U.S. Pharmacist Weekly News

November 10, 2022

Pharmacist Payment Woes Affect COVID-19 Therapy Use

A primary reason the FDA updated the Paxlovid Emergency Use Authorization to allow state-licensed pharmacists to prescribe it for individual COVID-19 patients under certain conditions was to increase the distribution of the antiviral therapy in high-vulnerability areas. Issues around reimbursement, however, limited how many pharmacies could provide the drug. Find out how that affected distribution in underserved areas.

USPSTF Recommends Against Postmenopausal Preventive Hormone Therapy

For the fifth time, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended against the use of combined estrogen and progestin for the primary prevention of chronic conditions in postmenopausal women. An accompanying editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested it is time to move on and seek other medications to help protect postmenopausal women. Read more.

Influenza, COVID-19 Similar but With Important Differences

In some ways, influenza and COVID-19 present similarly. In others, they are very different. Either way, both respiratory infections are expected to be rampant, and pharmacists are likely to get a lot of questions this winter on how to tell the difference between the two. Learn more about how pharmacists can answer those questions about which infection they have and what that means.

ACIP Recommends Dose of New Pneumococcal Vaccine for Some

A new recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) might be confusing as to who needs a dose of Prevnar 20. Some of those who will be getting the pneumococcal 20-valent conjugate vaccine will have been previously vaccinated with other versions to protect them against pneumonia. Find out who is advised to get the additional vaccine.