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Category: Health Policy

What exactly are the ACIP and Red Book Guidelines?

What exactly are the ACIP and Red Book Guidelines?

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I throw around the terms ACIP and Red Book Guidelines a lot, so I thought it would be useful to explain them and attach the relevant document. The CDC’s advisory committee on immunization practices (“ACIP”) puts out its “best practices” for immunization (read vaccine) administration. The members of the committee are the most (conventionally) recognized members of the infectious disease, epidemiology, and public health community. The most important parts and the quickest way to get a handle on the document…

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Solving the Ivermectin Access Problem

Solving the Ivermectin Access Problem

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My last post suggested that it was very risky for physicians to prescribe Ivermectin and HCQ because the standard of care is against their use for covid, and pharmacists can and are reporting physicians who so prescribe to the medical boards. The conceptually simple but practically hard solution to this problem is to bar the medical board from disciplining (or investigating) a physician for this conduct and 2. allowing pharmacies to dispense these drugs without a prescription. And that is…

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Some Informal Advice for Docs writing Ivermectin and HCQ Scripts

Some Informal Advice for Docs writing Ivermectin and HCQ Scripts

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I have worked on medical board cases around the country for a long time. My particular specialty is unconventional therapies, either not FDA approved/cleared, or off-label use of FDA approved therapies (and diagnostics). I also spent a couple of decades advocating for expanded access to investigational drugs. We are two years into the COVID pandemic. We have vaccines, and we’re starting to have EUA drugs for treating the virus. Right now, we are in a covid lull, at least in…

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New Cali AB 2098 Seeks to Make Public Speech by Physicians Board Sanctionable

New Cali AB 2098 Seeks to Make Public Speech by Physicians Board Sanctionable

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Yesterday, February 14th, AB 2098 was dropped by Assembly Member Law and two others Assembly folk, and co-authored by, you guessed it, Senator Richard Pan. The bill makes physicians who publicly speak about COVID subject to professional discipline for providing misinformation. The bill has some (4 for now) requirements for a finding of misconduct. The first is whether the licensee “deviated from the standard of care.” I have done a little medical board work, but I don’t know what it…

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The Texas Abortion Law Mess

The Texas Abortion Law Mess

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The right-wing wingnuts running Texas have finally figured out how to practically nullify Roe v. Wade. Many fear that other states will follow the Texas legal template of insulating the Texas government’s actions by deputizing the nationwide anti-abortion activists to enforce the new restrictions. It’s a good tactic, what I would call the swarm. If a majority of the members of the Supreme Court were institutionalists, rather than agenda-driven political hacks in black robes, the Supremes would have stopped it…

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Status of the UC COVID Vaccine Mandate Cases

Status of the UC COVID Vaccine Mandate Cases

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There might be some misinformation circulating about the status of the injunction actions against the UC COVID vaccine mandates. I am not involved in either of the two cases against the UC of which I am aware, but for what it’s worth, here is what I know and what I think. 1. The Frontline Doctors lawsuit: There is no injunction against the UC in this case. Per previous posts, the motion for preliminary injunction was denied. That denial was affirmed…

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Update On the UC COVID Mandate Challenge filed by Frontier Doctors

Update On the UC COVID Mandate Challenge filed by Frontier Doctors

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As expected, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied emergency relief seeking to reverse the district court’s denial of the preliminary injunction to stop the UC’s COVID vaccine mandate for members of the UC community who already had the disease. The thinking behind the lawsuit was that having a narrow group of plaintiffs who already had the disease, given the lack of definitive evidence that vaccinating these folks is needed or creates a significant proven benefit, might at least get…

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It’s Time to Start Thinking about What’s Next in the COVID Mandate Challenges

It’s Time to Start Thinking about What’s Next in the COVID Mandate Challenges

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The first round in the legal challenges to the state universities’ mandate for the COVID vaccine (including a religious accommodation) are all but over, or at least they will be if and when the Indiana University students emergency motion to the Supreme Court does not get a hearing. There should be an answer in a few days. If the Supremes accept the case and order briefing, well then this round isn’t over. I have noted my scepticism, but we’ll see…

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Anyone want to listen to an interesting academic debate on the pros and cons of the COVID vaccine Mandate?

Anyone want to listen to an interesting academic debate on the pros and cons of the COVID vaccine Mandate?

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FYI, in general, my posts either try to explain the law (lately, mostly about vaccine issues, but sometimes about stem cells) or relate information about my cases (lately, mostly involving my vaccine/medical exemption cases, but also about my stem cell cases that I can talk about). I try to keep my legal discussions narrow and focused on what the law is and how I think the courts will rule on specific issues. I try to avoid the big philosophical and…

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This Could be a Telling Week in the Legal World of Vaccine Mandates and SB 277 Medical Exemption Cases

This Could be a Telling Week in the Legal World of Vaccine Mandates and SB 277 Medical Exemption Cases

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Legally/lawsuit wise, and to state the obvious, there is much going in California and around the country on mandatory vaccination and exemptions/accommodations for students and employees. The Indiana University students who are seeking to overturn IU’s COVID mandated have filed the paperwork with the Supreme Court seeking an emergency review of the Seventh Circuit’s denial of a temporary injunction against the mandate, which the district court refused to grant (the preliminary injunction that is). This is the same or similar…

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