Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES At the virtual vaccine summit organized the other day by the country’s leading business groups, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. told participants: “We are very confident that the country will be able to achieve herd containment within this year with the help of the private sector, with the inoculation of 50 to 70 million … Read more
So much has been written about the Maginhawa Community Pantry, an austere project whose charisma has, within one week, inspired countless replications all over the country. One more brief note about it may not shed further light on its magic. But it may, hopefully, resolve some of the vague uneasiness we feel during this pandemic. … Read more
One can’t help feeling resentful when one thinks about it. Here we are today, having to make do with a vaccine whose reported efficacy is the lowest among all vaccines, prodded only by the thought that “the best vaccine is the one that is available.” In a desperate situation, this mantra has become more persuasive. … Read more
Defying authoritative scientific voices attesting to its uselessness as a cure or prophylactic against COVID-19, a good number of Filipinos are turning to the antiparasitic drug ivermectin as an answer to the coronavirus. A cursory look at the profile of its advocates (e.g., in chat groups) would immediately tell us that these are not ignorant … Read more
In 1982, upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez delivered an eloquent acceptance speech before a largely European audience. I will quote from this speech at length because it begins ominously with a reference to the chronicles of Antonio Pigafetta, who was with Ferdinand Magellan in that historic voyage … Read more
The latest Pulse Asia findings on Filipinos’ attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccines, though not unexpected, still must have come as a surprise to those in charge of the vaccine rollout. Released last Friday, when the country registered its highest number of new coronavirus cases per day at almost 10,000, the results showed that only 16 … Read more
It’s a problem that we have not given much thought to yet, as we anxiously await the arrival of the bulk of the COVID-19 vaccines. But, if the issues that cropped up in the initial weeks of the vaccine rollout in other countries are instructive at all, we should brace for what may be one … Read more
Experts of the current pandemic are basically looking at two things at the moment. The first is the emergence of alarming new variants of the coronavirus that are capable of sidestepping the immunity provided by vaccines and natural infection. The second is the speed at which vaccines must be distributed to the largest number of … Read more
Almost one year has quickly passed since the government imposed a general lockdown to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak that was first reported in Wuhan, China. In our country alone, the virus has infected over half a million people and killed more than 12,000. And these are only the official figures. The actual numbers are … Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought out in bold relief the inequalities that set nations and social classes apart. By the sheer magnitude of resources at their disposal, a few will endure this plague better than others. The vast majority, in contrast, are not only less equipped to adapt; they will also find themselves increasingly excluded … Read more