All I want for Christmas…
The stragedy, that we have adopted during this chaotic period has resulted in a belief that we can spend our way out of a pandemic. No cost should be spared! In a system where regular elections occurr every few years, it seems that we have adopted a strategy of passing on debt, clean ups and mistakes to the next group. While I applaud and welcome the newest genetic technology in vaccination against covid. I often get bewildered why we dont have more open discussion about treatments and alternatives that hold promise in other world nations. It is arragant to conclude that third world experience cannot teach and make inroads.
What a wonderful Christmas it could be if we had a simple pill that would significantly eliminate covid transmission, enhance treatment and reduce deaths? What if there was such a substance. What if it has been around for decades, but poorer nations discovered its effectiveness before we did. What if it has already been awarded a Nobel Prize in Medicine, and has saved millions of children in third world countries from dying of parasitic infections. What if it had potential to work on the AIDS virus, flu virus and others as well. What if I mentioned that it has been available around the world including Canada for at least two decades, is relatively cheap and can be effective with one dose. For the last two months, I have been following the internet medical scuttlebutt about IVERMECTIN. Remember that name. Dr.Pierre Kory is President of the Frontline Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance, a group of ICU, lung doctors and others who work with covid patients on a daily basis. This is a large group, non funded whose task early was to work on protocols of treating severe Covid cases, due to feeling helpless. When the standard was simply go home and wait, they were advocating for things like Vitamin D, and C, lifestyle, excercise, etc. Collectively they have 1000’s of peer reviewed articles published. This group has diligently, collected and analyzed literally hundreds of INVERMECTIN related studies, news items, research manuscipts. It was quite clear that repeatedly, the effects were reproducible and appeared quickly. Other studies, became unblinded, since the positive effect was so great that it would not be ethical to not offer the drug to placebo groups. Most of the studies so far were in South America, Sub tropical Aftrica and India where the drug is routinely used in massive amounts. This group went to Congress last week and begged them to simply look at the data that they had compiled. No cost, no financing, no profits, simply look and decide. I took up that offer and looked at the data and was very impressed with the potential and low side effect profile. But in Canada we seem to claim victory in washing our hands, hiding and rolling up our sleeves eventually. We could do more.
One sign of a good thing, is when fake news starts demoting it on the internet. I think we have learned our lesson from the Putin propaganda machine of how effective fake news can be used to achieve an altenative goal. There is little reason to not start large scale Canadian Studies immediately,which could compliment the vaccine effort, but at a fraction of the cost and time. Most times, it takes months and huge patient numbers for studies to uncover some sort of small positive effect. Three common themes end study trials prematurely. Obvious emerging harmful side effects, no effect what so ever, and thirdly, an effect so obvious that everyone can tell who got the real medicine.
I would love to ethically offer every one of my worried patients a dose of medication. We could potentially celebrate holidays, hug one another, reduce lockdowns, and augment social distancing regiments. It may be early, but not too late. I urge everyone to at least look at the evidence.