OUR nation recorded the highest daily COVID-19 cases on July 25, with 17,045 cases. The accumulated total is now over a million. Death toll is over eight thousand.
The infective and death rates have been rising over the weeks despite Malaysians and the business community complying to lockdown regulations, giving fodder to criticism that our Government has failed to control the epidemic.
The Malaysian Alliance for Effective Covid Control (MAECC) agrees that our Government had failed and had prolonged the sufferings of the people and business community.
However, critics, including Opposition politicians, did not say in which aspect of the execution our Government had failed; or what and how they would do differently if they were in power.
Our solution is clear. Allow Ivermectin under emergency use authorisation (EUA) along with the vaccination programme. Allow general practitioners’ clinics to use them on early outpatient treatment.
Had the EUA for Ivermectin been allowed months ago, the pandemic could have been brought under control. This can be seen in several countries where Ivermectin was effectively used to control the spread of the disease, defying the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation of not using Ivermectin for COVID-19.
The most glaring example is India, when in April last year, the country had the highest daily infection record in the world with 360,960 cases. Within a month after Ivermectin was mass distributed in the most affected states and cities, the infection rate was swiftly brought below seven thousand cases a day.
Today, 32 countries in the world are incorporating Ivermectin with vaccines in the fight against COVID-19. Our neighbours, the Philippines and Indonesia, have allowed EUA for Ivermectin. Malaysia has nothing to lose but all to gain to follow suit.
Officials and individuals who parrot the official WHO narrative regarding inconclusive Ivermectin studies are merely looking from ivory towers. They have no clinical experience treating patients with Ivermectin and are not qualified to deduce that the drug does not work or causes side effect and damage the liver.
Numerous specialist doctors throughout the world have used Ivermectin and specific micronutrients along with standard care with good results in the emergency rooms and intensive care units of their hospitals. Notable among whom are the specialists from the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC).
Lies about Ivermectin are meant only for animals and that it causes severe side effects to humans must stop. On the contrary, it is one of the safest drugs ever produced. It has already been approved for patients with HIV and scabies, meaning for humans. The WHO has listed Ivermectin as an essential drug. The current organised campaign to disparage Ivermectin must stop.
Science proves Ivermectin’s efficacy
When arguing on science and evidence-based medicine, critics often say the Ivermectin studies were of small-scaled, low-leveled evidence and with confounding issues. These critics see the trees but missed the forest.
To date, there is a real-time meta-analysis of 60 studies showing positive Ivermectin results in reduced mortality, shortened hospital stay, faster time to recovery and reduced viral loads.
Healthcare officials, politicians, media editors and those with a conscience to save lives should not ignore such scientific publications. Even if the criticism regarding low quality studies is true, the reduced mortality outcome alone should alert healthcare officials and critics to pay attention to Ivermectin and not continue to cast aspersions on it.
We would like to highlight the following published scientific facts that are verifiable:
- Since 2012, multiple in vitro studies have demonstrated that Ivermectin inhibits the replication of many viruses, including influenza, zika, dengue and others.
- Ivermectin inhibits SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) replication and binding to host tissue through several observed and proposed mechanisms.
- Ivermectin has potent anti-inflammatory properties with in vitro data demonstrating profound inhibition of both cytokine production and transcription of nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB), the most potent mediator of inflammation.
- Ivermectin significantly diminishes viral load and protects against organ damage in multiple animal models when infected with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) or similar coronaviruses.
- Ivermectin prevents transmission and development of COVID-19 disease in those exposed to infected patients.
- Ivermectin hastens recovery and prevents deterioration in patients with mild to moderate disease treated early after symptoms.
- Ivermectin hastens recovery and avoidance of ICU admission and death in hospitalised patients.
- Ivermectin reduces mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19.
- Ivermectin leads to temporally associated reductions in case fatality rates in regions after Ivermectin distribution campaigns.
- The safety, availability and cost of ivermectin are nearly unparalleled given its low incidence of important drug interactions along with only mild and rare side effects observed in almost 40 years of use and billions of doses administered.
- The WHO has long included ivermectin on its “List of Essential Medicines”.
Therefore, we strongly urged our politicians to debate and allow Ivermectin use under EUA. How many more must die? How much more must the people continue to endure the socio-financial sufferings? How much longer must our industries continue to endure the partial or total shut down of their production lines?
Please act now. – July 27, 2021
Capt Dr Wong Ang Peng (Rtd) is the secretariat member of the Malaysian Alliance for Effective Covid Control (MAECC).
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
