Cavorting Spring Break morons posed to go viral

The NPC Healthbiz Weekly is here to inform you through 2021. It's your weekly briefing on topics pertinent to healthcare marketers and executives published in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions. 

⇒ Issue #174 (In numerology, 174 signifies creative self-expression and independence.)

⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 03/25: 124,908,585*

⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 03/25: 2,745,964*

⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 03/25: 951,438*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 03/25: 22,739*

⇒ Number of vaccine doses administered to Canadians as of 03/25: 4,393,876*

March 25, 2021—Welcome home from Spring Break, CurveFlatteners. I hope you all had the time of your lives in Miami Beach last week, making whoopee at the invitation of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, because I certainly did. It’s Mitch Shannon back again at the keyboard this morning, refreshed and now familiar to South Beach revellers from the photograph below. That’s me, the distinguished figure standing on the hood of a Cadillac, dressed fashionably as the Joker from Batman, tossing sweaty fistfuls of dollar bills down on the packed crowds while declaring, “****ing Covid’s over, baby!” And, let's add, laissez les bon temps rouler!

Actually, when you observe last week’s televised scenes of the oblivious or indifferent sybarites, maskless and intent on aggressively spreading pathogens, you really need to ask yourself: Did we back the wrong side in this year-long war between humanity and the virus? After all, if you’re forced to pick between a species that’s too stupid and feckless to take the most basic measures to protect itself, or an endlessly adaptive organism easily capable of outwitting its host — you know, that’s going to be a tough call to make. Perhaps Governor DeSantis assembled the best minds in his cabinet, ran the calculations, and declared, “We, the Government of Florida, choose to stand with... the ****ing virus! Party on, Cletus. Wooo-ooh!”

Meanwhile, for those not yet prepared to surrender humanity’s fate to Covid, vaccination efforts were impeded last week by two traditional challenges: supply-chains and nationalism. The administration of the U.S. President announced it would send 1.5 million doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine to Canada. However, details were sketchy, and the supply's arrival has not been reported as this newsletter was compiled. That might have been great news, except the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases quickly undercut the gesture by raising questions about the safety and efficacy data submitted by AZ.

Overseas, the 27 member states of the European Union have been squabbling among themselves, and with the United Kingdom, a former member, over vaccine supplies. Forty-five per cent of UK residents have been vaccinated, compared to 13 per cent in the EU. The EU has restricted vaccine exports in response to what it believes is hoarding by the UK. As a further complication, the newspaper La Stampa reports 29 million doses of the Oxford-AZ vaccine were unexpectedly discovered this week during an Italian facility inspection. The intended destination of the supply was unknown. What a relief, then, to remember the Joker’s declaration that “****ing Covid’s over, baby!” To repeat: Laissez les bon temps rouler!

The NPC Podcast is back this week to wrap up season number three. The National Pharmaceutical Congress organizers are proud to release our weekly podcast series, hosted by Peter Brenders. Peter's guest this week is Sheryl Groeneweg, Director General of the Manufacturing and Life Sciences Branch of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada,. 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 03-25-21

• So, let’s try to wrap our heads around this dichotomy. People who have no reluctance to become super-spreaders will behave entirely without compunction (see evidence gathered in Florida.) However, people who believe they’ve already contracted the disease may feel shame and stigmatization and are thus less likely to comply with social distancing or self-report their possible infection to medical authorities. These eyebrow-raising findings by Drs. Giovanni Travaglino and Chanki Moon of two U.K. universities suggest that governments shaming people into obedience may backfire and create a negative impact on public health. The research was published in Frontiers in Psychology.

• Tinnitus has been identified as a co-morbidity of Covid-19, and a cross-specialty international group of researchers last year published findings in the journal Frontiers in Public Health. The article by Eldré W. Beukes of Lamar University and co-authors notes that tinnitus “may be more bothersome for those experiencing loneliness, having fewer social interactions, and who are more anxious or worried.” That observation was underlined last week following the suicide of Kent Taylor, CEO of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain. Mr. Taylor, 65, had reportedly been experiencing long-haul Covid-19 symptoms, including tinnitus,
• A new study from a University of Michigan researcher suggests patients who previously received a flu shot were significantly less likely to test positive for a Covid-19 infection after the pandemic spread. Dr. Marion Hofmann Bowman and colleagues, writing in the American Journal of Infection Control, further determined patients who received a flu vaccine experienced fewer complications if they tested positive for Covid-19. Says she: "It is possible that patients who receive their flu vaccine are also people who are practicing more social distancing and following CDC guidelines. However, it is also plausible that there could be a direct biological effect of the flu vaccine on the immune system.”

WHAT CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON NOW

After a brief hiatus, The Chronicle of Cosmetic Medicine + Surgery will return to 7,000 medical practices next month. The issue will contain a report on the new topical analgesic Pliaglis, offering commentary from Dr. Julia Carroll.

THIS WEEK I’M READING

A pair of novels by American writer Ross Thomas (1926-95), borrowed from the Internet Archive, If You Can’t Be Good and The Money Harvest. Thomas’ body of work depicts mid-century Washington politicians' inner workings, their courtiers and enablers, and this oeuvre is especially relevant as American politics tries to recalibrate following the four-year experiment with Trumpism. The two I’m absorbing now are minor Thomas, lesser efforts out of print and forgotten, except for a handful of fans. But what a charge to find photographic reproductions of these 50-year-old potboilers in an Internet collection and experience them at no cost on my Kindle and iPad.

TOMORROW AND TOMORROW

Chronicle editor Kylie Rebernik, who (quietly) celebrated her birthday yesterday, will take over the next leg of our CurveFlattening journey tomorrow. Until then, stay safe and look after yourself.