Debate Over Use of Ivermectin for COVID-19 Rages in South Afri | COVID-19 Up

Debate Over Use of Ivermectin for COVID-19 Rages in South Africa

@COVID19Up: Ivermectin, touted in South Africa, Zimbabwe and other parts of the world, as a possible treatment for COVID-19, has primarily been used by cattle farmers for their herds and by veterinarians, since 1975.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the world has been scrambling to find a treatment for the pandemic with many pharmaceutical firms jumping to produce an effective vaccine—at a hefty price to wealthy and poor countries. Many of the world's poor nations have been left behind in the procuring of vaccines for their citizens, with the WHO calling on those nations who are by the means, to assist.

Now Ivermectin—a cheap, available drug, is getting a mention by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), when it said that it would "facilitate a controlled compassionate access programme" to the drug Ivermectin, for use for patients with COVID-19. This after South African authorities slammed the use of the drug and shut down pharmacies and hospitals that were advocating and administering its use.

Mark Heywood for Daily Maverick writes: "The one concern that is likely to be heard in coming days, is how fast SAHPRA moves to institute this programme and how it works with doctors to assist their applications. Even while there is acceptance that the evidence is incomplete, many would argue that for those severely ill with COVID-19 today, whether they get access this week or next week may literally be a matter of life and death. That is what health activists said they would continue to monitor." SOURCE

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