Unfortunately … some people are not that clever. Following reports of overdosing on the antiparasitic, ivermectin in …
the US, the trend has now also been reported in other countries, including Australia. There is no credible evidence that ivermectin works against COVID-19. If it was the last straw, it might understandable that one may try something unproven…but at least in the US, Australia, and many other countries, we have access to free, safe and effective vaccines; some have access to monoclonal antibodies and dexamethasone can also help.
The anti-vax proponents do not help the situation, especially, the high profiles ones. A perfect example, the fear factor and UFC guy Joe Rogan. Rogan is a great talker – great hype guy and successful podcaster with millions of followers. After not really believing in vaccines, he tested positive for COVID-19 in the past few days. He came out and announced that he essentially “the kitchen sink” at the virus, mentioning treatment with monoclonal antibodies, ivermectin, Z-pac, and NAD (vitamin) infusions. Of course, monoclonal antibodies work, they neutralize the virus; ivermectin kills parasites, antibiotics may prevent secondary infections, and NAD is interesting. NAD is a co-factor for the “metabolism and longevity”- associated sirtuin deacetylases – niacin (vitamin B3 is converted to NAD in the body), and has been shown to decrease with age. This is a bit off topic, together with resveratrol (the red wine antioxidant) or pterostilbene (the blueberry antioxidant), NAD has been concocted into “longevity formulation” – not sure if they work!
Anyway, it is important IMO, that people like Joe explain to other people that 1) they should’ve been vaccinated in the first place, 2) that they are rich and have rapid access to testing and proper therapies (along with the BS which may or may not help), and 3) that they don’t really understand what they are doing. I mean Joe is just a dude – talks good … but does he talk crap – lot’s of it! Also, just because he mostly talks with second rate “experts” doesn’t mean that he or they know shit. [Of course, he’s had some good experts on the “show”]. I’m surprised he didn’t fall for the Elizabeth Homes, Theranos BS – her trial is upcoming – will be interesting. Having said all that … he did fix his COVID-19 issue up pretty quickly!
In the spirit of fighting sports, the legendary boxer Oscar De La Hoya, who was schedule to make a comeback fight at 48, is now hospitalized with COVID-19 even though he is fully vaccinated? Hopefully he makes a speedy recovery and fights in the near future – an absolute legend! And before people take the opportunity to suggest that vaccines are no good – this is not the case; we know that the delta variant can cause breakthrough infections in vaccinated people and we know that immunity from the vaccine wanes with time; we don’t know when Oscar was vaccinated and this highlights the importance of booster shots.
Until next time …