COVIDiots Reject Vaccine, Take Horse Medicine Instead

It seems that some people, instead of taking a vaccine proven safe and effective hundreds of millions of times, are taking horse medicine instead. That's a special kind of stupid, and as comedian Ron White reminds us, you can't fix stupid.

The horse medicine in question is ivermectin, a drug used to treat parasitic worms. It apparently has approved uses and dosages in humans, but horses are, y'know, a lot bigger than humans.  

The FDA says it "has received multiple reports of patients who have required medical support and been hospitalized after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses."  They are so concerned about this they are tweeting at people to knock it off:

The "treatment" has become especially popular in the U.S. South. A state health officer in Mississippi called the practice "kind of crazy" and likened it to getting chemotherapy at a feed store.

I've not been able to track down where the idea to use ivermectin for COVID-19 came from.  But the fad  has origins in South America, where some doctor probably gave it to a sick patient out of desperation and saw the patient recover.

Whatever the origins, it's clear where the idea got its boost in the U.S.: It's another yet another quack cure (remember hydroxychloroquine?) being touted by know-nothing right-wing media. Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham have all promoted ivermectin on their shows.

The drug is actually being tested in an international clinical trial in Brazil studying drugs repurposed to treat COVID-19. Presumably they are using human-sized dosages. Preliminary results show that ivermectin has no benefit (neither does hydroxychloroquine), though the anti-depressant fluvoxamine is showing some promise.

Image by Steven Iodice from Pixabay 

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