I take it 'vet' in your username stands for veteran and not veterinarian. No disrespect here, quite the opposite, just noting the difference in training and perspective. Ivermectin is an antimicrobial agent, an anti-parasitic more specifically. This is important because we use it to selectively kill other organisms in order to make us healthier. Antibiotics and antivirals work the same way. The catch is that they're effectively just a selective pressure to the organisms we're killing. They're a stimulus to evolve.

We started widespread use of penicillin during WW2. It was a miracle drug. It staved off infections and saved countless lives. Within 1 year, resistant bacterial strains had evolved. Now, those 1st generation of penicillins are used only for a tiny handful of diseases. We overused the drug and the targets evolved. Nearly every drug has something that's resistant to it. As careful as we are with diagnosis now, resistance continues to evolve. That's true of bacteria and antibiotics. It's true of viruses and antivirals. Some strains of HIV, for example, are a real beast to treat. We're seeing this with our anti-fungals as well. "Life finds a way."

This can and will happen with our anti-parasitic agents, like ivermectin.

There's a reason we have a doctor see you, diagnose you, and then prescribe treatment. If we get sloppy about this, we're going to see resistance evolve rapidly and render the drugs useless. And new ones are really hard to find.

I'm not against using ivermectin. My argument is that doctors should prove you have COVID and not a cold before you take it, and if you have it for worms, then the pharmacist needs to tell you about the Mazzotti reaction, which is when this very safe drug can potentially be less so.