Get your flu shot Public Service Announcement from “The Corner Pharmacist”. Nearly 36,000 Americans die yearly from the flu and flu related illnesses. Unfortunately, children are also at risk for the flu and it can be fatal in them. The best protection is for ALL people (young and old) to get their yearly flu shot or the nasal mist from their Doctor’s office, some Pharmacists/pharmacies and/or your local County Public Health Department. There are a record 132 million doses of flu vaccine this year and we all should take advantage and use it all up. I cannot stress the importance enough this year of getting the shot or nasal mist for your children. They are the part of the population who will bring the flu virus home from school and give it to the rest of us if we didn’t get our shot. It is IMPOSSIBLE to get the flu from the flu shot, it takes about 2 weeks for your immune system to reach “full” strength of antibodies against the 3 strains of flu. Minnesota just reported its first clinically proven flu case today and it was of the strain B-Shanghai which IS in this year’s vaccine. Protect yourself, protect your kids and get your flu shot today! See and read more at the website below. Also track the flu in your state direct from the CDC link via the website below. The flu shot should be required for all school age children before they return after Thanksgiving as I stated on my web page in February 2007. Less

Another fast paced, action packed, fact filled hour(1/2 hour without commercial break) comes your way from the medical capital of the world with “The Corner Pharmacist”. Topics discussed this session are the availability of new generic equivalent prescription drugs for Coreg and Famvir…a blood pressure medicine and an antiviral. A new, less expensive generic version of the popular over the counter(OTC) cream medicine for athlete’s foot, jock itch, ringworm is now available at most fine pharmacies in the United States…Lamisil cream is now generic! Few teens are getting their meningitis shot before heading to college if they missed it when they were in their early teens. Flu shots will begin before next month’s show…the first week of October! Visit the website for dates/times and fees, our pharmacy practice will offer the most complete and comprehensive clinics by also offering pneumonia and tetanus shots to the public also during our 12 dates in a community pharmacy setting. AND there are bills moving through both chambers of the United States Congress that would force PBM’s(Prescription Benefit Managers such as Medco, Caremark, Paid) to pay Pharmacists within 14 days of receipt of a patient’s billing for a medication provided under any Medciare Part D plan. Those bills are HR 1474 and SF 1954…call your member of Congress and urge them to cosponsor these bills and force a vote. PBM’s get their payments from the government at the beginning of each month but a recent University of Texas study showed on average the community Pharmacist was getting paid for claims submitted electronically(called on-line/real-time) like a credit card aren’t being paid for close to 45 days!!! This causes extreme difficulties for the Pharmacist who has to pay his wholesaler that supplies the medications every 14 days. Close to 1,200 pharmacies have had to close their doors in the United States due to this discrepancy in payment timing from the PBM’s. It’s time Congress reign in the free hand of the PBM’s with this law!!! Several excellent phone calls are also featured on a variety of health topics, listen for the answers!!! “LET US NEVER FORGET WHAT HAPPENED TO US ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001!” The show features many patriotic songs as bumper music today. Enjoy and send some email to “Ask the Pharmacist” via the website. Less