The nature of growth is geometric CLINICAL MATTERS Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana It starts with one. The COVID-19 pandemic that has infected over 140 million and killed more than three million people started with one person who was infected by a still unknown animal. Coronaviruses usually originate...
Keep your guard up against vaccine pseudoscience Social media has been a double-edged sword during this pandemic. On one hand, it helps with getting up-to-the-minute information, engaging the community in finding solutions to urgent problems, and bringing people together from all over the world in...
The one on your arm is still your best shot at surviving the pandemic Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana Nearly a billion vaccine doses have been given worldwide. There are many encouraging signs that these inoculations will deliver on the promise of ending the pandemic very soon. New cases of COVID-19...
What caused the surge, and how can we cope? Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana Daily COVID-19 case counts breached 10,000, and many asked how it came to this. The Philippines was doing quite well after Christmas despite the increased mobility of people. Reproduction number was at or below 1, and cases...
Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana Emergency rooms are full, and clusters of COVID-19 are sprouting in workplaces and homes with alarming frequency. It is a year later and the whole world is still seeing surges in COVID-19 cases. The more transmissible variants may contribute to the surges, but the...
25 million people in the Philippines are at great risk of dying from COVID Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana Vaccination of healthcare workers is proceeding at a rapid clip, but an alarming surge of cases in the Philippines is threatening to overwhelm the healthcare system anew. Questions about the...
Which are more infectious, and which are more resistant to vaccines? Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana Here we go again. With the recent increase in cases to over 3,000 new COVID-19 infections daily, we cannot help but feel a sense of déjà vu . This time last year, the unprecedented rise in new...
Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana The Philippines is once again making headlines in the vaccine world in an unfortunate follow-up to the infamous Dengvaxia fiasco. The latest reason is the decision by our Food and Drug Administration to limit the use of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine (Coronavac) among...
Vaccine hesitancy continues to rear its ugly head Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana The columns from the past few weeks discussed vaccine platforms and vaccine efficacy. With the recent release of the FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Sinovac, several questions cropped up. There is a lot of...
CLINICAL MATTERS Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana As more and more people are vaccinated against Covid-19, the positive effects of immunization are emerging. While there is still little data on the ability of the vaccines to prevent transmission, more and more vaccines are showing excellent clinical...
ANGEL THOUGHTS In protecting oneself, others are protected; In protecting others, oneself is protected. —Gautama Buddha In the eagerness to get life back on track and regain human connections lost due to Covid-19, vaccination has been on everyone’s minds. The...
What should you consider when getting a vaccine? Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana If you told people that there was a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 last year at the start of the pandemic, many would have rushed to get it and they would not have cared who made the vaccine or where it came...
