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Editor's Note: Happy Labor Day weekend! Assuming there isn’t a revolution in the next few days, we’ll be back in full swing Wednesday morning. Pro tip if you’re visiting family: mentioning The Flip Side is a great way to defuse tense political debates! ;)
“Comedian Joe Rogan went on social media Wednesday to inform fans he contracted COVID-19 and list the medications he took, including monoclonal antibodies, prednisone and an antiparasitic drug that has recently prompted federal health warnings… The Food and Drug Administration [FDA] and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged consumers against the use of ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment after poison control centers nationwide reported a sharp uptick in people facing serious health effects after taking animal formulations of the drug.” Fox News
Here’s some information from the FDA about ivermectin. FDA
The right acknowledges that there is little evidence ivermectin is effective at treating Covid, but also notes that it is generally safe if taken as prescribed.
“Snarking that Joe Rogan is taking a ‘horse dewormer’ for his coronavirus infection may well be (and probably is) inaccurate. In its haste to goof on Rogan for having flirted with anti-vaxxism in the past, the press is being irresponsible. And they should be called on it. But the bigger story is that seemingly many thousands of Americans are hunting around for a drug which at least 14 different studies have shown doesn’t work on COVID…
“Some meaningful number of our fellow citizens are either so allergic to medical consensus or so dug in on their antipathy to the vaccines that they’re willing to dose themselves with an unproven drug in the expectation that they’ll eventually own the smarmy pro-vax eggheads when ivermectin ends up curing their COVID… It’s true that taking normal doses of the drug won’t harm a person, but that’s not the point. What’ll harm them is encouraging or enabling their foolish decision to rely on an unproven prophylactic/treatment in lieu of getting the vaccine.”
Allahpundit, Hot Air
“We have three approved vaccines in use in the US, plus we have monoclonal antibody treatments available — which Rogan is also employing to deal with his acute infection. One could understand individuals and a few doctors experimenting with treatments when we had no tested and effective treatments available to deal with an explosive pandemic. That’s no longer the case, and we should be emphasizing the use of what we know works rather than take flyers on medicines that haven’t been demonstrated effective against any viruses, let alone COVID-19 in particular…
“In other words — get vaccinated. If you get a breakthrough infection anyway, get monoclonal antibody treatment as soon as possible. Stick to what we already know is effective. That’s the responsible approach to personal health in this pandemic.”
Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
Others argue, “we do not know whether ivermectin is an effective treatment against COVID-19. Because it’s not an anti-viral treatment, it’s very likely that it’s not effective at all. But there is also no evidence that ivermectin would harm coronavirus patients if it is prescribed in the correct dosage. So why shouldn’t patients be able to request the drug for treatment if they want?”
Kaylee McGhee White, Washington Examiner
“We do know that ivermectin can cause your body to produce a strong immune response even though it's for parasites like worms and the like… [But] A great many people in the medical community, epidemiologists, virologists, and others believe that ivermectin itself is not actually helping… That to the extent people feel benefited from it, they're getting either the placebo effect or their body was on the verge of turning the corner anyway because they had a mild case…
“So now let's take the next step. Is it the placebo effect? Maybe. Is it people who are going to turn the corner anyway? Maybe. Is it ivermectin actually did something? Maybe. Studies are still outstanding. What we do know is there are people and doctors who do believe that their patients saw the benefit…
“Why are public health officials in the media dismissing ivermectin and ridiculing people who take it? Not the horse dosage, but the doctors who say, hey, there are a lot of people out there who think this works. You've got a case of COVID. Let's get this in your system and see if it helps. Why are we ridiculing those people when they're trying to help their patients who may not be vaccinated?… If ivermectin has a shot at helping people turn the corner, why not give it to them?”
Erick-Woods Erickson, Substack
The left is critical of using ivermectin to treat Covid, arguing that there is no evidence it is effective.
The left is critical of using ivermectin to treat Covid, arguing that there is no evidence it is effective.
“Despite its surging popularity, there’s no good evidence that ivermectin is effective against the coronavirus. The largest and most reputable clinical trial to date found the drug offered no clinical benefit whatsoever, and much of what’s been sold as promising evidence to the contrary has been debunked. Meanwhile, increasing reports of emergency room visits, poison control calls, and significant side effects associated with off-label ivermectin use—largely among patients unwilling to get vaccinated against Covid-19, even as hospitalizations and deaths climb—have become downright alarming.”
Natalie Shure, New Republic
“The pro-ivermectin crowd would have you believe that the science on ivermectin is being ‘suppressed.’ It is not. Some of the largest scale scientific efforts ever have involved the study of ivermectin in Covid-19. Another claim is that the pharmaceutical industry does not want to lose potential profits to a relatively cheap, older drug. This claim conveniently ignores the fact that one of the only drugs with good evidence for use in Covid-19 is dexamethasone, a cheap, old drug that has been implemented worldwide during this pandemic…
“Groups of contrarian physicians have emerged to promote ‘cures’ without adding any evidence, and despite names like ‘America’s Front Line Doctors’ and ‘Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance,’ their members often do not work clinically — meaning they do not actually have credentials to practice medicine in any hospital settings — and do not treat Covid-19 patients.”
Dr. Ryan Marino, NBC News Think
“These fringe groups of contrarian physicians are small and have damning track records. America’s Front Line Doctors is reported to be involved in fraudulent business practices involving charging people and failing to deliver on prescriptions and consultations… And the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology dropped a study by the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance after it was discovered that the authors made unsubstantiated claims…
“So why are these groups trusted? They have unique credibility with hard-core right-wingers and anti-vaxxers. The founder of America’s Front Line Doctors entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6… And the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance has gotten support from anti-vaccination activists online and in the podcast world… This matters because it suggests that vulgar hostility to science isn’t the only culprit in communities resistant to the vaccines…
“There’s a desire, even among those on the fringe of mainstream beliefs about medicine, for technical information, insider knowledge and some kind of expertise… the desire to opt out of mainstream public health norms doesn’t mean that everyone opposed to the vaccines fails to appreciate the dangers of Covid-19. It means that there’s a search for an alternative solution to the government-backed vaccines —which requires turning to sources who have perceived ideological credibility. This has substantial implications for how we go about trying to persuade those resisting the vaccines.”
Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC
“Earlier this week, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who is an ophthalmologist, argued that ‘hatred for Trump’ was hindering ivermectin research. Actually, Sen. Paul is who’s hindering ivermectin research: He voted against the March stimulus bill that included funding for the NIH ACTIV-6 trial, which is studying ivermectin. And the researchers I spoke to last week were worried about exactly the opposite dynamic: At this point, many Americans are just taking ivermectin instead of enrolling in trials for potential COVID treatments.”
Kiera Butler, Mother Jones
