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New COVID Vaccine Push Is ‘Anti-Human,’ Says Florida Surgeon General: ‘Major Safety Concern’
The new COVID-19 vaccine is now available at participating pharmacies and health care providers, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends it for everyone 6 months of age and older — yet not all health experts are on board.
Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, spoke on camera to Fox News Digital about his concerns surrounding the updated COVID shot. “It’s just a really terrible idea,” Ladapo said. “And it’s remarkable and really spellbinding that [the CDC] would make that kind of recommendation in the absence of evidence.”
By “evidence,” Ladapo is referring to clinical trials, which were not conducted for the new vaccine. “The FDA and CDC could have compelled Pfizer or Moderna to conduct clinical trials — that’s something that’s totally doable — and they didn’t do it,” he noted.
In addition to the rare risk of myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — Ladapo shared his concerns about other potentially dangerous side effects of the vaccine.
Another potential risk of the new COVID vaccine, according to Ladapo, is that multiple studies have linked it to the presence of spike protein in the body, up to six months after injection.
Ladapo cited a 2022 study led by UCLA and the University of Maryland — published in the journal Vaccine — which found that there was a 16% higher risk of serious adverse events in mRNA vaccine recipients.
AstraZeneca Ponies Up $425 Million to Settle U.S. Lawsuits Over Nexium, Prilosec
Four months after GSK settled a key case in California over its heartburn medication Zantac, AstraZeneca is following suit, agreeing to resolve personal injury claims over its heartburn drugs Nexium and Prilosec.
AZ will pay £352m ($425 million) to settle roughly 11,000 lawsuits in New Jersey and Delaware, mostly from users who claimed the drugs caused damage to their kidneys, including chronic kidney disease (CKD), and that the company failed to warn of the risks associated with their use.
“AstraZeneca continues to believe these claims are without merit and admits no wrongdoing in the settlement agreement,” the company said in a release, adding that the deal allows it to “avoid continued costly litigation.”
The deal resolves all Nexium and Prilosec claims in the U.S. except for one in Louisiana which is set to go to trial in April, the company said.
This is not the first time makers of PPIs have faced litigation. GSK, Pfizer and Procter & Gamble have paid a combined $108 million to settle claims against their PPI treatments, according to a Tuesday statement from lawyers representing plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation.
Makers of 10 Priciest Medicare Drugs, Which Cost U.S. $3.4 Billion Last Year, Have All Agreed to Negotiate Prices, Biden Says
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that the manufacturers of all of the first 10 prescription drugs selected for Medicare’s first price negotiations have agreed to participate, clearing the way for talks that could lower their costs in coming years and give him a potential political win heading into next year’s election.
The drugs include the blood thinner Eliquis, which the White House said was used by more than 3.7 million Medicare enrollees from June of last year through this past May and had an average out-of-pocket cost of $608 per enrollee for 2022. Also included is diabetes treatment Jardiance, which was used by nearly 1.6 million Medicare enrollees and had a 2022 out-of-pocket cost per enrollee of $490.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in August the first 10 drugs selected for the negotiation process and said manufacturers had until Monday to agree to participate and submit manufacturer-specific data. In all last year, 9 million seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries paid more than $3.4 billion on these 10 drugs alone, the White House said.
COVID Vaccine Poll Finds More Than Half of Adults Are Likely to Say ‘No Thanks’ to the Vax
Among U.S. adults, 52% say they will “probably” or “definitely” not get the new COVID-19 vaccine, according to the latest KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor poll.
Conversely, 23% of adults “definitely” plan to get the vaccine — while another 23% will “probably” get it. The survey, which was conducted between Sept. 6 and Sept. 13, polled 1,296 U.S. adults via online and telephone polls.
Regarding giving the new vaccine to children, more than half of parents say they “probably” or “definitely” will not do so — despite the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends it for children 6 months and older.
When it comes to other illnesses — including measles, mumps and rubella — most adults (68%) and parents (55%) support requiring vaccines for healthy children, KFF revealed.
However, 43% of parents and 31% of adults believe that the vaccination of kids should be left up to the parents.
J&J, Retreating From Infectious Disease, Partners With Sanofi on E. Coli Vaccine
Sanofi has agreed to work with Johnson & Johnson on what could be the first vaccine against a deadly strain of E. coli.
J&J developed the vaccine, now in Phase 3 testing, to fight extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli, a leading cause of sepsis. The bacteria cause about 10 million cases of invasive ExPEC disease each year and are particularly dangerous for older adults.
Per deal terms announced Tuesday, Sanofi will give J&J $175 million upfront and could make further payments based on reaching certain developmental and commercial milestones. The two companies will share research and development costs and profits in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy and Spain. For the rest of the world, J&J will receive tiered royalties and milestones.
Study Warns About Increasing Reports of ADHD Medication Errors in Recent Years
The findings of a new study highlight the risk of medication errors involving attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs commonly used by children, such as Ritalin, indicating that the number of problems reported has surged nearly 300% over the last two decades.
In a report published this month in the medical journal Pediatrics, researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in Ohio, warn that incidents involving ADHD medication errors are rapidly increasing, as more children are being prescribed the drugs.
The data indicates the frequency of medication errors increased 299% during the 21-month study period. More than 124,000 ADHD medication errors were reported to U.S. poison centers during that time, involving drugs like Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, and Vyvanse.
Two-thirds of the medication errors involved children ages 6 to 12 years old, the findings indicate. Most of them (76%) were boys. More than half of incidents involved amphetamine drugs or other related compounds.
