Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) blasted President Joe Biden, the CDC, and Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday for not advising medical professionals to treat COVID patients with Ivermectin especially since the drug won a “Nobel Peace Prize.”
“Ivermectin is a very good drug, its safety has been proven for decades. It even won a Nobel Peace Prize,” Greene said in a clip of her interview on Real America’s Voice posted on Twitter by ‘PatriotTakes.’ “It is deeply irresponsible for the Biden administration, the CDC, Dr. Fauci, and any of these doctors to be advising people to not prescribe it,” she added.
For starters, Ivermectin was not awarded a Nobel Peace Prize as Greene claimed. In fact, the drug was not awarded any prize. Scientists who made discoveries involving the drug was awarded a Nobel Prize.
The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura “for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites,” according to the Nobel Prize website.
The Nobel Prize was for discoveries made to treat parasitic infections, this does not mean that the drug is a safe or effective treatment for COVID-19, which is a virus.
Though Ivermectin is intended for animals, it comes in various forms at much lower doses to treat parasitic infections in humans. The drug is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration in tablet form to treat people with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis, two conditions caused by parasitic worms. However, the drug is not authorized to treat or prevent COVID-19 in humans.
The FDA said in a press release that they have received multiple reports of patients who have required medical attention, including hospitalization, after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for livestock.
“Taking large doses of ivermectin is dangerous,” the FDA said. “Animal drugs are often highly concentrated because they are used for large animals like horses and cows, which weigh a lot more than we do—a ton or more. Such high doses can be highly toxic in humans.”
