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This is fake news.
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New restrictions on prescribing ivermectin for COVID-19
10 September 2021
Today, the TGA, acting on the advice of the Advisory Committee for Medicines Scheduling, has placed new restrictions on the prescribing of oral ivermectin. General practitioners are now only able to prescribe ivermectin for TGA-approved conditions (indications) – scabies and certain parasitic infections. Certain specialists including infectious disease physicians, dermatologists, gastroenterologists and hepatologists (liver disease specialists) will be permitted to prescribe ivermectin for other unapproved indications if they believe it is appropriate for a particular patient.
These changes have been introduced because of concerns with the prescribing of oral ivermectin for the claimed prevention or treatment of COVID-19. Ivermectin is not approved for use in COVID-19 in Australia or in other developed countries, and its use by the general public for COVID-19 is currently strongly discouraged by the National COVID Clinical Evidence Taskforce, the World Health Organisation and the US Food and Drug Administration.
Firstly, there are a number of significant public health risks associated with taking ivermectin in an attempt to prevent COVID-19 infection rather than getting vaccinated. Individuals who believe that they are protected from infection by taking ivermectin may choose not to get tested or to seek medical care if they experience symptoms. Doing so has the potential to spread the risk of COVID-19 infection throughout the community.
Secondly, the doses of ivermectin that are being advocated for use in unreliable social media posts and other sources for COVID-19 are significantly higher than those approved and found safe for scabies or parasite treatment. These higher doses can be associated with serious adverse effects, including severe nausea, vomiting, dizziness, neurological effects such as dizziness, seizures and coma.
Finally, there has been a 3-4-fold increased dispensing of ivermectin prescriptions in recent months, leading to national and local shortages for those who need the medicine for scabies and parasite infections. It is believed that this is due to recent prescribing and dispensing for unapproved uses, such as COVID-19. Such shortages can disproportionately impact vulnerable people, including those in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
There is only one TGA approved oral ivermectin product, Stromectol ivermectin 3mg tablet blister pack which is indicated for the treatment of river blindness (onchocerciasis), threadworm of the intestines (intestinal strongyloidiasis) and scabies.
All medical practitioners can continue to prescribe oral ivermectin for the approved indications. However, prescribing of oral ivermectin for indications that are not approved is now limited to certain specialists.
Contact for members of the media:
- Email: news@health.gov.au(link sends e-mail)
- Phone: 02 6289 7400
- Category:Prescription medicines
- Tags:medicines, poisons, chemicals
- URL:https://www.tga.gov.au/node/939804
https://www.tga.gov.au/media-release/new-restrictions-prescribing-ivermectin-covid-19
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Ivermectin is not being given to COVID-19 patients in Australia
AAP FactCheck September 30, 2021
The Statement
A video shared on social media includes claims that vaccinated people with COVID-19 are being treated with the drug ivermectin in hospital.
In the video, posted to an Instagram account, a woman in a nurse’s uniform and draped in an Australian flag, says: “I’m gonna tell you what’s happening in the hospitals down south”, before clarifying the locations as Victoria and NSW.
“Those that are vaccinated and present with COVID are now being given … ivermectin … And they’re surviving the COVID and walking out of the hospitals. And they’re going and saying, ‘Look, the vaccine saved me.’ It wasn’t the vaccine that saved them, it was the ivermectin,” she says (video mark 10sec).
At the time of writing, the September 19 post had more than 13,000 views. The video is also posted elsewhere on Instagram and Facebook, and it also features in a story on a UK website that calls COVID-19 “the alleged … disease”.
A similar claim is made on another Instagram post, which includes screen grabs purportedly showing electronic prescriptions for “invermectin (sic)” and zinc picolinate.
The Analysis
There is no evidence to support the claim that ivermectin is being used to treat people vaccinated against COVID-19 in NSW and Victorian hospitals. Health authorities confirmed to AAP FactCheck the drug, which has not been approved as a treatment for the coronavirus in Australia, is not in use.
Ivermectin is commonly used to treat parasitic infections. However, it was identified as a possible treatment for COVID-19 early in the pandemic after Australian researchers found it inhibited the coronavirus in cells during laboratory tests.
Since then, it has been administered in an attempt to combat COVID-19 in several developing countries in regions such as Latin America. But major health bodies like the World Health Organisation and drug regulators in developed nations have cautioned against its use to treat the coronavirus.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has not approved ivermectin to treat people with COVID-19. Its website states: “Ivermectin has not received regulatory approval in Australia or by other comparable countries for use as an anti-viral treatment.”
On September 10, the TGA effectively banned off-label prescriptions of ivermectin, preventing doctors from prescribing the drug for anything outside its sanctioned use.
“General practitioners are now only able to prescribe ivermectin for TGA-approved conditions (indications) – scabies and certain parasitic infections,” it said in a media release.
A TGA spokeswoman told AAP FactCheck in an email that the restrictions on ivermectin did not allow for it to be prescribed in hospital except as part of an approved clinical trial.
In response to the video’s claim about ivermectin being used to treat vaccinated patients in hospitals, a NSW Health said in an emailed statement that the government department was aware of incorrect public health advice circulating in the community and social media.
“Fake news and misinformation on COVID-19 can be dangerous to the health of individuals and families from all communities in NSW,” the statement said.
That situation became a reality in September when the Western Sydney Local Health District reported that a COVID-positive person presented at a hospital emergency department with vomiting and diarrhoea from taking ivermectin and other purported cures they ordered online.
NSW Health guidance on therapies for patients with COVID-19 states that ivermectin is not recommended and that “access should not be given outside clinical trials”. The guidance links to the website of the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, whose ivermectin FAQs states: “Do not use ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 outside of randomised trials with appropriate ethical approval.”
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The Verdict
There is no evidence NSW and Victorian hospitals are treating vaccinated COVID-19 patients with ivermectin. Statements and guidance from state and national health bodies show it forms no part of clinical treatment guidelines, while the TGA has banned the prescription of the drug to treat COVID-19 outside of clinical trials.
False – Content that has no basis in fact.
Updated Saturday, October 9, 2021 15:30 AEDT: Adds reference to Liverpool Hospital video and statement from South Western Sydney Local Health District.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/ivermectin-is-not-being-given-to-covid-19-patients-in-australia/
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weehingthong 