Vaccine injection and alcohol consumption: not an ideal pairing

   

The NPC Healthbiz Weekly has launched. It's your weekly briefing on topics pertinent to healthcare marketers and executives published in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions. From Chronicle Companies, organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress. More info at pharmacongress.info

⇒ Issue #147 (In numerology, 147 represents unique and creative self-expression.)

⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 12/10: 439,142*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 12/10: 13,009*
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 12/10: 69,016,437*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 12/10: 1,571,890*

December 10, 2020—Good morning, CurveFlatteners. Welcome back to another Thursday filled with pandemic updates. Writing from his home office in fashionable Etobicoke, Ont., currently in pandemic lockdown is Jeremy Visser, who has recently been drinking far too much tea. This brings me to today's topic: drinking.

Since the Age of Covid has arrived, Canadians have seen an overall increase in alcohol consumption. Hardly a surprise there. However, as a wonderment to both citizens and small businesses, alcohol has become available for takeout orders at restaurants. As of last week (Friday, Dec 4), the public-owned booze retailer LCBO has partnered with food-delivery service SkipTheDishes to announce the delivery of alcohol throughout Toronto. 

Great news, right? Well, not for everyone. If you're a restaurant that was counting on that business, the announcement was not welcome. The corner cafe can't compete with the state-run liquor behemoth and the struggling hospitality sector feels cut out of the alcohol delivery jackpot.

In other alcohol backlash news, a health official has recommended those taking Russia's Sputnik V vaccine should avoid alcohol for approximately two months. Anna Popova, head of the Russian consumer health watchdog agency, advised citizens to isolate their stomach from alcohol for 14 days before vaccinating and to continue abstaining for another 42 days after the first injection. This was later contradicted by Alexander Gintsburg, the vaccine's developer, who amended the advice to refrain from alcohol three days before and after both injections,  adding that "one glass of champagne won't hurt anyone." Well, what's a glass of bubbly count for in a culture that's predicated on a bellyful of vodka?

The NPC Podcast is back for another season. The organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress are proud to release our new weekly podcast series, hosted by Peter Brenders. Peter's guest this week is Mike Cloutier. Listen here now, or download the episode and play it at your convenience. The NPC Podcast is presented in cooperation with Impres Pharma

COVID CHRONICLE 12/10/2020

• A recent survey posted in the Journal of Asthma has shown a third of young asthma sufferers do not comply with Covid-19 guidelines. The same survey showed a fifth of participants believed they had no risk of suffering from Covid-19. The survey was administered to 2,372 young adults between 16-24 years of age.

• Phase 3 human trials for AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine have been peer-reviewed and published in The Lancet. The study, done with University of Oxford researchers, has shown an average efficacy of 70.4%.

• A study published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine has suggested that healthcare workers are 7 times as likely to have severe Covid-19 infection as compared to non-essential workers. The UK-based study also suggested that social care and transport sector workers were twice as likely as non-essential workers to have severe Covid-19 infection. 

WHAT CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON TODAY

As the final episode of our second season of the NPC Podcast came out yesterday, we're looking ahead to the NPC Winter Webinar on February 10th. Stay tuned and watch pharmacongress.info for updates.

RIGHT NOW WE ARE LISTENING TO... 

Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas (the band). I just discovered this Japanese electronic ore band and have been thoroughly enjoying their discography. They're like the Japanese Attack Attack! and if you have any idea what that means, then this band is probably for you.

TONIGHT WE ARE WATCHING... 

The Happiest Season. It's the holiday season and aside from watching classic Xmas movies, we like to find new potential classics to add to this list. This one, however, did not make the cut. While the cast was pretty stacked with fantastic actors playing hilarious characters, the holiday rom-com fell flat on the leading relationship between Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis. Dan Levy was still worth the price of admission though.

HOW IS YOUR WEEK GOING?

Please make use of the comments section at the Daily CurveFlattener, to let us know what you're up to today. Or feel free to check in via LinkedIn, email, or your choice of connector. By all means, pass this newsletter along to your colleagues.

Allan Ryan will be here tomorrow to finish the week off. Stay in touch, stay safe, and enjoy your day.