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A federal Liberal MP who has refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 has used parliament to promote a drug not approved for treating the virus.
Key points:
- Russell Broadbent says he will not be vaccinated against COVID-19
- While promoting its use, he has not confirmed how he accessed ivermectin
- The Therapeutic Goods Administration last year banned the drug as a treatment for the virus
Victorian backbencher Russell Broadbent contracted COVID-19 last month and said he "wasn't too worried" at the time.
"My health advice over the last 12 months has had me on had me on vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc and B1 and other supplements to improve my immune system," he told Parliament.
"I also had access to ivermectin, which [my wife and I] both immediately went on as soon as I tested positive."
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) placed restrictions on who could access oral ivermectin last year, as its popularity grew among COVID-19 conspiracy campaigners.
GPs can now only write scripts for patients who have TGA-approved conditions, such as scabies and certain parasitic infections.
Specialists — such as infectious disease physicians and dermatologists — are also able to prescribe ivermectin, but only for conditions that are not related to COVID-19.
In a statement issued in September, the TGA said it introduced the new rules due to concerns about the drug being used to try to treat COVID-19.
"Ivermectin is not approved for use in COVID-19 in Australia or in other developed countries, and its use by the general public for COVID-19 is currently strongly discouraged by the National COVID Clinical Evidence Taskforce, the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration," the statement said.
"The doses of ivermectin that are being advocated for use in unreliable social media posts and other sources for COVID-19 are significantly higher than those approved, and found safe, for scabies or parasite treatment.
"These higher doses can be associated with serious adverse effects, including severe nausea, vomiting, dizziness, neurological effects such as dizziness, seizures and coma."
Mr Broadbent is not the first government politician to promote the use of ivermectin, with Queensland backbencher George Christensen also claiming it should be used to treat COVID-19.
He was pulled into line by the Prime Minister last month after suggesting parents should not get their children vaccinated.
"If you are not vaccinated against the virus, you are more likely to experience severe illness and die," Mr Morrison said in a statement in January.
"Getting vaccinated saves lives."
In recent weeks, thousands of anti-vaccine mandate protesters have recently descended on Canberra.
Mr Broadbent, who said he had no intention of getting vaccinated, referenced those complaining about the government's health rules.
"I believed I had actually done the right thing and protected my body in the way that I wanted to protect it," he told parliament.
"The choice that all of those demonstrators were talking about, choice and freedom, and not having [mandates] imposed upon them by politicians in this place, and others, [affecting] things that they do."
About 94 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older are fully vaccinated.
The ABC has asked Mr Broadbent how he obtained ivermectin but he has not yet responded and the Prime Minister's Office has been asked for comment.
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