Liberal MP Russell Broadbent, who is not vaccinated against COVID-19, said he took ivermectin, a banned horse dewormer, when he contracted the coronavirus last month.
Mr Broadbent, from Monash headquarters in the south east of the Victorian state, made the revelation to Parliament this afternoon to underline his support for the anti-vaccine protesters who gathered in Canberra over the weekend .
Russell Broadbent is pictured in Parliament in November last year.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“All these protesters were talking about choice, about freedom,” Mr Broadbent said.
Mr Broadbent said he was not worried about his diagnosis of COVID-19 on January 21, due to the various vitamins and supplements he was taking. He said he also took the horse dewormer ivermectin for five days.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has banned the off-label prescription of ivermectin, citing the public health risk and national shortages created by increased prescriptions.
Ivermectin is not approved by the TGA as an antiviral treatment for humans, but has been approved for other human treatments
Mr Broadbent is among a growing number of Conservative MPs to criticize vaccine mandates, including United Australia Party leader Craig Kelly and Queensland National Liberal George Christensen.
“I’m not vaccinated and I won’t be vaccinated because my view of being vaccinated was just as high as the risk I was taking of catching the virus itself,” Mr Broadbent said.
“I had to make a decision, I made a decision on my behalf.”
COVID-19 vaccinations significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death and the health risks associated with vaccinations are extremely rare.
With Rachel Eddie
