The study, published last Jan. 15 in the journal Cureus, involved more than 220,000 residents of Itajai city in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. All of them were offered ivermectin between July and December 2020 as part of a citywide prophylaxis program against COVID-19.

About 3.7 percent of Itajai residents who caught COVID-19 during the study period were taking ivermectin. This was considerably less than the number of people (6.6 percent) who contracted it and were not taking ivermectin.

The study also found that when used as a prophylactic, ivermectin caused a 90 percent reduction in COVID-19 deaths among Itajai's population. It also found that ivermectin reduced COVID-19 infections by 44 percent in those who took it as a preventive medication.

Study co-author and endocrinologist Dr. Flavio Cadegiani told Epoch Times in an email that ivermectin "must be considered as an option, particularly during [COVID-19] outbreaks." He and the other authors backed this up in their study, citing ivermectin's "well established long-term safety profile with rare adverse effects."

"We recommend that ivermectin be considered as a preventive strategy, in particular for those at a higher risk of complications from COVID-19 or contracting the illness," they wrote.