It would seem like ONCE AGAIN the CDC comes out with a RECOMMENDATION and it quickly becomes a MANDATE, and according to this article those who have been vaccinated have a RARE chances of catching COVID-19 -Delta from others. Personally, I am not going to wear a mask and any business that mandates that a mask be worn… I will shop somewhere else. Right now, all the “talking heads” state that we are not going back to LAST YEAR … closing down businesses, schools…  but as the “SCIENCE” seems to change from  day to day…  With 67% of our population >12 y/o has had at least one shot… we are on the precipice of the percent vaccination that they said we would have “heard immunity” and was at once time was considered would be a “win” over the virus.

CDC Calls for Masks in Schools, Hard-Hit Areas, Even if Vaccinated

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/955488

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) once again is recommending that some Americans wear masks indoors. The agency called today for masks in K-12 school settings and in areas of the United States experiencing high or substantial SARS-CoV-2 transmission, even for the fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The move reverses a controversial announcement the agency made in May 2021 that fully vaccinated Americans could skip wearing a mask in most settings.

Unlike the increasing vaccination rates and decreasing case numbers reported in May, however, some regions of the United States are now reporting large jumps in COVID-19 case numbers. And the Delta variant as well as new evidence of transmission from breakthrough cases are largely driving these changes.

“Today we have new science related to the [D]elta variant that requires us to update the guidance on what you can do when you are fully vaccinated,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, said during a media briefing today.

New evidence has emerged on breakthrough-case transmission risk, for example. “Information on the [D]elta variant from several states and other countries

indicates that in rare cases, some people infected with the [D]elta variant after vaccination may be contagious and spread virus to others,

” Walensky said, adding that the viral loads appear to be about the same in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

“This new science is worrisome,” she said.

Even though unvaccinated people represent the vast majority of cases of transmission, Walensky said, “we thought it was important for [vaccinated] people to understand they have the potential to transmit the virus to others.”

As a result, in addition to continuing to strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated, the CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people wear masks in public indoor settings to help prevent spread of the Delta variant in areas with substantial or high transmission, Walensky said. “This includes schools.”

Masks in Schools

The CDC is now recommending universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. Their goal is to optimize safety and allow children to return to full-time in-person learning in the fall.

The CDC tracks substantial and high-transmission rates through the agency’s COVID Data Tracker site. High transmission means between 50 and 100 cases per 100,000 people reported over 7 days and substantial means more than 100 cases per 100,000 people.

The B.1.617.2, or Delta, variant is believed to be responsible for COVID-19 cases increasing more than 300% nationally from June 19 to July 23, 2021.

“The highest spread of cases and [most] severe outcomes are happening in places with low vaccination rates and among unvaccinated people,” Walensky said. “With the [D]elta variant, vaccinating more Americans now is more urgent than ever.”

“This moment, and the associated suffering, illness and death, could have been avoided with higher vaccination coverage in this country,” she said.

Based on a July 27, 2021, news briefings from the CDC.

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Modeling Patient Irrationality

https://daily-remedy.com/modeling-patient-irrationality/

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Look at the statements in this slide 

FLORIDA – 95% hospitalized, not vaccinated – what time frame… no numbers gives for hospitalizations and no number of deaths EVEN MENTIONED

Ohio – 99% of hospitalizations & Deaths in 2021, were unvaccinated ..  The first of the vaccines were readily available first of Jan and a pt had to have two shots 3 or4 weeks apart and was not considered fully vaccinated for another 3-4 weeks..  So one would expect that the vast majority of the COVID-19 infections would be UNVACCINATED in the first half of 2021  No mention of hospitalization or death numbers. 99% of TEN is still TEN

North Carolina – Once again 99% number used for MAY… and what percent of the population had been fully vaccinated ? No hospitalization or death numbers

Colorado – Same/similar quote as that of Ohio…   more NUMERICAL BS !!

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-masks-extra-protection-for-vaccinated-vaccines-work

“What the American people should feel confident in is that we are going to continue to be guided by science, look at public health data in order to provide new guidance if it’s needed to save lives, protect the American people,” Psaki said. 

“When [the president] made those comments back in May, we were dealing with a very different strain of the virus than we are today,” Psaki continued. “And delta is more transmissible. It is spreading much more quickly.” 

Psaki said that at the time of the CDC’s May guidance, and the president’s remarks, the delta variant was “nearly nonexistent in the United States.” 

Despite the evolving guidance from the CDC, Psaki said that the president is “satisfied with the fact that they are continuing to look at public health data and provide public health guidance to the American public about how they can protect their lives and the lives of loved ones around them.” 

As for vaccines, Psaki said getting vaccinated “can save your life.” 

“I think the clear data shows that this pandemic is killing, it is hospitalizing, and it is making people very sick who are not vaccinated,” she said. “That still continues to be the case regardless of what the mask guidance is.”

She added: “The vaccines work.” 

The delta variant has ripped through the unvaccinated population in America, with CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky saying the variant is “spreading with incredible efficiency and now represents more than 83% of the virus circulating the United States.” 

According to the CDC, more than 163 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, while more than 188 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. 

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Today Barb had an appointment with our optometrist for an eye exam… and on the front door there was a sign “MASK MANDATORY “.. We have been going to this profession for some 40+ yrs and I asked his receptionists “what is with the mask mandate ?”… and her answer was that “we don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable”… They only mandating wearing a mask in the reception/waiting area..  I got up and went out to the car to wait for Barb to get finished. Anyone who has chosen to not get vaccinated and chosen not to wear a mask… It is not my fault if they catch COVID-19.  We are vaccinated  !! I am UNCOMFORTABLE wearing a mask … for no reason.

AMA, ANA, 54 Other Associations Call for Industry wide Vax Mandate

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/955436

As COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths mount again across the country, the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Nursing Association (ANA), and 54 other medical and allied healthcare associations released a joint statement today calling on “all health care and long-term care employers” to require their workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

This injunction covers everyone in healthcare, Emanuel Ezekiel, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and the organizer of the joint statement, told Medscape Medical News.

That includes not only hospitals, but also physician offices, ambulatory surgery centers, home care agencies, skilling nursing facilities, pharmacies, laboratories, and imaging centers, he said.

The exhortation to get vaccinated also extends to federal and state healthcare facilities, including those of the military health system, TriCare and the Department of Veterans Affairs, which today instituted a mandate.

Last week, the American Hospital Association (AHA) and other hospital groups said they supported hospitals and health systems that required their personnel to get vaccinated. Several dozen healthcare organizations have already done so, including some of the nation’s largest health systems.

A substantial fraction of US healthcare workers have not yet gotten vaccinated, although how many are unvaccinated is unclear. An analysis by WebMD and Medscape Medical News estimated that 25% of hospital workers who had contact with patients were unvaccinated at the end of May.

More than 38% of nursing workers were not fully vaccinated by July 11, according to an analysis of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data by LeadingAge, which was cited by the Washington Post. And more than 40% of nursing home employees have not been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The joint statement did not give any indication of how many employees of physician practices have failed to get COVID shots. However, a recent AMA survey shows that 96% of physicians have been fully vaccinated.

Ethical Commitment

The main reason for vaccine mandates, according to the healthcare associations’ statement, is “the ethical commitment to put patients as well as residents of long-term care facilities first and take all steps necessary to ensure their health and well-being.”

In addition, the statement noted, vaccination can protect healthcare workers and their families from getting COVID-19.

The statement also pointed out that many healthcare and long-term care organizations already require vaccinations for influenza, hepatitis B, and pertussis.

Workers who have certain medical conditions should be exempt from the vaccination mandates, the statement added.

While recognizing the “historical mistrust of health care institutions” among some healthcare workers, the statement said, “We must continue to address workers’ concerns, engage with marginalized populations, and work with trusted messengers to improve vaccine acceptance.”

There has been some skepticism about the legality of requiring healthcare workers to get vaccinated as a condition of employment, partly because the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet fully authorized any of the COVID-19 vaccines.

But in June, a federal judge turned down a legal challenge to Houston Methodist’s vaccination mandate.

“It is critical that all people in the health care workforce get vaccinated against COVID-19 for the safety of our patients and our colleagues. With more than 300 million doses administered in the United States and nearly 4 billion doses administered worldwide, we know the vaccines are safe and highly effective at preventing severe illness and death from COVID-19.

“Increased vaccinations among health care personnel will not only reduce the spread of COVID-19 but also reduce the harmful toll this virus is taking within the health care workforce and those we are striving to serve,” Susan Bailey, MD, immediate past president of the AMA, said in a news release.

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 Apparently FB’s community standards are getting more and more strange… The only think that they have found an objection to is that the WORD SUICIDE appeared in the text… Of course, they would be taking the word out of context. Apparently their AI program is like a DI (DUMB INTELLIGENCE)

Pts/prescribers need to start doing CYP-450 and PGx testing.. that will demonstrate – via DNA testing – how fast a opiate metabolizer the pt is and what opiates is the best for the pt – these DNA testing. Use the attached chart – effects on pts’ comorbidity issues by under/untreated pain. APPEAL…APPEAL… APPEAL denials… show the insurance company where under treating pain is going to cost them more money treating pts comorbidity issue as they worsen. Use this process https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=35002 warn the insurance/PBM, prescriber if under/untreated pain cause harm to the pt – per the chart… then those entity may have some financial liabilities… pt dies from stroke or commits suicide… they have been warned and once warned and they don’t change their denials… they have been warned about their direct/informed contribution to the bad pt outcomes

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The ONLY Thing that CVS Management Fears – Strong and Sustained Negative Publicity!

https://pharmacistactivist.com/2021/July_2021.shtml

The CVS Underground

CVS has enough wealth that it can buy almost any company it wants (e.g., Caremark, Omnicare, Aetna), settle every lawsuit arising from medication errors out of court, terminate many pharmacists and other employees by alleging they violated a policy, and require its pharmacists and other employees to function in understaffed, stressful, and error-prone workplace conditions.

CVS can usually prevent widespread awareness of harmful and sometimes fatal medication errors, as well as unjustified/retaliatory terminations of employees who voice concerns, by offering confidential settlement agreements to the victims of errors and management failures. It does this to avoid negative publicity that would likely be occurring every day because it would result in a loss of customers/revenue and a loss in its stock values.

I will quickly acknowledge that my strong and repeated criticisms of CVS have had absolutely no influence on the decisions and actions of CVS management. Even Ellen Gabler’s three excellent investigative reports in The New York Times (NYT; Jan. 31, 2020, Feb. 21, 2020, July 16, 2020) that exposed the errors and horrible working conditions at CVS and certain other chain stores had limited influence, notwithstanding a readership of many millions.. However, the NYT coverage did elicit a response from the highest level of CVS denying certain concerns and reiterating its big lie that the safety of its customers is its highest priority. But even though the situations described in the NYT reports were shocking, the attention of the public and regulators rapidly diminished in the face of the avalanche of media coverage of the presidential elections and the COVID-19 pandemic. What CVS management fears most is strong and sustained negative publicity, and the recognition of this is increasing the size and activity of the CVS Underground of current and recent CVS employees. Almost all of these individuals must remain anonymous because of the likelihood of retaliation/termination. However, they can provide information to members of the media and individuals such as myself who can disseminate the horror stories and protect the identity of our sources.

Many have experienced or are otherwise aware of CVS errors or its harassment of its pharmacists and other employees. These should be documented and provided to a newspaper or television news reporter. Although members of the media must be able to communicate with and confirm the credibility of the individual who is the source of information, most will protect the confidentiality of their sources. If there is concern that CVS management could identify a current employee as the source of the information and retaliate, the specific incident could be described in a general manner that would protect the identity of the individual involved. Patient safety and employee well-being are in jeopardy, and the following are continuing examples that have been provided to me by current and former CVS employees.

From the CVS underground

1. 1. “I will remember the day forever. It was in March 2020. Store management and support staff marched to the edge of the pharmacy and started taping off for social distancing. Sheets were handed to the pharmacy staff with orders to wipe down the counters and credit card touch pads. We were instructed to do this hourly and sign the sheet when this hourly task was completed. This program lasted for maybe a day at my store. Later masks were handed out and we were told to wear them until further notice. Employee temperature checks were also ordered for the beginning of shifts. I had my temperature taken only once since March 2020. It gets worse. A more aggressive phone call program started. We began to make calls on prescriptions that had refills left and needed to be filled. We also started offering free delivery through the USPS. Actually they were mailed and not hand delivered as the CVS television ads showed. I have become aware of prescriptions left in customers’ mailboxes when the temperature was about 100°. CVS also wants us to mail out some prescriptions for which a copay is not needed. Some of these prescriptions had been in the waiting bin for days, and patients did not respond to our phone messages. As a pharmacist, I know that prescriptions for certain medications were not or no longer needed if they were not picked up in a timely fashion. However, CVS mailed them and got paid for them.When COVID vaccinations became available CVS appeared to be prepared with plenty of pharmacists and support staff to direct traffic in stores. This went great. We even had extra people in the pharmacy to help us with the normal workflow. During this period we were instructed to promote our other immunizations like tetanus, shingles, pneumonia. Quotas were then established for each store. More pressure for all of us. Confusion resulted as patients asked, ‘why more vaccinations? We are only here for COVID shots.’

      The demand for shots has diminished and so has the staffing for the COVID clinics in the stores. Pressure has increased for pharmacists to step up and give the shots as part of the workflow of filling prescriptions. We do not have the personnel to watch the patient for the 15 minutes after the shot. Once again, CVS fails to provide services that the U.S. is paying us to do. This is dangerous. CVS is placing its customers at risk but I need my job and there are no other positions for pharmacists in my area.”

1. 1. “I worked at Omnicare. The job was terrible, management was terrible, but my hours were regular and it paid the bills. A lot of us had complaints but we had no idea what was about to come our way.Omnicare started laying off thousands of employees across the nation. They laid off people who had been loyal employees for the company for over 20 years. Rumors began to circulate that they were preparing to sell the company. In a short time, it was announced that Omnicare had been acquired by CVS Health. From there, things only went further downhill. Management was given a ‘scheduling tool’ that changed the schedules and shift times for everyone. Everyone was required to be available 24 hours a day and no one was guaranteed a regular schedule of any kind. These and other changes they were making were of the highest level of idiocy.CVS continued to change policies and made several more rounds of layoffs. Work conditions and relations with management got so bad that a lot of people left. Departments in this large-scale pharmacy had been decimated. Meanwhile, management had taken on new contracts with nursing homes and increased the workload by at least 50%. This only worsened the situation.

      Techs began to speak up about it. They felt they could trust me to back them up and, on at least 3 occasions, I was asked to be a witness to the official complaint to management. I am not one to sit back and watch bullying happen, and that is exactly what management was doing. I went with the technicians to their meetings with management and every time I was sent out of the room by management, and someone else (usually FROM management) was brought in to be the official ‘witness.’ So basically, complaints about a bully management team were being met with more bullying. I made no secret of my dislike for the new changes and the ways the techs were being treated, and the news made its way to the bullies in the offices.

      I was eventually terminated for a technician failing to deliver an intravenous medication to a facility. This happened after my shift had ended, and I was not in the building. Still, I had been the last pharmacist to work on the IV order, and management held me responsible and deemed it ‘extreme negligence.’ It was clearly retaliation, but because I was so fed up with the company, I just left. I have many other horrible stories about that place. There was another incident that happened to me which I could have sued over, but I didn’t because I wanted to give management the benefit of the doubt. Never again!

      I stay in touch with a friend who is part of the management team. It has lost almost 70% of its business and had to cut hours and staff back even further. All because CVS would not hire enough staff to cover the workload. Our ‘profession’ is doomed if it isn’t reclaimed by the pharmacists themselves, but it’s not looking good.”

1. 1. A long-term CVS pharmacist was terminated after she voiced concerns that there was not compliance with DEA regulations, as well as concerns about other situations and policies. Following her termination she sued CVS alleging retaliation and other issues. She was offered a settlement but declined it, and the litigation continues. CVS must have great concerns regarding this situation as it already has used two law firms and multiple attorneys.

1. “My long-term CVS employment was terminated shortly after I turned 60. The only other pharmacist who was ‘laid off’ was about the same age. I had to fight for several months to get my stock purchase money.”

Share your concerns with your local media and beyond. The Pharmacist Activist is only published once a month, but readers who are current or former employees of CVS can add their concerns in the media every day.

More potent than ipecac

As I was concluding this editorial I was made aware of a message, “CVS introduces new purpose statement.” The new statement is:
“Bringing our heart to every moment of your health”

I had an instant recall of a popular song that most readers are too young to have heard. It was a hit song from the 1950s by the Fontane sisters titled, “Hearts of Stone” that featured the line, “Hearts of stone will cause you pain.”

I went on the CVS website to learn more and found a longer statement that included “Our purpose,” “Our strategy,” “Our values,” and “The heart of health.” I urge you to read it but observe the following: WARNING: May cause violent emesis. Take the maximum dose of ondansetron before reading!

When I recovered, I thought of a possible “silver lining” that has inspired the first CONTEST in the history of The Pharmacist Activist. Current employees of CVS are eligible and should submit proposed revisions of the “Our purpose” and “Our values” sections of the CVS statement based on your experience and opinions regarding the realities of your CVS employment and CVS management. The prize is publication (anonymously) in a future issue, with the possibility of a second contest to put it to music as a theme song for the CVS Underground. Entries that include profanity, vulgarity, or blatant slander will not be considered. Submit your entry via email to danandsue3@verizon.net.

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https://www.lac.org/assets/files/LAC-Report-Final-7.19.21.pdf

Today the Legal Action Center (LAC) released a report examining the legal obligations of hospitals to provide evidence-based and lifesaving care to emergency department patients with substance use disorders – specifically SUD diagnosis, administration of agonist medications, outpatient treatment referral facilitation and naloxone distribution or prescription.

As the primary point of access to the healthcare system for many patients with SUD, emergency departments have a critical role to play in delivering care that helps patients survive to access further treatment.

The LAC’s report concludes that any hospital that fails to provide appropriate care could face legal liability under four separate federal laws:
*Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)
*Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
*Rehabilitation Act (RA)
*Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (Title VI)

Read the full report at:

https://lnkd.in/g6CYBbg

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Revising the Opioid Guidelines

https://daily-remedy.com/revising-the-opioid-guidelines/

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Imagine that… a doctor getting CONVICTED because PROSECUTORS CHEATED.. they claim that justice is blind… but… she apparently has some other means of seeing what she wants to see and her “scale” is not always balanced.  It has been claimed that the DEA is more interested in using The Civil Asset Forfeiture Act to confiscate assets from practitioners, various reports put the annual dollar figure between 500 million to ONE BILLION+ .  It would appear that law firms don’t see a lot of money by helping prescribers setting up irrevocable trusts so that the DEA can’t have anything to confiscate. One would think that those prescribers that are employees of large hospital system would be interested in helping their employee prescribers to protect themselves by showing them this very simple legal trick.  Maybe they are more interested is just denying care to those who have a valid medical necessity for being prescribed controlled substances.

Maybe these large hospital corporations have some other agendas… those mid-level practitioners (ARNP, PA, NP) the hospital generally get paid by insurances abt 85% of what they get paid for a MD providing the same service, but it is unlikely that these mid-level practitioners get paid 85% of what MD’s get paid.. So fewer MD’s on the payroll and more mid-level practitioners could mean more $$$ to the hospital corporation ?

Mainstream media persecuting healthcare professionals

https://doctorsofcourage.org/mainstream-media-persecuting-healthcare-professionals/

Back when the attack on me started, I was like a frightened little puppy. Me, a guy that would call my parents when I was a teenager to tell them I wasn’t coming home that night. My dad knew were I was, and I was not partying with my friends. My dad would say to me the next morning when I came home, “what was her name, how long will this one last?”. My mom would just laugh, typical Hispanic family. That was our culture. Why did I do this? Despite growing up in a very violent environment, despite having to defend myself constantly, I have always believed in honesty and transparency. I always believed in the chain of command, and that even if rules didn’t make any sense to me, they existed for a reason. Even as a teenager, I understood the concept of the “greater good”. I would tell myself when this whole investigation started, that I must have done SOMETHING wrong. I would go through all the possible scenarios in my mind, but it just didn’t add up, The first clue that we may just be dealing with a very corrupt government, was when Guy McCartney, the DEA agent from West Virginia in charge of the investigation against me, confiscated 26 charts of patients who had died, whom he claimed died due to my prescribing of opiates. That same day, at least he was fair enough to give me a CD rom, which I still have that have. Drove home quickly that day, put the CD rom in my computer drive, and it turned out that not only had all these patients died of cancer, heart failure and had not been on opiates for over a year, but half of them were never on opiates or any type of controlled substance from me at all!

Many of you know the rest. I was unlawfully convicted and sent to jail, only for my conviction to be reversed due to prosecutors cheating.

That is when they woke up a sleeping giant, and I reverted back to my street mode. Immediately following my conviction, within 2 days my step daughter calls me and tells me not to listen to the news. They were tarnishing my name all over the Pittsburgh media. I was indicted for not kicking patients out, 5 in all for abnormal urine drug screens. The abnormalities were subtle, and in patients with severe life compromising and threatening conditions. CDC guidelines stated not to kick patients out on drug screens due to the high incidence of false negativity and positivity. Not mention that they are not quantitative. To make matters worst, the “mentioned” about 400 charts over time of people with abnormal drug screens, insinuating that I gave drugs to drug addicts. I got a CD rom of these patients as well. They were not as sick, so I stopped prescribing opiates to avoid trouble and sent them all to pain clinics. These were only seen once or twice. The prosecution under handedly did not mention this, and my attorney, naturally, blew this off. Yet, prosecutor, Sarah Wagner, criminalized it. What did the media say about me? They called in “illegal distribution”. My name was in press publications all over the country!!! Florida, Arizona, Texas…. When my conviction was reversed, the only publication that published this story was Reuters. I called the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Tribune review even the New York Times, and they blew me off, after unlawfully tarnishing my name.

The take home messages here is that the mainstream media is clearly behind this initiative to convict and incarcerate healthcare professions, even at a very steep price to patients with chronic medical conditions. Social media is the only publication the whole story. The government clearly hates social media, because government wants to control, as they control the mainstream media. Sadly for the government, some form of social media is the future of news, because the main stream media has lost all credibility. When I read about Doctors exchanging sex for drugs, distributing large amounts of opiates, not only due I take the news with a grain of salt now, but the general public, specially those that have been harmed by the governments and mains stream medias lies does as well. A virtual meeting that I, and many others specially patients had with the CDC was a major step forward. But evil is very strong. No doubt that those with bad intentions will fight back, and this was emphasized at this meeting. But, it is a balancing act and good ultimately triumphs for the continued advancement of our species. We just have to hang tight and fight on. The lies about this fake prescription opiate crisis are clear to the public now. Less than 3% of deaths, drugs abused were prescription all along. Not surprised.

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