The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) warns people should not take ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19, following the Health Alert Network advisory released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug used commonly in humans and animals. Although it is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of some parasitic worms, external parasites, and skin conditions, evidence shows it is ineffective against treating the COVID-19 virus and the side effects can be potentially dangerous.

Side effects may include, but are not limited to, skin rash, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, facial or limb swelling, dizziness, seizures, confusion, a sudden drop in blood pressure, and liver injury (hepatitis). Drugs prescribed for animals are often highly concentrated because they are used for large animals and therefore may be toxic to humans. The FDA has received multiple reports of people who were hospitalized after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses. In July 2021, poison control centers across the country reported a five-fold increase in the number of calls for human exposure to ivermectin.

Despite the dangers, nationwide the CDC has seen a sharp increase in both providers prescribing and patients requesting ivermectin for COVID-19. According to the CDC, during the second week of August more than 88,000 prescriptions were reported nationwide, which is 24-times higher than the number of prescriptions written before the pandemic and more than double the previous peak of prescriptions written in early January 2021. The FDA has established a cross-agency task force that closely monitors for fraudulent COVID-19 products that claim to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure COVID-19.

Getting vaccinated is the safest and effective way to protect yourself and prevent severe sickness and death from COVID-19. Everyone 12 and older is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Those who have not been vaccinated are encouraged to make an appointment today.

The above is a press release from WA State Dept. of Health. The Auburn Examiner has not independently verified its contents and encourages our readers to personally verify any information they find may be overly biased or questionable. The publication of this press release does not indicate an endorsement of its content.

Update: A comment was made on our Facebook regarding this release sharing an April 2020 article referencing a study investigating ivermectin’s efficacy against COVID-19. The FDA-approved drug ivermectin inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro

After looking into the linked article and doing some additional searches I provided the following response. Given the amount of additional information regarding ivermectin and COVID-19, I felt it would be beneficial to include it as well.

“The second sentence of the release states ivermectin is commonly used in humans and animals.
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If it’s biased to not want people to take a drug meant for farm animals, likely causing serious harm to themself, I’m OK with that.
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Human ivermectin is a prescription drug. It can be dangerous on its own to take medication you haven’t been prescribed. However, horse ivermectin is much stronger and available at most farm supply stores…or Amazon. There has been an alarming number of folks being poisoned and getting sick after taking horse ivermectin, (nationwide). I very much would like to not see that happen in Auburn or anywhere else local.
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That said, here’s a bit more information regarding ivermectin and COVID-19/the study you referenced:
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Roughly a week after the April 2020 article you linked was published the FDA issued a letter stating: do not use ivermectin intended for animals to treat covid-19 in humans. (https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/product-safety-information/fda-letter-stakeholders-do-not-use-ivermectin-intended-animals-treatment-covid-19-humans)
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The July 2020 study (referenced in the article you linked) references this letter The FDA “even responded to this study by issuing an official letter to emphasize that research was still at the very early stage and to highlight the need to conduct further phases of clinical trials to determine if ivermectin is effective in
the treatment of COVID-19. This is important, as the study may lead to the high-risk practice of self-medication by consumers.”
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On August 21 the FDA tweeted a reminder to their March 2021 statement regarding ivermectin to treat COVID-19 (FDA Twitter).

You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it. https://t.co/TWb75xYEY4
— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) August 21, 2021

The CDC issued an alert advising against the use of ivermectin (human or animal form) for the treatment of COVID-19. (CDC HAN)
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The referenced study’s conclusion states that while positive results stemmed from the small clinic study, additional studies are (were) ongoing to investigate the efficacy of ivermectin against COVID-19. Study (opens as PDF): COVID-19/Ivermectin Study
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Hope that helps answer any concerns you may have. -EM”

I know ivermectin is used for more than horses, I just couldn’t resist the play on ‘hay is for horses, but better for cows.’ -EM