Growing Number of Americans Believe Ivermectin Can Treat COVID-19

Ivermectin tablets packaged for human use. (Natasha Holt/The Epoch Times)

A growing number of Americans think that ivermectin is an effective COVID-19 treatment, according to a recent survey from a university.

About 26 percent of respondents believe that the drug—long used to treat parasites—can treat the virus, according to the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. That's up from 10 percent who thought the same in September 2021.

The percentage of people who called that statement "false" also rose to 37 percent in November 2023, up from 27 percent in September 2021, the survey found. The overall number of people who aren't sure declined, from 63 percent to 38 percent in the same time period.

Without elaborating, the survey's authors said that the 26 percent "incorrectly" said that ivermectin is effective, while it has pointed to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) statements saying the agency has not authorized or approved the drug for preventing or treating COVID-19, and it has claimed that data shows it isn't effective against the virus. It has been approved to treat a variety of other illnesses, namely ones caused by parasites, while the World Health Organization (WHO) has regarded it as an essential medicine to treat a number of different ailments.

However, WHO issued a warning last week saying that it strongly recommends against giving ivermectin to patients with "non-severe" COVID-19 and advises against giving the drug to those with severe or critical COVID-19.

Notably, about half of the studies that the FDA has referenced in saying that it isn't safe or effective support using ivermectin against COVID-19, according to a 2022 Epoch Times review.

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In social media posts and in statements, the FDA has often said that ivermectin shouldn't be used to treat the virus. Several of those comments triggered a lawsuit from doctors, who argued that the FDA shouldn't be making recommendations and that its role is to approve drugs. Some individuals have also filed lawsuits against hospitals to force medical officials to allow its use for treating COVID-19.

Dr. Pierre Kory, who said he frequently prescribes ivermectin for COVID-19, told The Epoch Times that the FDA's position on ivermectin “is one of the most glaring examples of the corruption of modern evidence-based medicine.”

“There’s one message they want everyone to understand, and that message is that ivermectin doesn’t work,” Dr. Kory said. “That’s not a scientific conclusion, that’s theirs. That’s their perverted and distorted interpretation of the data.”

The Annenberg Public Policy Center survey, which was conducted last month and polled 1,500 Americans, also found that fewer Americans believe that getting the COVID-19 vaccine is safer than contracting the virus itself. It showed that in April 2021, 75 percent shared that viewpoint, but by last month, only 63 percent believe that to be the case.

The survey also found that respondents increasingly believe that the COVID-19 shot isn't safe, increasing to 24 percent last month from 18 percent in August 2022.

The public policy center argued that the rise in Americans’ wariness in COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines is due to a “belief in health misinformation."

Meanwhile, recent data provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that about 14 percent of American adults and 5 percent of children have received one of the updated COVID-19 booster shots, coming about two months after they were authorized by the FDA. It means approximately 36 million adults and 3.5 million children have received the shot.

The prior updated COVID-19 vaccines that were available from the fall of 2022 were given to about 56.5 million people, or around 17 percent of the entire U.S. population.

In a poll released in September, about 23 percent of American adults said they would definitely get one of the new vaccines, while another 23 percent said they would likely receive one. About half of respondents, however, said they wouldn't or probably wouldn't get the shot.