1088 Taking the 'Red Pill' on CoViD vaccines
To be taking the Red Pill on CoViD vaccines means to face reality and facts … but beware, it’s hard work. It requires confronting conspiracy theories front on.
In Quillette this week a deeper look into the 'Alternative Cures' for CoViD, the conspiracy theory where we are told the available vaccines are dangerous and there are safe existing medications that cure CoViD effectively.
Looking for COVID-19 ‘Miracle Drugs’?
We Already Have Them. They’re Called Vaccines
In early June, Bret Weinstein - a former professor of biology - began to claim that ivermectin - a genuinely remarkable antiparasitic drug used to treat tropical diseases such as river blindness - could be applied to “eradicate” CoViD-19.
He invited physicians from a group called the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) to join him in what he called “an emergency podcast” to “save the world.”
He began by explaining gravely that “something very serious is afoot, and the public is largely unaware that they have been placed into a kind of danger.” He and his guests offered the claim that ivermectin is “99 percent effective” in treating COVID-19; that it could be used as a prophylaxis against infection; and that were it widely used, the pandemic would end in “a month.”
These truths, they suggested, had been suppressed by a conspiracy. They did not specify the mechanism by which the supposed conspiracy works, but they were clear about its object: selling COVID-19 vaccines.
Had Weinstein stopped there, it would have been nutty, destructive, and misleading, but otherwise inoffensive. Ivermectin is generally a safe drug. It’s unlikely his listeners will kill themselves with it.
It’s the next step he took that’s so deadly: On the same podcast, he and his guests argued that the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines authorized for use in the United States, as well as the AstraZeneca adenovirus-vector vaccine, are so unsafe that the vaccinated are secretly dropping like flies from their effects.
He also has avowed, on both the podcast and his Twitter feed, his trust in a UK physician named Tess Lawrie who has published a phenomenally insane paper that calls COVID-19 vaccines “unsafe for human use.”
The paper advises that “Preparation should now be made to scale up humanitarian efforts to assist those harmed by the COVID-19 vaccines.”
The consequences of Weinstein’s caper will be ruinous. COVID-19’s Delta variant, twice as contagious and possibly more lethal than the original strain, is ravaging the world. Its effects have been devastating in India, and among the unvaccinated in the UK.
Here are the facts: Conclusion (Ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19):
In comparison to SOC or placebo, IVM did not reduce all-cause mortality, length of stay or viral clearance in RCTs in COVID-19 patients with mostly mild disease. IVM did not have an effect on AEs or severe AEs.
Ivermectin is not a viable option to treat COVID-19 patients.
Do read the whole Quillette article.