Coronavirus – Alternate

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January 19, 2021 Coronavirus - Alternate

By John J. Cohrssen and Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. The World Health Organization has called attention to a COVID-19 “infodemic” – “an overabundance of information … that includes deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information to undermine the public health response and advance alternative agendas of groups or individuals.” Part of that inaccurate information is the patently false and misleading claim that COVID-19 is like the flu, only less lethal. In less than a full year, COVID-19 has killed more than 380,000...

January 7, 2021 Coronavirus - Alternate

Dr. Henry Miller joins the John Batchelor Show to discuss the hesitancy of long-term care givers and staffers in nursing homes to get the COVID-19 vaccinations. Miller talks about the role of the anti-vaccine lobby and conspiracy theories that have painted doubt about the effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and what we can do to ensure those at the most risk receive the vaccine. Batchelor and Miller also talk about the staggering waste with the current vaccine: in...

December 29, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus - Alternate

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released new data on Dec. 16 on health expenditures. In 2019, overall spending rose 4.6% to reach a total of $3.8 trillion, or 17.7% of the economy. That's enough to make anyone do a double take. But a deeper look at the data actually shows we're getting a lot of value out of all that spending. Hospital care and physician and clinical services accounted for over 50% of spending. Spending in those two categories grew at a slightly faster...

December 16, 2020 Coronavirus, Coronavirus - Alternate, Innovation

By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and John J. Cohrssen Few could have imagined a year ago that by now our world would be so profoundly changed by a pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 Americans; been confirmed in over 16 million; gone undiagnosed in scores of millions more; and caused debilitating, persisting symptoms in many who have “recovered.” Certainly, no credible drug manufacturer would have claimed that a new vaccine for this emerging infectious disease could go through all...

December 15, 2020 Coronavirus, Coronavirus - Alternate, Innovation

To the editor of the Wall Street Journal: Your editorial contains the statement: "There's no evidence that a three-week review is needed." You know this how, exactly? Has anyone at the Journal seen the data (which run to hundreds of thousands of pages)? Has anyone at the Journal ever seen, let alone touched, an application for approval of a drug or vaccine? I have. As an FDA reviewer, I found extraordinary complexity, and sometimes shortcomings or inconsistencies, in many submissions ....

December 3, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

It should be obvious by now that the adoption of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, has become politicized. Consider the presidential campaigns: President Donald Trump held large indoor rallies with mostly mask-less supporters, while President-elect Joe Biden seemed to have a mask sutured to his face and spent much of the campaign in isolation. Gallup surveys published in November show that partisanship remains the most significant driver of the public’s perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and...

November 25, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate, Coronavirus-Alternate2, Issues, Multimedia

Dr. Henry Miller, PRI senior fellow in health care studies and former founding director of the FDA’s Office of Biotechnology, joins PRI's "Next Round" podcast with an update on efforts to develop vaccines and therapeutics to fight Covid-19.  He discusses how a transition between two presidential administrations will affect the work of the federal government in fighting Covid-19, whether a national mask mandate is a good idea, whether Governors like Gavin Newsom should initiate state-level reviews of potential vaccines, and...

November 23, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

Shots Heard 'Round the World: Will Pfizer, Moderna Vaccines Start End of Pandemic? By Adam Smith, The Street The U.S. found itself this month both in the most dangerous stage of the Covid-19 pandemic to date, and in the most hopeful stage. Just as the daily case counts of new coronavirus infections surged toward 200,000, the developers of two different vaccines said their shots were around 95% effective at preventing development of full-blown Covid-19 in patients. . . . . . On the other hand,...

November 17, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

The John Batchelor Show talks to PRI's Dr. Henry Miller about the effectiveness of a COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine compared to industry standards. Miller explains the baselines based on current vaccines and talks how a 90 percent effective vaccine could create herd immunity. Batchelor and Miller also talk about the logistics of storing, creating, and producing the vaccine including extreme cold storing requirements and a short shelf life. ...

November 9, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

Dr. Henry Miller, M.S., M.D. talks about the impact of a pending vaccine in the United States. Miller also talks about continuing treatments like remdisivir, zinc, and other common treatments to help fight the COVID-19 and how they will play an important role as more vaccine are developed. Larson and Miller also talk about how COVID-19 has been found to impact the immune system and what hospitals and health care officials can do to lessen the impact of the coronavirus. Lars...

October 29, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate, Innovation

For the more than 7 million Americans who inject insulin, Friday will mark an important anniversary: 38 years since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of human insulin synthesized in genetically engineered bacteria. This momentous event launched a revolutionary new era in pharmaceutical development, and, as the FDA medical reviewer of the product and the head of the evaluation team at the time, I had a front-row seat. To commemorate the event, I open a bottle of champagne every...

October 26, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

PRI's Dr. Henry Miller joins the John Batchelor Show to discuss the lateset updates on a coronavirus vaccine. Dr. Miller talks about President Donald Trump's treatment with remdisivir during his positive coronavirus diagnosis. Batchelor and Miller talk about the push by the American government decades ago to use advertising to influence the public to take the polio vaccine and what the government can do now to encourage everyone to take a COVID-19 one. Miller also breakdowns how effective a vaccine...

October 20, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified various political and economic flashpoints. From health care to housing, drug pricing to food pricing, the societal strain of the pandemic has renewed the urgency and raised the stakes for long-standing issues. The increasingly heated debate about the rules and regulations governing medical device servicing is an exemplar of this new reality. Although the dispute between independent aftermarket repair businesses and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) isn’t new, it has shifted from auto repair, farm equipment, and...

October 5, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

Dr. Henry Miller and John Batchelor break down President Donald Trump's positive coronavirus diagnosis. Miller also looks at the different pillars that are in place to help reduce the spread of coronavirus in crowded areas. Miller also talks about the pending flu season, what the stress of more flu cases could mean for hospitals, and any changes the public should make to their health protocols. ...

September 29, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

Ex-FDA Doc: Agency Suffering ‘Unprecedented’ Loss of Trust By Adam Smith Early this year, when the novel coronavirus that was devastating China began to spread to other countries, hope came in the promise of a quick vaccine, one that doctors and scientists bet could be created in just a year and a half if all went well. But some were cautious, such as Dr. Henry I. Miller, who for many years worked at the Food and Drug Administration and who was a founding director of the agency's...

September 24, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

Dr. Henry Miller and Lars Larson review the many confusing statements that have come out of the U.S. Center for Disease Control, or CDC, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Miller and Larson talk about the recent development that the CDC released around COVID-19 being transmitted in the air, but then walking back that information. Miller also explains a new standard being introduced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, that could change the timeline for approving a COVID-19...

July 27, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate, Issues

By Shiv Sharma and Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. As the nation emerges in fits and starts from the lockdowns spurred by the first wave of COVID-19 illnesses, we're beginning to appreciate the full impact of the pandemic, how tenacious it is, and that the sickness and death directly caused by the virus are only part of the picture. The three-month-plus suspension of routine, non-emergency medical care has created secondary, silent epidemics of societal and medical problems that require the urgent focus...

July 20, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate, Coronavirus Multimedia, Issues, Multimedia

PRI senior fellow in health care studies Dr. Henry Miller joins "Next Round with PRI" to give an update on what scientists are learning about COVID-19 and the progress in finding a vaccine. He also weighs in on whether schools should be reopening this fall, gives his thoughts on what the Trump administration is doing good and bad in fighting the pandemic, and offers advices on how we can reduce our chances of getting the coronavirus. https://youtu.be/r8PCYOt_h5Y...

June 15, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Coronavirus - Alternate

By Andrew I. Fillat and Henry I. Miller With the world in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the short-term focus is now on how to avoid surges of infections and get the economy functioning so people can go back to work. Hindsight is, of course, 20-20. Many lessons about pandemics will be learned in retrospect—the most notable being the need for epidemiological surveillance, preparedness with stockpiles of medical supplies, and how not to handle the most vulnerable population during...