Pharma Veterans

More Facts About Pfizer-BioNTech Covid Vaccine – Last Part – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #755 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #755 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: EVG Kowalievska Photo Credit: Ketut Subiyanto Photo Credit: Max Fischer An excerpt from a study published on 5th January 2023 in BMC Infectious Diseases Journal. The study was conducted in the Palestinian territory.  [Quote] Approximately one-third of participants reported no adverse effects after receiving the first, second, or third dose of the Pfizer vaccine, with 34%, 33.6%, and 32.5%, respectively. Participants who received more than one dose experienced more side effects. The most commonly reported adverse effects were ...

COVID19 Updates – Part 2 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #675 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #675 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: CDC Photo Credit: Cottonbro These posts are based on a July 28, 2022, article and the WHO living guidelines. The links appear at the end. Continued from Previous…… Paxlovid and other COVID19 therapeutics are widely available only in high-income countries. For example, in the United States, supply is more than demand, but in low-income countries, the access to these options is either severely restricted or altogether absent. The picture is the same as was seen in the case of COVID19 vaccines; the low-income countries were scrambling for vaccines while high-income c...

SARS-CoV-2 Variants – Part 2 – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #575 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #575. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. In addition to the variants described in the last post, ECDC reports following additional variants. • Mu, Lambda, and 1 undetermined each from Colombia, Peru, and UK respectively as VOI • Alpha from UK, Epsilon from USA, Eta from Nigeria, Theta from Philippines, Kappa from India, Iota from USA, Zeta from Brazil, and 18 undetermined variants were identified but later de-escalated due to less prevalence. Vaccines Efficacy against Sars-COV-2 Variants The efficacy of all major vaccines has been determined against all Variants of Concern. Here is the snapshot. All results are for t...

COVID Update – Blog Post #506 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #506. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. COVID-19 changed into COVID-20 and is continuing as COVID-21. The end seems near and then moves away. Here is an update about Pakistan, as reported on social media. Government data must be the basis of this information. Latest updates Pakistan – 4th July 2021 New Cases 1,228 Deaths            29 Tests    47,832  Positivity 2.57%   The cynics among us keep saying different things. The rumors and myths keep flying incessantly. Vaccination is becoming difficult because early adapters have received their jabs already, and the laggards include large number of ...

Eid Holidays ‘Usual’ Confusion – Blog Post #481 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #481. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Ramadan is nearing its end and the Eid ul Fitr expectation is growing by the day. The Eid holidays are a subject of speculation and heartburn every year, but this is more so this year. Following reasons are contributing to the confusion and bewilderment. Eid ul Fitr is an occasion when everyone working away from home wishes to go home and join the family in celebrations. The enthusiasm around our Eid is no different from Christmas and Chinese New Lunar Year. The greatest movement of people takes place on Chinese New Lunar Year. Their date changes every year but is known months in advance. People...

Ramadan, COVID and Work Q&A – Blog Post #480 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #480. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. In response to last blog post, #479, published on Monday 3rd, I have received three questions/comments. These are important and should be replied/commented upon. Question: There appears to be a conflict between maintaining work standard and Ramadan facilitation. Owing to its religious nature, it also carries an emotional component, making it more sensitive and delicate. How should it be handled? Both assertions are right. It is an apparent conflict because reducing work hours will likely reduce output. The conflicting nature makes it difficult for any organization. There may not be easy, straig...

Ramadan, COVID and Work – Blog Post #479 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #479. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. We are in the second half of Ramadan. This is the time when usually the energy level has somewhat gone down. We feel some weakness and get tired more easily. We relate this to our effort of fasting and give ourselves good marks about how pious we are. We also take credit about our steadfastness of fasting even in hot weather and working at the same time. Ramadan brings some reduction in working hours which the employers grant, some more gingerly and some less so. There is a concealed warning that the quantity and quality of work should not be compromised. The pharma salespeople working in the field alw...

Impacts of COVID19 Pandemic on Pakistan III – Blog Post #466 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #466 Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous…… Agriculture and food security was also affected by COVID19 pandemic. This might have been ignored by general public in relation to impacts of COVID19. [Quote] The farming sector of Pakistan has not only served as a backbone for food security but has always been a major sup- port to the economy, being the highest contributor to GDP. Pakistan is the 8th largest producer of wheat, 10th largest of rice, 5th of sugarcane and 4th largest producer of milk in the world. Even with this standing, only 63.1% of the population has adequate supply of food sources to be c...

Impacts of COVID19 Pandemic on Pakistan II – Blog Post #465 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #465. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous…… While we write this, the third wave is already sweeping the country. There is every day increase in cases and fatalities. We shall come to this later. Economic repercussions are an integral part and logical consequence of any pandemic. From Spanish flu to SARS, decreased demand of goods and services, supply chain disruptions and loss of employment and income was expected and seen. COVID19 is no different. Because of worldwide closures, there was major disruption in production and shipment of goods. As soon as situation got better, the prices increased manifo...

Impacts of COVID19 Pandemic on Pakistan I – Blog Post #464 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #464. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. COVID19 Pandemic has hit the whole world severely. Pakistan is no exception. The assessment of impact is usually determined and published by the government as it has the resources required to collect data and analyze it. Historically, government figures in any area have been received with doubt. There have always been widespread allegations of data-tweaking to show ‘desirable’ results. The assessment of COVID19 impact is a similar scenario. A detailed research article was published internationally on 6th January 2021 by a group from Sustainable Development Study Center, Government Col...

COVID Vaccines in Pakistan – Blog Post #463 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #463. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Government started vaccination drive few weeks ago across Pakistan for people over 60 years of age. It is absolutely free. I also got my first dose of Chinese vaccine on 13th March. The letter reproduced below has been circulating widely since March 24. Allegedly, it is written by Transparency International.  Before you read the letter, I have the following comments. 1. It does not look genuine given the tone and contents 2. A small scan of the Vice Chairperson signature is affixed. Given its importance, it should have been signed in actual 3. It is beyond the scope of TI to address the P...