Ivermectin Why not just get the shot?

“The FDA has not authorized or approved Ivermectin for the treatment or prevention of covid-19 in people or animals. Ivermectin has not shown to be safe or effective for these indications.”

— the FDA’s website

This isn’t the first generation to suspect doctors, science and “experts” — a word that should always come with scare quotes. Voltaire assured his more credulous readers that witchcraft could “effectually destroy a flock of sheep. If administered with a sufficient portion of arsenic.”

Lara Farrar’s story in Sunday’s paper — on the front page, where it belonged—is noteworthy. That is, somebody should take note. We certainly did.

Some people in Arkansas are buying up veterinary-grade Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug, by the … what? Box load? Bag full? For the record, we don’t know from Ivermectin.

That part of the story, the lede, didn’t surprise. With the drug in headlines these days, Ivermectin is bound to be in high demand. If some people think that other people might actually take the drug for themselves, then there could be a toilet-paper-type of run on the box loads/ bag fulls. So if it’s disappearing off the shelves, a lot of that can be caused by farmers making sure they have enough for the winter and spring. You’ve heard about the supply chain.

But the story interviews people. And people want Ivermectin for people. Of the people, by the people and, more importantly, for the people.

The theory is that some think Ivermectin can prevent or cure the coronavirus.

Said one feedstore owner: “I would say this last rush, 90 percent of them [sold] was for personal use, for people usage. I probably sold what I would sell in two years in a month.”

Across the state, other feedstore owners say they’ve been out of the stuff for months. Some have it on back-order.

People are apparently buying Ivermectin paste and “licking it off the end of the tube.” Or adding it to tea or coffee. Overdoses have been reported. Even among children.

We have to pause here to make sure we understand everything we know about this: People are taking a cow-andhorse drug that has not been approved by most medical agencies to fight covid-19 in humans, or even in animals. A lot of people won’t take a vaccination that has been given the thumbs-up by most of the medical doctors on the planet. Dare we assume the two subsets of people are largely one? And that many, if not most, of the people licking the end of Ivermectin tubes haven’t got the jab?

Health agencies are careful to be careful. The evidence is “inconclusive,” they say. Studies have had “faulty data,” they say. The Arkansas Medical Society “does not have a policy statement on the use of Ivermectin.” The Arkansas Hospital Association “does not make recommendations on courses of treatments for patients.” See Lara Farrar’s story Sunday for more excellent reporting.

The FDA, however, has taken a firm stand. Against. What has been generally agreed upon by 99 percent of doctors: A couple of shots of one of the several vaccines keeps people from getting overly sick. Those vaccines have been shown to provably keep most people out of the hospital and out of the morgue.

Ivermectin is, for now, simply sketchy.

Who knows? It may prove a wonder drug. But before feeding it to our children, we might wait on a peer-reviewed, sufficiently sized, non-influenced study by disinterested and reliable researchers using proper data collection techniques.

Not a Google search.