Local Pharmacist Warns Oklahomans Against Unapproved Iodine Ingestion For Treating COVID-19

Medical officials said they're seeing a new trend of people ingesting iodine as a COVID-19 treatment.

Experts said this isn't an issue yet, but they are warning Oklahomans of its dangers.

Dr. Dani Lynch with Thrift Pharmacy said it's surprising the questions she gets regarding COVID-19.

“You'll have people wanting to use silver products. You know, anything antiseptic and just wild stuff that their grandmothers have come up with or decided that it will help and most of it is not harmful, but all of it's not helpful,” Lynch said.

An antiseptic that's becoming a trend now is iodine.

“If you've had surgery on your leg, that's what they've used on it is betadine to scrub that down, and people have decided they're going to gargle with this or swallow it for it to prevent COVID. It will not prevent COVID. It will not help in any way that any studies have shown whatsoever,” Lynch said.

The Oklahoma Center for Poison and Drug Information said they haven't had any cases of people using iodine to cure COVID-19. Lynch said she hasn't received any calls either, and she hopes it stays that way.

“If they think they have COVID in their throat that that's going to kill it, that's very dangerous. I mean, you could become toxic on iodine. You can have kidney problems. I mean, it could get very serious if you were to drink enough,” Lynch said.

Lynch said zinc has been proven to help, but she encourages everyone to talk to a medical expert before making any decisions.

Lynch said she's still getting calls regarding ivermectin and that she’s considering taking it off the shelves.