Ruminations: The Anti-Science Gullibility of Hardcore Anti-Vaccine Activists

Alkis Psaltis withdrew his coauthorship after Hector Carvallo did not provide him with the raw data for the study, emails show. Screenshot “I trusted the information provided to me by desperate medical colleagues in the hope that health care workers could be given some degree of protection against this largely unknown virus”

"This has really become a story of ideology and in group thinking. It mirrors what went on with hydroxychloroquine."
"The evidence against it just became so overwhelming that they have decided to put their energy in a new miracle drug -- and that's ivermectin and it's doing real harm."
"It highlights the power of an ideological lens to allow you to embrace information that is clearly wrong."
"It really shows the power that a conspiracy theory mindset can have on how you see the universe."
"On the one hand, we have a vaccine that one could argue is the most studied vaccine in human history ... then on the other hand you have an unproven drug that has been recommended to be avoided by entities like the FDA and people opt for the latter."
"It is really an incredible disconnect."
Timothy Caulfield, health law professor, University of Alberta

Anti-vaxxers appear to have been thrown a lifeline by a published study out of Argentina claiming that the use of ivermectin succeeded in 100 percent prevention of COVID-19. Experts in the field pointed out a litany of inconsistencies in the research, but doubts haven't arisen in the minds of those who have grasped ivermectin's purported efficacy as far superior to that of vaccines they distrust. That this is a medication meant specifically for use in livestock as a de-worming agent doesn't appear to trouble the self-convinced the least bit.

The drug does have a human use that does not shine a golden light of salvation from infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus -- it can be recommended for delousing purposes. Which doesn't detract from its lustre among the convinced. "If you take it, you will not get sick", testified an ivermectin-boosting physician to the U.S. Senate, backgrounding his conviction in its properties as a "wonder drug" citing the Argentina trial which saw publication in the Journal of Biomedical Research and Clinical Investigation which charges for publication unlike reputable medical journals.

Dr.Caulfield from University of California specializing in health law finds it fascinating to witness people looking to acquire the dewormer for cattle and horses for their own personal use. Requests for ivermectin, the parasitic dewormer which has never been proven as a COVID treatment, overwhelmed an Alberta animal feed store. Lance Olson of the Lone Star Track and Feed first began receiving calls relating to the product last November.

"We started to address it to our staff just to make sure we were handling these calls the corr3ect way, because we did notice an uptick in calls."
"I'd say at the peak we were doing five or six calls a week. It's slowed down slightly since, but there was an uptick at the beginning of July that forced us to pull it off of our shelves."
Lance Olson, Lone Star Track and Feed Calgary, Alberta

He is unable to sell the product to people without a premises identification number, a requirement by law to be enabled to purchase products with an active ingredient. "It's law now. We cannot sell it to you or else we get fined."

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning against the use of ivermectin despite that it is available in a tablet form for human use in the treatment of parasitic worms; available also in topical application form for head lice and skin conditions such as rosacea. "Never use medication intended for animals on yourself. Ivermectin preparations for animals are very different from those approved for humans", cautioned the FDA.

An advisory was circulated by Health Canada "concerning reports of the use of veterinary ivermectin" in the prevention or treatment of COVID-19. As Professor Caulfield pointed out -- a disconnect exists between people who refuse to be vaccinated, but yet are eager to ingest a medicine meant strictly for use in animal stock.

In the United States prescriptions for ivermectin have increased substantially. The result has been that poison control centers from Alabama to Mississippi keep receiving calls from people suffering side effects and acquiring conditions related to overdosing. One individual who drank an injection of ivermectin for cattle -- according to the Centers for Disease Control -- ended up in hospital suffering from confusion, drowsiness, hallucinations, abnormal breathing and tremors.

"A near-perfect COVID prophylactic. If ivermectin, a drug out of patent, is safe and effective for treating and, more importantly, preventing COVID, then there shouldn’t be vaccines that we’re administering."
Bret Weinstein, biologist, Evergreen State College