DOH ‘open to changes’ to COVID-19 response if backed by science

The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday said it was open to making science-backed changes to its COVID-19 response after Senate President Vicente Sotto III questioned the government's policy on face shields.

Sotto has repeatedly grilled the DOH on why it insists on requiring the use of face shields along with face masks, a practice not observed in other countries.

Dr. Beverly Ho, director of the DOH Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Control bureaus, said health authorities respect the opinions of the public and policymakers on its COVID-19 response.

“What is clear to us, still from the very beginning, our COVID-19 response is guided by science,” she said at a briefing.

Ho explained that the DOH assesses “the whole totality of evidence, not really piecemeal type [where] we will look for one article and that would represent the so-called evidence.”

“It also means that at any point in time, the decisions or the recommendations can change. The DOH remains open to changes,” she said.

“If new studies will come out that will significantly alter how the meta analysis results will be, then we are open as long as it abides by that process,” Ho added.

President Rodrigo Duterte has mandated the use of face shields in both indoor and outdoor settings following the detection of the more transmissible Delta variant in the country. -MDM, GMA News