Why People Distrust Science. Another Example.
Right now there is another drug out there that certain people are ridiculing doctors for prescribing. Pretty soon that ridicule will turn to punishment. It was for hydroxychloroquine. Now I am hearing that pharmacies are being told NOT to fill the Rx for it. The drug is called Ivermectin.
I am not going to go into detail on this drug. But here is the FDA’s brilliant post:
“There is absolutely no evidence that ivermectin is beneficial for COVID-19 prevention or treatment.”
I have always been told in medicine not to use the words always or never. The above quote was from our friend, and noble liar, Dr. Anthony Fauci. The above items are strong statements. They are also horseshit.
Here is a recent article in the American Journal of Therapeutics called Review of the Emerging Evidence Demonstrating the Efficacy of Ivermectin in the Prophylaxis and Treatment of COVID-19. Here is their abstract:
Abstract
Background:
After COVID-19 emerged on U.S shores, providers began reviewing the emerging basic science, translational, and clinical data to identify potentially effective treatment options. In addition, a multitude of both novel and repurposed therapeutic agents were used empirically and studied within clinical trials.
Areas of Uncertainty:
The majority of trialed agents have failed to provide reproducible, definitive proof of efficacy in reducing the mortality of COVID-19 with the exception of corticosteroids in moderate to severe disease. Recently, evidence has emerged that the oral antiparasitic agent ivermectin exhibits numerous antiviral and anti-inflammatory mechanisms with trial results reporting significant outcome benefits. Given some have not passed peer review, several expert groups including Unitaid/World Health Organization have undertaken a systematic global effort to contact all active trial investigators to rapidly gather the data needed to grade and perform meta-analyses.
Data Sources:
Data were sourced from published peer-reviewed studies, manuscripts posted to preprint servers, expert meta-analyses, and numerous epidemiological analyses of regions with ivermectin distribution campaigns.
Therapeutic Advances:
A large majority of randomized and observational controlled trials of ivermectin are reporting repeated, large magnitude improvements in clinical outcomes. Numerous prophylaxis trials demonstrate that regular ivermectin use leads to large reductions in transmission. Multiple, large “natural experiments” occurred in regions that initiated “ivermectin distribution” campaigns followed by tight, reproducible, temporally associated decreases in case counts and case fatality rates compared with nearby regions without such campaigns.
Conclusions:
Meta-analyses based on 18 randomized controlled treatment trials of ivermectin in COVID-19 have found large, statistically significant reductions in mortality, time to clinical recovery, and time to viral clearance. Furthermore, results from numerous controlled prophylaxis trials report significantly reduced risks of contracting COVID-19 with the regular use of ivermectin. Finally, the many examples of ivermectin distribution campaigns leading to rapid population-wide decreases in morbidity and mortality indicate that an oral agent effective in all phases of COVID-19 has been identified.
Let’s let me make a few points here:
- I am not pushing for ivermectin for everyone. I have no skin in the game.
- Meta-analyses are not perfect but we use them for a lot of other drugs that are prescribed.
- This research paper is NOT the end-all, be-all for ivermectin. But NO evidence, Dr Fauci?
- I do not want people taking medicines without a doctor’s rx.
- I do not vouch for this journal though I do know one of the authors.
My point in this blog post is that NO ONE should outwardly dismiss ivermectin. This is not about politics. This is about science. And this is why no one trusts science anymore. Why would the FDA and Fauci dismiss this drug? Are there ulterior motives? It now makes me wonder.
And now it even makes me distrust science as well, especially when it is represented by Fauci, the FDA, the CDC, and the WHO.
Bingo.
Something I think you may be missing in your analysis is that the government is not just dealing with intelligent, educated, medically knowledgeable people. They are dealing with almost 2 years of morons on youtube touting the latest “cure” for covid. From downing a handful of zinc tablets chased with quinine water, to sunlight, vitamin D, drinking bleach, shining a bright light up your ass, and now among the latest mix, ivermectin. Yes, dosed and used correctly it can be a benefit. But farm supply stores are selling out of the animal version to yahoos who think that “if it works for Ol’ Bessie, then it will work for me”. These people aren’t going to their PCP and receiving a correct Rx. They buy the BIG container of Sheep DeWormer and a straw. They figure if 10mg is good, then 20mg is even better. “Bring the kids in here Ma. Let’s fix them up too.” And when it all breaks down, they believe the vaccine is a plot by the government to poison them or inject a computer chip, and they refuse to get one. They rush to the local Tractor Supply Store to buy a jug of ivermectin. The lunacy out there is baffling. They believe this is REAL science and when they hear propaganda on whatever news report they listen to telling them that Fauci is a liar and should be disregarded, they turn to treatments that will most likely harm them and their family.
Apparently, ivermectin has been a topic for over a year now as I found reading this :
https://www.isglobal.org/en/healthisglobal/-/custom-blog-portlet/questions-and-answers-about-ivermectin-and-covid-19/2877257/0
If ivermectin is a good tx for Covid, then let’s do it right and stop all these morons from overdosing themselves and killing their families.
Did you not read what I wrote? See the bullet points at the bottom.
No one said to drink bleach, and Fauci IS a disgusting liar. You are conflating ignorant actions with corruption, and that is precisely why the “experts” are legitimately mistrusted.
I wrote prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine until it was proved (by good science, not just pharma) to be unhelpful. Pharma has a vested interest in mocking alternatives – and they control the fda and now it seems the cdc as well. I don’t hear those groups mocking remdesivir (which didn’t help and actually made things worse). I write ivermectin for treatment, but not prophylaxis. For prophylaxis it might keep some from vaccinating by letting them feel protected – and that would be harm I caused. For treatment, there is no harm and a potential for help, so sure, I try it. The more the FDA and CDC and White House mock the non-vaccinators, the further they are pushing them away from vaccinating. I have patients on both sides of this fence, I have had vaccinated and unvaccinated patients die from this. I wish science would make a come back.
What has not be disputed or discredited is that ivermectin does have in-vitro activity against COVID. So why are most of the studies on COVID-19 being done in poor countries which are least equipped to perform good quality studies? Because we are hogging all of the vaccines that will provide the greatest protection because we can afford them. Unfortunately there are a lot of stupid people in the US who have no common sense. Really, you are going to go to the horse feed store, buy ivermectin, evidently guess how much to take (because they can’t do the math to calculate the dose) and end up overdosing. So what do you do to protect these people….scare the shit out of them and I think this why the CDC makes seemingly stupid statements that people with common sense see right through.
I love this blog. It’s about the only one left that hasn’t gone “woke”.
“Bactrim, a combination antibiotic, was approved by the FDA in 1973. Dr. Walter Hughes successfully treated PCP in people suffering from other conditions that cause defects in T-cell immunity, such as certain types of leukemia, with Bactrim in the 1970s. Frontline doctors began using it with demonstrated benefits in patients suffering from PCP to treat and prevent the infection. Between 1987 and 1989, doctors and activists pleaded with Dr. Fauci to publicize their success broadly using his platform as the unofficial HIV czar to save lives.
According to Sean Strub, author of Body Counts, A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival, Fauci’s attitude toward existing treatments with known efficacy and safety was difficult to understand:
Richard Jefferys wrote in 2001 that Fauci “went as far as telling activists attending a 1987 meeting that there was no data to suggest PCP prophylaxis was beneficial and that it may, in fact be dangerous.” Fauci’s close colleague, Dr. Samuel Broder, who was head of the National Cancer Institute, even suggested — in the absence of any evidence at all — that the newly introduced antiretroviral, AZT, would make prophylaxis against PCP redundant!”
One source, not the burning bush, but… https://pjmedia.com/columns/stacey-lennox/2021/05/27/how-was-dr-fauci-put-in-charge-based-on-his-historical-performance-during-the-hiv-epidemic-n1450046
I used to like this blog.
Because you don’t like free speech? I didn’t even give my opinion on the use of the drug yet you no longer like the blog. Wow.
I have prescribed ivermectin for head lice, as I would bet many of us have. I don’t think it does much of anything for COVID but it’s frustrating to see it depicted by the FDA as a veterinary drug, We saw the same phenomenon with hydroxychloroquine, a drug that has been safely used for RA for decades but was depicted by the press as extremely dangerous.