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Khanna Leads Call for FDA to Address Flu and Cold Medicine Shortage
"The agency must provide clear guidance to healthcare providers about the steps they can take now to ensure that all children have the medicine they need," said Rep. Ro Khanna.
Feb 23, 2023
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna led several Democratic members of Congress in calling on the Food and Drug Administration to take more aggressive action to ensure families and healthcare providers have access to common over-the-counter medicines that have been depleted on drugstore shelves across the U.S. this winter.
Despite "round-the-clock efforts from manufacturers" of ibuprofen and acetaminophen, which can reduce fever and other symptoms for sufferers of the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and Covid-19, "demand for these medicines is outpacing supply," wrote the lawmakers to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf.
Cases surged late last fall—earlier than in previous cold and flu seasons—leading to shortages, according to retailers and manufacturers. Politicoreported last month that drug shortage crises can also be caused by supply disruptions resulting from "companies cutting corners" and shutting down manufacturing lines, misallocation of drug supplies across the country, and hoarding of drugs by wholesalers in anticipation of shortages.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still reporting hundreds of thousands of new cases of Covid-19 per week, as well as hundreds of RSV cases. Seasonal flu activity is currently low nationally, but certain places across the country including New York City, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C. have reported recent case surges.
Honolulu-based journalist Nina Wu tweeted photos of nearly-empty cold medicine shelves on February 6.
\u201cMany stores are placing limits on purchases. Even cough drops in some stores are wiped out. \ud83d\udcf7 Longs Drugs\u201d— Nina Wu (@Nina Wu) 1675722401
Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) last month urged Congress to pass their bipartisan proposal to require the federal government to keep a six-month stockpile of 50 generic medications for common health conditions.
"As Congress works to find a legislative solution regarding rates of production, we believe that the FDA can take further actions to address this issue," wrote Khanna (D-Calif.) in Wednesday's letter, along with Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Troy Carter (D-La.).
The FDA has already issued guidance for healthcare providers and pharmacists directing them to make ibuprofen in-house if they have certain ingredients available, but the lawmakers said the agency should also:
- Disseminate updated guidance to pharmacists and healthcare providers regarding available alternatives for pediatric ibuprofen and acetaminophen, including dosage conversions;
- Encourage additional transparency from manufacturers to the FDA regarding supply location and the distribution of consumer demand for pediatric fever-relieving medications, allowing the FDA to help assist manufacturers distribute supply more evenly, preventing such sudden shortages in different areas around the country; and
- Communicate proactively to caregivers regarding the shortage through a public outreach campaign to alleviate concerns and prevent misinformation.
"As cases of pediatric illnesses remain steadily high, a stronger response from the FDA is necessary to ensure that children are able to recover safely and swiftly," wrote the lawmakers.
Khanna noted in a statement to The Hill that his family has "experienced the impact of this shortage firsthand."
"The agency must provide clear guidance to healthcare providers about the steps they can take now to ensure that all children have the medicine they need," he said.
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16,000 Nurses Say They Are Ready to Strike Across New York City
"We are truly struggling," said one member of the union which says frontlines caregivers are at a breaking point while patient safety is at risk.
Dec 31, 2022
An estimated 16,000 unionized nurses from private hospitals across the New York City metropolitan area announced strike authorizations on Friday as current contracts are set to expire and the region continues to experience a "tridemic" health crisis that includes Covid-19, flu, and the respiratory illness known as RSV.
The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) issued ten-day notices on Friday for strikes to begin on January 9 if contract agreements are not reached at eight hospitals, including NewYork-Presbyterian, Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Maimonides, BronxCare, Richmond University Medical Center, and Flushing Hospital Medical Center.
"Somebody needs to understand that we are struggling. This is not going to be sustainable for much longer."
Nurses at each of the hospitals voted separately on whether their union members would go on strike as they called for better caregiver-to-patient ratios, increased benefits, and a sustainable and fair solution to chronic staffing shortages.
In a statement, the NYSNA said the notices "give hospitals time to plan care for patients while nurses are on strike. But the best way for management to protect patients is to listen to nurses and settle fair contracts that protect patient care in the next 10 days."
\u201cBREAKING: NYSNA nurses at eight hospitals delivered 10-day notices to strike today. NYSNA will continue to bargain non-stop between now and January 9th in the hopes of reaching agreements. #NYCNurseStrike #PatientsBeforeProfits #SafeStaffingSavesLives\nhttps://t.co/nxSK8TWLtL\u201d— NYSNA (@NYSNA) 1672439198
"We are truly struggling," Michelle Gonzalez, a registered nurse and NYSNA member, told local NBC affiliate News 4 outside a hospital in Yonkers on Friday. "We have been telling the institution that there is not enough of us, that we can not split ourselves into two people—if we could, we would easily have done that already."
"This is about our communities," added Vanessa Weldon, another nurse and member of the union. "This is about providing the best patient care to our community."
Weldon said the message to management "is that we need a fair contract." According to Gonzalez, the strike authorizations at the various hospitals are about making sure the voices of nurses are being heard.
"Somebody has to hear us," she said. "Somebody needs to understand that we are struggling. This is not going to be sustainable for much longer and we're only continuing to lose more healthcare workers" if action is not taking to improve working conditions and benefits for the nursing staff.
Ahead of the vote and Friday's announcement, NYSNA president Nancy Hagans, BSN, RN, said the union does not take the strike threat "lightly."
"Striking is always a last resort," Hagans said. "But we are prepared to strike if our bosses give us no other option. Nurses have been to hell and back, risking our lives to save our patients throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, sometimes without the PPE we needed to keep ourselves safe, and too often without enough staff for safe patient care."
"Instead of supporting us and acknowledging our work," she added, "hospital executives have been fighting against Covid nurse heroes. They've left us with no other choice but to move forward with voting to authorize a strike for better patient care."
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Contagion and the Conflict Between Religious Beliefs and Immunization
Feb 27, 2012
Steven Soderbergh's recent film Contagion is the most plausible experience of a global pandemic plague you're likely to see until the real thing strikes. Stark, beautiful in its own terrifying way, and all too believable, the story tracks the swift progress of a deadly airborne virus... from Hong Kong to Minneapolis... Tokyo to London... from a handful of peanuts to a credit card to the cough of strangers on a subway. Rarely does a film issue such an inescapable invitation to think, "It could happen. That could be us. What would I do?"
Perhaps because the movie had invaded my head, for several days I kept coming across stories in the news about contagious disease. And the conflict between religious beliefs and immunization. Nothing new here about the basics: All fifty states require some specific vaccinations for kids. Yet all of them grant exemptions for medical reasons - say, for a child with cancer. Almost all of them grant religious exemptions. And 20 states allow exemptions for personal, moral, or other beliefs.
Some parents still fear a link between vaccinations and autism, a possibility science has largely debunked. Some parents just want to be in charge of what's put into their children's bodies.
And some parents just don't trust science, period. So, you can see there are many loopholes. But now seven states are considering legislation to make it even easier for mothers and fathers to spare their children from vaccinations, especially on religious grounds.
In Oregon, according to a story by Jennifer Anderson in The Portland Tribune, the number of kindergartners with religious exemptions is up from 3.7 percent to 5.6 percent in just four years, and continuing to rise. This has public health officials clicking their calculators and keeping their eye on what's called "herd immunity." A certain number of any population group needs to have been vaccinated to maintain the ability of the whole population -- "the herd" -- to resist the spread of a disease. Ms. Anderson offers the example of what in my day was called "the German measles" -- rubella. All it takes are five unvaccinated kids in a class of 25 for the herd immunity to break down, creating an opportunity for the disease to spread to younger siblings and to other medically vulnerable people who can't be vaccinated. If you were traveling to Europe between 2009 and 2011, you may remember warnings about the huge outbreak of measles there -- brought on by a "failure to vaccinate susceptible populations."
Here in the U.S., several recent outbreaks of measles, have been traced to pockets of unvaccinated children in states that allow personal belief exemptions. The Reuters news service reports 13 confirmed cases of measles in central Indiana. Two of them were people who showed up for the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. Patriot and Giants fans back east have been alerted. So far, no news is good news.
But this is serious business, made more so by complacency. My generation remembers when measles killed. Killed at as many as 500 people a year before we started vaccinating against them in 1963. My wife and I both lost grandparents in the great flu pandemic of 1918 that killed as many as forty million globally. Our generation was also stalked by small pox, polio, and whooping cough before there were vaccinations. In a country where few remember those diseases, it's easy to think, "What's to worry?" But as the movie so forcefully and hauntingly reminds us, the earth is now flat. Seven billion people live on it, and our human herd moves on a conveyer belt of constant mobility, so that a virus can travel as swiftly as a voice from one cell phone to another. When and if a contagion strikes, we can't count on divine intervention to spare us. That's when you want a darn good scientist in a research lab. We'll need all the help we can get from knowledge and her offspring.
For all its many qualities, including some fine acting, Contagion was frozen out of the Oscars -- not a single nomination. In fact, none of my favorites were nominated. Nonetheless, let's go to the movies for some insights on our politics today, because when it comes to storytelling, Hollywood and Washington are co-dependents. Political conspiracies, skullduggery, and infighting have long provided solid plotlines for moviemakers. In turn, politicians try to embrace the values that movies depict as the noblest virtues of the American character: selfless courage, patriotism, sincerity and compassion. Both know that movie entertainment informs our image of what leaders should be but at the very same time capably and handily distracts us from certain grim truths.
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