Do not take a horse dewormer to treat your COVID-19, health officials say

[TomCADem]

Source: The Hill

Health officials are warning Americans that an antiparasitic drug used for livestock should not be ingested to treat or prevent COVID-19.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it has received several reports of people requiring hospitalization after "self-medicating with Ivermectin intended for horses."

Ivermectin tablets are approved by the FDA to treat humans for parasitic worms as well as for topical formulations to treat head lice and skin conditions like rosacea, but the drug has not been approved or recommended to treat COVID-19. The drug is not an antiviral medication.

Health officials say Ivermectin intended for humans and medication intended for use in livestock is significantly different.

Read more: https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/569034-do-not-take-a-horse-dewormer-to-treat-your-covid

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So, why did the FDA have to send this obvious reminder?

Link to tweet

?ref_srctwsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1429050070243192839%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_urlhttps%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fchanging-america%2Fwell-being%2Fprevention-cures%2F569034-do-not-take-a-horse-dewormer-to-treat-your-covid

Because the same right wing media that has been pushing vaccine conspiracies, which has caused many Republicans to resist masks and refuse vaccines, has been pushing the use of a horse deworming drug and, of course, right wingers are ready to go all-in.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/23/media/right-wing-media-ivermectin/index.html

Right-wing media pushed a deworming drug to treat Covid-19 that the FDA says is unsafe for humans

New York (CNN Business)Public health officials are aggressively dispelling claims by right-wing media personalities who have been promoting an anti-parasitic drug used for livestock as a potential Covid-19 treatment.

"You are not a horse. You are not a cow," the US Food and Drug Administration tweeted Saturday. "Seriously, y'all. Stop it."

Top conservative media personalities -- including Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham -- have mentioned ivermectin as a drug that could possibly be used to treat Covid-19.

This is part of a recent theme in right-wing media of attacking public health officials for promoting the highly effective coronavirus vaccines as the best path out of the pandemic instead of potential therapeutics to treat the virus.

It is almost as if they think that causing more people to die, including their own supporters, would be politically advantageous, because you just have to ask why push vaccine conspiracies, complain about masks, but then turn around and hype the use of livestock drugs for human consumption?

[East-A-Squared]

1. Seriously MAGAts, don't take ivermectin! Dr. Fauci says so!

[TomCADem]

2. Fox News Requires Employees to Report Vaccination Status, Mandates Masks for Workers

You have to think that Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson must be true psychopaths happily urging their listeners to engage in deadly behavior while privately insisting that employees near them get vaccinated and wear masks. It is like that scene from Conan the Barbarian where Thulsa Doom asks a follower to jump off a cliff just to show off how powerful he is.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/fox-news-vaccination-status-mandate-1235044595/

Fox News Channel requires employees to self-report their vaccination status, as part of guidelines to keep its workforce safe — even as some of the network’s most popular on-air talent have expressed skepticism and hostility toward U.S. vaccination efforts.

As of Aug. 17, all Fox News employees were required to enter their vaccination status, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott wrote in a memo earlier this week. If staffers don’t provide that information, they’ll be considered unvaccinated and subject to additional requirements, including daily on-site COVID testing, wearing masks in public areas, and social distancing.

Wearing masks remains optional for fully vaccinated Fox News employees, although the network requires staffers to wear a mask “in small, confined spaces with limited opportunities for social distancing and where there are multiple employees, including control rooms,” Scott wrote in the memo.

[rpannier]

15. Billboards All Across America

So that none of them miss it

[napi21]

3. If someone who was unaware of all that's been going on in the USA happened to read that, what in the

world would they think? "Why are they telling people not to take horse meds? Would someone actually do that?"

I usually scan all the headlines & read those that intrigue me, but after seeing a lot about Ivermectin, it occurred to me how ridiculous it is that authorities have to warn human beings NOT TO TAKE ANIMAL MEDS! We really do have a lot of stupid people in this Country.

[TomCADem]

4. How anti-vaxxers weaponized Ivermectin, a horse de-wormer drug, as a COVID-19 treatment

As discussed in this article, the right-wing obsession with Ivermectin may be important to that demographic merely because it sows distrust in science in general while stirring up vaccine skepticism:

https://www.salon.com/2021/08/09/how-anti-vaxxers-weaponized-and-promoted-ivermectin-a-horse-de-wormer-drug-as-a-covid-19-treatment/

In November 2020, a pre-print study touting the safety and efficacy of an anti-parasitic drug called Ivermectin was published on the Research Square website, a platform where scientific studies are submitted before they are peer-reviewed and accepted by a journal. The study, led by Dr. Ahmed Elgazzar of Egypt's Benha University, claimed that in a randomized control trial of nearly 600 people, hospitalized COVID-19 patients who "received ivermectin early reported substantial recovery."

In the search for a COVID-19 wonder drug, the preprint study seemed promising. But then, in July 2021, the paper was pulled "due to ethical concerns." Those concerns included alleged plagiarism and calculation of data points that were "mathematically impossible," according to The Guardian.

Despite the retraction, the anti-parasite drug is allegedly flying off shelves of local farmer supply stores, according to various local news reports who say some feed stores are struggling to keep it in stock. That's because the drug has become a political flashpoint, enveloped by the culture wars just like nearly everything else related to the pandemic.

Indeed, Republicans politicians like Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) have promoted Ivermectin as a COVID treatment. Robert Malone, a doctor who has spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on platforms like "Tucker Carlson Tonight," alleged to have personally used the drug to treat COVID-19, further popularizing it among followers of Carlson's show. The response to Malone's latest Ivermectin-related tweet reveals how many of his followers are using the so-called treatment to undermine the available COVID-19 vaccines. "You don't need a #vaccine, people," one commented. "Ivermectin works," another one chimed in.

[Rebl2]

5. That's all

we need is to have them showing up to the ER after ingesting a deworming drug.

[raising2moredems]

13. Frankly, just let them die

You can't fix stupid. Bad enough covidiots have overtaken the hospital system. I have no issue with anti-vaxxers (adults) being bumped. We'll all be paying for these medical costs for years.

[rpannier]

16. There's an extra positive

You can't infect others by taking it and dying

[NHvet]

7. Who knew?!

I mean with Clorox and malaria meds being out there to use??

[Evolve Dammit]

8. Not a fan of Dr. Phil, but his oft-used quote "Whaddya thinkin'???" Seriously, it's for LIVESTOCK!

[IronLionZion]

9. They have freedom to make deeply personal medical decisions

telling them they can't take horse dewormer is a violation of their hippo rights

[KY_EnviroGuy]

10. Hell, for years I was foolish enough to think the R-W Kool-Aid was enough to kill them.

We have very innovative Republicans these days: bleach, Hydroxychloroquine and now de-wormer drugs.......


And, how foolish of me to think some high-dollar Rethugs are actually running large American corporations........

[Moebym]

11. That the FDA even felt the need to send a tweet like this

Is a stinging indictment of our country.

[Initech]

12. If the solution to all your ills lies at the feed store, you are listening to the wrong sources!

[Deuxcents]

14. Awwww

Let em if they want to. It’s pretty sad that our medical professionals constantly have to beg some people to save themselves from themselves.

[myohmy2]

17. let's...

...not take an efficacious proven vaccine like 170 million people have, let's instead prevent or cure COVID with horse dewormer or bleach...

...these people want to die...

...who am I to say no...

[Cryptoad]

18. At Least none of them will be Wormy,,,

when the Covid kills them,,,!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. You are not a horse or a cow, but if you take Ivermectin you are sheep. BAAAA! . . . . nt

[Farmer-Rick]

20. This is really annoying and sad

It's causing the price of the dewormer to go sky high.

And now my sheep have to get less effective dewormer.

[GregariousGroundhog]

21. They are not a horse. They are not a cow. But they may be an ass.

[Bayard]

22. Don't insult donkeys!

They are MUCH smarter than this. My donkeys tell me this every time I de-worm them--we don't wanna!

Ivermectin is a treatment for WORMS. It has no effect on a virus.