FDA Authorizes Additional Vaccine Dose for Certain Immunocompromised Individuals - CDC Backs RecommendationFDA - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended the emergency use authorizations (EUAs) on Thursday for both the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine and the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine to allow for the use of an additional dose in certain immunocompromised individuals, specifically, solid organ transplant recipients or those who are diagnosed with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise. CNN- Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted on Friday to recommend an extra dose of Covid-19 vaccine for some immunocompromised people. The emergency authorization is for a third dose of either Pfizer's or Moderna's vaccine for those who received the two-dose regimen. There's not enough data to discuss the possibility for an extra dose of Johnson & Johnson's one-shot Covid-19 vaccine, the FDA said. RSV Outbreak - PCH/UofU Peds Epidemiology RecommendationsThis has been an incredibly unusual year including the onset of an RSV outbreak in our community now, in August. The above data is from the Primary Children’s Epidemiology team. The green uptick at the left for 2021-2022 represents what we are seeing now. You are likely starting to see more bronchiolitis in your family medicine clinics. The epidemiology team has also noted an RSV positivity testing rate of 5% for the past two weeks and 10% over the past week. This meets the criteria for giving RSV prophylaxis with palivizumab. Primary Children’s is recommending palivizumab administration officially as of Monday, August 9. With that in mind, clinics may want to start working on prior authorization processes for at-risk patients now. Register Now for UAFP Annual Member MeetingWhen: Friday, September 17 @ 6:00pm Where: University of Utah Alumni House OR join Virtually Join us the evening of Friday, September 17th at the University of Utah Alumni House for dinner, introduction of new board members, awards for Utah Family Medicine Champion of the Year and Utah Family Physician of the Year, and keynote address by AAFP President, Dr. Ada Stewart. Option to attend in person or remotely. Please note: masks will be required for all in-person attendees. More information on our registration page. Hike with a Doc Rescheduled for Saturday, September 25Join us on Saturday, September 25, 2021, from 9:00 a.m. -10:30 a.m. for a hike to Lake Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon to participate in our medical student mentoring activity, where attending and resident family physicians hike with medical students to share their experiences and why they chose Family Medicine. UAFP will provide snacks and water, so just be sure to bring sturdy shoes and sunblock! More details will be provided with registration. If you previously registered for the hike scheduled for last week, please re-register so that we have an accurate count. Thank you! Calling All Writers!UAFP is accepting article ideas for the 2021 fall issue of The UAFP Journal, a bi-yearly magazine distributed to over 1,000 family physicians, family medicine residents, and medical student members in Utah. Ideas for article topics:
If you or someone you know is interested in having their work published, please fill out this brief form. CME & Ski 2022 Registration Now OpenCME & Ski is BACK! Join us for the 6th Annual UAFP CME & Ski! In addition to learning, you and your family are able to ski at a world-class resort and enjoy the many amenities Park City, UT has to offer! This year's CME & Ski will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel (formerly the Yarrow) in Park City. Get all the details on our event page. Wear masks and get the vaccine, say top LDS leaders, even as more wards return to face coveringsSalt Lake Tribune - Amid a surge in coronavirus variants, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a strong call Thursday to its members to wear masks “in public meetings whenever social distancing is not possible” and to “be vaccinated.” “We find ourselves fighting a war against the ravages of COVID-19 and its variants,” the governing First Presidency wrote to everyone in the 16.6 million-member church. “...We want to do all we can to limit the spread of these viruses. We know that protection from the diseases they cause can only be achieved by immunizing a very high percentage of the population.” Read more... Real-world Effectiveness and Tolerability of Monoclonal Antibody Therapy for Ambulatory Patients With Early COVID-19Open Forum Infectious Diseases - In this quasi-experimental pre-/postimplementation study, we estimated the effectiveness of MAb treatment within 7 days of symptom onset in high-risk ambulatory adults with COVID-19. The primary outcome was a composite of emergency department visits or hospitalizations within 14 days of positive test. Secondary outcomes included adverse events and 14-day mortality. The average treatment effect in the treated for MAb therapy was estimated using inverse probability of treatment weighting and the impact of MAb implementation using propensity-weighted interrupted time series analysis. Read more... UAFP Member, Dr. Richard Ferguson, Featured in KUTV ReportKUTV - Slowing down how quickly variants mutate is the way to stop the COVID-19 virus from side-stepping vaccine protection. Some health experts are predicting expect a spike when schools re-open in a week and then the delta variant wave to peak in the next few weeks. Watch here... Salt Lake County Council votes 6-3 to overturn school mask orderDespite opposition from educational and medical groups, including UAFP, the Salt Lake County Council voted to overturn Salt Lake County Health Department's mask mandate for school children, grades K-6. The mask mandate would have required universal masking for all Salt Lake County Schools in indoor settings. Read more... Advancing LGBTQ+ Health Equity: Understanding HIV PrEP and Transgender Hormone Therapy WebinarThursday, August 19, 2021 4th Annual Update in Diabetes Care ConferenceFriday, October 1, 2021 20th Annual Cardiovascular UpdateSaturday, October 23, 2021 Utah Sexual Health Summit – Save The DateOctober 12 & 13, 2021 More Information Coming Soon 2021 Advances in Primary Care Medicine ConferenceFriday, October 29, 2021 |