“Do not pester” those who use chloroquine and ivermectin against Covid-19, says Jair Bolsonaro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In a Facebook post on Friday, President Jair Bolsonaro once again advocated the use of drugs with no scientific confirmation to treat Covid-19 and said to those who oppose their use to “stop pestering.”

The post was a reaction to the Senate’s Covid CPI (investigative committee), in which on Thursday Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga was heavily probed on his position on the use of chloroquine and ivermectin to treat Covid-19, but shied away from providing a clear answer.

“An answer to the CPI inquisitors on early treatment,” the president wrote at the start of his post, then saying that some doctors prescribe chloroquine -indicated for malaria and some autoimmune diseases, but not for Covid-19- and others prescribe ivermectin -an antiparasitic also with no indication for the disease caused by the coronavirus.

A third group, the president said, goes along with what he refers to as followers of ex-Minister of Health Luiz Henrique Mandetta, “tells the infected person to go home and only seek a hospital when they feel short of breath (to be intubated).”

“Therefore, you are free to choose, with your doctor, which is the best way to treat yourself,” he wrote. “Choose, and please, don’t pester those who have chosen a different course than you, ok?”

During his live stream on Thursday evening, Bolsonaro again recommended ivermectin as a “cure” for Covid-19, something that the vast majority of doctors and scientists say has no proven efficacy.

Bolsonaro said he had symptoms of the disease again and took the drug, which would have cured him. In recent weeks, the president has maintained his normal schedule, including trips and visits to the outskirts, where he has prompted crowds while, most of the time, wearing no mask. There is no information that he has been tested again for Covid-19.