Alaska Mayor Backs Use Of Drug Meant For Farm Animals As Treatment For COVID-19

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce defends the use of Ivermectin for treatment of COVID-19 despite having been debunked by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Pierce has twice publicly stood behind the use of the anti-parasitic deworming drug citing it as a very inexpensive medication.

The mayor admitted he is not in a medically qualified to promote Ivermectin, but he has since been using his platform to challenge local doctors on the use of unproven COVID-19 treatments on local radio talk shows and in public meetings.

During an assembly meeting last week, Pierce lashed at the borough-owned hospital for not offering alternative drugs like Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as a cure and preventive treatment of COVID-19.

Pierce shared anecdotes of what he thought was ineffective emergency room treatment received by a friend who contracted COVID-19. “I just can’t help but question, had he been given ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine and a Z-Pak — at a minimum give him a Z-Pak — (if) he would have walked out of there,” he narrated.

According to the Peninsula Clarion, livestock supply stores in the borough have been receiving numerous inquiries almost on a daily basis about the drug in recent weeks. Feed Supply Store owners have also reported being asked a lot of questions on the types of Ivermectin their stores house as it comes in the form of capsules, tablets and paste.

Employees at these supply stores usually tell customers that the drug is intended to treat animals only and are ordered from veterinary supply companies. But despite these explanations, store owners say people are still buying the drug. “What they choose to do with it is up to them,” Cad-Re Feed store co-owner Shawn Taplin told the media outlet.

The Alaska mayor maintained his position on Ivermectin as he expressed interest in creating a research trial for the drug on the peninsula. He claimed that Ivermectin administered with other over the counter vitamins “has been very favorable” in treating the virus.

In his appearance on Duane Bannock’s "Sound Off" radio show on KSRM, Pierce stated that while he thinks health care professionals on the peninsula have been handling COVID patients well, he said “our hospitals are missing a few items in their toolbox that perhaps could work.”

The mayor even pointed listeners to a website that recommends ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine and offers prescriptions for them from a doctor in Texas. “Let the doctors experiment with perhaps some things that haven’t been signed off by the Food and Drug Administration,” Peirce added.

Although FDA has approved ivermectin in both humans and animals, it is meant to treat parasitic worms and for head lice and skin conditions. The FDA has not approved its use in treating or preventing COVID-19 in humans.