The laser focus on battling coronavirus over the past year has had the unintended consequence of making it easier for other types of dangerous infections to flourish.

President Biden on Tuesday confirmed plans to acquire another 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccine from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. The added product would raise the total to 600 million doses by this summer, enough to give 300 million Americans the two required injections.

Revised CDC clinical recommendations specify that intervals of 6 weeks between COVID-19 vaccine doses are OK when delays are unavoidable and that the Pfizer–BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are not interchangeable, barring exceptional circumstances. In other news that affects pharmacists and patients, FDA has updated the labeling for the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine to permit immunizers to use needles or syringes with low dead volume to extract a sixth dose out of the manufacturer’s vials; using standard needles or syringes, a vial only yields 5 doses.

When online retail giant Amazon launched its new pharmacy venture in November 2020, chain community pharmacy stocks, including Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid, tumbled in response. The market reaction suggested that community pharmacy stood to take a major hit in the wake of Amazon’s newest enterprise.

Updated COVID-19 vaccine guidelines from CDC indicate that even if recipients fail to get a booster dose within the recommended time frame, they have as long as 6 weeks after the initial injection to complete the immunization. The specified period between doses is 3 weeks for the Pfizer vaccine and 4 weeks for the Moderna product.