By Harold Pease, Ph. D.
Finally a breakthrough in the war against ivermectin and hydroxychloroquin in the treatment of COVID-19 which, according to proponents of these drugs, could have saved hundreds of thousands of American lives had they not been politicized by the FDA, CDC, WHO, NIH, AMA, APhA, and ASHP. These strongly opposed “the ordering, prescribing or dispensing” of these drugs to prevent or treat COVID, despite their enormous success by physicians all over America and throughout the world. The largely controlled press, like robots, chimed in against.
Despite the weaponization of these drugs, Nebraska supports doctors’ freedom to prescribe them with informed consent of the patient. At the request of Dannette Smith, CEO of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Nebraska Attorney General, Doug Peterson issued a legal opinion, after a thorough review of the clinical studies of the two drugs before and after COVID and concluded, that the preponderance of scientific evidence favored their use in treating COVID for those who wished to use them (“Groundbreaking: Nebraska AG Says Doctors Can Legally Prescribe Ivermectin, HCQ for COVID, Calls Out FDA, CDC, Fauci, Media for ‘Fueling Confusion and Misinformation,’” By Megan Redshaw, The Defender, October 18, 2021).
In this review Peterson “cited numerous studies showing ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine reduced mortality by up to 75% or more when used as a preventative or prophylaxis for COVID, suggesting hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved had the drugs been widely used in America.” Both drugs have been used successfully long-term, hydroxychloroquin discovered in 1949; ivermectin, discovered in 1975, (“3.7 billion doses … administered since the 1980’s”) safely and each for multiple afflictions and off-label usage.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., chairman of Children’s Health Defense, spoke of Nebraskas’ bold Attorney General’s effort to reestablish medical freedom in his state, “Every citizen … should be grateful for Doug Peterson’s thoughtful and courageous counteroffensive against the efforts of Big Pharma, its captive federal regulators, and its media and social media allies to silence doctors and deny Americans life-saving treatments.”
Mary Holland, Children’s Health Defense President, identified best the effect of the AG’s decision, let “doctors get back to being doctors — without being second-guessed by government, pharmacists and others interfering in the crucial doctor-patient relationship.” Neither Big Government nor Big Pharma should tell doctors or patients what they can and cannot do regarding their health.
His report summarized findings on these two drugs. Respecting hydroxychloroquine a study in 2004 revealed chloroquine to be “an effective inhibitor of the replication of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in vitro” and should “be considered for immediate use in the prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV infections”—the virus causing the disease COVID—19. A study the following year showed it “had strong antiviral effects on SARS-CoV infection and was effective in preventing the spread of SARS-CoV in cell cultures.” More studies revealed that “hydroxychloroquine significantly reduces the risk of hospitalization and death when administered to particularly high-risk outpatients as part of early COVID-19 treatment.”
Ivermectin too proved especially good treating “antiviral activity against several RNA viruses by blocking the nuclear trafficking of viral proteins.” COVID is a virus. In the SARs epidemic of 2003 ivermectin demonstrated an “ability to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication,” like COVID a respiratory infection, leading to lower infection rates. Countries using ivermectin “with routine mass drug administration of prophylactic … have a significantly lower incidence of COVID-19.”
Attorney General Peterson found that peer reviewed COVID studies treating patients with ivermectin “reported positive outcomes, including shorter time to resolution of disease manifestations that were attributed to COVID-19, greater reduction in inflammatory marker levels, shorter time to viral clearance, [and] lower mortality rates in patients who received ivermectin than in patients who received comparator drugs or placebo. The drug led to improvement of COVID outcomes when used in early treatment or as a prophylaxis.”
He noted also that the few negative studies on the use of ivermectin as a COVID treatment were not peer reviewed, “excluded most available evidence, cherry picked data within studies, misreported data, made unsupported assertions of adverse reactions to ivermectin and had conclusions that did not follow from evidence.” In the case of the hostile treatment of hydroxychloroquin published in the Lancet, “the statistics were flawed and the authors refused to provide analyzed data.” Even its editor, Dr. Richard Horton, admitted later after publication, “that the paper was a ‘fabrication,’ a ‘monumental fraud’ and a ‘shocking example of research misconduct’ in the middle of a global health emergency.”
Why the opposition by Big Pharma to two drugs that already cure COVID? MONEY!! Even without ivermectin and hydroxychloroquin 99% will survive COVID. Vaccines would not be necessary. They do not work anyway, else why would one need boosters every three months? Look at all the industry profits already made. The truth is, COVID is a trillion dollar industry. Are we smart enough to see the obvious?
Probably the best evidence for ivermectin as an effective cure for COVID is, however, Merck the patent holder of ivermectin, who is not promoting it as a COVID cure. Ivermectin, a cheap 46 year-old drug, has long wore out its profit potential. Why not create a “new” drug, largely ivermectin, call it molnupiravir, up the price a hundred times plus, and market it as a “just discovered” cure for COVID? “[T]he U.S. government has agreed to pay [Merck] about $1.2 billion for 1.7 million courses of its experimental COVID-19 treatment, if it is proven to work in an ongoing large trial and authorized by U.S. regulators.” Molnupiravir, “aims to stop COVID from progressing when given early in the course of disease”—just as ivermectin does now.
Forward a copy of this column to your elected state leaders asking them to join Nebraska in restoring doctors’ medical freedom to prescribe what they and you feel is best for you.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.