Patterico's Pontifications

7/29/2021

Mitch McConnell Uses Campaign Funds For Pro-Vaccination Radio Ads

Filed under: General — Dana @ 9:48 am

[guest post by Dana]

The cynic in me says, meh, midterms, am I right?? The generous part of me says good on McConnell.. And if he wants to use his campaign funds to get the word out, that’s a good thing too. If only more elected Republicans would do likewise in their own states:

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell will use his campaign funds to pay for radio ads in his home state of Kentucky encouraging people to get vaccinated against Covid-19, sources close to McConnell told NBC News on Wednesday.

It is highly unusual for members of Congress to use campaign funds for anything outside of their re-election efforts. But McConnell’s decision reflects the looming crisis posed by delta variant Covid infections in states with low vaccination levels.

In Kentucky, only eight of the state’s more than 120 counties report vaccination rates above 50%, according to the latest CDC data.

“Everybody needs to get vaccinated,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday evening, after the Centers for Disease control issued new mask guidance advising they be worn indoors in low-vaccination areas.

More than 100 radio ads will air across Kentucky in the coming days, the source told NBC.

McConnell notes that he was inspired by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who was blunt about the lack of vaccinations in her state, saying that it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated for new Covid-19 cases.

Given that McConnell has been Kentucky’s senator since 1985, he obviously remains influential with constituents. And certainly, any effort to increase vaccination rates in a state where they are currently pretty low, can’t hurt. However, ultimately, I think that this is true: the person whose voice has the greatest potential to significantly increase vaccination rates in red states is the head of today’s Republican Party:

Frank Luntz is a veteran Republican pollster advising the administration of President Joe Biden about reaching people reluctant to get the vaccine. He has been warning for months about the impediment to COVID-19 vaccination rates posed by politicization.

“The key here is to ensure that no one feels like they have to do it. They have to want to do it. So, insulting them or mandating them won’t work,” Luntz told Reuters. “Political messages won’t work, unless you’re Donald Trump. If Trump were to say to them: ‘Hey, get the vaccine.’ That would make a difference. But he doesn’t do that. All he does is complain about the election.”

In a statement last week, former President Trump said, “People are refusing to take the vaccine because they don’t trust (Biden’s) administration, they don’t trust the election results.”

–Dana

Comments (144)

144 Responses to “Mitch McConnell Uses Campaign Funds For Pro-Vaccination Radio Ads”

Good morning.
Dana (174549) — 7/29/2021 @ 9:48 am
Good for Mitch!
Time123 (9f42ee) — 7/29/2021 @ 9:51 am
Given that McConnell was just re-elected and will be well over 80 when his term ends, I guess he decided to spend his campaign funds on something useful other than himself. I am surprised, however, that campaign funds can be used for non-campaign purposes.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:05 am
Actual point:

The key here is to ensure that no one feels like they have to do it. They have to want to do it. So, insulting them or mandating them won’t work

Takeaway:

If Trump were to say to them: ‘Hey, get the vaccine.’ That would make a difference. But he doesn’t do that.

This first one is common sense, is supported by what we’re actually seeing, and is useful advice to give in his roll as a pollster advising the administration of President Joe Biden about reaching people reluctant to get the vaccine.

The second one is an opinion based on wishful thinking, an excuse for JB’s poor performance, and can only be used for political purposes.
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:16 am
It is highly unusual for members of Congress to use campaign funds for anything outside of their re-election efforts.

As he’s not running again, there’s nothing ‘unusual’ about it at all.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:18 am
Trump: “People are refusing to take the vaccine because they don’t trust (Biden’s) administration, they don’t trust the election results.”

There’s leadership for you. See if we only give him what he wants…..
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:18 am
@3

I am surprised, however, that campaign funds can be used for non-campaign purposes.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:05 am

The can. So long as it’s disclosed.
whembly (123289) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:19 am
@4 I thought Lutz was a Republican pollster?
Time123 (020838) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:21 am
@8 In the post, he’s called a Republican pollster. What’s your question here?
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:38 am
“This first one is common sense, is supported by what we’re actually seeing, and is useful advice to give in his roll as a pollster advising the administration of President Joe Biden about reaching people reluctant to get the vaccine.”

However, what messaging will get those reluctant about the vaccine “to want to do it”? I’m not sure if statistics by themselves will do it. If Pelosi or Fauci summarizes statistics and appeals to right-wingers to get vaccinated, everyone knows how that will work. Luntz’s point is who has immediate credibility with the fervent Trump base? Ted Cruz? Nikki Haley? Mike Pence? Mitt Romney? If there is hesitancy based on politics….and polarization….Trump could defuse it. I’m not sure why one would find this wishful thinking….
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:41 am
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:41 am

The last time I checked the difference between R vs D vaccination rates was ~11%. That is large but the US Postal workers union just came out against mandatory vaccines. The rates within the black and hispanic communities are lower than whites. The rate with healthcare workers isn’t great. It’s not an issue limited to knuckle-dragging white right-wingers. This is a myth of the us vs them narrative.

This is wishful thinking because a number of R governors and politicians are promoting vaccines and there is no data to suggest that this plight of the unvaccinated would go away if only Trump would say the magic words. This is a myth of the magic Trump.
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:57 am
it doesn’t look like unvaccinated migrants are listening to the outreach

maybe trump should try harder there

or maybe they are listening, but to biden and harris, and that’s why they’re flooding in

others have a better approach and are actually doing something

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jul/29/texas-gov-greg-abbott-issues-order-block-covid-19-/
JF (e1156d) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:05 am
If there is hesitancy based on politics….and polarization….Trump could defuse it. I’m not sure why one would find this wishful thinking….

Because it is not in Trump’s interest to do so. His brand thrives on conflict and division, and disagreeing with the “Establishment.” On a rabidly pro-Trump forum where I lurk, most disagree with Trump admitting he received “his” vaccine, and think he is wrong to make supportive statements. They see it as Trump selling out.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:06 am
Except the difference is accelerating over time. Few to no new Trumplicans, most Democrats and a strong majority of independents.

So yes, at one point in time, more Republican’s had received it officially than Dems, White House Staff, but the difference has been building every hour of every day since. And independents are people too, and apparently are not quite as mind numbingly stupid (or brainwashed, best case).

Rates for R’s are not improving, and Mitch knows his constituency, old fat white guys mostly with diabetes. You know, Covid Central Casting.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:09 am
Source
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:10 am
I think everyone understands that different advocates will be needed for different groups….and that Trump would be the most effective voice for Republicans who are hesitant because of primarily political reasons. The current GOP structure is quite….Trump-centric. Like it or not, his opinion animates much of right wing media and gets amplified….unlike any R governor. What would be the harm in Trump advocating for something that he and his family were early adopters of? Right now, it just doesn’t seem to be in his interest…..but if we made him President again, well….maybe then he would use the bully pulpit. Good Christian ethics?
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:12 am
An ancient senator, w/a reputation for being part of the problem, not the solution; known for not only talking out of both sides of his mouth, but his backside as well… does ‘radio.’

Nothing to ‘see’ here.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:15 am
Harris pre-election: “If Donald Trump tells us to take it, I’m not taking it”
JF (e1156d) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:20 am
according to biden’s own advisor, trump’s involvement would make a difference

but biden doesn’t want to pick up his jitterbug flip phone and make a call

bad on trump i guess

who’s the president again?
JF (e1156d) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:29 am
It’s the Biden Administration’s issue to manage. Perhaps he can put Harris in charge.
Colonel Haiku (db083c) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:30 am
@20. The Jugged Juggler? She’d be ‘Ed Sullivan’ material w/that act. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:39 am
Start a rumor that the Emergency Use Authorization is going to end soon, and the vaccines might not be available again until 2023.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:39 am
Biden looked slightly dazed and generally confused in the video clips I watched of his visit to the Mack Truck factory. His small talk to workers was forced and awkward. One comment, in particular, captured the attention of some observers. Biden claimed to have driven 18-wheeler trucks in his earlier life. Remember, this guy has been in elected office and a professional politician for almost fifty years. He went to Washington, D.C. as a U.S. senator at the age of 29. When did he drive a big rig? When asked, the White House had to scramble to provide cover for Biden’s latest whopper.

There is scant evidence that Biden has ever driven an 18-wheeler truck.

When asked if the president had ever driven such a truck, a White House spokesperson pointed to a December 1973 article from the Wilmington Evening Journal that showed Biden rode in an 18-wheeler on a 536-mile haul to Ohio.

Fox News pressed the spokesperson about the president’s claim – noting that riding in a truck is not the same as driving one – at which point the president’s spokesperson pointed to a United Federation of Teachers post that touched on Biden driving a school bus in the past as a summer job.

https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2021/07/29/bidens-latest-whopper-i-used-to-drive-an-18-wheeler-truck-man-wh-staff-scrambles-to-cover-for-him-n405306
Colonel Haiku (db083c) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:41 am
Start a rumor that the Emergency Use Authorization is going to end soon, and the vaccines might not be available again until 2023.

Vax deniers won’t care.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:41 am
22.Start a rumor that the Emergency Use Authorization is going to end soon, and the vaccines might not be available again until 2023.

Rumor has it see Joey started an 18-wheeler, too, and drove it.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:42 am
This is politicized on both sides. Yes, Trump is using it to rally his core, but there are quite a few New-Agey folks avoiding the vaccine for other reasons (e.g. their masseuse told them herbs were better).
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:43 am
Vax deniers won’t care.

But waverers might.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:45 am
Ah yes, the damn essential oils crowd.
urbanleftbehind (654a1d) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:46 am
Kept Man
Chinese Wife

…is what the Mitch bashers say
urbanleftbehind (654a1d) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:49 am
Good for McConnell, no matter his political calculations.
Trump has recommended the vaccine, but not without qualifications, and that’s the problem. An example:

“I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly,” he said during a Fox News interview Tuesday night.

“We have our freedoms and we have to live by that, and I agree with that also,” he said. “But it is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine, and it is something that works.”

In other words, get a jab, but it’s okay if you don’t, because freedom! Such a civic-minded fella.

Regarding Luntz, he’s a Republican pollster in that he surveys Republicans, but I believe he left the GOP.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:50 am
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:39 am

Start a rumor that the Emergency Use Authorization is going to end soon, and the vaccines might not be available again until 2023.

If the current trends track true the vaccines don’t last as long as we’d hoped, especially in the face of variants. It’s looking more and more like these vaccines will need bi-annual boosters. Making that announcement would put the biggest scare into the vax-me-back-to-normal crowd.

It might encourage people on the fence though. Do you think there’s a large contingent of people who just haven’t gotten around to it?
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:54 am
The last time I checked the difference between R vs D vaccination rates was ~11%.

More like 34%. A WA Post poll has the difference at 41%.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:58 am
@29. Kept Man Chinese Wife …is what the Mitch bashers say

Do they…

“Oh my… another Yellow Fever victim.” – ‘Teddy Roosevelt’ Brewster [John Alexander] ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ 1943
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 12:00 pm
If the current trends track true the vaccines don’t last as long as we’d hoped, especially in the face of variants.

Click-bait for the deniers.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 12:07 pm
Do you think there’s a large contingent of people who just haven’t gotten around to it?

Not exactly. I think there’s a lot of people who hear all the conflicting opinions, have no basis for sorting them out — innumeracy rates approach 90% in this country — and are procrastinating a decision.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 12:09 pm
A fine rant on innumeracy:

https://bridgebizstem.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/numbers-america-also-has-an-innumeracy-problem/
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 12:13 pm
Recovering: Bob Odenkirk

“Better Call Saul” star Bob Odenkirk had a “heart related incident” when he collapsed on the show’s New Mexico set, and his condition is stable as he recovers at a hospital, his representatives said Wednesday.

“We can confirm Bob is in stable condition after experiencing a heart related incident,” the statement said. “He and his family would like to express gratitude for the incredible doctors and nurses looking after him, as well as his cast, crew and producers who have stayed by his side. The Odenkirks would also like to thank everyone for the outpouring of well wishes and ask for their privacy at this time as Bob works on his recovery.”

Odenkirk collapsed Tuesday on the Albuquerque set where the “Breaking Bad” spin-off is shooting its sixth and final season. Crew members called an ambulance that took the 58-year-old actor to a local hospital.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2413848/bob-odenkirk-collapses-on-better-call-saul-set.html
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 12:16 pm
Frank Luntz’s Infection Of Washington, D.C. And The GOP

‘In January 2021, Luntz renounced his Republican party affiliation, yet continues to advise the GOP, having attended a leadership retreat in Orlando in April. Whoever invited Luntz should explain why someone who has effectively burned his Republican Party registration card is still advising Republicans. Ever wonder why Washington, D.C. is such a mess?’

https://www.tampafp.com/frank-luntzs-infection-of-washington-d-c-and-the-gop/

House Republicans split on working with Frank Luntz for 2022 campaign messaging

‘With House Republicans within striking distance of winning the majority in 2022, lawmakers aren’t sure what to make of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s working relationship with GOP pollster Frank Luntz, a critic of former President Donald Trump.

Luntz, a longtime pollster and friend of McCarthy, who helped coordinate focus groups and messaging for the Republican Party, has expressed similar views as the strongest Trump critic in the House, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who House Republicans recently removed from her leadership role.’

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house-republicans-split-working-with-frank-luntz-2022-campaign-messaging
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 12:24 pm
Luntz and McCarthy were roomies for awhile.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/29/2021 @ 12:40 pm
Luntz and his dunces are props for televised global koombya b.s.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2021 @ 1:05 pm
I didnt know Patton Oswalt was also a pollster.
urbanleftbehind (b4f545) — 7/29/2021 @ 1:22 pm
@40. Luntz Time:

‘Toupee or not toupee; that is the question.’ 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 1:42 pm
O.M.G.- so pathetic: President Plagiarist doing his used car spiel trying to pitch vaccines over the TeeVee… ‘Keep On Truckin” eh, Joey baby?! ‘Pedal to the metal,’ 18-wheeler!

“Radio. Heater. Easy payments!” – Richard Nixon [David Frye] ‘Richard Nixon: A Fantasy’ 1973
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 1:50 pm
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/29/2021 @ 11:58 am

The KFF data that Klink linked was the source of my ~11%. That number is based on a different methodology than the 34% in your first link.

Is there value in debating the reliability of collected data versus surveys?

If you just want to look at stats by race you can try the CDC data. That data makes it harder to pretend the unvaccinated are an unruly horde of white males.
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 1:53 pm
“It’s a question of whether the Federal government can mandate the whole country. I don’t know that yet.” -President Plagiarist, 7/29/21

Would that include the illegals you let keep pouring in across the border or just American citizens?

IDIOT.

This imbecile makes Jimma Carter look and sound like Winston Churchill.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 1:59 pm
Joe! Here’s the deal:

Resign and folks will get vaccinated.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:03 pm
@46 You’d rather Harris become president?

Genuine question.

I think I’m almost there….
whembly (123289) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:11 pm
@47. More entertaining- see #21. ‘The Jugged Juggler.’

It certainly would make it an easy win for Trump in 2024,too.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:13 pm
If you just want to look at stats by race you can try the CDC data. That data makes it harder to pretend the unvaccinated are an unruly horde of white males.

frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 1:53 pm

There are numerous sources of anti-vax behavior based on faulty reasoning and bad science. One that’s actively operating today is the Trump friendly messaging machine of the GOP. If you want to look at the data in detail and over time you can see vaccine hesitancy in conservative whites going up with CV19 vaccine. It’s reasonable to conclude the many passionate public statements of Trumpublican leaders have some impact here.
Time123 (9f42ee) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:18 pm
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 12:07 pm

Click-bait for the deniers.

I know right! Reuters needs to be banned from social media for misinformation. Also, those CNBC jackwaggons with their 39% effective against delta variant fake news. Not to mention those Pfizer conspiracy nuts with their efficacy in preventing both infection and symptomatic disease has declined six months post-vaccination nonsense.

Don’t worry the EUA doesn’t require approval for boosters and the current round of vaccines would pass against the new variants and if they didn’t we can create new mRNA versions in a week right? Right?
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:19 pm
My personal reasons for not getting vaccinated- [am in the age risk group] and waiting for the pill are based on real world life experience w/rushed out government vaccines. And knowing full well there’s a tablet in our future and Big Pharma is simply milking the gov’t for every dime it can get on these multiple shots w/endless boosters and so forth. Have avoided all gov’t flu shots as well. And Biden does nothing to ‘boost’ my confidence he knows what the hell he’s doing. Every time he opens his gob he muddles the messaging more adding politically insincere platitudes of ‘sincerity’–while his minions are groping in the dark every which way as well.

You wouldn’t want Joe piloting your 787, or driving your kids in a school bus nor would you want you personal health hanging on the judgements of an old, brain-damaged, lazy-minded, plagiaristic, lying dolt who has already told the world if he screws up, he’ll say he is ‘sorry.’ Which doesn’t heal the sick, comfort the afflicted… or bring back the dead. Move over Dick, Lyndon, Jimma and Ron… six moths in this doddering old dude is by far the worst American president of my lifetime.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:28 pm
If Trump were to say to them: ‘Hey, get the vaccine.’ That would make a difference.

No he’d ave t say: Get the vaccine, even sometimes when they tell you not to.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:48 pm
3. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/29/2021 @ 10:05 am

. I am surprised, however, that campaign funds can be used for non-campaign purposes.

They can be used for just about anything, including lawyers. What they can’t be used for is purely personal expenditures.

And how would you objectively say that this does not have a campaign purpose?
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:51 pm
Time123 (9f42ee) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:18 pm

can see vaccine hesitancy in conservative whites going up with CV19 vaccine

I don’t think that means what you think it means. For example, the total number of conservative whites isn’t appreciably increasing. And a person, at least in the short term, doesn’t go from vaccinated to unvaccinated. So, the total number of unvaccinated conservative whites isn’t going up.

If the group isn’t growing maybe their hesitancy is? Assuming there is some measure of “hesitancy” what is actually going up? Are they becoming more hesitant? Is the group actually shrinking as people with lower “hesitancy” leave the group? Does that really mean anything?

The percentage of whites in the group of unvaccinated may be growing but the group overall is shrinking. Nothing is going up other than a relative comparison of skin tone. Well, technically, that’s not true. With the JB border policies, the number of unvaccinated is going up but that’s a different discussion.
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:53 pm
If you look up polling information about vaccine hesitancy at various points in time you’ll see that the hesitancy for white people has changed and increased for demographics that would overlap “Trump voter”. On a cell so I can’t easily look up and provide stats.
Time123 (020838) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:13 pm
14. 15. Vaccination rates per county gives as much weight to low population counties as high population counties.

There are several different loci of lower vaccination rates.

Incidentally, while the failure of the FDA to give the vaccone its full approval is given as a reason for people not getting vaccinated, a poll showed that that would move only about 8% of the unvaccinated.

In other vaccine news:

1) Pfizer is asking for approval of a 3rd shot. This may be based on a knowingly faulty indicator: antibody levels, which of course drop after a while.

2) Pfizer is going to start trials of a vaccine more specifically targeted toward the Delta variant.

3) The UK is not vaccinating those between 12 and 17 on the grounds they don’t need it.. And that maybe the risk is higher from the vaccine. Exceptions include people in that age group living with other people with weakened immune systems.

4) Israel is giving people over 60 a booster shot.

5) South Korea is a little short on vaccine. Mostly because it didn’t order in advance.

6) Pfizer is making record profits. (as the patent laws intend)
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:14 pm
Wondering if hack mcconnell has funded planned parenthood with election funds. Or worse.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:31 pm
Marc Thiessen has some estimates on comparative risks:

The data is clear: According to the CDC, as of July 19, a grand total of 4,072 vaccinated Americans had been hospitalized with symptomatic breakthrough infections, out of more than 161 million who have been fully vaccinated. That is a breakthrough hospitalization rate of less than 0.003 percent. Better still, of those hospitalized, only 849 have died of covid-19. That means the death rate from those breakthrough infections is 0.0005 percent.

To put that in perspective, your chance of dying from a lightning strike is .0007 percent, and your chance of dying from a seasonal flu is 0.1 percent. If you’re vaccinated, you have a much greater chance of dying from a hornet, wasp or bee string, a dog attack, a car crash, drowning, sunstroke, or choking on food than you do of dying from covid-19.

The vaccinated who did die were almost all quite old, with co-morbidities.

Thiessen does not discuss the additional risks from “Long COVIVD”; unfortunately, we won’t know what those are for months, and, very likely, for years.

(Caveat: I haven’t checked these estimates myself.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:33 pm
Time123 (020838) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:13 pm

I suspected you were working from polling numbers. That puts us in

Is the group actually shrinking as people with lower “hesitancy” leave the group? Does that really mean anything?

territory right?

If you randomly sample a population on “hesitancy”, give some time for the lower “hesitancy” members to leave the group, and then poll the group again what do you expect to happen? Or, if you poll people on a subjective term, politicize the subjective term, and then poll again what are you trying to measure?

More importantly, why is this statistic important?
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:34 pm
Meanwhile the FDA is campaigning against ivermectin as a prophylactic in spite of numerous studies in the past year that show that it works very well, and is even claiming this long-on-the-market drug could suddenly be dangerous.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-ivermectin-covid-19-coronavirus-masks-anti-science-11627482393

Earlier this year the agency put out a special warning that “you should not use ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19.” The FDA’s statement included words and phrases such as “serious harm,” “hospitalized,” “dangerous,” “very dangerous,” “seizures,” “coma and even death” and “highly toxic.” Any reader would think the FDA was warning against poison pills. In fact, the drug is FDA-approved as a safe and effective antiparasitic.

….Ivermectin is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines. Merck has donated four billion doses to prevent river blindness and other diseases in Africa and other places where parasites are common. A group of 10 doctors who call themselves the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance have said ivermectin is “one of the safest, low-cost, and widely available drugs in the history of medicine.”

Ivermectin fights 21 viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the cause of Covid-19. A single dose reduced the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in cells by 99.8% in 24 hours and 99.98% in 48 hours, according to a June 2020 study published in the journal Antiviral Research.

Some 70 clinical trials are evaluating the use of ivermectin for treating Covid-19. The statistically significant evidence suggests that it is safe and works for both treating and preventing the disease.

In 115 patients with Covid-19 who received a single dose of ivermectin, none developed pneumonia or cardiovascular complications, while 11.4% of those in the control group did. Fewer ivermectin patients developed respiratory distress (2.6% vs. 15.8%); fewer required oxygen (9.6% vs. 45.9%); fewer required antibiotics (15.7% vs. 60.2%); and fewer entered intensive care (0.1% vs. 8.3%). Ivermectin-treated patients tested negative faster, in four days instead of 15, and stayed in the hospital nine days on average instead of 15. Ivermectin patients experienced 13.3% mortality compared with 24.5% in the control group.

Moreover, the drug can help prevent Covid-19. One 2020 article in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications looked at what happened after the drug was given to family members of confirmed Covid-19 patients. Less than 8% became infected, versus 58.4% of those untreated.

Despite the FDA’s claims, ivermectin is safe at approved doses. Out of four billion doses administered since 1998, there have been only 28 cases of serious neurological adverse events, according to an article published this year in the American Journal of Therapeutics. The same study found that ivermectin has been used safely in pregnant women, children and infants.

If the FDA were driven by science and evidence, it would give an emergency-use authorization for ivermectin for Covid-19. Instead, the FDA asserts without evidence that ivermectin is dangerous.

I suppose their real worry is that the supply of the drug could be used up and people who need it for other infections won’t be able to get it. But this is lying for public health.)

They also give outdated and false (like washing) advice on how to prevent transmission.

At the bottom of the FDA’s warning against ivermectin is this statement: “Meanwhile, effective ways to limit the spread of COVID-19 continue to be to wear your mask, stay at least 6 feet from others who don’t live with you, wash hands frequently, and avoid crowds… what is more effective as a prophylactic are low doses of the monoclonal antibodies (lower than usual because at the initial stage of an infection less is needed) which could at least be used by hospital workers who don’t want to get vaccinated, but that ideas stuck in regulatory limbo.

I don’t think we have any idea how much medical progress is stopped or slowed down by the drug regulatory process.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:35 pm
50. frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:19 pm

we can create new mRNA versions in a week right? Right?

Yes we can, because the real science is well established (the pharmaceutical companies are years ahead of the FDA) but getting any changes approved is another matter.

And it does take awhile to set up the manufacturing.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:35 pm
@58; I wonder if those numbers are after they cleaned up the problems they’ve been having with the VAERS database.

The hospitalization rates are good numbers to see.
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:37 pm
The words:

what is more effective as a prophylactic are low doses of the monoclonal antibodies (lower than usual because at the initial stage of an infection less is needed) which could at least be used by hospital workers who don’t want to get vaccinated, but that ideas stuck in regulatory limbo.

are mine, not the FDAs.

My point being that ivermectin is not the best possible prophylactic.

But it may be the cheapest and most available (for now) And it’s a pill.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:40 pm
@59 You’re right. It’s not important. Forget I said anything.
Time123 (020838) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:41 pm
Remember; Senator McConnell’s seat does not come up for re-election until 2026, when he will be 84 years old. He might not need campaign funds.

He hardly needed them anyway: his Democratic opponent, Amy McGrath Henderson, spent $100 million, in a state with only 4½ million people, and still lost bigly, and I mean bigly, 1,233,315 (57.8%) to 816,257 (38.2%).

Mrs Henderson carried three counties, none by more than 55%, while Mr McConnell carried 117 counties, several by over 80%, and a couple by over 90%.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (405d48) — 7/29/2021 @ 3:55 pm
Kentucky is high on blue grass.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:12 pm
Joe! Here’s the deal:

Resign and folks will get vaccinated.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:03 pm

LOL you just hate every day that this guy is the leader of the free world, his name cemented in the history books as one of the best politicians that ever walked the planet, and all he has to do is eat ice cream and babble.

Trump fans crying over how easy Biden has it is, in a word, Glorious.

And Biden couldn’t have done it without you. That’s why you’re so upset about it. The only politician who owes more to his haters is probably Reagan.
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:16 pm
Biden vs Romney? Zero percent chance of winning. Biden vs Dubya? Zero percent chance of winning. Biden vs Trump? Landslide.

It’s a vaccination against depression to watch the Trump fans get bent out of shape about the presidency they created.
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:18 pm
Dustin, said it before and I’ll say it again; The only people that voted /for/ Biden are Joe and Hunter, and Hunter just wanted a payday. Everyone else voted against Trump.
Time123 (ccf056) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:19 pm
Mr milligram wrote:

Kentucky is high on blue grass.

I’ve lived here since the third grade, and I’ve yet to see any grass look blue.

The University of Kentucky planted bluegrass i Commonwealth Stadium when it first opened, because, it’s Kentucky, but it proved to be too slick for a football field. It was ripped out and a better grass sodded in.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (405d48) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:19 pm
Time123 (ccf056) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:19 pm

Who did people in the D primaries vote for? Were the other candidates in the D primary worse than Trump? None of them better than Biden?
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:24 pm
None of them better than Biden?

Of course not.

https://twitter.com/RED_IN_PA_2/status/1420058455864496128

This is what peak performance looks like. It is the literal opposite of bad faith shrieking for hours every day on a comment section.
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:26 pm
Everyone else voted against Trump.

Time123 (ccf056) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:19 pm

No Trump, and America wouldn’t be blessed with this master of Ctrl+v and Ctrl+c nor the double dipped waffle cone.
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:28 pm
LOL you just hate every day that this guy is the leader of the free world, his name cemented in the history books as one of the best politicians that ever walked the planet, and all he has to do is eat ice cream and babble.

=yawn= “You may very well think that. I could not possibly comment.”

OTOH, as a champion for general party policy and direction-it’s a win/win, Dusty. Never forget: the object is to neuter the modern ideological conservative movement into irrelevancy.

It is– w/every passing day. And that alone is truly…

Glorious.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:45 pm
Trump trying to stay on the the “good” side of his base by not aggressively promoting the vaccine is the second-most reprehensible thing he has done, right after the stolen election / January 6th nonsense.

But wait, there’s more! Trump has now melded them together! “People are refusing to take the vaccine because they don’t trust (Biden’s) administration, they don’t trust the election results.”
norcal (a6130b) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:50 pm
@71, it was a joke frosty. I didn’t mean it literally. I just meant that Biden’s a lousy president and was a terrible candidate.
Time123 (ccf056) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:51 pm
Hey, Dustin, welcome! There used to be another guy named Dustin that commented here often.
norcal (a6130b) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:53 pm
Never forget: the object is to neuter the modern ideological conservative bla bla bla

😭😭😭😭
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:54 pm
This Oh-So-Joe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eke-oF3Vh6s

Well Pop-my-Corn and Afro-my-Sheen— right outta 1973!

Keep on truckin’ Joe!!!

“If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” – Joe Biden
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:59 pm
Trump trying to stay on the the “good” side of his base by not aggressively promoting the vaccine is the second-most reprehensible thing he has done, right after the stolen election / January 6th nonsense.

But wait, there’s more! Trump has now melded them together! “People are refusing to take the vaccine because they don’t trust (Biden’s) administration, they don’t trust the election results.”

norcal (a6130b) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:50 pm

Well said.

But every day Trump has to look at the TV all day and watch this guy eat ice cream and I think that’s pretty funny.
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:59 pm
Keep on truckin’ Joe!!!

😭😭😭😭
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:59 pm
@78. –bla-bla-bla–

Joe stutters, too, Dusty.

Conservative whine; bitter dregs.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:00 pm
But every day Trump has to look at the TV all day and watch this guy eat ice cream and I think that’s pretty funny.

Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 4:59 pm

Trumpanomics!
norcal (a6130b) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:08 pm
Joe stutters, too, Dusty.

🙁❌

😢❌

😭✔
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:11 pm
In a surrender to the anti-vaxx lobby, LAUSD will require weekly testing of everyone, regardless of vaccination status.

Yet another reason not to bother.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:12 pm
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 2:19 pm

You think you’re joking. That’s not why we’re laughing.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:13 pm
Genuine question.

I think I’m almost there….

The Senate would have to OK the new VP — and Harris can’t break the tie.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:15 pm
1) Pfizer is asking for approval of a 3rd shot. This may be based on a knowingly faulty indicator: antibody levels, which of course drop after a while.

Or, this may be because it’s more vaccine to sell, it will do no harm, and they can probably get it approved.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:16 pm
Remember when Joe boogied at the after party w/Richard Roundtree and Pam Grier at the premiere of Foxy Brown on ‘Soul Train’?

Joes does! It was the night before he flew with Corn Pop to see Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier duke it out at ‘Thrilla in Manila’– on his way to free Nelson Mandela.

“I’m serious- I really mean it!” – President Plagiarist
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:22 pm
🍦💔😭
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:27 pm
anybody know if there are benefits to going from moderna to pfizer? If a third dose helps, does it help more if you change brands?
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:28 pm
The data is clear: According to the CDC, as of July 19, a grand total of 4,072 vaccinated Americans had been hospitalized with symptomatic breakthrough infections, out of more than 161 million who have been fully vaccinated. That is a breakthrough hospitalization rate of less than 0.003 percent. Better still, of those hospitalized, only 849 have died of covid-19. That means the death rate from those breakthrough infections is 0.0005 percent.

To put this in perspective, since mid-May, there have been about 27,000 deaths (60 days x an average rate over those two months of about 450/day). As of mid-May, everyone who wanted to get a vaccine AND was over, oh, 40 had completed the sequence. 849 vaccinated deaths (probably over a longer period) vs 27,000 total deaths is — wait for it — the same 3% that everyone has been quoting.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:29 pm
Isn’t it neat that when you go to the raw numbers and calculate everything out yourself, you get the same answers that most sources report? Kind of makes you feel like there is some truth in the system, despite all the spinning on ~~both~~ all sides.

I really don’t know what to say to the people who take every small-N report from the South Succotash Community Hospital and try to make that into a factoid, other than this: It’s your life, so long as you stay home.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:33 pm
anybody know if there are benefits to going from moderna to pfizer?

Joe does! And he’s damn certain there’s an Amtrak train that’ll take you there from Wilmington-or is it Scranton this week.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:34 pm
The only politician who owes more to his haters is probably Reagan.

Well, unlike Trump, Reagan was capable of making his haters look silly. “There you go again” and stuff like that. Trump was a bull amid picadors, racing around and just tiring himself out.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:37 pm
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:33 pm

Isn’t it neat that when you go to the raw numbers and calculate everything out yourself

What do the raw numbers say about surviving a jump from an airplane without a parachute?
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:39 pm
What do the raw numbers say about surviving a jump from an airplane without a parachute?

Insufficient data.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:41 pm
But every day Trump has to look at the TV all day and watch this guy eat ice cream and I think that’s pretty funny.

Not as funny as Joe drivin’ an 18-wheeler full of Coors to Atlanta w/Hunter ‘ahead’ in a black Trans-Am as blocker. But then, Trump doesn’t drink anything but Diet Coke.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:41 pm
However, the survival rate WITH a parachute is 99.99955%
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:43 pm
Reagan was capable of making his haters look silly.

Worked both ways- ask Bonzo.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:44 pm
Trump doesn’t drink anything but Diet Coke.

Not exactly an ad for Diet Coke.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:44 pm
Worked both ways- ask Bonzo.

There you go again.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:44 pm
Biden doesn’t drink anything but sweet salty tears of Trump fanatics trying to troll 23 hours a day.

😭
💧
💧
🥤👴🏻
Dustin (590867) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:46 pm
I think I’m almost there….

There’s a reason the Founders quilled the parameters of the Legislative Branch first on their second try after the Articles of Confederation failed. Detailing the Congress was, to them, more important than the Executive– and it’s likely we’re rediscovering that w/both Showman Donald–and Stuttering Joe- that these clowns aren’t essential for a three-ring circus to produce ‘the greatest show on Earth.’
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:55 pm
You don’t need a parachute to jump from a flying plane. You need a parachute to jump from a flying plane again.
nk (1d9030) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:57 pm
They told me if I voted for Trump I’d get a terrible Putin/Xi puppet President, worst inflation in over 30 years, regressive economic policies and an exploding crime rate.

Goddam if they weren’t right.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:57 pm
103.Biden doesn’t drink anything but sweet salty tears of Trump fanatics trying to troll 23 hours a day

Amtrakers do have their motorman’s friend.

And, of course, Ensure.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:57 pm
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:43 pm

I keep hearing that not getting vaccinated is like jumping from a plane without a chute. Are you thinking the people saying that are working from insufficient data?

Maybe they’re just saying it wrong? Should it be getting a vaccine is like skydiving because both have a ~99.99955% survival rate? Maybe that would motivate more vaccines. The tag line could be get vaccinated and go skydiving. Or get vaccinated, it’s as safe as skydiving. Or get vaccinated, all the thrills without the heights.
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 6:00 pm
@102. Monkey see; monkey do. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 6:00 pm
@103; when your driving those 🚛’s building the 🇺🇸 as part of the 👷‍♂️ sometimes that’s all you’ve got time for. You’d 🧐 his pal 🌽 🎉 would do him a solid and get some 🍿 .
frosty (f27e97) — 7/29/2021 @ 6:09 pm
Those that qualify should get the vaccine. And hold the federal government experts accountable.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/29/2021 @ 6:09 pm
Noyyysce! And if Mitchie boy can pull that off, much respect!
urbanleftbehind (b4f545) — 7/29/2021 @ 6:40 pm
@112 I’m starting to think there is an unwritten rule that at least one senator from Arizona be a maverick. We had Goldwater and McCain, and now we have Sinema.
norcal (a6130b) — 7/29/2021 @ 6:51 pm
111.Those that qualify should get the vaccine. And hold the federal government experts accountable.

You can’t – otherwise everybody from Wolfowitz to Daddy Darth would be in prison.

Even Scooter eventually scooted free.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 6:53 pm
https://i.imgur.com/GDrR3Td.jpg

I’m convinced.
Davethulhu (aa6793) — 7/29/2021 @ 6:59 pm
@115 I love it!
norcal (a6130b) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:02 pm
False analogy. Cows are useful creatures.
nk (1d9030) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:06 pm
If the china controlled mcconnell would have did his job as da leader of da senate he wouldn’t need the other side to bail his rino backside out. Oh but he won the great state of blue grass by a thunderous margin. Pretty sad. Old men like him need a vacation to wuhan.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:06 pm
McConnell must have a safe word with Whip Wife. Wonder what it is…

Turtleneck? Bottleneck? Bourbon?
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:09 pm
105. nk (1d9030) — 7/29/2021 @ 5:57 pm

You don’t need a parachute to jump from a flying plane. You need a parachute to jump from a flying plane again.

TThe plane itself, at least if small enough, can have a parachute.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/02/flight-plan

….Karl was seventy when we bought the Cirrus… The Cirrus came with a training course and an impressive maintenance package. It came with a parachute—not individual parachutes for the pilot and the passenger but a single, supersized one for the plane itself. Karl talked me through this. If something were to happen, I should pull the throttle back to idle. “Turn the ignition off if you think about it,” he said. “But chances are you won’t have to worry about that. If you’re deploying the parachute, the engine is presumably dead.”

I looked at him. “The engine isn’t dead. You’re dead. If I’m the one doing this, it’s because you’re no longer flying the plane.” There it was again, the inevitable future I was forever hedging against.

“O.K.,” he said. “That makes sense. So reach around and turn the key, then pull down the red handle above your head. It takes about forty pounds of force so pull hard, both hands.” He mimed how the pulling should go, a C curve and then straight. “Then the parachute opens, and you’ll just waft down. It works best if you’re above four hundred feet, so don’t spend too much time making up your mind.”

I would not picture the trip down after the parachute had opened, or calculate what it meant for our chances. I didn’t want to know….
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:16 pm
119 – boatneck
mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:16 pm
118. mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:06 pm

If the china controlled mcconnell would have did his job as da leader of da senate he wouldn’t need the other side to bail his rino backside out.

Trump cost him the Senate what with his stolen election claim.

And all projections and predictions based on the November, 2020 election, are out of date. On a national race, the Republican should do about 5 percentage points worse.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:20 pm
Blue Cheese or Swiss, Sammy?
mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:24 pm
88. Yes, but Pfizer is using an argument for emergency approval that they, and anyody familiar with immunity, know is faulty.

Johnson and Johnson is running a clinical trial to see how (much better) its vaccine works if you get two shots.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:24 pm
105.You don’t need a parachute to jump from a flying plane. You need a parachute to jump from a flying plane again.

Bailouts; ask a banker and a car maker about ’em.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:24 pm
123. That does not compute.

How about cheddar cheese? I don;t like Swiss cheese and I would be wary of any cheese colored blue.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:26 pm
The idiot mcconnell should have campaigned and spent money intelligently on his rino herd, prior to the stolen election.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:28 pm
So, Amtrak Joe –does the vaccine protect you from White Line Fever?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3VN54M1OXA
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/29/2021 @ 7:44 pm
It’s so effervescent to hear the real leader of the Republican Party, with real leadership exercising real political power in DC, called a RINO. Like a Diet Coke from a New York hot dog cart on a hot day.
nk (1d9030) — 7/29/2021 @ 8:02 pm
And that’s why your parachute analogy is not working, Kevin. You’re talking to people who think down is up.

And orange is red, white and blue, too.
nk (1d9030) — 7/29/2021 @ 8:16 pm
Is there value in debating the reliability of collected data versus surveys?

Yes, frosty, else you wouldn’t have brought up the 11% figure, no?
Two, the CDC doesn’t measure by political party. Like with racial-ethnic groups, it’s helpful to know which subgroups are getting jabs and which are not.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/30/2021 @ 12:04 am
Meanwhile the FDA is campaigning against ivermectin as a prophylactic in spite of numerous studies in the past year that show that it works very well, and is even claiming this long-on-the-market drug could suddenly be dangerous.

Sammy, there are no randomized clinical trials that show Ivermectin to be effective. The latest clinical trial was withdrawn due to suspected fraud.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/30/2021 @ 12:12 am
I don’t know parachute statistics, but I do know the difference between a bad parachutist and a bad golfer. With the bad golfer, you hear “whack!” and then “damn!”
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/30/2021 @ 12:43 am
With a bad parachutist you also hear “whack”.
norcal (a6130b) — 7/30/2021 @ 1:01 am
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/30/2021 @ 12:12 am

Sammy, there are no randomized clinical trials that show Ivermectin to be effective.

What do you mean none? There are several.

https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/who-advises-that-ivermectin-only-be-used-to-treat-covid-19-within-clinical-trials

The group reviewed pooled data from 16 randomized controlled trials (total enrolled 2407), including both inpatients and outpatients with COVID-19. They determined that the evidence on whether ivermectin reduces mortality, need for mechanical ventilation, need for hospital admission and time to clinical improvement in COVID-19 patients is of “very low certainty,” due to the small sizes and methodological limitations of available trial data, including small number of events.

The panel did not look at the use of ivermectin to prevent COVID-19, which is outside of scope of the current guidelines.

So for its best use they are just ignoring it. There are many trials of that which have reported great success.

https://journals.lww.com/americantherapeutics/fulltext/2021/08000/ivermectin_for_prevention_and_treatment_of.7.aspx

Repurposed medicines may have a role against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The antiparasitic ivermectin, with antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, has now been tested in numerous clinical trials….. Meta-analyses were conducted and certainty of the evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach and additionally in trial sequential analyses for mortality. Twenty-four randomized controlled trials involving 3406 participants met review inclusion.

Meta-analysis of 15 trials found that ivermectin reduced risk of death compared with no ivermectin (average risk ratio 0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.19–0.73; n = 2438; I2 = 49%; moderate-certainty evidence). This result was confirmed in a trial sequential analysis using the same DerSimonian–Laird method that underpinned the unadjusted analysis. This was also robust against a trial sequential analysis using the same DerSimonian–Laird method that underpinned the unadjusted analysis. This was also robust against a trial sequential analysis using the Biggerstaff–Tweedie method. Low-certainty evidence found that ivermectin prophylaxis reduced COVID-19 infection by an average 86% (95% confidence interval 79%–91%). Secondary outcomes provided less certain evidence. Low-certainty evidence suggested that there may be no benefit with ivermectin for “need for mechanical ventilation,” whereas effect estimates for “improvement” and “deterioration” clearly favored ivermectin use.

The Wall Street Journal is not retracting that article. And what is missing that would be there, if it were true? The drug is not patentable so nobody has an incentive to invest a lot of money in doing a big clinical trial..You can do a meta analysis and that has all the statistical power they should want.

Low sample sizes does not mean the probability is low.

The latest clinical trial was withdrawn due to suspected fraud.

Details? What were they trying to prove? The fact that one trial was maybe false does not mean that anything that claims that ivermectin is good for ANYTHING would be false.

IT DOESN’T MAKE ALL THE OTHER CLINICAL TRIAL GO AWAY.

The whole medical research system is a snakepit. Remember the totally false conclusions of diet studies?

Just consider the rejection of the lab leak hypothesis,
Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 7/30/2021 @ 5:42 am
There is no conspiracy to say that overmectin is extremely useful in preventing disease progression – and if all the numerous clinical trials showing that it does were faulty, there would be such a conspiracy.

There is rather a conspiracy to downplay it, and anything else that does not make a great deal of money.

The system is so set up that only totally new drugs can be approved because only something new can be patented, and if you can’t patent something any private company will not make money if it tries to prove that something works.

What happened with iverrmectin by the way is that they proved that it helped for one thing (while in reality it helps for almost anything and once it was approved doctors can prescribe it off label. Pharmaceutical companies have to be careful about promoting unapproved uses but they do that by sponsoring doctors to speak at medical conferences or publicizing research.

Medical progress has been greatly slowed down for the past fifty years just about. None of the hoops are really necessary, although, if people are stupid they can make mistakes.

And with all that the United |States is just about the only place new treatments arise from because all the other advanced countries have national health insurance and price controls.
Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 7/30/2021 @ 6:01 am
The media still does not realize that medical progress is greatlly slowed down.

Bill Gates would better spend his money sponsoring clinical trials to take new treatments and devices through the “valley of death

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/research/advancements-in-research/fundamentals/in-depth/surviving-the-valley-of-death

. In the research world, the term refers to that place between the lab bench and the marketplace where many good biomedical ideas wither away and die. It exists, in part, due to a gap in funding: Grants from the largest funders of biomedical research generally focus on basic research, but most basic science discoveries require further testing through expensive animal or clinical trials before industry investors will commit.

They don’t actually require, but legally they require it, and eople are still in love with the stories of medical progress between about 1880 and 1960.
Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 7/30/2021 @ 6:06 am
Many good biomedical ideas wither away and die. \

Not bad ideas. Good ideas. And many of them.

And ALL ideas are unnecessarily delayed.

There should be great outrage over that.

But how many people understand that?

Even a pandemic can’t force much change.
Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 7/30/2021 @ 6:12 am
In https://patterico.com/2020/04/03/experiment-doctors-use-blood-plasma-from-recovered-covid-19-patients-to-help-sick-patients

DRJ wrote

Another possible treatment? Ivermectin. This is used in veterinary medicine. DO NOT TRY THIS. There are dosing and other issues, and it can be dangerous.

DRJ (15874d) — 4/3/2020 @ 8:59 pm

I responded in part:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pulmonology/news/ivermectin-effective-against-covid-19-infection-find-scientists-64519

(kills viruses)
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/30/2021 @ 6:48 am
135. Semi-Correction

I wrote:

The Wall Street Journal is not retracting that article.

Looks like it is being partially retracted. But they authors say that even without the bad study the basic point still stands.

The article in the American Journal of Therapeutics: of July/August 2021 entitled:

Ivermectin for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Trial Sequential Analysis to Inform Clinical Guidelines

Bryant, Andrew MSc1,*; Lawrie, Theresa A. MBBCh, PhD2; Dowswell, Therese PhD2; Fordham, Edmund J. PhD2; Mitchell, Scott MBChB, MRCS3; Hill, Sarah R. PhD1; Tham, Tony C. MD, FRCP4
Author Information

…that is still online..

Includes a study that is being retracted. (not a recent one though)

It is:

47. Elgazzar A, Eltaweel A, Youssef SA, et al. Efficacy and safety of ivermectin for treatment and prophylaxis of covid-19 pandemic. Res Square. 2020. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-100956/v2.Preprint.

Letter to the Wall Street Journal dated July 29, 2021 2:39 pm ET

https://www.wsj.com/articles/egyptian-ivermectin-study-retracted-covid-11627527903

AIL
OPINION LETTERS

Writers Missed Ivermectin Study Retraction

We, the authors of “Why Is the FDA Attacking a Safe, Effective Drug?” (op-ed, July 29), have egg on our faces. Relying on a summary of studies published in the American Journal of Therapeutics, we quoted the results from a study of 200 healthcare workers. After our article was published, we learned that this study, by Ahmed Elgazzar of Benha University in Egypt, has recently been retracted due to serious charges of data manipulation.

We retract the part of our article that relied on the data from Dr. Elgazzar’s study. But the broader point stands: There’s strong evidence of ivermectin’s efficacy in treating Covid-19.

David R. Henderson
Charles L. Hooper
Grass Valley, Calif.

They still stand by their main point. (because, to repeat what I said, one bad or fraudulent clinical trial doesn’t make all the others go away!)
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/30/2021 @ 8:57 am
What do you mean none? There are several.

Sammy, I didn’t say there were no clinical trials, I said there were no clinical trials that showed Invermectin to be effective with CV19 treatment. That’s an accurate statement,
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/30/2021 @ 9:51 am
Ivermectin isn’t better than the monoclonal antibodies, of course.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/30/2021 @ 10:16 am
But it’s good “third world medicine” And emergency medicine.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/30/2021 @ 10:17 am
I said there were no clinical trials that showed Invermectin to be effective with CV19 treatment.

Did you mean: Effective if someone is also getting standard CV19 treatnent?
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 7/30/2021 @ 3:50 pm

7/29/2021

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