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Did Japan endorse ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19, sending cases plummeting in August 2021?

By Ed Payne
NO

COVID-19 cases did plummet in Japan after peaking in the second half of August 2021, but it had nothing to do with ivermectin. Instead, Japanese officials credit an aggressive vaccination campaign.

An online video lacks any proof when it attributes Japan's drop in cases to the introduction of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 in mid-August.

In Japan, ivermectin is not on the list of approved medical products for COVID-19, according to the country's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency. Doctors are allowed to prescribe the anti-parasitic drug for certain infections caused by internal and external parasites, but not COVID-19.

The chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association said in August that ivermectin showed promise, but he also said it needed to be studied thoroughly. That association is not a government agency and it does not represent the views of Japan's government.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Ministry of Health Labor & Welfare (Japan) Situation report — Japan
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Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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