This sounded good, but, the Brandon admin apparently didn’t give it a good think nor ask pharmacies for their input
Test to Treat: pharmacists say Biden’s major new Covid initiative won’t work
A major new Biden administration initiative to facilitate access to Covid-19 antivirals will have a limited impact and fail to mitigate certain health inequities, major pharmacist groups argue, because pharmacists are restricted from prescribing the pills.
Announced in Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, the “Test to Treat” program is meant to address the maddening difficulty Americans have had in accessing Covid-19 treatments. The administration will channel newly increasing stocks of antiviral pills to major retail pharmacies that have in-house clinics, providing one-stop testing and antivirals access.
The program, which the administration aims to provide for free (in the face of fierce Republican opposition to new Covid-19 spending), is also slated to roll out in Veterans Affairs clinics, community health centers and long-term care facilities.
Major participants include some 250 Walgreens stores, 225 Kroger Little Clinics and 1,200 CVS MinuteClinics. CVS clinics in particular are staffed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants, authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prescribe the two currently available Covid antivirals, Pfizer’s Paxlovid and Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics’ molnupiravir.
In a 9 March letter to Biden calling for pharmacists to be granted authority to prescribe these pills, 14 organizations representing pharmacies and pharmacists insisted Test to Treat’s impact will be compromised by the fact that such in-house clinics are relatively limited in number and largely in urban areas.
It surely doesn’t help that pharmacies are closing in major Democratic party run cities, due to rampant theft and danger to employees. This is a major blindspot in that, unless there is a nurse practitioner or PA, they cannot be prescribed. It looks like the Brandon admin said “here’s a great idea, let’s go with it!” without asking professionals.
Meanwhile, this is interesting, in that China is admitting a big outbreak
Covid-19 cases continue to rise in China’s worst outbreak since Wuhan
China reported thousands of new local Covid-19 cases Sunday amid the worst outbreak in the country since Wuhan in early 2020, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
Health officials said 2,125 cases were reported across 58 cities in 19 of 31 mainland provinces, marking the fourth consecutive day China reported more than 1,000 daily local cases. More than 10,000 cases have been reported since the latest outbreak began in early March, the NHC said.
Saturday, the commission reported 3,122 local cases — the highest number of daily infections since the Wuhan outbreak and the first time new cases have exceeded 3,000 in a day, NHC data showed.
Throughout the pandemic, China has adhered to a strict zero-Covid policy that aims to stamp out all outbreaks and chains of transmission using a combination of border controls, mass testing, quarantine procedures and lockdowns.
Nearly half of the total infections in the latest outbreak have been reported in northeastern Jilin province, with 4,605 cases since March 1, when the first clusters of cases in Jilin’s border city Yanbian were identified, according to the provincial government.
Does anyone actually believe there have been no outbreaks since the initial one? And believe the numbers are not particularly high for such a populous country? It must be really bad if the ruling Chinese communist party are allowing this to be broadcast, and if it could threaten half their economy. It won’t be good for Apple fanboys
Foxconn Halts iPhone Shenzhen Site Due to Covid Lockdown
Apple Inc. supplier Foxconn is halting operations at its Shenzhen sites, one of which produces iPhones, in response to a government-imposed lockdown on the tech hub city.
The Taiwanese company, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., has its China headquarters in the area and a key manufacturing site in Guanlan. It is suspending operations at the two campuses and has reallocated production to other sites to reduce impact from the disruption, the company said in a statement. Foxconn didn’t specify the length of the suspension. The measures from the Chinese government call for non-essential businesses in Shenzhen to halt until March 20.
I’m sure iPhone users will argue that the this is an essential business.
Read: Oops: There Could Be A Big Problem With Brandon’s Test To Treat COVID Idea »