After Virginia’s Senate Health and Education Committee voted to push discussions on SB 73 indefinitely, one advocacy group is asking the committee to reconsider the vote.
“Senate Bill 73Â provides licensed health care providers with prescriptive authority to prescribe, administer, or dispense Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin to a patient with a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19,” Joshua Daniel Pratt, MDiv., the executive director for Virginia-based Alliance For Free Citizens wrote to the committee.
“The bill would prohibit the Board of Medicine from initiating a disciplinary action against a licensed health care provider solely for prescribing, administering, or dispensing hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin to a patient with a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19, provided such clinical diagnosis and treatment has been documented in the patient’s medical record by such licensed health care provider,” he continued.
On January 20, the committee voted to pass by indefinitely on SB 73, meaning that it will either reconsider it at a later date, or the bill will fail. The committee is headed by Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-District 18), who was the main addressee of the letter.
Alliance For Free Citizens, whose general counsel is former Kansas gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach, is urging the Health and Education Committee to reconsider the bill before it fails.
The group says there is a legal and scientific basis for passing the bill.
“On March 26, 2015, the Virginia Right To Try Act (HB1750) became law with unanimous bipartisan support,” the letter said. “The act allowed for the use of experimental medications (medications that have not been approved by the FDA) for treating disease.”
In any case, it claims, Ivermectin is not an experimental drug.
The group cited a new peer-reviewed Brazilian study proving the efficacy of the widely-used drug as a prophylactic treatment for COVID-19.
“On January 15, 2022, Brazilian scientists released peer reviewed results of an observational study of the citywide COVID-19 prevention with Ivermectin program, which was conducted between July 2020 and December 2020 in ItajaÃ, Brazil,” according to the release.
“Based on the studies suggesting efficacy in prophylaxis, combined with the known safety profile of Ivermectin, a citywide prevention program using Ivermectin for COVID-19 was implemented in ItajaÃ, a southern city in Brazil in the state of Santa Catarina,” it says. “The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of regular Ivermectin use on subsequent COVID-19 infection and mortality rates.”
The group says the study showed that using Ivermectin decreased participants’ chances of contracting COVID-19 by 44 percent, decreased hospitalizations by 56 percent and decreased mortality rates by 68 percent.
“Senator Lucas and Committee Members, please reconsider your decision to let SB73 die on the table. The suffering of Virginians who have contracted COVID-19 can be reduced and in most cases eliminated,” the letter said. “The data is clear, the science is true, hospitalization and mortality rates will drop with the use of Ivermectin as a treatment option for the disease caused by the COVID-19 virus. Virginians have the ‘Right to Try’ under current law. You, Senator, are the one who is standing in their way to choose life and exercise their right to medical freedom.”
The letter was sent on the heels of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoking authorization of monoclonal antibody treatment as a therapeutic for COVID-19.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ivermectin” by mariolayaquerevalu. Background Photo “Ivermectin” by mariolayaquereval.
