Queen Elizabeth II is currently recovering from Covid. Photo / Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II is currently recovering from Covid. Photo / Getty Images
A segment on Australian news programme A Current Affair has fuelled a false claim on the internet that the Queen is using ivermectin to treat Covid, forcing the show's network to apologise.
Both the US Food and Drug Administration and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration strongly warn against taking the "dangerous" drug to treat the virus, but it has been championed by those against Covid vaccines.
In the programme on Monday night, A Current Affair used stock footage of Stromectol, a brand of ivermectin, as overlay when interviewee Dr Mukesh Haikerwal was talking about approved medications that can be used for high-risk Covid patients.
The segment centred around the Queen, who tested positive for the virus on Sunday.
But Dr Haikerwal, a Melbourne GP and former Australian Medical Association president, does not recommend ivermectin.
The ACA segment posted online has since been edited to remove the problematic shot and the Nine Network apologised on Tuesday.
The original report has since been deleted but it is still circulating on social media. Photo / Channel 9
"The shot was included as a result of human error," the network said in a statement.
"We were highlighting an approved infusion medication called Sotrovimab and the report accidentally cut to a shot of Stromectol – a product which contains ivermectin.
"We did not intend to suggest Dr Mukesh Hawikerwal endorsed Stromectol. We've apologised to him this morning and he has accepted that apology.
"We do not suggest the Queen is using ivermectin."
Before the segment was edited, ivermectin supporters from across the world widely circulated the clip.
One clip still being circulated on Twitter had more than two million views on Wednesday morning.
Dr Hawikerwal used Twitter to admit that the ivermectin images had been inadvertently inserted into the segment, adding he was grateful for people alerting him to the issue.
"This video has been used a lot here in Brazil by anti-vaxxers who claimed that the Queen was using ivermectin to treat Covid-19," one person wrote on Twitter to Dr Hawikerwal.
"Thank you my friend for helping to clarify this misunderstanding that is being used to spread fake news here in Brazil. Ivermectin has become a political ideology here," another wrote.
Ivermectin has been championed by those against Covid vaccines as a "miracle cure" for the virus.
But authorities have repeatedly warned against using the drug to treat Covid.
"It is very dangerous to take large doses of ivermectin and there is insufficient evidence to validate its safe and effective use for Covid-19," the TGA has said.
