Andronico Del Rosario
A consultant for the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) just added to the communication mess that is COVID-19 vaccination after telling people to “ignore the nitty-gritty”.
Controversial IATF consultant Dr. Edsel Salvana just threw medical experts and netizens for a loop after telling people not to “look at these nitty-gritty details” about AstraZeneca’s efficacy.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Salvana spoke of AstraZeneca’s decreased efficacy versus the more transmissible South African variant of COVID-19, which has reached Philippine shores.
Acoording to Salvana, “we should continue using AstraZeneca and other vaccines even with the presence of other variants.”
He would also say a now-viral statement that everyone is picking at. “We urge everyone to get whatever COVID-19 vaccine is available. Don’t look at these nitty-gritty details.”
That sentence threw everyone for a loop, as it came not just from a doctor, but from one of the consultants giving advice to President Rodrigo Duterte through the IATF.
Some netizens flamed him for previously saying “let’s wait for the final data”.
https://twitter.com/stewart___o/status/1367419695301685259
Others warned warned both current and future doctors to not follow Salvana’s example when ti comes to advising their patients.
Med students and practicing doctors, wag niyo gayahin tong si sizzums ha. Be a better clinician and patient advocate than him by advising your patients to pay close attention to the medications they are being told to take. https://t.co/l5RXr2xsO7
— Bruja Mariko-dono (@BrujaDelDemonio) March 4, 2021
Recommending deliberate ignorance is terrible advice. https://t.co/jnhTnJuRDy
— James Jimenez (@jabjimenez) March 4, 2021
Evidence-based medicine.
Don't look at the nitty-gritty details.
(Kapag narinig ko sa defense iyan…. Haaaaay nako) pic.twitter.com/fdNjhR91yd
— Peter Cayton, the Stats Guy (@PJACaytonPhD) March 4, 2021
Some, who apparently took Salvana’s classes while in school, have asked for their money back.
I was in a few classes of yours. I want my money back. https://t.co/oMqYJOqZrO
— Jonathan E. Sy (@easy_jonathan) March 4, 2021
https://twitter.com/88doubledragon/status/1367288008945278976
Barnaby Lo, a US-based Filipino journalist, stressed how Salvana’s statement is directly in line with Duterte’s narrative of “sumunod na lang kayo.”
Another variation of “sumunod na lang kayo.” https://t.co/BDAOkFi5bo
— Barnaby Lo 吳宗鴻 (@barnabychuck) March 4, 2021
Netizens would concur with Lo.
https://twitter.com/raymondnaguit/status/1367324233877975044
Meanwhile, the Palace has said Duterte can choose whichever brand of vaccine he so wishes “because he is the President.”
https://twitter.com/krizzy_kalerqui/status/1367729766242074624
Duterte has gone on record to say he prefers Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine over everything else, citing reasons like “the virus came from China, so they know how to deal with it.”
Salvana, meanwhile, has been previously criticized for declaring an early win against COVID-19–only to be proven wrong by his compatriots in the IATF.
