Governor Lee Signs Bill Making Ivermectin OTC in Tennessee

Image Credit: Bundesministerium für Finanzen / CC

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

Governor Bill Lee signed a new law that will allow Ivermectin to be purchased over-the-counter, giving residents access to treat COVID-19 without a prescription.

Senate Bill 2188, sponsored by Senator Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains-District 8), and House Bill 2746, sponsored by Representative Susan Lynn (R-Mount Juliet – District 57), authorizes pharmacists to provide the anti-viral drug to patients who are 18 or older, “pursuant to a valid collaborative pharmacy practice agreement containing a non-patient-specific prescriptive order and standardized procedures developed and executed by one or more authorized prescribers.”

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Adults can complete a sheet giving information regarding pre-existing conditions, describe their current symptoms to the pharmacist, and the pharmacist can then dispense the correct dosage for that patient.

The bill passed both the House and Senate previously, and Lee signed the bill into law on April 22. The bill went into effect immediately.

America’s Front Line Doctors (AFLDS) has been recommending Ivermectin as a safe and effective therapy for many months. In a statement on their website, AFLDS states, “We do not suggest that Ivermectin is a cure for COVID-19 or can absolutely prevent an individual from contracting the virus. However, in study after study, Ivermectin has been associated with improved health outcomes in both COVID-symptomatic patients and those using the drug as a preventive therapy.”

About those studies AFLDS had this to say:

Many studies have consistently attested to the viability of Ivermectin’s use in treating COVID-infected patients. There is parallel evidence to also recommend the drug’s use as a preventative. For example, Dr. Pierre Kory, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on December 8, 2020, pointed to positive findings of an October 2020 clinical study in Argentina which tested the effectiveness of Ivermectin for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The randomized clinical trial (RCT) found that Ivermectin inhibits replication of SARS-CoV-2, the strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Eight-hundred healthcare workers were administered Ivermectin as a preventative medication and none contracted SARS-CoV-2. Among the additional 400 healthcare workers that were not treated with Ivermectin, 237 individuals, or 58% of the group, were infected with the virus. “These are statistically significant, large magnitude results if you take ivermectin. It is proving to be a wonder drug and it is critical for its use in this disease,” Dr. Kory said of the study. Moreover, in the 19 randomized control trials published to date, Ivermectin use resulted in positive effects, including decreased time of virus shedding, length of hospital stays, as well as lower mortality. Among all 37 published studies using Ivermectin either as early treatment or prophylaxis, 100% reported positive results, with prophylaxis showing 90% improvement in the experimental groups. “Prophylaxis” refers to taking a regular regimen of medication before becoming sick. Even in a recent limited study published in The Lancet, researchers found “a reduction in the self-reported anosmia/hyposmia and a (non-statistically significant) tendency to lower viral loads and lower IgG titers which presumably reflect milder disease” and “The positive signal found in this pilot together with emerging evidence from animal models and other clinical trials warrants the conduction of larger trials using ivermectin for the early treatment of COVID-19.”

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com