Some readers, including colleagues in the medical community, have been asking us to explain why we support the vape bill, which was recently approved by the congressional bicameral committee, and will soon be transmitted to the President for his final approval.
Our short answer is, “Because we would like to put our smokers back into the health equation.”
We confess that in our clinic, we used to have a condemning, somewhat discriminatory attitude toward our recalcitrant smokers. We gave them six months to quit smoking completely, either cold turkey or through other known interventions. But if they failed, they’re politely told to go to other clinics. They’re no longer given appointments for followup.
The pandemic made us rethink our attitude toward them. Smoking is a major risk factor for developing severe COVID-19, even in younger individuals, and it always broke our hearts to hear of a former patient whom we’ve “expelled” from the clinic being hospitalized for severe COVID-19 or succumbing to it.
We couldn’t help but ask: Would the few who died have remained alive if we didn’t give up on them? Had we offered them alternative tobacco products (ATPs) like e-cigarettes (e-cigs) and heated tobacco products (HTPs), would it have improved their chances against COVID-19 when they got infected?
Rafael Castillo – Philippine Daily Inquirer – 2022-02-12.
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