Dr. Murtaza Akhter, an emergency physician at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, discusses vaccine acceptance and the public health consequences of not getting vaccinated.

The ongoing pandemic has given rise to a significant and alarming trend of increased alcohol use and abuse – especially among younger adults, males and those who have lost their jobs – according to a new study by University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers.

Dr. Murtaza Akhter, an emergency physician at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the latest COVID-19 vaccine news.

Physician burnout costs the U.S. health care system about $4.6 billion annually. “While we may not have the power to change health care systems, we can change our departmental cultures and give our faculty and trainees the tools to succeed in [the] complex environment,” said Lilah F. Morris-Wiseman, MD, a clinical assistant professor of surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

Knowing which places have high cumulative rates of COVID-19 cases can help health officials decide where vaccinations are needed most, said Joe Gerald, an associate professor in the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. "It's (a finding) that we in our group here at the University of Arizona are very convinced of, which is, we need to do more to target vaccinations in areas with high past burden of COVID-19 disease because that's an indicator of current risk."

Officials with the Pima County Health Department said some people aren't showing up to receive their second shot of the vaccine. Dr. Deepta Bhattacharya, an associate professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, is interviewed.

"When we experience stress and anxiety, it means that we are going through something we need to process, or at least cope with. By dreaming through these stressful experiences, it allows us to learn what we need to learn, grow how we need to grow, and understand the greater meaning in the context of our experiences," said Michael Grandner, an associate professor and director of the Sleep and Health Research program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

Dr. Christian Bime said his worst day on the job came about a month after Pima County recorded its first coronavirus cases. “The virus came out of nowhere and caught everyone by surprise,” said Dr. Bime, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and medical director for the intensive care unit at Banner-University Medical Center. “There were a lot of unknowns initially. We did not know at first how this virus spread.”

During a virtual Targeted Oncology Case-Based Roundtable event, Daniel O. Persky, MD, professor of medicine and associate director of clinical investigations at University of Arizona Cancer Center, reviewed the case of a 61-year-old patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy has been awarded a $1.4 million grant from the Flinn Foundation to fund scholarships for a dual-degree program offering students the opportunity to simultaneously earn Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Science in Nursing degrees along with a family nurse practitioner certificate.