COMMON SENSE

The enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and surrounding areas has been extended until April 11.

Events related to the pandemic are moving so fast that by the time this piece comes out, the government may have taken a more open-minded position on the use of the drug ivermectin against COVID-19, just as the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) had done.

I’m sharing some common-sense suggestions, addressed to our decision makers, hopefully to help relieve the mounting anxiety many are experiencing from contradicting information, opinions and speculations we are getting from many quarters in the midst of the new surge in infections.

“Where are the vaccines?” This was the headline of former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio’s column on April 1 where he said that, as of that date, the Philippine government had not purchased any vaccine from Western manufacturers due to legal impediments cited by the President.

Carpio also reported that, as of the end of March, the loan agreements the government had been negotiating with the World Bank and other lending institutions had not been signed. He ended his article by asking, “Is this deliberate or merely incompetence?” noting that at the same time, the government had already found a way to procure and receive a shipment of Chinese vaccines.

Real score

On the other hand, the government has been sporadically announcing that various vaccines are expected to arrive shortly. In fact, local governments had been asking their constituents to register, and they would soon receive their shots based on their classification priority.

So, what’s the real score? Is this just more government propaganda, or is there real basis for raising the expectations of our citizens? A knowledgeable source recently estimated that only about 200,000 doses have been given, to first-priority health workers. A real mass rollout will most likely not happen until the second semester, although the government will probably make a lot of noise about the limited vaccines that will trickle in before then. The bottom line is that we will be one of the last countries out of the starting gate, and if we go by the government’s pandemic response track record, it will be a slow, if not chaotic rollout.

In sharp contrast, Serbia (whose prime minister happens to be a woman) has beaten many countries to the punch, including its first-world European neighbors, by being able to dispense different vaccines simultaneously to its citizens, to migrants and even to citizens of neighboring countries who go there to get their shots—for free.

Its secret? Serbia had the foresight to order vaccines early from different countries—Russia, China, Europe and the United States. I saw on CNN a vaccine center in Belgrade (Serbia’s capital) which is like a mall with different outlets, each one dispensing a citizen’s preferred vaccine brand.

Meanwhile, as we wait for the arrival of our elusive vaccine supply, we contend with the latest surge of infections, and as expected the government’s only go-to response is, you guessed it, another ECQ, the strictest lockdown mode, in the NCR and surrounding areas for at least two weeks. Hopefully, this will be the last extreme lockdown imposition.

Facing more economic hardship, restricted mobility, the psychological effects of reimposed isolation for seniors and minors, and most particularly the lack of hospital capacity to accommodate the surge of new cases, our countrymen, through the initiative of some compassionate front-line doctors, have discovered a new source of hope—ivermectin.

This globally long-approved anthelmintic (a drug used for intestinal parasites), recently repurposed to combat COVID-19, has come to national attention because of the positive feedback from doctors here and abroad who have been using it with apparent great success.

As expected, its repurposed use without the government’s blessing has become a contentious issue. Although a Congressional hearing was conducted on its scientific merits amid urgent calls from many quarters for its approval for compassionate use, especially among the poor, as of this writing it still has to get the blessing of the concerned government agencies (Department of Health, Food and Drug Administration).

In the meantime, for lack of the vaccine, its use for prophylaxis (prevention) and therapy (cure) has rapidly gained ground locally, and ivermectin sales have become a thriving underground activity. This boldness stems from the fact that it has been used since the start of the pandemic with evident initial success in many countries, and that many clinical studies of varying reliability done in these countries overwhelmingly support its efficacy.

Observations

I have neither the competence nor the desire to delve into the daily deluge of scientific information and varying opinions on vaccines and ivWill ermectin, but I make the following common-sense observations as a concerned layman.

First, if the various vaccines (especially the mRNA vaccines, which are of an entirely new class) were approved for emergency use after the stage-three clinical trials (prior to the required stage-four trials), is there any reason not to allow the use of a drug (ivermectin) which has been approved and used for decades, if it’s “repurposed” use does not exceed the maximum therapeutic dose approved for the illnesses for which it was originally intended? The US NIH itself has changed its position from “against” to “neutral,” thus opening the door for ivermectrin’s use to treat COVID-19.

(As of press time, the Food and Drug Administration has granted a compassionate special permit for hospitals’ use of ivermectin for COVID-19 patients. —Ed.)

Second, if ivermectin is generally considered a safe drug, wouldn’t it be better to allow it to be used by the general population and regulate its availability? With today’s sudden surge of demand, it is very easy for unscrupulous parties to produce and sell fake versions. I have personally seen some dubiously labeled bottles of “ivermectin.”

Third, since the government has failed to expeditiously obtain enough vaccine supplies except those from China, wouldn’t it be better to encourage, not only allow, the private sector and local government unites with the resources to order vaccines directly from any manufacturer?

According to a recent news item on international television, Pfizer had announced that its vaccine was effective against COVID-19 and “fights” its variants for a period of six months. This is a pretty narrow window for any vaccine, and at the rate we expect to get shots into people, it will probably take years to inoculate and immunize a significant portion of our population.

To end on a positive note, history has shown that on their own, viruses and epidemics eventually run their course. So, in the worst-case scenario that our leaders continue to be largely ineffective in addressing this crisis, we should take the initiative with our own proactive safety measures until the smoke clears.

And most importantly, we should choose the right leaders at the very next opportunity. Otherwise, we will be perpetuating the vicious cycle in the next inevitable crisis.