EXCLUSIVE: Internal emails show Alberta doctor had Ivermectin use request denied by AHS
Documents provided to Rebel News about the Alberta government's policy regarding the use of Ivecmectin reveal that at least one doctor in Northern Alberta was denied access to the anti-parasitic drug.
The medicine is often described as horse dewormer, however, the human application on the drug won a Nobel prize in 2015 for efficacy in combatting some tropical diseases.
Dr. Richard Birkill, a family physician in Lac La Biche made a request to Alberta Health Services' North Zone pharmacy for permission use the medicine “off-label” to treat his COVID-19 patients in early December 2020.
Birkill also made a phone call to North Zone pharmacy manager Kevin Hofstede to procure the drug for his patients. This request triggered a series of internal communications from Hofstede to Jeremy Slobodan, director of drug utilization for AHS Pharmacy Services, who then emailed a team of doctors and specialists making up the COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group.
Alain Tremblay, professor of medicine (pulmonary) at the University of Alberta, replied that the therapeutic use of Ivermectin “should not be endorsed in Alberta in my opinion.”
Lynora Saxiner, associate professor of infectious diseases in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alberta, went one step further. She accused Fox News and Alberta-based broadcaster Danielle Smith of fake news:
There is tremendous misinformation (including from Fox News and Danielle Smith) going on, which is fuelling massive enthusiasm (a lot of miracle cure discussion). In reality, in vitro data, and some rather very poor trial data. There are studies ongoing. It is a medication [that] does not meet our standards for inclusion in a therapeutic guideline and would be inappropriate to make it available outside of a clinical trial.
In December 2020, a study of Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients published by the National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine showed a five-day course of Ivermectin was found to be safe and effective in treating adult patients with mild illness. The researchers noted there were no severe adverse drug events recorded in the study, however, “larger trials will be needed to confirm these preliminary findings.”
Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.
