Title:Self-medication during the Era of COVID-19; Potential Implications for
Drug Policy Makers and Pharmacovigilance
Volume: 18
Issue: 2
Author(s): Tauqeer Hussain Mallhi*, Yusra Habib Khan, Muhammad Hammad Butt and Muhammad Salman
Affiliation:
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Al-Jouf Province, Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia
Keywords:
COVID-19, drug repurposing, self-medication, adverse effects, conspiracy theories, safety profile.
Abstract: The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak is marked by infodemic amid conspiracy
theories, false claims, rumors, and misleading narratives, which have had a significant impact
on the global campaign against COVID-19. The drug repurposing provides a hope to curb the
growing encumbrance of the disease but at the same time, it poses various challenges such as selfmedication
using repurposed drugs and its associated harms. During the continuing pandemic, this
perspective piece explores the potential hazards of self-medication and its attributing factors along
with possible countermeasures.