CLINICAL MATTER As Filipino Catholics observed Holy Week on the third year of the pandemic, churches were once again full to capacity and the pilgrimage sites were bursting at the seams with people. With the lifting of most of the minimum public health standards, the faithful have trooped back in...
CLINICAL MATTER As the Covid-19 pandemic winds down and people go about their daily lives, the question that many people are asking is,” Can this happen again?” A new pandemic occurring is not a question of if but a question of when. There are things that can be done to delay the next pandemic...
As the World Health Organization (WHO) meets anew to determine whether the pandemic is no longer an international emergency, many of us who were caught in the middle of the storm still struggle to come to terms with the events of the last three years. This time of year, many healthcare workers...
CLINICAL MATTER The Covid-19 pandemic was accompanied by a parallel pandemic of misinformation and disinformation. While sinister forces are usually at work when it comes to disinformation, some misinformation can occur when the scientific evidence changes and outdated information is spread....
CLINICAL MATTERS Conspiracy theorists went into overdrive anew when several mainstream media outlets, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, published stories suggesting that the SARS-CoV-2 virus might have leaked from a Chinese laboratory. Anti-China rhetoric went into overdrive and...
Celebrating the University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health’s 25 years of meaningful health research in the service of the Filipino people CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA The University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) celebrated its silver anniversary...
The coming of the bivalent vaccines, and the need for yearly Covid-19 boosters CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA As the horrendous Valentine’s Day traffic clearly showed, people are going out once again with a vengeance. Restaurants were full to bursting, and the malls were packed. Yes, the...
Masks, seatbelts, and why we wear them CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA One of the most frequent questions I get is whether it is finally safe to remove our masks. With the continued downtrend of Covid-19 cases in the country despite the emergence of new variants, does it make sense to continue...
How the Philippines successfully navigated the Covid-19 pandemic CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA A recent report from China’s National Health Commission stated that nearly 60,000 Covid-19 related deaths occurred in the country between Dec 8, 2022 and Jan. 12, 2023. Of these, more than 5,000...
Debunking the latest fake Covid-19 news and updates on XBB.1.5 and bivalent vaccines CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA It’s a new year and so far, so good! The first week of 2023 showed less than 500 Covid-19 cases per day and only one severe case a day for the entire week. Healthcare...
CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA What a wonderful holiday season we just had. Face-to-face gatherings are once again the norm after two years of keeping to our own households, and celebrations have been on par or exceeded pre-pandemic festivities. The fireworks on New Year’s Eve were as noisy...
CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA If global trends continue, it will definitely be a happy new year in 2023 as the end of the pandemic is at hand. Citing the continued decline in cases and deaths, World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Ghebreyesus is hopeful that the emergency...
