ICYMI: Rep. Andy Harris Personally Prescribed Ivermectin, Continues to Spread Pandemic Misinformation

Rep. Andy Harris has admitted to personally prescribing ivermectin, a drug used to treat parasitic worms, most commonly in animals, which is being falsely promoted to the general public as a COVID-19 treatment by extremist conservatives.

According to the Washington Post: 

Harris made the comments during a call-in radio program that he and his wife, Nicole, co-hosted last month on WCBM, an AM radio station in the Baltimore area.

“I wrote a prescription for ivermectin, I guess it’s now three weeks ago, four weeks ago, and yeah, couldn’t find a pharmacy to fill it,” he said on the Casey & Company show Sept. 17. “It’s gotten bad. … The pharmacists are just refusing to fill it.”

Harris made the comments in response to a call from “Ronnie,” a 63-year-old man who said he and his 56-year-old wife had opted not to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

The agency also indicated that “currently available data do not show ivermectin is effective against COVID-19.”

The Post story goes on to note that Harris previously said people “should be able to go to the grocery store and get hydroxychloroquine,” another prescription drug falsely promoted for the treatment of COVID-19, in addition to railing against vaccines and mask mandates that have proven effective in battling the pandemic.

The full three-hour unhinged program that Congressman Harris hosted is available online here.

“Vulnerable Republican Andy Harris seems to have made it his prime objective in Congress to spread pandemic misinformation that threatens to harm Marylanders, including personally prescribing ivermectin to his patients against FDA recommendations,” said DCCC spokesperson Abel Iraola. “It’s clear he’s not fit to be a medical professional, let alone a member of Congress. Congressman Harris should retire and stick to doing radio shows.”