'The 2025 Academy awards Night!'

Emmy® Award-winning television host, writer, producer and comedian Conan O’Brien will host the 97th Oscars®, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang announced today. It will be O’Brien’s first time hosting the broadcast. The Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, with the official live red carpet show airing at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

“We are thrilled and honored to have the incomparable Conan O’Brien host the Oscars this year,” said Kramer and Yang. “He is the perfect person to help lead our global celebration of film with his brilliant humor, his love of movies, and his live TV expertise. His remarkable ability to connect with audiences will bring viewers together to do what the Oscars do best--honor the spectacular films and filmmakers of this year.”

“America demanded it and now it’s happening: Taco Bell’s new Cheesy Chalupa Supreme. In other news, I’m hosting the Oscars,” said O’Brien.

Telehealth Visits

Dr. Lakin is using ZOOM,

FACETIME and WHATSAPP to connect with you

for a 'Telehealth' visit if needed.

You can connect using your iPad, iPhone, Android phone, a laptop, or a PC with a camera.

March 2, 2025

FLU SEASON REMAINS HIGH NATIONALLY BUT IT IS MODERATE IN ARIZONA AND IN DECLINE. 

IT WILL BE A HEAVY PRESENCE FOR 3 MORE WEEKS AND THEN WILL BE VERY LITTLE IN THE VALLEY.  IF YOU HAVE HIGH FEVER, SEVERE ACHES AND PAINS, AND COUGH… IT IS MOST LIKELY FLU… BUT TEST FOR COVID.  WE HAVE FLU MEDICATION SO BE IN TOUCH. 

COVID IS LESS THEN ½ OF WHAT IT WAS LAST YEAR. THIS IS GOOD NEWS. BUT IT IS STILL AROUND.

RSV REMAINS… LOW… AND REMAINS STEADY……LESS THEN ½ OF LAST YEARS NUMBERS. 

*CURRENT COVID VACCINE IS IN PHARMACIES. IT IS STILL A SOLID MATCH FOR THE CURRENT COVID VIRUS

MEASLES CONCERNS/OUTBREAK:

MEASLES OUTBREAKS ARE IN THE NEWS. A CHILDHOOD VIRUS THAT IS THE MOST HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS VIRUS KNOWN TO MAN, IT HAS BEEN ALL BUT ERADICATED IN THE USA, WITH A FOOTHOLD DEVELOPING DUE TO ANTI-VACCINE CONCERNS.

ADULTS ARE GENERALLY NOT AT RISK, BUT HERE IS INFORMATION FOR YOU:

IF YOU WERE BORN BEFORE 1957 YOU HAVE NO CONCERNS.  IT IS ALMOST CERTAIN YOU HAD MEASLES AND YOU REMAIN IMMUNE.

IF YOU WERE BORN IN 1968 OR LATER YOU CERTAINLY HAD AN EFFECTIVE MEASLES VACCINE AND ARE PROTECTED.

IF YOU WERE BORN IN 1958-1967, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT YOUR MEASLES VACCINE HAS WORN OFF.  ALTHOUGH LIKELY THAT YOU HAVE IMMUNITY, YOU COULD CONSIDER A BLOOD TEST TO CHECK FOR IMMUNITY AND IF NEGATIVE, GET AND MMR BOOSTER SHOT.  

IN GENERAL, I DO NOT RECOMMEND TESTING FOR PEOPLE IN THIS AGE GROUP UNLESS THEY ARE IMMUNE COMPROMISED, THEN IT IS WORTHWHILE.  THE ONLY OTHER REASON IS IF YOU REMAIN WORRIED SO THAT YOU HAVE PEACE OF MIND ON THIS TOPIC.  THE RISKS OF MEASLES BROADLY REMAIN VERY VERY LOW.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 2025 IMMUNIZATIONS:

DATA CONTINUES TO SUPPORT BENEFIT FROM COVID VACCINATION. BENEFITS OF THE SHOT INCREASE WITH AGE AND WITH CONDITIONS THAT PREDISPOSE TO COMPLICATIONS (EMPHYSEMA/COPD, HEART FAILURE, DIABETES, IMMUNE SUPPRESSION)

CURRENT COVID STATUS:

THE CURRENT COVID STRAINS ARE VERY CONTAGIOUS AND PRESENT THROUGHOUT ARIZONA… WE ARE SEEING SEVERAL EACH WEEK, MOST DUE TO TRAVEL OR LARGE EVENT ATTENDANCE.

IF YOU GET SICK AFTER TRAVEL OR ATTENDING A BIG GATHERING… DO A COVID TEST. ALL STANDARD COVID TESTS WORK TO IDENTIFY THE CURRENT STRAINS.

ALL DOING WELL.  BE PROACTIVE TO PREVENT NEED FOR HOSPITALIZATION. PROTECTION IS UP TO YOU AND NOW IS A PERSONAL DECISION. DO WHAT MAKES YOU COMFORTABLE.

DATA 100% SHOWS THAT GOOD MASKS MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THEY ARE NOT PERFECT, BUT THEY DO REDUCE RISK OF EXPOSURE AND INFECTION.

• I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH… IF YOU DON’T WANT COVID FROM TRAVEL… WEAR A MASK IN THE AIRPORT CROWDS AND ON THE AIRPLANE (UNTIL 10,000 FEET) … THIS IS NOT AS ESSENTIAL AS IT WAS WHEN COVID WAS MORE SEVERE… BUT IF YOU WANT TO AVOID INFECTIONS IN GENERAL DURING TRAVEL... IT’S A RECOMMENDATION.

• EVEN SELECTIVE MASK USE WORKS WELL… SUCH AS ONLY IN CROWDED SPACES IN THE AIRPORT, AND DURING TRAVEL ‘TO’ YOUR DESTINATION, SO THAT YOU ARE NOT ILL DURING YOU VACATION/TRAVEL TIME.  LESS IMPORTANT WHEN YOU RETURN FROM VACATION.

• GET BOOSTED IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO…PARTICULARLY OVER AGE 65 WITH HEALTH ISSUES OR OVER 75 WITHOUT HEALTH ISSUES.  EVERY 6 MONTHS IS THE RECOMMENDATION FOR THIS GROUP. 

I RECOMMEND THE COVID BOOSTER GENERALLY FOR THOSE OVER 65. BUT…

• I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A BOOSTER FOR THOSE 80 & OLDER.

• I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE BOOSTER FOR THOSE OVER 65 WITH HEART FAILURE, SIGNIFICANT LUNG CONDITIONS, AND DIABETES.

CONSIDER BOOSTING WITH THE NEW COVID VACCINE TO REDUCE RISK OF COVID AND TO REDUCE COVID SYMPTOM SEVERITY. 

TOP PODCAST DONE WEEKLY

BY DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM

(UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA)  

He is a world-renowned epidemiologist who was credited with first elucidating TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME in the 1980’s.

He provides comprehensive and understandable/actionable ideas related to COVID.

Dr. Osterholm Update: COVID-19 Podcast

February 20, 2025

(Same as last week's... New podcast next week!)

'We Cannot Give Up or Give In'

In "We Cannot Give Up or Give In" Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss the confirmation of RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary, recent layoffs at the CDC and NIH, and a new vaccine policy being adopted in Louisiana. They also discuss seasonal and H5N1 influenza activity and a measles outbreak in Texas.

According to Dr. Osterholm……

•  GET YOUR LATEST AVAILABLE BOOSTER IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD COVID OR IT’S BEEN LONGER THAN 4 MONTHS SINCE YOU HAD COVID YOURSELF

•  A GOOD MASK, N95 OF KN95, DOES HELP REDUCE TRANSMISSION…. USE IT AT HIGH-RISK LOCATIONS

• GOOD VENTILATION IN ROOMS/HOME/BUSINESSES IS A GREAT WAY TO PREVENT TRANSMISSION

• VACCINE, VACCINE, VACCINE…THIS IS OUR PROTECTION. ALL VACCINES ARE EFFECTIVE AND WITH TIME WE ARE SEEING THAT

• BOOST, BOOST, BOOST…THIS WILL BE NECESSARY TO PREVENT RECURRING SURGE AND TO RAISE ANTIBODY LEVELS IN THOSE ALREADY SET WITH THE PRIMARY COVID VACCINE SERIES.

• ANTIGEN TESTING IS USEFUL, BUT OF LIMITED VALUE. DON’T DEPEND ON IT…BUT USE IT.

Know that unvaccinated remain a source of potential infection. Avoiding unvaccinated persons will reduce your risk of COVID.

The COVID-19 Pandemic is Over, But the Changes it Brought to Politics, Work

and Play Remain

Five years ago, millions of Americans began asking the same question.

How long will this go on?

The COVID-19 pandemic was just getting started and the world as most had known it was changing in ways that would affect the lives of everyone. Kitchen tables became homework spaces. Schoolchildren got their lessons on laptops via Zoom. The term “essential worker” became synonymous with doctors, nurses and the checkout clerk at the grocery store.

Everything seemed to be changing, all at once, and no one knew how long it would take to return to normal.

Today, Americans still don’t know. The pandemic is over, but if normal means a return to life as it was before the pandemic, this isn’t normal.

From the way Americans work and play to the way they vote and worship, the pandemic continues to touch lives every day. Enquirer reporters set out to examine how and why.

A Long Island beachside community in Suffolk County is worried about dozens of dead birds that have washed up on the shore and been found in backyards, especially because officials believe the birds died from avian flu.

Patchogue Shores in East Patchogue has a private community beach. Earlier this week, Tim Jones, the vice president of their association, was walking along the beach with his family when he noticed many dead birds.

“I saw three seagulls, a cormorant, and I got a count of 11 ducks,” he explained.

NBC New York walked with him and saw a dead gull, a dead goose bobbing in the water and various other smaller birds strewn along the small stretch of sand.

Jones contacted the Department of Environmental Conservation. The DEC said it appeared to be avian flu because there have been cases in Suffolk County and Nassau County before. Officials from the department urged the community to close the beach to avoid any contact with the dead birds.

After you received your COVID or any other vaccination outside our office, please let us know!

We would like to document this information into your chart.



What we need:

1. Your name
2. Name & date of vaccination received
3. Brand name
4. Lot number if available
5. Which dose you have received

'Thousands' possibly exposed to measles in Texas as outbreak grows

At least 146 people have been infected since late January. One child has died.

The West Texas measles outbreak continues to grow, now possibly spreading into the central part of the state and neighboring New Mexico, health officials said Friday.

The Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed there have been 146 cases of the highly contagious virus since the outbreak, centered in Gaines County, began in late January. Twenty people have been hospitalized and one child has died.

Parts of Central Texas have been monitoring for measles cases ever since an infected person traveled from Gaines County to San Marcos and San Antonio over Valentine’s Day weekend.

The person visited the University of Texas at San Antonio campus and a variety of restaurants and convenience stores like Buc-ee’s in other areas near the city.

“It’s very possible that this person could have come in contact with, if not hundreds, thousands of our community residents, as well as visitors,” Anita Kurian, San Antonio Metropolitan Health District Deputy Director of Communicable Disease, said at a media briefing Friday. “We are a destination city. We have real great concern of potential large community wide exposures at these public sites.”

More than one month into a major measles outbreak in western Texas that has sickened 146 people and killed one school-age child, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its first public statement and it highlighted a therapy that has raised some eyebrows among infectious disease experts.

“Measles does not have a specific antiviral treatment,” read the statement, which was posted only on X on Thursday night. “Supportive care, including vitamin A administration under the direction of a physician, may be appropriate.”

Dr. Lara Johnson, a pediatrician and the chief medical officer at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, where measles patients from the current outbreak are being treated, didn’t comment on whether the hospital is using vitamin A.

“We can’t comment specifically about the care of our patients; however, our physicians have followed recommended treatment protocols for patients with measles,” Johnson said.

Vitamin A is involved in many functions in the body including vision, growth and immunity. For years, it’s been used for severe measles cases in children in developing countries, where vitamin deficiencies are common. In those cases, studies have found it can reduce complications and the risk of death, though it’s not seen as a cure for the disease. It’s also been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization in children hospitalized with measles.

“Virtually, all the studies have been done in resource-limited countries where it does seem to show a significant beneficial effect, and also in those countries, it’s been shown that children with lower levels of vitamin A tend to have more severe measles,” said Dr. Camille Sabella, director of pediatric infectious diseases at Cleveland Clinic Children’s, who added that he welcomed the CDC’s support of vitamin A.

Vitamin A is less commonly used for measles cases in the U.S., according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Doctors say one reason may be that most Americans have enough vitamin A in their diet.

We Are Here to Take Care of Your Healthcare Needs.

We Are Here to Serve!

Our office is using techniques to reduce exposure to a minimum during your visit. These include: 

• Multiple Super-HEPA filters to filter out potential virus and

particles in the office.

• High Level UV light air cleansing in the office to eliminate

bacteria and viruses in the air.

OUR OFFICE SCHEDULE  

DOORS OPEN     

7AM - 4PM Monday through Thursday

7AM - 11AM Friday

IN OFFICE

APPOINTMENTS: MONDAY – THURSDAY

7AM – 11:15AM & 1PM – 3:30PM

APPOINTMENTS: FRIDAY

7AM – 10:30 AM

DR. LAKIN WILL CONTINUE ‘TELEHEALTH’ VISITS WITH FaceTime, WhatsApp or ZOOM WHEN NEEDED.

Dr. Lakin's Info For COVID-19 Kit &

Recommended Treatments

SUMMARY OF A COVID KIT & CHECK LIST:

This is what you should have at home to prepare for possible COVID, to monitor yourself if you were to get infected:

DIGITAL ORAL THERMOMETER: MANY BRANDS ARE FINE…HERE IS ONE EXAMPLE:

PULSE OXIMETER:  TO CHECK OXYGEN LEVELS. MANY BRANDS ARE FINE...HERE IS ONE EXAMPLE:

OTHER ITEMS FROM THE HOME MEDICAL KIT:

• TYLENOL, ADVIL, OR ALEVE
• Sudafed 30mg tablets
• Chlorpheniramine 4mg tablets
• Robitussin DM syrup
• Imodium AD

A March meeting of outside advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration to discuss the composition of flu vaccines for this fall’s flu season has been canceled, a member of the advisory committee told CNN.

The meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC, is held every March “to pick flu strains, because it’s a six-month production cycle for a vaccine released in September,” Dr. Paul Offit, a member of VRBPAC, told CNN Wednesday.

He said this year’s meeting had been set for March 13, and he received an email Wednesday afternoon saying it had been canceled.

“No indication it’s been postponed,” he told CNN; “cancelled.”

He said it wasn’t clear who directed the meeting to be cancelled or why, and said it’s also not clear now how flu vaccine manufacturers will get guidance on the composition of seasonal flu vaccines - “relying on WHO recommendations? What’s the plan?” he said.

The FDA confirmed the cancellation in a statement sent to CNN on Thursday.

“A planned March 13 meeting of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on the influenza vaccine strains for the 2025-2026 influenza season in the northern hemisphere has been cancelled,” the agency said. “The FDA will make public its recommendations to manufacturers in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-2026 influenza season.”

Enjoy the Oscars!

Stay Healthy