In October of 2021, CCCA’s Pharmaceuticals Task Force wrote to several provincial Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons and Colleges of Pharmacy expressing deep concerns about these Colleges’ declarations of interest to restrict doctors from prescribing ivermectin for COVID-19, and to prevent pharmacists from filling said prescriptions. In its 12-page letter to these Colleges, the CCCA presented detailed background information on the safety-in-use, efficacy, and medical-experts’ endorsements of ivermectin as an important component in early outpatient treatment protocols for COVID-19. The CCCA’s October letter warned of growing evidence of waning efficacy of the vaccines and predicted that this would lead to rising hospitalizations and thus there was an urgent need to have multiple approaches to helping Canadians avoid COVID-related hospitalizations and death. The CCCA letter also decried the Colleges’ interference in the doctor-patient relationship and the pharmacist’s right to dispense. When commensurate responses from the Colleges were not received, the CCCA contacted the Attorneys General in each province, asking for their legal opinion on the subject. The CCCA was subsequently advised that Attorneys General do not respond to public requests and referred the CCCA back to the Colleges. The CCCA encourages Canadians to view the letter, share it with their local government official, pressing them to support the CCCA’s efforts to improve the standards for early at-home treatment of COVID-19. Withholding at-home treatment has already resulted in unnecessary illness and death and continuing to do so after nearly 19 months of cumulative data is unconscionable.
