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While I appreciate the drive to find more effective agents to treating COVID, we don't have anything approved and widely available that's more than mildly effec

While I appreciate the drive to find more effective agents to treating COVID, we don't have anything approved and widely available that's more than mildly effective. So get vaccinated. I see Facebook anti-vax campaigns latch onto a new miracle cure every few months to convince themselves that the vaccine isn't worth getting. The truth is, it's unlikely we will ever have a treatment anywhere near as effective as the vaccine. With how effective the vaccines are in preventing severe illness, there's little money or reason to persue other options. Historically, viruses with effective vaccines rarely if ever have good treatments developed afterwards. And if we do, like with several flu drugs, the virus develops complete resistance rapidly. So don't count on it. Get vaccinated.

roody15 5y ago
Your comment seems oddly dismissive (IMO). Ivermectin is widely available and yes granted more research is likely needed however early indicators show it be an effective treatment. Not a facebook paranoid conspiracy miracle cure. Perhaps a practical widely available affordable treatment that when combined with vaccination efforts can help to contain covid.
- deviledeggs 5y ago
  The current evidence against Ivermectin is pretty overwhelming, just look at the Wikipedia article. Merck, the maker of the drug came out months ago saying its not useful against COVID. It's an old anti-parasitic drug with an unknown mechanism of action, just like Hydroxychloroquine . And if you look around it's being pushed by the exact same people. Anti vaxxers who want something to point at for a reason to avoid the vaccine. My dismissiveness is because the vaccine will be widely available long before Ivermectin is. It will take a year to even know if it's effective. And it's a low-volume drug. Anybody that can get Ivermectin can also get the vaccine. So the sole purpose for pushing it is to reinforce anti vax viewpoints. Ivermectin is only widely available because nobody is using it to treat COVID. The vaccines have vastly higher production rates at this point
  - roody15 5y ago
    “The current evidence against Ivermectin is pretty overwhelming, just look at the Wikipedia article.” Again your comment is oddly dismissive. Evidence is showing that Ivermectin appears to be an effective treatment. No conspiracy or anti-vax message being pushed. Yes in the US, China and Western Europe Vaccines are readily available and this option makes sense. However in many other nations logistics of vaccination (price, transport, facilities, geographic spread) make it much harder to get vaccines out to the entire population. With Ivermectin no longer under patent nations (like India) can produce Ivermectin and work to increase distribution of vaccines as an a effective way to control covid.
    - deviledeggs 5y ago
      > Again your comment is oddly dismissive. Evidence is showing that Ivermectin appears to be an effective treatment. Disagree. The evidence is so weak that the creator of the drug, Merck, says it's not even worth investigating.

roody15 5y ago

Your comment seems oddly dismissive (IMO). Ivermectin is widely available and yes granted more research is likely needed however early indicators show it be an effective treatment. Not a facebook paranoid conspiracy miracle cure. Perhaps a practical widely available affordable treatment that when combined with vaccination efforts can help to contain covid.

deviledeggs 5y ago
The current evidence against Ivermectin is pretty overwhelming, just look at the Wikipedia article. Merck, the maker of the drug came out months ago saying its not useful against COVID. It's an old anti-parasitic drug with an unknown mechanism of action, just like Hydroxychloroquine . And if you look around it's being pushed by the exact same people. Anti vaxxers who want something to point at for a reason to avoid the vaccine. My dismissiveness is because the vaccine will be widely available long before Ivermectin is. It will take a year to even know if it's effective. And it's a low-volume drug. Anybody that can get Ivermectin can also get the vaccine. So the sole purpose for pushing it is to reinforce anti vax viewpoints. Ivermectin is only widely available because nobody is using it to treat COVID. The vaccines have vastly higher production rates at this point
- roody15 5y ago
  “The current evidence against Ivermectin is pretty overwhelming, just look at the Wikipedia article.” Again your comment is oddly dismissive. Evidence is showing that Ivermectin appears to be an effective treatment. No conspiracy or anti-vax message being pushed. Yes in the US, China and Western Europe Vaccines are readily available and this option makes sense. However in many other nations logistics of vaccination (price, transport, facilities, geographic spread) make it much harder to get vaccines out to the entire population. With Ivermectin no longer under patent nations (like India) can produce Ivermectin and work to increase distribution of vaccines as an a effective way to control covid.
  - deviledeggs 5y ago
    > Again your comment is oddly dismissive. Evidence is showing that Ivermectin appears to be an effective treatment. Disagree. The evidence is so weak that the creator of the drug, Merck, says it's not even worth investigating.