Sotto admits taking Ivermectin

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Saturday admitted that he is regularly taking the human-grade Ivermectin for prophylaxis against Covid-19.

In a radio interview, he said he drinks the antiparasitic drug repurposed as a Covid-19 drug once every two weeks to prevent himself from acquiring the dreaded disease.

Sotto disclosed that he started drinking the medicine after hearing testimonies from close friends who have taken Ivermectin while recovering from Covid-19.

“I knew people who tested positive for Covid-19 then drank Ivermectin for three consecutive days. Then, on their third day (of isolation), they stopped showing symptoms and on their 14th day, they already tested negative,” the lawmaker shared.

The senator stressed that the Ivermectin made by local compounding laboratories is as good as those compounded in the United States.

Sotto emphasized the need to come up for a “prevention and cure” for Covid-19 while most people wait to get vaccinated.

“There will be no growth in the economy, if (the pandemic) would stay long,” he noted.

Everyone, he said, must work together to solve it considering the limited supply of Covid-19 vaccines — which the Philippine government called as its only hope to return to normalcy.

“The doctors themselves said it (Ivermectin) may be used to treat Covid-19 and prevent oneself from contracting it,” Sotto said.

“The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has nothing to do with what I put in my body,” he added, a notion which he originally heard from former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

He also lambasted online sellers who are overcharging consumers of Ivermectin, which is supposedly priced at P35. Others sell them at P250, Sotto said.

The FDA has so far granted a Compassionate Special Permit or CSP to specialty institutions to use Ivermectin in the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Meanwhile, the Senate is expecting to receive 5,000 doses of Gamaleya’s Sputnik V Vaccine this month.

Sotto said Senate Secretary Myra Marie Villarica has already finished setting up the vaccine refrigeration to prepare for the inoculation of 1,800 Senate employees.

The Senate’s vaccination program will not cover senators, he noted.