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The Curious Fact That Many Americans Have Been Willing to Ignore Science During the Covid Pandemic and Grasp at Horsefeathers Instead

Gary Wedgewood, Final Presentation, Bioethics, PHIL 3345, Spring 2022

The largest study to date of the efficacy of the drug Ivermectin in treating COVID has come to what should be an unsurprising conclusion: A drug designed to rid horses of parasitic nematodes does nothing for people afflicted by the coronavirus.

Yet many of our political leaders are offering legislation to help their constituents get Ivermectin more easily and even over the counter.  Ivermectin is by far the favored drug for treating Covid at a time when a highly effective anti-Covid pill (Paxlovid) is barely being used.

How can this be true?  How has such delusional thinking come to dominate the Covid response?  Compared to monoclonal antibodies this antiviral drug is an affordable regimen of five pills over five days taken at home.

It has been shown to be 90% effective in preventing hospitalization and death.  It is available in local pharmacies.  Yet at the peak of the Omicron surge half of the available Paxlovid sat in pharmacies unused.  Ivermectin remains a popular choice.

Quotes from our reading:
“I would never provide public comments that contradict science. (Who would want a top doctor in the city who goes against science?)  My answer, maybe one-third of Americans?”
Leana Wen, Lifelines, p. 140

“Nearly every initiative was met with resistance on many fronts.”
Leana Wen, Lifelines, p. 150

Discussion Questions:
1. What has led to such a high level of mistrust of our scientific and medical community in the USA?

2. The profit motive has distorted our health care system.  How has this same factor worked in the marketing of alternative/herbal medicines?

3. How have politicians “profited” from promoting and legislating misinformation about Covid treatments?

4. Why do you suppose that Dr. Fauci and Dr. Leana Wen have been the targets of extreme criticism at times?