The cost of unnecessary Covid hospitalizations is adding up. An analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that in June, July, and August, vaccinations could have prevented more than 340,000 hospitalizations in the United States… and at $20,000 each, those hospitalizations cost the economy nearly $6B. Taxpayers, through Medicare and Medicaid, pick up a lot of that cost, but surviving patients are increasingly on the hook as well. Many insurers are now demanding that patients pick up copays and deductibles for Covid that they used to let slide.
People with compromised immune systems have wondered if a Covid-19 shot was worth it, since they might not get any immune response at all. But now scientists are saying, “go ahead.” A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that 90 percent of people with weakened immune systems still get an immune response from the shot, even if it’s often only one-third the response most people get. Researchers say Covid-19 shots do not cause flares of autoimmune diseases that often plague people with compromised immune systems (Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine).
And finally… high fructose corn syrup has gotten a bad name, but plain old sugar can be just as bad. A study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism finds that both sucrose and high fructose corn-sweetened beverages have many of the same effects—higher liver fat and decreased insulin sensitivity—and many of those effects can happen very quickly (UC Davis).
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