Let's make Ivermectin an Approved COVID-19 treatment

DISCLAIMER: This petition does not address vaccines or vaccine passports. The scope of this petition is about COVID-19 treatments approved for Saskatchewan and Canada.

WHEREAS it is now known that the probability of contracting and transmitting COVID-19 may be approximately the same for vaccinated and unvaccinated persons though vaccinated persons may experience reduced symptoms;

WHEREAS reduced symptoms and lack of awareness in COVID-19 vaccinated persons could potentially over time increase the number of transmitted infections and if that is the case, COVID-19 treatments will be required for some time to come;

WHEREAS current Health Canada approved treatments for COVID-19 are costly, in limited supply and must be administered in healthcare facilities only; https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/covid19-industry/drugs-vaccines-treatments/treatments.html
-> Remdesivir - Health Canada approved July 27, 2020. Cost is $500+ per dose.
-> Bamlanivimab (“Monoclonal antibodies”) - Health Canada authorized November 20, 2020 under Interim Order. Cost is $2,000 +/- per treatment.
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-services-procurement/news/2020/11/government-of-canada-signs-new-agreement-for-a-COVID-19-antibody-therapy0.html
-> Casirivimab and imdevimab - authorized June 9, 2021. Cost $1,250 USD per treatment.
https://covid-vaccine.canada.ca/casirivimab-and-imdevimab/product-details
-> Sotrovimab - authorized July 30, 2021. Cost $2,100 USD per treatment.
https://covid-vaccine.canada.ca/sotrovimab/product-details
Note: Costs of health professionals and hospital are not included above.

WHEREAS U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Library of Medicine international clinical trials for Health Canada approved treatments for COVID-19 as of October 18, 2021 show a high number of adverse effects;
-> Remdesivir - NIH clinical trials show 29 completed studies with only 4 reporting results - and the results were reported after the Health Canada approval date July 27, 2020.
---> Of 8000 participants, there were thousands of adverse effects like kidney and liver toxicity in 5% to 43% of participants in sample groups.
---> All trials reported deaths and All-Cause Mortality was 907 of 8000 participants (11%).
---> Success was measured in participants discharged from hospital (not PCR test) on or before day 11. Success rate was 30-50% in sample trials.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=COVID-19&term=Remdesivir+&cntry=&state=&city=&dist=&Search=Search&recrs=e NOTE: Clinical trial NCT04523831 shows in Remdesivir NIH search list but the trial is actually for Ivermectin.
-> Bamlanivimab (“Monoclonal antibodies”) - NIH clinical trials show 25 completed studies with only 1 reporting results in April 2021 (i.e. after November 2020 Health Canada Interim Order authorization).
---> Of 29 participants in High Dose/ Low Dose Intervention groups, there were 11 participants (38%) with adverse effects including Arrhythmia and Acute respiratory distress syndrome.
---> The 1 reporting trial showed All-Cause Mortality of 4 of 29 participants (14%).
---> Success was measured in improvement of two points or more on the ordinal scale or discharge from hospital (not PCR test) by day 14. Success rate was 55%.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/results/NCT04365153?term=Monoclonal+antibodies&recrs=e&cond=COVID-19&draw=2&rank=22 ;
- > Casirivimab and imdevimab - NIH trials show 3 completed studies and none reporting.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=COVID-19&term=Casirivimab&cntry=&state=&city=&dist=&Search=Search&recrs=e
-> Sotrovimab - NIH trials show no completed studies.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=COVID-19&term=Sotrovimab&cntry=&state=&city=&dist=&Search=Search&recrs=e

WHEREAS U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Library of Medicine international clinical trials for Ivermectin treatment for COVID-19 as of October 18, 2021 show 26 clinical trials completed with 10 reporting results including trial NCT04523831 (in Remdesivir search) and there were few adverse effects;
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=COVID-19&term=ivermectin&cntry=&state=&city=&dist=&Search=Search&recrs=e
--> The 10 reporting trials reported All-Cause Mortality of 8 of 921 participants (1%). Only 3 of the 10 trials had mortalities.
--> 3 trials reported 246 of 247 participants (99%) had negative PCR test within 4 weeks.
--> 4 trials reported 495 of 583 participants (85%) had improvement in oxygen, breathing and symptoms in 7 to 14 days.

WHEREAS Ivermectin is “approved or under evaluation” by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services National Institutes of Health (NIH) as per Table 2e. https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/tables/table-2e ;

WHEREAS Ivermectin has been in use since the 1980’s after being discovered in the late 1970s and has had an “immeasurably beneficial impact in improving the lives and welfare of billions of people throughout the world… and it has also been used to successfully overcome several other human diseases and new uses for it are continually being found”;
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043740

WHEREAS the costs of Ivermectin per treatment and therefore on jurisdiction budgets are significantly lower than approved COVID-19 treatments; and Ivermectin has been available over the counter for many years in other jurisdictions like Central America, South America and Africa;

WHEREAS front line health professionals have worked tirelessly the past 18 plus months with expensive, limited supply approved treatments which has caused a high number of hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths; and it would be prudent and most effective for policy makers to support health professionals in treating COVID-19 patients to the best of their collaborative experience and front line knowledge of patients and treatments;

WHEREAS other jurisdictions using Ivermectin as part of a COVID-19 treatment protocol have shown reductions in COVID-19 cases per capita, reductions in hospitalizations and ICU admissions and reductions in deaths per COVID-19 case; including for example, jurisdictions like the state of Uttar Pradesh in India and Latin American countries;

WHEREAS other jurisdictions with early and high vaccine adoption per capita have shown declines in vaccine effectiveness over time, and therefore COVID-19 treatment is still required;
-> Britain did a study with “more than three million nose and throat swabs” found significant effectiveness decline 90 days after a second shot; 2021-August-19 report...
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/british-study-shows-covid-19-vaccine-efficacy-wanes-under-delta-2021-08-18
-> Israel in a July 2021 report from the Ministry of Health found Covid-19 vaccines are just 39% effective in Israel, where the Delta variant is the dominant strain;
https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2021/08/11/israels-recent-surge-confirms-we-need-a-multimodal-strategy-to-fight-covid-19

WHEREAS the SARS-CoV-2 has a high probability of mutating as viruses have done for thousands of years; and although virus mutations typically decline in function, treatments will still be required for years to come;

WE THE CITIZENS of Saskatchewan and Canada ask Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Saskatchewan Chief Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab to pursue every legal recourse (including new clinical trials) to implement Ivermectin as an approved COVID-19 treatment.

If approval for Ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment cannot be done at the provincial level, we ask that Premier Moe and Dr. Shahab request approval from Health Canada and/or other regulatory bodies.

If approval for Ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment cannot be done at the federal level, WE THE CITIZENS of Saskatchewan and Canada request that Members of Parliament be called on to request a Federal Inquiry into COVID-19 treatment approvals including the process, payments and stakeholders involved in the process. The Inquiry should address any potential conflicts of interest in terms of monetary or career incentives for all stakeholders including Health Canada officials, the Chief Health Officer of Canada, the Prime Minister of Canada and others.