Donald Morrison: We live in a time of miracles | Columnists

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When you think that the COVID-19 pandemic will never end, a miracle will appear.

That’s ivermectin, an anti-parasitic agent developed in 1975 and used for decades to treat diseases in humans and animals. The discoverers won the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. Its users have won new hope in the war against COVID and big government.

In recent weeks, the demand for ivermectin has increased more than twenty times. Fox News commentators Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham swear by it. Conservative podcast host Joe Rogan recognizes the drug in suppression in his own case of COVID.

When pharmacies across the country sold ivermectin, people began to buy a stronger version intended for animals. That’s what prompted the Food and Drug Administration to issue an unusual warning: You’re not a horse. You are not a cow. Grabe, yall. Stop that.

The FDA and other scientific killjoys have declared that ivermectin has not been proven effective against COVID in clinical trials. Also, that its animal cousin can hurt users. Calls to poison control centers have risen.

Republicans are skeptical. Of them, ivermectin is the best thing since hydroxychloroquine. The anti-malarial drug showed initial promise in the first year against COVID. Our former president took it himself or so he said. It is FDA approved for emergency use. Alas, clinical trials have found that hydroxychloroquine doesn’t really make a difference and can have serious side effects. Like ivermectin.

Such objections are often unheard of in times of turmoil. For centuries, people have acquired quack cures, shot remedies and protective totems. Islamic physicians in the 11th century used fine bowls and beads to ward off disease. In the meantime, Christians, bought images of kings and saints for that purpose. Elsewhere I still have my childhood St. Louis medal. Christophers. Oddly, it doesn’t protect me from measles, mumps, chickenpox or Asian flu.

With the 19th century confirmation that diseases were usually caused by germs, quackery took on a more respectable veneer. Patent drugs have adopted the new language of science, including endorsements from doctors and satisfied patients.

Woodwards Gripe Water, for example, is an herbal formulate that was widely recommended in 20th century America to help babies through teething and colic. My mother probably managed it with me. Gripe Water worked, even though it was banned by the FDA in 1993 for high alcohol levels. No wonder babies are left without pain.

I can yammer about the false promises of crystals, cupping, colonic irrigation, ear candling, peach pits (purchased in the 1970s as a cancer cure called Laetrile) and urine therapy (you don’t want to know). The power of belief in such treatments is widespread, and consumers without scientific education or adequate information are at a disadvantage. All they have is desperation and hope.

So, it’s hard to blame Americans who see the promise in COVID healing that hasn’t been. Their leaders are another story. Many of them support these arrangements for political reasons despite the bad outcome, for their followers and for the country.

Consider the latest conservative favorite: Regeneron, a monoclonal antibody that actually helps with recovery from COVID. Inconvenient, it costs $ 1,250 a dose, plus hospital bills, compared to $ 20 for a vaccine.

However, like all such cures, Regeneron offers concerned conservatives an alternative to vaccination, which they feel is a violation of liberty and a tool for government improvement. Regeneron, like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, gives many conservatives, i.e., Republicans, the pleasure of owning libs.

This has become a major selling point for COVID’s unconventional remedies. If vaccination is harsh, then miracle drugs are a convenient solution. Importantly, they will be used after you get COVID, not before.

That too, scratching is a characteristic of Republican reflux. Instead of spending wisely to avoid a problem, it is better to ignore it and face the consequences later. The party seems to be applying that approach to infrastructure, climate, crime and many other problems. The goal is to prevent the government from doing too much at all, even if the result could cause bigger problems.

That thinking has given the entire remediation industry to run prisons and charter schools, clean up from climate disasters and health care shortcomings, and divert us from many other public failures. These businesses are pillars of the economy with heavy lobbyists and campaign contributions.

I noticed the other day that my retirement fund owns stock in many such businesses. One of them, Kraft Heinz, is known as a leading manufacturer of the great remedy for failed cooking, ketchup. Did you know ketchup can cure COVID? Forward it

Donald Morrison is an Eagle columnist and co-chairman of the advisory board. The opinions expressed by the columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of The Berkshire Eagle.

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