn’t outweigh the benefits (2.5%) and didn’t prevent disease (2.6 %). A third of respondents (32.8%) said the current childhood vaccination schedule was too taxing on a child’s immune system.
Overall, 45.0% of HCP indicated that parents should decide whether vaccines are given to their children, even if their opinions and beliefs countered scientific evidence on vaccinations, and 61.0% said delaying recommended vaccines for several visits after their recommended schedule was OK. In total, 30.0% believed that parents and caregivers should be able to request nonmedical exemptions for school entry.
FDA Chief Blasted for Infant Formula Crisis Response, COVID Vaccines — Republican Lawmakers Questioned Why the Agency Is ‘Failing to Do the Bare Minimum’
Republican lawmakers tore into FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, over the agency’s handling of everything from the infant formula shortage crisis to the authorization of COVID-19 vaccines during a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, the FDA under President Biden is suffering from dysfunction and failing to do the bare minimum to carry out its core mission, which is to make certain our nation’s food and drug products are safe and effective,” said Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) in his opening remarks.
During the hearing, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) said that “obviously the FDA made a mistake in granting the emergency use authorization and license of COVID-19 vaccines,” which he noted do not stop transmission of the virus and have been linked to injuries and deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
Gosar also criticized the FDA’s “years-long smear campaign against ivermectin,” but Califf said that randomized trials have found no benefit from ivermectin for treating COVID-19.
Regarding the infant formula shortage crisis, Comer argued that the FDA had tried to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a cover for “neglecting facility inspections and justifying poor performance.”
Americans Are Paying Billions to Take Drugs That Don’t Work
One ALS drug made $400 million in sales for its maker. It doesn’t work. A cancer treatment brought in $500 million. That one turned out to have no effect on survival. A blood cancer medication made nearly $850 million before being withdrawn for two of its uses. That drug had been linked to patient deaths years prior.
All of them were allowed to be sold to Americans because of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s drive to get new drugs to patients quickly — sometimes even before they’re done testing.
Nigeria Becomes First Country to Roll Out New Meningitis Vaccine, WHO Says
Nigeria has become the first country in the world to roll out the “revolutionary” new Men5CV vaccine against meningitis, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
“Nigeria’s rollout brings us one step closer to our goal to eliminate meningitis by 2030,” Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, was quoted as saying in a statement.
The new vaccine is reported to protect against the five major strains of the disease that are prevalent in Nigeria, unlike the initial vaccine that works against only one strain, said the WHO.
FDA Has Linked More Than 100 Deaths to Ozempic, Wegovy and Similar Drugs: Report
As a growing number of individuals turn to Ozempic, Wegovy and other new drugs to help manage their diabetes and promote weight loss, federal health officials have received a rising number of adverse event reports involving users who experienced severe and life-threatening adverse events, and a prominent news organization now suggests that more than 100 deaths may have been linked to the medications.
According to a report published last week by The Daily Mail, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received 117 incident reports involving deaths among individuals taking glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA), including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. The reports are mostly linked to gastrointestinal issues like masses and stomach paralysis.
Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and other GLP-1 RA drugs have become blockbuster treatments over the past year, given the widespread promotion of the medications as safe and effective for weight loss. However, evidence has emerged that certain users experience a painful and debilitating stomach paralysis, known as gastroparesis, which lawsuits now allege was not fully disclosed by the drug makers on the warning labels.
Eli Lilly’s Nationwide Insulin Pricing Settlement Called Off
A settlement between Eli Lilly (LLY.N) and purchasers of its insulin drugs that would have capped prices and provided $13.5 million to resolve claims that the company inflated the drugs’ cost has fallen apart, after an unfavorable ruling from the judge overseeing the case.
Lawyers for a proposed nationwide class of individuals who paid for Lilly’s Humalog and other insulin drugs said in a filing in Newark, New Jersey, federal court on Friday that they and Lilly had decided not to go forward seeking approval for the deal, which they first proposed last May.
Steve Berman, one of the lawyers, said in an email that the decision to drop the deal came after U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti in February refused to certify a class in the litigation, which also targets insulin drug makers Novo Nordisk and Sanofi. The plaintiffs have since filed an amended version of their complaint again seeking to proceed as a class action.
Berman called the demise of the settlement, which would have capped patients’ out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 per month for four years, a “potentially big loss for consumers.”
The Top 20 Pharma Companies by 2023 Revenue
There were changes at the top and the bottom of last year’s top 20 pharma rankings by revenue. And, in between, Novo Nordisk made a significant leap, jumping five spots propelled by skyrocketing sales of its diabetes and obesity treatments Ozempic and Wegovy.
At the top, Pfizer ceded the No. 1 slot as its revenue tumbled 41% from an industry record $100.3 billion in 2022 to $58.5 billion last year. The difference was directly attributable to declining sales of COVID vaccine Comirnaty and COVID antiviral Paxlovid. After the duo combined for sales of $56.7 billion in 2022, they fell all the way to a combined $12.5 billion last year.
Regaining the top spot on the 2023 list is Johnson & Johnson, which had a sales increase of 6.5% to $85.2 billion. It’s a familiar perch for J&J, which had a decade-long run from 2012 to 2021 as the industry’s revenue leader.
At the bottom of the rankings, dropping out of the top 20, were prolific COVID vaccine sellers Moderna and BioNTech, which occupied the No. 18 and No. 20 slots, respectively, in 2022, with sales of $19.3 billion and 17.3 billion euros ($18.2 billion). Both were also among the industry’s top 20 in 2021, but, last year, their revenues tumbled to $6.8 billion and 3.8 billion euros ($4.1 billion).
Tanzania, Rwanda, Zimbabwe Join African Recall of J&J Children’s Cough Syrup
Drug regulators in Tanzania and Rwanda have recalled a batch of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) children’s cough syrup as a precautionary measure after their Nigerian counterpart said laboratory tests found high levels of toxicity.
The East African neighbors join Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa in recalling the same batch of the syrup, which is used to treat coughs, hay fever and other allergic reactions in children. South Africa has also recalled an additional batch.
Laboratory tests on the syrup by Nigeria’s health regulator showed a high level of diethylene glycol, which has been linked to the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon since 2022 in one of the world’s worst waves of poisoning from oral medication.
England Launches Latest Round of COVID Booster Vaccines
England has launched its latest COVID-19 booster campaign for those at the highest risk from the disease. From Monday, people over the age of 75, those who live in adult care homes and others with certain underlying health conditions will be able to book a free shot to boost their protection against COVID-19.
For the first time, private vaccines will also be available alongside the public campaign. Anyone over the age of 12 with the means to pay for a shot can now get inoculated privately.
Private shots, which went on sale in the U.K. earlier this year, are available at a cost of between £45 to £99 ($56 to $124), depending on the brand and the seller.
