Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe's chief health officer promoted ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19.
False. The claim appears to be a misattribution of comments made by the chair of a non-government Tokyo medical body after Mr Abe left office.
A self-described “free speech” advocate has attempted to link assassinated former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to debunked claims anti-parasitic drug ivermectin can be used to treat COVID-19.
Joel Jammal, who runs the Turning Point Australia Facebook page, claims Mr Abe’s “chief health officer” told people in Japan to take ivermectin, a move Mr Jammal said was “inspired” by Mr Abe’s leadership.
The claim is false. It appears to be based on a misattribution of comments made by the chairman of the Tokyo Metropolitan Medical Association, an independent medical body with no formal ties to the Japanese government.
Ivermectin has never been approved in Japan as a treatment for COVID-19. The drug has repeatedly proven to be ineffective – and potentially dangerous – as a COVID-19 treatment.
Mr Jammal made the claim in a Facebook video on July 10, referring to ivermectin as “ivy”, a colloquial shorthand name for the drug, as used here, here and here.
“Really interesting fact about Shinzo Abe. I won’t say the word but you know ‘ivy’, that some people used to treat COVID? Well, that was something that Shinzo Abe’s chief health officer over there actually encouraged people to take across the whole country. So I don’t know if...
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