In his weekly clinical update during Ground hog week, Dr. Griffin and Vincent Racaniello are back to discuss the measles outbreak in South Carolina, American Academy of Pediatrics vaccine recommendations and shingles vaccine and the reduction of dementia, then deep dives into recent statistics RSV, influenza and SARS-CoV-2 infections, the Wastewater Scan dashboard, Johns Hopkins measles tracker, where to find PEMGARDA, how to access and pay for Paxlovid, estimated effectiveness of this year’s COVID-19 vaccine, long COVID treatment center, where to go for answers to your long COVID questions, long COVID in children, the potential benefits of metformin to reduce disease severity following SARS-CoV-2 infection in obese and overweight patients and contacting your federal government representative to stop the assault on science and biomedical research.

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Links for this episode

• Grading the groundhogs (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
• Sand Mountain Sam predicts an early spring (News19)
• All About the AAP Recommended Immunization Schedule (healthychildren.org)
• Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule: United States, 2026: Policy Statement (American Academy of Pediatrics: Pediatrics)
• Herpes zoster vaccination and incident dementia in Canada: an analysis of natural experiments (LANCET: Neurology)
• Detection of avian flu antibodies in Dutch dairy cow: ECDC risk assessment remains unchanged (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control)
• Wastewater for measles (WasterWater Scan)
• Measles cases and outbreaks (CDC Rubeola)
• Big outbreak, bright lights…Measles Dashboard(South Carolina Department of Public Health)
• Tracking Measles Cases in the U.S. (Johns Hopkins)
• Measles vaccine recommendations from NYP (jpg)
• Weekly measles and rubella monitoring (Government of Canada)
• Measles (WHO)
• Get the FACTS about measles (NY State Department of Health)
• Measles(CDC Measles (Rubeola))
• Measles vaccine (CDC Measles (Rubeola))
• Presumptive evidence of measles immunity (CDC)
• Contraindications and precautions to measles vaccination (CDC)
• Adverse events associated with childhood vaccines: evidence bearing on causality (NLM)
• Measles Vaccination: Know the Facts (ISDA: Infectious Diseases Society of America)
• Deaths following vaccination: what does the evidence show (Vaccine)
• Influenza: Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan)
• US respiratory virus activity (CDC Respiratory Illnesses)
• Respiratory virus activity levels (CDC Respiratory Illnesses)
• Weekly surveillance report: clift notes (CDC FluView)
• OPTION 2: XOFLUZA $50 Cash Pay Option(xofluza)
• RSV: Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan)
• Respiratory Diseases (Yale School of Public Health)
• USrespiratory virus activity (CDC Respiratory Illnesses)
• RSV-Network (CDC Respiratory Syncytial virus Infection)
• Vaccines for Adults (CDC: Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV))
• Economic Analysis of Protein Subunit and mRNA RSV Vaccination in Adults aged 50-59 Years (CDC: ACIP)
• Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan)
• COVID-19 deaths (CDC)
• Respiratory Illnesses Data Channel (CDC: Respiratory Illnesses)
• COVID-19 national and regional trends (CDC)
• COVID-19 variant tracker (CDC)
• SARS-CoV-2 genomes galore (Nextstrain)
• Estimated Effectiveness of 2024-2025 COVID-19 Vaccination Against Severe COVID-19 (JAMA)
• Where to get pemgarda (Pemgarda)
• EUA for the pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 (INVIYD)
• Infusion center (Prime Fusions)
• CDC Quarantine guidelines (CDC)
• NIH COVID-19 treatment guidelines (NIH)
• Drug interaction checker (University of Liverpool)
• Help your eligible patients access PAXLOVID with the PAXCESS Patient Support Program (Pfizer Pro)
• Understanding Coverage Options (PAXCESS)
• Infectious Disease Society guidelines for treatment and management (ID Society)
• Molnupiravir safety and efficacy (JMV)
• Convalescent plasma recommendation for immunocompromised (ID Society)
• What to do when sick with a respiratory virus (CDC)
• Managing healthcare staffing shortages (CDC)
• Anticoagulationguidelines (hematology.org)
• Daniel Griffin’s evidence based medical practices for long COVID (OFID)
• Long COVID hotline (Columbia : Columbia University Irving Medical Center)
• The answers: Long COVID
• Long COVID associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection among children and adolescents in the omicron era (RECOVER-EHR): a retrospective cohort study (LANCET: Infectious Diseases)
• Long COVID is here to stay—even in children (LANCET: Infectious Diseases)
• Early administration of neutralising monoclonal antibodies and post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (International Journal of Infectious Diseases)
• Preventing Long COVID With Metformin (CID)
• Metformin may reduce risk of long COVID by 64% in overweight or obese adults
• (CIDRAP)
• Effect of Metformin on the Risk of Post-coronavirus Disease 2019 Condition Among Individuals With Overweight or Obese (CID)
• Preventing Long COVID With Metformin (CID)
• New review highlights growing evidence that diabetes drug metformin can prevent long COVID (CIDRAP)
• Reaching out to US house representative
• Letters read on TWiV 1294
• Dr. Griffin's COVID treatment summary (pdf)
• Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to [email protected]

Content in this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.