Tag: COVID

COVID vaccine prices could quadruple : Photographs

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A vial of the Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, Bivalent. Nevertheless the shots are free of charge to rather a lot any one who wishes a single in the U.S. as extended as federal stockpiles keep out, the subsequent update of the vaccine may well be highly-priced for some men and women who absence health and fitness insurance.

RINGO CHIU/AFP by way of Getty Pictures


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A vial of the Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, Bivalent. Nevertheless the photographs are cost-free to quite considerably everyone who needs one particular in the U.S. as lengthy as federal stockpiles hold out, the following update of the vaccine could possibly be pricey for some people who lack health insurance policy.

RINGO CHIU/AFP by using Getty Images

The U.S. govt paid out around $10 billion in the early several years of the pandemic to acquire and order Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine as element of Operation Warp Pace. So significantly, any American who would like the shot has paid out very little out-of-pocket for it — the federal govt has footed the invoice.

But the moment it is time to swap to the subsequent edition of the vaccine (envisioned to be personalized to no matter what pressure of the virus is circulating afterwards this calendar year), individual sufferers will have to pay for the shot if their overall health insurance isn’t going to deal with it. The proposed rate: roughly $130 per dose.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, for one particular, is outraged.

“How is the CEO of this firm thanking the taxpayers of this country who are liable for making him and his colleagues extremely loaded?” Sanders questioned rhetorically on the Senate ground recently. “He is thanking them by proposing to quadruple the value.”

Sanders chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which has called Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel in for questioning about the firm’s pricing program on March 22.

The same day Bancel’s physical appearance ahead of the committee was declared, Moderna reported it would provide the vaccine to uninsured or underinsured people at no cost. This client help plan is established to commence in May possibly.

Moderna’s shift is politically savvy, says Larry Levitt, govt vice president for wellness plan at the Kaiser Relatives Foundation.

“This gives Bancel a conversing stage when he appears just before Bernie Sanders,” Levitt says. “I imagine it blunts the criticism, but I consider there will nonetheless be a great deal of criticism.”

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Affected individual guidance applications have long been part of the drug field playbook. They allow firms to keep large charges while diffusing some of the criticism. The hitch is that sufferers have to leap as a result of hoops to get these free or discounted pharmaceutical solutions.

Claire Hannan, govt director of the affiliation of immunization administrators, suggests paperwork and crimson tape can be a serious difficulty.

“I imagine people are inclined to force via that if they have to have

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POTS rose after covid. Patients face delays in diagnosis and treatment.

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Covid is causing a sharp rise in cases of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system that causes rapid heart rate, fainting and dizziness

February 27, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EST

Angelica Baez uses a motorized chair to get around a park in Sacramento on Feb. 3. Baez developed postural tachycardia syndrome, called POTS, after getting covid in 2020. She quickly becomes fatigued by walking. (Max Whittaker for The Washington Post)

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A life-changing condition called POTS, which can cause fainting, irregular heartbeats and dizziness, particularly among young women, appears to be on the rise as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the condition isn’t well understood, and doctors dismiss many patients as having anxiety, delaying diagnosis. Once diagnosed, many patients face waiting lists as long as two years to get treatment from specialists.

POTS stands for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates involuntary functions like heart rate, blood pressure and digestion.

“When the autonomic nervous system is not functioning properly, any or all of those things can go a little haywire,” said David R. Fries, a cardiologist and POTS specialist at Rochester Regional Health.

POTS patients typically experience a marked rise in heart rate when standing and a complex combination of symptoms, including dizziness, brain fog, fainting, headache and fatigue, among many others.

There is no known cure for POTS, but physical therapy, medications and diet changes related to salt intake can sometimes help.

Experts say there is a dire shortage of medical professionals who know how to care for patients with POTS. Lauren Stiles, president and chief executive of Dysautonomia International, a nonprofit advocacy group, estimates that the number of people with POTS has at least doubled since the start of the pandemic, while the number of specialists has remained the same and waiting lists are getting longer.

“They were overwhelmed and flooded long before covid,” Stiles said “We need to increase the amount of experts in this because it wasn’t enough before covid, and it’s certainly not enough now.”

POTS symptoms are often diagnosed as anxiety

Symptoms can vary widely, and in some cases, can be debilitating.

Angelica Baez, 25, of Sacramento, got sick with covid in March 2020. Soon after, she developed unusual symptoms, including tingling hands, frequent diarrhea and either feeling extremely cold or extremely hot. But the most debilitating symptom was that she almost constantly felt dizzy. She often felt like she might pass out and had trouble walking long distances.

“My heart started going insane. I could feel it pounding in my chest,” she recalled. “I literally felt like I was going to die.”

Just standing up or walking across the kitchen caused her heart rate to spike to 160 beats per minute, and she frequently rushed to the E.R., worried that she was having a heart attack. She tried consulting various doctors but was dismissed because nothing seemed wrong with her heart or overall health.

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Long COVID diagnosis puts extra strain on family caregivers : Shots

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Louise Salant (right), 72, and her aunt Eileen Salant (center), 86, both got very sick with COVID-19 in 2020. And as Eileen developed long COVID symptoms, so too did Louise, who struggled with fatigue and shortness of breath while also managing her aunt’s care. Nearly three years later, home health aides like Elfnesh Legesse (left) help Louise take care of her aunt.

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Louise Salant (right), 72, and her aunt Eileen Salant (center), 86, both got very sick with COVID-19 in 2020. And as Eileen developed long COVID symptoms, so too did Louise, who struggled with fatigue and shortness of breath while also managing her aunt’s care. Nearly three years later, home health aides like Elfnesh Legesse (left) help Louise take care of her aunt.

Gabriela Bhaskar for NPR

For Louise Salant, long COVID has meant new stress, new responsibilities, and multiple medical crises to manage. It’s transformed her life.

But there’s a twist. She’s had to deal with this condition not just as a patient but also as a caregiver for her 86-year-old aunt Eileen Salant, who has coped with long COVID’s disabling symptoms for almost three years.

Eileen and Louise both caught an acute bout of COVID-19 in March of 2020. Eileen had been taking care of her brother, who was admitted to a New York City hospital with heart failure during those dark days of the early pandemic. He got COVID there, and died from his infection with the virus. Both aunt and niece also became very ill.

It was early days of the pandemic in New York, and hospitals were so crowded that Louise was told to stay home and fight out the illness on her own. Meanwhile, Eileen was hospitalized and stayed there all spring, including two months on a ventilator. After that, she spent five months at a rehab hospital. She finally came home to her apartment in Riverdale, the Bronx, the day before Thanksgiving in 2020 — but she was very weak.

Eileen and Louise both got COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic in New York. Eileen ended up on a ventilator for two months and then spent five months in a rehab hospital. Louise fought the illness at home as hospitals started filling up.

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Eileen and Louise both got COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic in New York. Eileen ended up on a ventilator for two months and then spent five months in a rehab hospital. Louise fought the illness at home as hospitals started filling up.

Gabriela Bhaskar for NPR

“She could barely sit up in bed, couldn’t hold a fork,” says Louise, who lives a 10-minute taxi ride away.

Over the years, Louise, now 72, has worked at various times as an art therapist, taught piano to children and adults and done medical interviewing for a cancer research team. But when COVID hit,

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No cost COVID checks are out there by mail all over again : NPR

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Homes can buy 4 totally free COVID exams on COVIDtests.gov commencing on Thursday. They will start shipping and delivery by mail following week.

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Households can purchase 4 no cost COVID tests on COVIDtests.gov commencing on Thursday. They’ll begin shipping by mail next week.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

People can get four extra totally free COVID-19 exams through the mail, beginning on Thursday. It really is part of the Biden administration’s prepare to deal with an raise in COVID cases sparked by indoor holiday break gatherings.

The tests can be purchased on COVIDtests.gov and will start off to ship the week of Dec. 19, a senior administration official informed reporters on a meeting call. The government is urging people to take a look at by themselves when they have signs, and in advance of going to with household.

It can be the fourth round of free fast checks this year. The White Property experienced suspended the plan in September and said that it would not be able to mail out extra kits simply because Congress denied requests for a lot more funding for the application. But the administration shuffled close to resources to get more of the assessments for the countrywide stockpile, the formal reported.

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“We know that the virus will flow into far more speedily and very easily as individuals assemble indoors for the winter season getaway season,” the formal said, talking on situation of anonymity. Officers observed circumstances improve just after Thanksgiving, and foresee that there could be an additional uptick just after December holiday getaway celebrations.

Exams are also obtainable at neighborhood screening sites, food banks and faculties, and via Medicare. Men and women lined by private wellbeing insurance plan designs can get absolutely reimbursed for eight assessments for each thirty day period.

The federal govt is attempting to make it less complicated for Us residents to get vaccines, exams and COVID treatment options like Paxlovid during the wintertime months. It is staging provides like ventilators as properly as particular protecting tools, and wants to support states established up cell and pop-up vaccination websites.

The federal government has a distinct emphasis on nursing properties and very long-phrase treatment facilities, and would like to do the job to vaccinate people with the most current booster shot, and offer you Paxlovid to individuals who get the virus.

“We are a couple of several years into this pandemic, and we are prepared for this minute,” the formal claimed.

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Well being care businesses urge COVID & flu vaccination and cure

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Statement from: American Academy of Spouse and children Physicians, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, American Academy of Physician Associates, American School of Crisis Medical professionals, American University of Physicians, American University of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Geriatrics Modern society, American Professional medical Affiliation, American Osteopathic Association, Council of Healthcare Specialty Societies, Infectious Conditions Modern society of America, and AMDA – The Society for Submit-Acute and Extended-Phrase Care Medicine

WASHINGTON November 21, 2022 – Offered the predicted increase in COVID-19 and influenza cases this fall and winter season, America’s wellbeing treatment specialist businesses are coming together to remind the general public of the relevance of vaccinations and early remedy. A strong recommendation from a trusted clinician is a single of the most efficient methods to improve vaccine uptake. We inspire our members to use every interaction with sufferers as an chance to make solid vaccine suggestions, teach and reply issues about avoidance and therapy possibilities, really encourage vaccination, and where possible supply vaccination.

We strongly advise that all people who is suitable, particularly individuals at greater hazard, urgently acquire their up-to-date COVID-19 booster (or COVID-19 main sequence if not still vaccinated) and influenza vaccine. We hope that the current COVID-19 vaccine will enable lower critical sickness, hospitalizations and death for our most susceptible individuals, which includes older grown ups, those who are expecting and not long ago expecting, and individuals from traditionally minoritized communities. We urgently ask all clinicians to be vigilant and prioritize vaccination in the coming months. To optimize uptake of vaccines just after counseling, our businesses will proceed to advocate for obtain to vaccines and proof-based solutions for absolutely everyone.

Supplied the increased morbidity and mortality among older individuals, people who are pregnant and not long ago expecting, and immunocompromised people today, we strongly propose that wellness treatment professionals increase their well timed use of efficient remedies. Although newer variants may possibly not reply to some current remedies, wellbeing treatment gurus will have to be prepared and capable to prescribe everyday living-preserving oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19 and influenza, to those people at highest hazard. It is critical that all people, in particular individuals at danger for significant disease, recognize the worth of tests and early communication with their clinicians to search for treatment method as before long as they take a look at positive.

We commit to proceed operating with federal associates to present usable and regular facts and rising evidence-based mostly equipment that we can swiftly press to our users. The time to act is now, and the nation’s businesses of health treatment industry experts are all set and ready to do all we can to motivate vaccination and use of proof-centered treatment options in the important months ahead.

About American Academy of Loved ones Medical professionals: Established in 1947, the AAFP signifies 127,600 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the most significant healthcare culture devoted entirely to primary care. Family members medical professionals perform around just one in five place of work visits —

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Latest COVID wave provides 2 varieties of sufferers to Florida hospitals

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At West Boca Health-related Centre, Dr. Cory Harlow sees sufferers coming into the emergency division with lots of of the same signs and symptoms they complained of through the early days of COVID in Florida: pneumonia, superior fever and shortness of breath,

Although Harlow no extended has to hurry clients into intense treatment and put them on a ventilator, he does acknowledge them to a common home in an area committed once more for COVID people.

“COVID hospitalizations were trending down and then with this pressure, they took a remaining flip,” he explained.

COVID hospitalizations in Florida rose 25% in the previous 4 weeks to additional than 4,400 sufferers as BA.5 started exerting its dominance in the condition. But inside community hospitals, the patients and the care they want look diverse in this wave than they did in the initial omicron wave that peaked in January.

[ RELATED: Omicron has shattered what we know about COVID reinfections. Here’s why you may be vulnerable. ]

The COVID floors, which are reopened in many hospitals after a spring lull, now address two different varieties of clients. The first are persons whose COVID symptoms can not be managed at property — primarily seniors around 70 with a big the vast majority around 80, according to Florida info from the U.S. Office of Health and fitness and Human Expert services. Most have co-morbidities this sort of as being overweight, diabetic issues and respiratory situations but couple are so unwell they have to have intense care. As of Friday, only 7% of intensive-care beds in the point out are filled with COVID sufferers.

Currently, the basic normal of treatment for hospitalized people is antiviral remdesivir, along with steroids and oxygen help in some circumstances.

(Jeremie X. McLeod)

“Ventilators are only utilized in significant cases, and they are a fraction of what they ended up before,” said Mark Doyle, president and main govt officer of Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale.

Even people admitted for COVID are only staying a few to four times to control their signs or symptoms, as opposed to seven or a lot more just months back, Doyle reported.

In prior waves, the greater part of hospitalized people for COVID complications have been unvaccinated. But in this wave, even vaccines that have verified really efficient at stopping really serious ailment are not preserving everyone out of the clinic.

“What confuses the image is a whole lot who received vaccinated and did not get their booster,” explained Harlow, with West Boca Professional medical Center. “When you are a yr out, the protecting impact is appreciably degraded. It’s much less very clear whether you are any a lot more guarded than if you are not vaccinated at all.”

The 2nd group of people in COVID wards are persons who occur to the hospitals for other methods this kind of as gallbladder removal, or heart difficulties and take a look at beneficial for coronavirus.

[ RELATED: The latest COVID strain is hard to avoid.

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