Author: Linda Rider

  • 10 states sue Biden administration over vaccine mandate for health care workers : Coronavirus Updates : NPR

    10 states sue Biden administration over vaccine mandate for health care workers : Coronavirus Updates : NPR

    President Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccinations in Elk Grove Village, Ill. 10 states are filing a lawsuit over the administration’s rule requiring overall health treatment employees to be vaccinated.

    Susan Walsh/AP


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    Susan Walsh/AP


    President Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccinations in Elk Grove Village, Sick. 10 states are submitting a lawsuit more than the administration’s rule demanding wellbeing treatment personnel to be vaccinated.

    Susan Walsh/AP

    A group of 10 states has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration and its prerequisite that wellbeing care workers in the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID-19, declaring the mandate is “unconstitutional and unlawful.”

    Led by Missouri Lawyer General Eric Schmitt and Nebraska Attorney Common Doug Peterson, the 10 states say the required nationwide vaccine need will guide to shortages of wellness treatment personnel and could threaten the work opportunities of “hundreds of thousands of overall health care personnel” who risked their lives for the duration of the starting stages of the pandemic.

    In addition to Missouri and Nebraska, lawyers typical from Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota and New Hampshire also joined the lawsuit.

    “Regrettably, with this latest mandate from the Biden Administration, final year’s healthcare heroes are turning into this year’s unemployed. Necessitating health care personnel to get a vaccination or encounter termination is unconstitutional and illegal, and could exacerbate healthcare staffing shortages to the stage of collapse, primarily in Missouri’s rural regions,” Schmitt said in a news launch.

    He says his business office has been tough the Biden administration’s “unlawful edicts” and this is the newest.

    “This scenario illustrates why the police electricity around obligatory vaccination has usually been the province of — and however adequately belongs to — the States,” the lawyers standard argued in their lawsuit.

    The 58-website page lawsuit argues the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies vaccine mandate is intruding on states’ law enforcement power, stating it’s a violation of a number of acts and rights, which include the Administrative Treatments Act, the Social Security Act, the Tenth Modification and federalism.

    “By disregarding the specifics on the floor and unreasonably dismissing concerns about workforce short­ages, the CMS vaccine mandate jeopardizes the healthcare passions of rural People,” the lawsuit claims.

    In September, President Biden unveiled a collection of techniques to overcome the surge of COVID-19 situations in the country, announcing that 17 million health treatment workers at hospitals and elsewhere that acquire Medicare or Medicaid funding would have to be vaccinated.

    Final week, CMS issued an interim last rule requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for well being treatment employees in most configurations — this sort of as hospitals and wellbeing techniques — that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid applications.

    The new necessities, which went into effect Nov. 5, will implement to about 76,000 providers.

  • Pediatric COVID-19 vaccinations underway in Chippewa County

    Pediatric COVID-19 vaccinations underway in Chippewa County

    CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. (WEAU) – Angela Weideman, Director and Health Official at the Chippewa County Department of Public Health, is providing an update on COVID-19 cases, vaccines, and testing during the health department’s COVID-19 situation report on Thursday. You can watch it here.

    Of the 316 active COVID-19 cases, 25.6{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} are children (81), including 23.1{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of all cases being school-aged children ages 4 to 18. 17 people are currently hospitalized in Chippewa County with COVID-19. More metrics are available on the Chippewa County COVID-19 data dashboard. The Chippewa County COVID-19 dashboard was experiencing technical difficulties during the update Thursday morning, but a full accounting of the metrics that were scheduled to be shared are below (updated Thursday afternoon).

    Chippewa County’s COVID-19 caseload and spread places the county in the severe risk category for COVID-19, which means the recommendation from the county’s health department is to limit indoor gatherings to less than 15 people and outdoor gatherings to less than 50 people with physical distancing. Masks are also recommended indoors, including at K-12 schools. As of Wednesday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services says that Chippewa County is experiencing very high COVID-19 case activity with a case burden of over 781 cases per 100,000 residents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has Chippewa County in the highest category for COVID-19 transmission, high, along with nearly every other county in Wisconsin.

    In Chippewa County, 34,560 residents have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, or 53.5{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}, as of Nov. 5. 33,271 residents, or 51.5{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}, have completed their vaccination series. 255 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered to Chippewa County residents the last full week reporting numbers were available, Oct. 24. 86.4{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of Chippewa County residents ages 65 and over are fully-vaccinated.

    Weideman shared that pediatric vaccinations “are doing well” based on feedback from community partners. Statewide and Chippewa County data dashboards were down Thursday morning, so Weideman was unable to provide exact numbers. No community clinics are planned for children ages 5 to 11 since the county does not provide the Pfizer vaccine. However, community partners are providing the Pfizer vaccine, and Weideman said that because the Pfizer vaccine is being provided in the county already, the health department doesn’t need to add it to their offerings for vaccines.

    A community testing site for COVID-19 is available at Jacob’s Well Church at 3211 North 50th Ave. in Lake Hallie. The site offers drive-thru PCR tests and is open on Mondays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. To register online, visit the COVID Connect website. Registration is also available on-site.

    Chippewa County holds weekly COVID-19 vaccination clinics at the court house on Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. This clinic offers both the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which are currently authorized for emergency use for people ages 18 and over. The Pfizer vaccine is not offered by the Chippewa County DPH at its clinics. If an individual wants to receive the Pfizer vaccine, which is also authorized for emergency use for people ages 12 to 15 and fully approved for people ages 16 and over, they can call the Chippewa County Department of Public Health at 715-492-3096 or visit the DPH’s COVID-19 Response Hub to find other vaccinators in the county in order to find a Pfizer vaccine. Anyone under the age of 18 will need parental consent to schedule and receive a vaccine.

    For parents looking for pediatric COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11, they are urged to contact their health care provider.

    CDC data dashboards are available on the CDC data tracker website. The DHS also has a COVID-19 data dashboard for Wisconsin on their website. More COVID-19 information for Chippewa County can be found on the CCDPH website.

    Due to data issues Thursday morning, information about cases, deaths, hospitalizations and vaccines wasn’t able to be shared during the live update. Those figures are below.

    Case Summary (as of November 11, 2021)

    Wisconsin:

    • 816,427 Wisconsin residents have had positive test results (confirmed cases) for COVID-19.
    • The state’s current positive 7-day average is 2,453 cases.
    • A total of 8,688 Wisconsin residents have died from COVID-19.

    Chippewa County:

    • 11,028 people have had positive test results (confirmed cases). Of those 11,028 cases,
    • 317 people (236 adults, 81 children) are active cases.
    • School-aged children (4-18) account for 73 cases and children ages 0-3 account for 8 cases
    • Children currently make up 25.6{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of all active cases.
    • The county’s current positive 7-day average is 23 cases.
    • A total of 484 county residents have ever been hospitalized as a result of COVID-19.
    • 17 residents, all adults, are currently hospitalized as a result of COVID-19.
    • Sadly, a total of 119 county residents (111 not fully vaccinated, 8 fully vaccinated) have died from COVID-19.

    In the Northwest Region, currently:

    • 84{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of all hospital beds are in use (16{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} are available)
    • 93{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of ICU (intensive care unit) beds are in use (7{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} are available)
    • 15{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of ventilators are in use (85{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} are available)

    Testing Update

    From October 31-Nov 6, 549 total COVID-19 tests were completed and 238 people had positive COVID-19 test results. The previous week, October 24-30, we had 184 positive cases and 466 tests were completed.

    Vaccine Update

    As of Friday, November 5, 65,716 doses of vaccine have been administered to Chippewa County residents.

    • 34,560 Chippewa County residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine which is 53.5{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the population.
    • 33,271 residents have completed the vaccine series accounting for 51.5{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the population.
    • The week of 10/31, a total of 131 doses were administered to Chippewa County Of those doses, 115 were administered to adults.

    Copyright 2021 WEAU. All rights reserved.

  • Nigeria: Regulate Traditional Medicines As Alternative Healthcare Delivery Services, PSN Tells Govt

    Nigeria: Regulate Traditional Medicines As Alternative Healthcare Delivery Services, PSN Tells Govt

    The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has urged the federal federal government to formally recognise classic medicine follow as different health care shipping expert services in the country.

    This is contained in the communique introduced by PSN at the stop of its 94th Annual Countrywide Meeting, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers Condition.

    The immediate earlier president of PSN, Sam Ohuabunwa, who go through the communique at the weekend before the newsmen, famous that traditional medicines supplies chance for people to accessibility choice health care companies.

    He stressed that governing administration really should control and standardise the standard medications so that Nigerians who could not obtain the orthodox providers can still find the money for a superior healthcare services.

    Ohuabunwa explained: “Conference recommended that the integration of common, complementary, and option medicines into the health treatment delivery program gives opportunity for clients/ people today to obtain alternative healthcare providers and facilitate the attainment of universal health coverage.

    “Govt ought to recognise traditional or different medication formally, that we can have each systems performing in this place. So if you occur to the clinic and you want to comply with the orthodox a person, you have health professionals who will attend to you and if you pick out the option, you will also be attended to.

    “But then it can be regulated but suitable now is not regulated and any person can set anything at all within the bottle and call it a name and start off to use it to overcome distinct illnesses. So, what we are indicating, regulate the standard medication, standardise the branding so that Nigerians can follow their preference in accordance to your capacity to pay out.

    “Infact in Ghana they have begun awarding degrees to standard or choice medicine practitioners, in that way you will increase expense, accessibility, or other wellness obstacle that orthodox medication can not deal with. Meeting agreed common medications ought to be leveraged upon to facilitate medications safety, supply chain production, increase earnings generation via investigation aimed at solution development”.

    Also, the meeting even further famous that the contemporary pharmacist as an apothecary need to have knowledge of standard, complementary, and different medicines in other to diversify their expert services.

    The convention agreed that it was vital to establish, persuade and bolster the partnership in between pharmacists and other healthcare companies.