About a quarter of the Brazilian population used some medication to treat Covid-19 early or to prevent it, according to a Datafolha survey that sought to identify people's behavior during the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic.
A share of 23% of all respondents said they had used an early or preventive drug to deal with the disease. Interviews were carried out face-to-face with 2,071 participants by Datafolha in 146 municipalities between May 11 and 12, 2021. The margin of error is 2 percentage points more or less.
Of the survey participants, 12% said they had taken some medication on their own, and another 11% said they had purchased the medicine with a prescription.
The inappropriate use of any medication, without medical supervision, carries risks and can worsen health. Doctors and patients have been reporting serious side effects of ineffective drugs against Covid-19.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon