July 24 is World Ivermectin Day. There is more than this at the link but this really is the core of it.

More recently, research has identified Ivermectin’s impressive anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties. This is important, because a serious case of COVID-19 has at least two phases: viral and inflammatory.

But research papers are only a tool. Although they help us identify useful medical treatments, that isn’t sufficient. A few years ago I wrote a report arguing that roughly half of published scientific research is probably wrong. The core idea behind the ‘reproducibility crisis’ is that results that look good on paper don’t necessarily pan out. The findings of nine out of 10 landmark cancer research papers couldn’t be reproduced when a second group of scientists attempted to do so. Of 53 research papers, only 6 passed this test (11%).

Treatments must not only appear promising on paper, they need to work when administered to real patients in the real world. Doctors from around the world report that Ivermectin works against COVID-19. They know it has the power to bring some seriously ill patients back from the brink, after all else has failed.

Many physicians now believe our overall COVID response has focused on the wrong thing. When Ivermectin is prescribed immediately after a test comes back positive, they say, almost no one requires hospitalization. When it’s given to family members of infected people, additional illness is prevented. But rather than treating people early so they never become seriously ill, our focus has been on managing hospital resources such as ICU beds and ventilators.

There are no end of persons in positions of political authority who have seen Covid as a means to a very shady end. And it’s more than  just the billions that are being made by pharmaceutical conglomerates, although there is that too. Donald Trump threatened to upend their power, and there are no stops these people were unwilling to pull to get him out, even if it has crashed our economies and terrified half the population.