According to a Facebook post by Goa’s Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, the state government authorised the use of the anti-parasitic medication ivermectin as a preventive medicine for all adults on Monday. The World Health Organization, the US Food and Drug Administration, and even the drug’s manufacturer have all advised against its use.
Doctors, Rane recommended, should begin treatment “immediately, regardless of any signs or something.” Although the treatment does not cure coronavirus infections, it does serve to lessen the seriousness of the disease, according to him. He went on to say that tests have shown that the drug lowers the risk of death in Covid-19 patients.
In this case, patients will be given ivermectin 12mg [miligram] for 5 days, according to Rane’s article. In Covid-19 patients treated with Ivermectin, expert panels from the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and Japan discovered a major, statistically meaningful reduction in mortality, time to recovery, and viral clearance.
Ivermectin tablets will be made available at health centres throughout the province, according to the minister.
Despite Rane’s citation of expert opinions from different nations, various organisations have warned against using the drug. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, tweeted that the drug could only be used in clinical trials.
Safety and efficacy are important when using any drug for a new indication. @WHO recommends against the use of ivermectin for #COVID19 except within clinical trials https://t.co/dSbDiW5tCW
— Soumya Swaminathan (@doctorsoumya) May 10, 2021
Ivermectin’s manufacturer, Merck, has also confirmed that the medication has no therapeutic activity against the coronavirus. The firm said in a statement in February that its review revealed no meaningful proof of the drug’s therapeutic effectiveness in patients with the infection.
We do not believe the evidence available supports the safety and effectiveness of ivermectin in doses or communities other than those mentioned in the regulatory agency-approved prescription material, according to the company.
In March, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning against its use. Ivermectin tablets were used at very specific doses for certain parasitic worms, according to the US drug authority, and were not an anti-viral drug. It was also commonly used to cure or avoid parasitic infections in animals, according to the study.
Taking massive doses of this medication is unsafe and can cause significant harm, according to the USFDA, which cited several cases of patients were admitted to hospitals after self-medicating with horse ivermectin. As per the public statement, the FDA has not affirmed ivermectin for use in people to treat or forestall COVID-19.
Animal medicines were also heavily concentrated, according to the drug authority, and they were used to treat animals such as horses and cows, who would weigh a lot more than humans.
According to the USFDA, such elevated doses can be extremely dangerous in humans, causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, low blood pressure, respiratory reactions, dizziness, coordination issues, epilepsy, coma, and death in some instances.
