Sotto admits taking ivermectin for COVID-19 'prevention'

Senate President Vicente Sotto III has admitted taking the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin as "prevention" against COVID-19.

"Ako umiinom ako [ng ivermectin], as prevention (I take ivermectin as prevention)," Sotto said in a radio interview on Saturday.

Sotto said the ivermectin he is taking is for human consumption, and that he takes the drug once every two weeks.

Also, he said he knows several people who contracted COVID-19 and whose conditions improved after taking ivermectin.

"Meron akong kakilala, tinamaan ng Covid, tumira ng tatlong araw ng ivermectin, pagdating ng pang-apat, pang-limang araw, tanggal na lahat yung mga symptoms niya. Naghintay na lang ng 14 days bago nagpa-check ulit, pag-check, negative na," he said.

(I know one person who got infected with COVID-19, took ivermectin for three days. Come the fourth, fifth day, all symptoms are gone. That person only had to wait for 14 days to be checked again. After checking, the result came out negative.)

"Ang dami kong kilala na ganoon (I know many people who had the same case)," he added.

In the absence of enough vaccine supplies, Sotto called on the national government to focus on prevention.

"Ang prevention ang pinakamahalaga. Yun ang number one, pangalawa, yung rehabilitation. Tapos ikukumbinasyon mo yung enforcement, at saka yung prosecution" (Prevention is the most important. That's number one. Second, rehabilitation. Then combine them with rehabilitation then prosecution), he said.

However, Sotto only hoped that the government would listen to his suggestions.

"Yung prevention mahalaga dito sa COVID. Sana naman nakikinig sila sa atin, palibhasa wala, e Senate President lang tayo" (Prevention is key here in COVID-19. I just hope they are listening to us. But nothing, I'm just the Senate President anyway), he added.

Health experts warned that there is lack of evidence to prove that ivermectin can be a remedy for patients infected with COVID-19 despite articles and social media posts promoting ivermectin as an anti-COVID-19 drug in Brazil, France, South Africa, and South Korea.

The World Health Organization, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicine Agency, and even ivermectin manufacturer, Merck, all said there is lack of data and evidence of the efficacy and benefits for COVID-19 prevention and treatment.

Meanwhile, the Philippine FDA has so far granted only two hospitals the compassionate special permit to use ivermectin.

A compassionate use permit only allows legal administration of the drug in the country but is not an endorsement of its safety and efficacy from the FDA.

Senators Bong Revilla Jr. and Bong Go have called on the government to immediately look into and consider the application for the use of ivermectin as treatment against COVID-19. —LBG, GMA News