The Colossal Ivermectin Clusterfuck

[Celerity]

How social media companies helped Anti-vaxxers and Right Wingers promote a horse de wormer as a treatment for Covid.

https://thebanter.substack.com/p/the-colossal-ivermectin-clusterfk



Anti-vaxxers, MAGA supporters, and wellness influencers share one thing in common: a deeply held belief that something is awry with Covid-19. The views in these communities range from the absurd (Covid isn’t real/vaccines have microchips, etc) to the mildly conspiratorial (Covid isn’t that bad/the vaccines don’t work and so on.) I happen to know people from all of these communities and have had to make the difficult decision to cut many of them out of my life. The militant anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers were first to go, followed by those attacking public health officials and frontline medical workers. Covid-19 didn’t turn these people into irresponsible narcissists, it just revealed their true colours. There are however other communities questioning the origins of Covid, the efficacy of the vaccines, and promoting alternative cures that are far more sophisticated and intelligent. They believe there is a “mainstream narrative” about Covid, and a far murkier truth that is actively being suppressed by the government in collusion with Big Pharma and the media. This community in particular is spreading a new fake “cure” for Covid that has taken off at an alarming speed, helped in part by social media companies that have tried to censor it. Welcome to the Ivermectin Clusterfuck.

Conspiracy adjacent

The narrative being spread in what could be called “conspiracy adjacent” communities goes something like this: Covid-19 is a lab created virus that broke out in a US funded lab in Wuhan. The media and the government have worked in tandem to suppress this information. Vaccines are far more dangerous than the government wants you to think, and there are also several effective cures for Covid that Big Pharma that the government/Big Pharma don’t want you to know about because it will negatively impact them financially. The more I have delved into this alternative narrative and the accompanying evidence, the more important I think it is to engage with it. Why? Because many of the quack cures and disinformation spreading online aren’t necessarily coming from the insane fringes of conspiracy land. They are coming from the less crazy conspiracy theorists who are promoting a narrative backed by seemingly credible science and reputable sources. There is a long list of scam cures that have been touted by conspiracy theorists as a treatment for Covid-19. From ingesting bleach to “homeopathic immunization pellets” and hydroxychloroquine, the internet is awash with bogus information on effective “cures” for Covid. The problem is, some of these treatments have more credibility than others, leading to more confusion as they infiltrate the public’s consciousness via our social media feeds. The tech companies are then left to determine what is and isn’t legitimate, leading to unnecessary censorship that helps fuel more conspiracy theories.

Horse dewormer to the rescue!

One apparent cure for Covid being touted by Anti-vaxxers and Right is a drug named ‘Ivermectin’, an anti-parasitic used to treat horses for worm infections. The major proponent of Ivermectin is an evolutionary biologist and podcaster named Bret Weinstein. Weinstein has claimed that Covid vaccines are unsafe and that Ivermectin is close to “100% effective at stopping you catching Covid.” As investigative journalist David Fuller writes:



Weinstein is an interesting character with impeccable credentials so his claims are worth taking seriously. Is Ivermectin effective against Covid? Does it, as Weinstein ally Tucker Carlson suggested, “moot the usage of and potentially the ability to administer the U.S. coronavirus vaccines currently active under the Food & Drug Administration's Emergency Use Authorization”? Is there a grand conspiracy to censor it? This is worth examining more closely.

What is Ivermectin and does it work?

Ivermectin is an approved drug by the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration. It is primarily used as a dewormer for horses, but in much lower doses can be used to treat people with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis (conditions that are caused by parasitic worms), and to a lesser extent topically for head lice and rosacea. Ivermectin has also been widely used in several countries to treat Covid-19. In countries like Malaysia where the vaccines are hard to come by, Ivermectin is sold by pharmacists and online as a cure for Covid. Proponents of Ivermectin believe it has profound effects on Covid patients, and can even prevent people from getting it. These beliefs appear to be based on early studies that showed promise for the drug, and a great deal of disinformation. Reports Vice:



snip


Misleading posts touting ivermectin as Covid-19 treatment distort results of preliminary Australian study

https://factcheck.afp.com/http%253A%252F%252Fdoc.afp.com%252F9DG443-1


What to know about a pro-ivermectin group’s study touting the drug versus COVID-19

https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/jun/30/what-know-about-pro-ivermectin-groups-study-toutin/

Another meta-analysis, published June 28, arrived at an opposite conclusion.

That study was led by a University of Connecticut researcher and appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, a publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. It found that in comparison to standard of care or placebo, ivermectin "did not reduce all-cause mortality." The study concluded saying that the drug "is not a viable option to treat COVID-19 patients."

[viva la]

1. I saw a Facebook post claiming an ivermectin study

Said there was "1 in trillion chance ivermectin doesn't cure covid."

These people think medical studies state things like that.

[Celerity]

2. this link shreds that meta-analysis in the American Journal of Therapeutics that the RW is pushing

https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/jun/30/what-know-about-pro-ivermectin-groups-study-toutin/

[Ohio Joe]

3. Cultists believe what the cult tells them to believe

Reason and facts just don't matter to them.

[Johnny2X2X]

4. It's just another damaging myth

This stuff has been making its way around right wing circles for years now. Next door neighbor has stage 4 liver and bladder cancer, a lady in her church group told her that de-wormer cures cancer and her friend stopped chemo and took it instead and is still alive 3 years later with cancer when they told her it was terminal.

So my next door neighbor stopped her chemo a few months ago and was taking de-wormer. Ambulance took her away last week, but she's back home now for what seems like end of life care. She has a nurse there and her family all around her for her last weeks/days on earth. It's just sad, she's a good person who just believes what people in church say/

[Celerity]

5. The woman who talked her into stopping chemo and start de-wormers is a murderer.

[BlueWavePsych]

6. Good news, bad news ...

[anamnua]

7. I am actually a medic

And covid treatment is part of my remit. Apropos ivermectin, I am an agnostic. It may work and the jury is still out. A number of randomised controlled trials, still in progress, will decide the issue. IVM is more than just a vetinery drug. It is used to treat a number of tropical diseases.

[madville]

9. There are some large controlled studies being done now

I believe Brazil is currently conducting a large trial testing it with several thousand people. It may have some benefit, it may not, we’ll see. If it proves to have some benefit, that’s a good thing, another tool in the fight.

The danger here is people forgoing other treatments or vaccines because they think the tube of horse dewormer at feed store is a miracle cure.

[anamnua]

11. Fair enough.

Unfortunately opinion on IVM tends to be polarised — some seeing it as a cure-all being denied to mankind by a giant Big Pharma conspiracy and others as only an animal ‘liver fluke’ drug. The sensible thing is to suspend judgment. Isoniazid, a common 50’s antidepressant, started life as an anti-TB drug. Then it was noticed that it lifted mood in TB patients with comorbid depression.

[janterry]

13. I wish people would talk about it rationally

I'm just a MSW. But I understand evidenced based medicine and had high hopes for IVM in the beginning. I see current studies aren't optimistic. That's disappointing. If that were to shift, I'd be pleased.

But talking down to people - I don't know. That's not a good strategy.

[SweetieD]

8. Last year it was hydroxychlorquine which they claimed was a cure all and the government was

Conspiring to keep from people because they want us to get sick. Of course that was false and they just dropped any mention of it and pretended like they never promoted that.

Ivectermin can cause blindness. I haven't heard anyone even discussing that. I wonder how many people poisoning themselves with this drug will end up blind.

[madville]

10. Never heard the blindness claim, it is FDA approved for

It is FDA approved for treating certain parasites in humans, prescribed in the right amount by a doctor of course, not a tube of apple paste from the farm supply lol.

The side effects of properly prescribed Ivermectin are listed here, no mention of blindness, it’s actually used to treat a thing called “river blindness” though.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/ivermectin-oral-route/side-effects/drg-20064397?p=1

[Zeitghost]

12. Those trying to push these stories

Are almost as bad as those claiming Invermectin is a 100% COVID cure-all. Almost...

It's a drug commonly used in humans, not just animals.
It may or may not help with COVID, the Jury isn't in yet and studies will give us a better idea.

And yes, anyone self administering it with OTC horse pills is an idiot.

[Initech]

14. So they'll take bullshit cures but not actual ones. Got it.

Of course I'd expect nothing less from people who willfully listen to Joe Rogan and Alex Jones.