The Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of ivermectin, an antiparasitic medication, to treat or prevent COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Ivermectin is approved for human use only to treat some conditions caused by parasites, such as intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis, head lice, and skin conditions. 

Although the National Institutes of Health counts over 70 studies evaluating the safety and effectiveness of ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19 in humans, the FDA says “currently available data do not show ivermectin is effective against COVID-19,” and using the medication for this purpose in humans or animals “can be highly dangerous” in some instances.

Yet, at a town hall, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said the drug was not officially available because researchers were “unwilling to objectively study” the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 out of “hatred” for former President Donald Trump. 

“The hatred for Trump deranged these people so much that they’re unwilling to objectively study it,” Paul told constituents on Friday, Aug. 27, after a woman asked why ivermectin wasn’t more available, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s report of the gathering. “So someone like me that’s in the middle on it, I can’t tell you because they will not study ivermectin.”

In a subsequent opinion piece published by the Enquirer on Sept. 8, Paul said the paper did not report what he said “accurately.” He said his point was that “we don’t yet know the full story on whether” ivermectin “is effective,” and he acknowledged the drug was in “several studies including a Phase 3 trial for COVID right now.” “I never recommended anyone take Ivermectin,” he wrote.