Editor's Note On December 8, Pfizer said its COVID-19 booster was found to provide significant protection against the Omicron variant in a laboratory study, the December 8 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. Blood samples from those who received three doses of the vaccine saw similar neutralization against the Omicron variant as…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 7 announced that Edge Pharma, LLC (Colchester, Vermont) has issued a nationwide recall of all drug products. The recall was initiated because of process issues that could lead to a lack of sterility assurance for products intended to be sterile…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine find that the initial COVID-19 shutdown from March through April 2020 resulted in a decrease in surgical volume to nearly half of baseline rates. After the reopening, surgical volume rebounded to 2019 levels, and the trend was maintained.…

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Editor's Note The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported on December 3 that Medicare telehealth flexibilities led to a 63-fold (ie, from approximately 840,000 to 52.7 million) increase in use from 2019 to 2020. The report also notes that telehealth services were accessed more in urban than…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on December 1, issued a statement that the California and San Francisco Departments of Public Health have confirmed that a recent case of COVID-19 in an individual in California was caused by the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529). The individual, who has mild…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on November 30, identified the worldwide recall by Teleflex of its Arrow-Trerotola Over-The-Wire PTD Kit Percutaneous Thrombolytic Device: 7FR as Class I, the most serious. The device, which is used for mechanical declotting of native arteriovenous fistulae and synthetic dialysis grafts, was…

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Editor's Note A Louisiana federal judge, on November 30, blocked the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers (HCWs) at facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid nationwide, the November 30 Axios reports. In his ruling, the judge says the executive branch does not have the authority to bypass Congress in enforcing…

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Editor's Note A federal judge, on November 29, blocked a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) mandate requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for healthcare workers (HCWs) in facilities participating in CMS programs in 10 states, the November 29 Bloomberg Law reports. In his ruling, the judge says the CMS mandate requires…

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Editor's Note This study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that 30% of healthcare workers (HCWs) in 2,086 US hospitals remained unvaccinated against COVID-19 as of September 15. Analyzing data on more than 3.3 million HCWs, the researchers found that vaccination rates climbed from 36% to…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on November 15, announced the nationwide recall by SterRx, LLC, of 240 lots of its drug products. The recall was initiated because of the lack of sterility assurance due to equipment and process issues. The recalled drugs include: l mg/ml Midazolam in…

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