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The possibility of COVID-19 long-haulers experiencing symptoms suggestive of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) was strengthened by a small case series from Sweden.
Three young patients who were suspected of having COVID-19 in the spring of 2020 were diagnosed with POTS more than 3 months later on the grounds of orthostatic tachycardia and chronic symptoms of orthostatic intolerance after exclusion of competing etiologies, reported a group led by Madeleine Johansson, MD, PhD, of Lund University and Skåne University Hospital in Malmö, Sweden, in a paper published online in Much remains unknown about the specific mechanisms responsible for the POTS-like symptoms in post-COVID-19 patients or how long these symptoms will last, but chronic symptoms are expected in a subset of patients based on this initial clinical experience, Johansson s team said.
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If you ve been listening to the news media or even some medical professionals, you might assume the FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines are about 95% effective at stopping you from getting infected by the virus. Think again. Despite popular belief, no one knows how well the vaccines actually perform at halting infections overall or preventing transmission. All we understand now is how well they prevent people from becoming significantly sick.
The ability of the vaccines to prevent all infections may seem like an arcane topic compared to their proven ability to stave off moderate-to-severe illness and death. Still, infection prevention is going to be one of the determinants about how many people die. In effect, you have to vaccinate fewer people to get to herd immunity with a vaccine that protects against infection, Joshua Schiffer, MD, MSc, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, told
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Public health scientists and officials shared information about ways to increase uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and reduce vaccine hesitancy, during a hearing of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology on Friday. The key focus included strategies to eliminate hassles; leverage effective, targeted messaging; and engage trusted communicators.
Committee chair Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) warned that vaccine hesitancy could delay the U.S. recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic: We simply cannot and will not bring this virus to an end unless we vaccinate a high percentage of the American population and in fact, the globe, she stressed.
If you re having trouble paying for your medications, Drug Company X may be able to help.
You may have heard sentences like this at the end of pharmaceutical ads on television, and some clinicians may wonder what exactly the companies do to help their patients. The help usually comes in the form of what drugmakers call a copay coupon or copay assistance card for, say, $50 that the patient can present at the pharmacy counter to lower the amount they have to pay for their prescription.
Insurers are notified when their patients use copay coupons, and many of them use the data to compile copay accumulator records for enrollees. Often, insurers won t allow the money paid by drugmakers to count toward the patient s deductible or out-of-pocket costs.