Liz Joy: Ivermectin worked for my family

The snarky article “Joy: Ivermectin slighted,” Oct. 2, and related condescending tweet from editor Casey Seiler about my family’s successful treatment of COVID -19 by a medical provider were outrageous and anti-science. Ivermectin worked to lessen the symptoms of the virus and kept my family recovering at home rather than taking up beds in hospitals and intensive care units.

Despite Seiler's obnoxious description as “horse dewormer,” ivermectin is on the World Health Organization’s 21st Model List of Essential Medicines for its numerous human uses. There are dozens of studies being conducted around the world because of its possible efficacy in treating COVID -19. A recent article in the American Journal of Therapeutics concluded that “moderate-certainty evidence finds that large reductions in COVID -19 deaths are possible using ivermectin. Using ivermectin early in the clinical course may reduce numbers progressing to severe disease. The apparent safety and low cost suggest that ivermectin is likely to have a significant impact on the SARS-COV-2 pandemic globally.”

Surely the Times Union wouldn’t condescend to ridicule someone with a terminal illness for seeking alternative or experimental treatments. Doing so in my family’s case is obviously a cheap political attack. The holier-thanthou attitude is especially galling considering that some recent “paid content” is advertising fat loss and male enhancement

pills, few of which are approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

For my family, ivermectin worked and kept everyone out of hospitals. Maybe if the Times Union stuck to reporting instead of cheap attacks, it wouldn’t have to rely on ads for male enhancement pills to pay the bills.

Liz Joy Schenectady