• Health Conditions

    U.S. government accuses Walmart of fueling opioid crisis, alleging it ignored internal warnings from pharmacists

    The U.S. government accused Walmart Inc. of fueling a nationwide opioid crisis by ignoring warnings from its own pharmacists that the chain wasn’t properly set up to screen painkiller prescriptions in violation of federal regulations. The complaint filed Tuesday in Delaware comes two months after the world’s largest retailer filed its own case in Texas accusing the U.S. of scapegoating Walmart for government failures in dealing with the crisis. More than 400,000 Americans’ deaths have been tied to legal and illegal opioid-based drugs over the last two decades. In the new case, the U.S. alleges the retailer sought to boost profits with a system designed to make it almost impossible for overworked store pharmacists to…

    Comments Off on U.S. government accuses Walmart of fueling opioid crisis, alleging it ignored internal warnings from pharmacists
  • Health Conditions

    U.S. will now require COVID negative test for travelers departing from U.K.

    The U.S. will require passengers flying from the U.K. to show proof of a negative test for coronavirus, amid rising concerns over a more-contagious COVID-19 strain that is spreading after first emerging in England. Travelers arriving from the U.K. need to get a negative polymerase chain reaction or antigen test no more than 72 hours before leaving, according to a statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC said the order will be signed by President Donald Trump on Friday and come into effect Dec. 28. Regions from Hong Kong to Canada have temporarily suspended travel from the U.K. as the new coronavirus variant alarmed scientists and governments around…

    Comments Off on U.S. will now require COVID negative test for travelers departing from U.K.
  • Health Conditions

    What could happen if people skip the second dose of the COVID vaccine

    Our mission to make business better is fueled by readers like you. To enjoy unlimited access to our journalism, subscribe today. Success for the huge COVID-19 U.S. vaccination program now underway hinges on people getting two doses, separated by three to four weeks. But a recent study suggests that many people may fail to get their second injection, which is necessary to build maximum immunity. The research, published Dec. 14, focused on a vaccine to prevent the viral skin condition known as shingles. It found that one in four Medicare patients missed getting their second dose within six months of their initial one. Recipients of the two COVID-19 vaccines currently approved…

    Comments Off on What could happen if people skip the second dose of the COVID vaccine
  • Health Conditions

    Pfizer to supply U.S. with 100 million more vaccine doses

    Pfizer and partner BioNTech agreed to supply an additional 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S., as the country seeks to widen its immunization program and revive its economy. The agreement brings the total number of doses to be delivered to the U.S. to 200 million, the companies said Wednesday in a statement. The drugmaker expects to deliver all the doses to U.S. vaccine and drug accelerator Operation Warp Speed by July 31. Countries around the world are seeking supplies of vaccine they hope will allow the reopening of schools and businesses and the resumption of travel. The U.K. has also begun administering doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, and…

    Comments Off on Pfizer to supply U.S. with 100 million more vaccine doses
  • Health Conditions

    How Peloton’s $420 million Precor deal positions the company for post-pandemic life

    Peloton Interactive has been one of the pandemic’s big winners. Affluent consumers, stuck at home but still eager to work out, have shelled out big for its equipment and instructional apps, making the company one of Wall Street’s breakaway darlings in 2020. But the stationary-bike maker clearly has its eyes set on the next phase of its growth, once the tailwind of the pandemic fades. Peloton late Monday said that it was buying Precor, a fitness equipment maker with deep and longstanding relationships with commercial customers like hotels, gyms, corporate campuses, and apartment buildings, for $420 million. Precor’s customers, hurting and abandoned for now, will recover once COVID-19 restrictions ease…

    Comments Off on How Peloton’s $420 million Precor deal positions the company for post-pandemic life
  • Health Conditions

    The U.K. is facing a Christmas food crisis, as France closes border to trucks over mutant COVID-19 strain

    The U.K. is facing the threat of critical food shortages, including for fresh fruit and vegetables, just days before Christmas, as European countries impose bans on transit from the country in response to the discovery of a mutant strain of coronavirus in southern England. The French government imposed a 48-hour ban on both people and trucks coming into the country from the U.K., starting today. The decision is likely to cripple U.K. trade with the rest of Europe, much of which crosses between Calais, in France, and Dover[/hotlink], in England. The potential food shortages are a grim irony for a country that had been racing to meet a December 31…

    Comments Off on The U.K. is facing a Christmas food crisis, as France closes border to trucks over mutant COVID-19 strain