Issues

It's clear from what people are posting on social media, and the questions they've submitted to Town Hall Q&As, that many are still unclear as to how the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is transmitted, and what can be done to avoid it. The operative concept can be summarized in a single phrase: minimize the probability. Let's take a weather-related example as an analogy. Say it's sleeting, the temperature is 30 degrees, and the precipitation is forming a solid ice sheet as it...

Dr. Henry Miller joins the nationally-syndicated Lars Larson Show to talk about the latest changes in the coronavirus, or COVID-19, including the developments in the American southwest including steps the public can take to stop the spread of coronavirus and the dwindling number of hospital beds. Miller talks about why COVID-19 could be surging in some parts of the country and recent studies about the most common risks with the coronavirus. Larson and Miller also discuss examples from other countries...

The COVID-19 crisis has tested America’s health care system like no other event in recent memory. One irony during this pandemic is that America has actually experienced the promise of health care innovation in an important way, namely through telehealth. Telehealth allows patients to talk with their doctors online using videoconferencing platforms. Doctors can see patients, discuss their symptoms, order tests, and even prescribe medication. Earlier this spring, as the coronavirus was becoming a serious problem across the country, Congress temporarily suspended regulations...

PRI's Dr. Henry Miller joins the John Batchelor Show to review the latest developments with the vaccine guidelines and the FDA. The FDA recently testified before Congress that they will have complicated guidelines for a potential COVID-19 vaccine. Miller mentioned that the FDA guidelines are reassuring as it indicates that future vaccines will be vetted like any other vaccine evaluation (pre-critical data, manufacturing and controls, and clinical data). The FDA does have an elevated approval process for a drug that treats...

By: Henry Miller, M.S., M.D., and Shiv Sharma, DDS As the nation slowly emerges from lockdown, we’re beginning to appreciate the full impact of the pandemic 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 untreated medical issues that require the urgent focus of both our public health officials and the public themselves. They include domestic violence and likely increases...

Dr. Henry Miller talks about the status of a coronavirus vaccine on the Lars Larson Show. Miller comments on Dr. Anthony Fauci's estimate that a vaccine for COVID-19 could be available by the end of the year or as early as 2021. But, Dr. Miller said that Fauci's estimates are hugely optimistic. Lars Larson National Podcast · Lars Larson National Podcast 06-23-20...

By: Henry Miller, M.S., M.D. and Kathleen Hefferon, Ph.D. COVID-19 has turned our world upside down in so many ways, and the food supply chain is no exception. Whether consumers prefer fast or slow food, meat-based or vegan, local or imported, organic or conventional, supermarkets or farmers' markets, every aspect of our food supply chain, from farm to fork, has been affected by this scourge. The recent, rampant outbreaks of COVID-19 among meat-processing workers – over the past month or so, the...

As single-payer advocates such as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and House member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are seizing on the COVID-19 pandemic to push even more aggressively for a complete takeover of our health care system by the federal government, listen to a special presentation of our recent webinar featuring PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes discussing why “Medicare for All” would be the wrong solution for the U.S. to embark on...

Dr. Henry Miller talks about dangers from the United States sourcing a majority of active pharmaceutical ingredients, commonly called APIs, from China and other places impacted by the coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic. APIs can be considered the "important" component of a pill or medicine. Miller references a 2019 report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission that highlights the growing reliance on China for APIs and problems with China's regulatory and quality control standards. Miller says more oversight and regulation...

By: Kathleen Hefferon, Ph.D., and Henry Miller, M.S., M.D. COVID-19 has turned our world upside down in so many ways, and the food supply chain is no exception. Whether consumers prefer fast or slow food, meat-based or vegan, local or imported, organic or conventional, supermarkets or farmers’ markets, every aspect of our food supply chain, from farm to fork, has been affected by this scourge. The recent, rampant outbreaks of COVID-19 among meat-processing workers – over the past month or so, the...

 The Professor and Pete reach the most difficult part of their journey: understanding how medicines are sold. It’s a complex system that hurts patients and at times exposes them to paying excessive costs. They also learn that patients who get their prescriptions from a pharmacy don’t really benefit from drug discounts negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) – only PBMs and insurers do....

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...

By: Henry Miller and Jeff Stier The World Health Organization this week showed once again why the motto on its official seal should be, Aperto Ore, Pede Inserta, or in English: Open Mouth, Insert Foot. On Monday, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO's emerging disease and zoonosis unit, said that transmission of COVID-19 from asymptomatic, infected patients to other persons was "very rare." There was immediate and widespread pushback. For example, on Tuesday the Harvard Global Health Institute issued a...

Dr. Henry Miller joins the John Batchelor Show to discuss the release of two studies measuring the impact of infections and deaths due to the coronavirus. A Berkeley study said that the shutdowns could have prevented 120 million novel coronavirus infections in the United States, and about 600 million in China. The other study, from the Imperial College London, 3.1 million lives across 11 European countries, shutdowns dropped infection rates by an average of 82 percent. Miller and John Batchelor also...

Dr. Henry Miller, M.S., M.D., and PRI's Senior Fellow with PRI, talks about the many missteps of the World Health Organization (WHO), including the recent confusion about the transmission of the coronavirus or COVID-19. Miller and Lars Larson also discuss funding for WHO, how doctors and researchers are selected, and problems with how the organization is run and funded. Lars Larson National Podcast · Lars Larson National Podcast 06-09-20...

Our previous article described some of the bizarre speculations and conspiracy theories circulating about the COVID-19 pandemic—ranging from the more or less plausible, but unproven, to the absurd. Many of them, such as 5G networks supposedly spreading infections or the pandemic having been concocted to promote tyrannical, world governance, are easily dismissed, but are still being widely circulated on social media. What's more, it appears that much of the disinformation has arisen not just from domestic, garden-variety kooks and conspiracy theorists, but...

Dr. Henry Miller joins the Lars Larson Show for his weekly update on the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19. Larson and Dr. Miller look at the impact and potential threats of the spread of COVID-19 due to the unrest in cities around the United States and why PPE equipment and social distancing measures have fallen by the wayside. Lars Larson National Podcast · Lars Larson National Podcast 06-02-20...