Pasay mayor open to use of Ivermectin to treat COVID
PASAY City Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano is open to using Ivermectin as well as other alternative treatments against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as long as these are previously certified as safe and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Rubiano expressed confidence on the FDA’s expertise and is convinced that the agency would not recommend anything that could harm the people.
“Naniniwala po ako sa kakayahan ng mga eksperto natin sa FDA kung kaya’t kung irerekomenda po nila na puwedeng gamitin bilang gamot sa COVID-19 ang Ivermectin at iba pa ay payag po ako na gamitin ito ng ating mga kababayan,” the mayor said.
She added that the country needs all the help it can get in these difficult times, and if alternative medicines could help treat the virus and ease the suffering of the people, she will go all out for it.
“Sobrang paghihirap na po ng ating mga kababayan dahil sa COVID-19 na ito at marami na rin akong nakita na binawian ng buhay kaya kung makakatulong po ang Ivermectin at iba pa gaya ng virgin coconut oil at aprubado naman ng FDA ay suportado ko po ang paggamit nito,” the mayor pointed out.
This, as former Health Secretary and herbal medicine advocate Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan advised the public to use natural medicines to fortify their immune system to combat the deadly coronavirus.
“Filipinos are blessed with affordable and natural remedies. With God’s grace, we shall overcome COVID-19. We had overcome past plagues like SARS bird flu, and the HINI Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-corona,” Tan said.
In a recent interview, the former Health secretary specifically named coconut and its byproduct virgin coconut oil as effective means to combat the coronavirus.
The doctor said the coconut’s lauric acid or laurine, which is also found in a mother’s milk and is good for the baby’s bones and brain development, has been scientifically proven as anti-viral and anti-bacterial.
“Feast on coconut water, coconut meat, and coconut milk. Take also one tablespoon of virgin coconut oil (VCO) at least once a day, at best three times a day,” Tan said.
Currently, coconut and the herb tawa-tawa – and their anti-viral properties – are being tested and explored to fight COVID-19.
Ateneo professor Fabian Antonio Dayrit and Dr. Mary Newport, a specialist based in Spring Hill, Florida, have studied lauric acid of coconuts and its derivate, monolaurin.
The two researchers said that monolaurin can disintegrate COVID-19’s envelope, inhibit its late maturation stage and prevent its binding to the host’s cell membrane.
