It wasn’t just Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine that was pulled from treating people with Covid.
Azithromycin was also pulled. Which is strange because it is an antibiotic and antibiotics are used to treat people with bacterial chest infections as a result of respiratory disease.
Why did the medical profession stop prescribing antibiotics to people with Covid?
This deserves serious examination because this decision in my view contributed to the deaths of elderly people who caught Covid, especially those in aged care centres and especially those who died during the lockdowns in Victoria in the winter of 2020.
Elderly people are especially vulnerable to influenza/respiratory diseases. Antibiotics were the greatest medical discovery in the 20th Century.
It’s no coincidence that respiratory pandemics like the Spanish flu became virtually nonexistent after the discovery of penicillin, a life saving antibiotic.
Unfortunately I didn’t became aware of this fact until after much of the hysteria had died down.
Which is unfortunate because by withdrawing drugs that could have saved lives, the authorities made Covid appear much more deadly than it needed to be.
Community Affairs Legislation Committee
15/02/2024
Estimates
HEALTH AND AGED CARE PORTFOLIO
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
Senator RENNICK: I noticed, as well, that Professor Mark Morgan said, in that COVID inquiry a few weeks ago—I’m not quite sure; I can pick it up, but he seemed to imply—that he was head of a national COVID evidence taskforce for recommending drugs, either for or against, for the treatment of COVID. I note that azithromycin was pulled from the protocol; it’s an antibiotic, and antibiotics are well-known for secondary bacterial infections. Someone said this morning that it might have been pulled because it had heart indications. Was there any review by you, at Ahpra, as to what those recommendations made by the National Clinical Evidence Taskforce were, in terms of quality assurance and why this particular drug was pulled?
Mr Fletcher : We haven’t done a review of that, no.
Senator RENNICK: Do you look at the off-label or generic prescription of drugs by doctors? What’s your process for that?
Mr Fletcher : If we had a notification expressing concern about that sort of issue, we would look at the relevant evidence or material in that context, and we may also seek an independent expert opinion.
Senator RENNICK: Who would notify you of that, though?
Mr Fletcher : Anyone can notify us of a concern. Most of our notifications come from members of the public, but organisations like the TGA, health services, or other practitioners could notify us. There’s no restriction on who can raise a concern with us.
Senator RENNICK: I’d be keen to follow that up, but I’ll take that offline.
