I’m a horse owner. I’m also a registered veterinary technician with over 15 years experience in the field. I am a staunch proponent of preventive medicine, and my mantra is the old saying, “prevention is the best medicine.” This includes vaccines. However, the notion that a de-wormer can treat COVID-19 infections in people has me completely stumped. Reports of ivermectin toxicity in humans are on the rise, and poison control centers have reported a surge in overdose calls. Several inmates at an Arkansas jail have reported that they were given ivermectin without their knowledge, and UFC commentator Joe Rogan recently announced that he treated COVID with everything but the kitchen sink, including ivermectin.  

When asked by a CNN reporter about this, Rogan fought back by stating that “multiple doctors” told him to take it. In the interview, he continued: “There’s a lot of speculation. One of the speculations involves the emergency use authorization for the vaccines, that in order for there to be an emergency use authorization there has to be no treatment for a disease. So because there is this treatment in ivermectin – and there’s other treatments, too – because of this, there’s a lot of pushback against potential treatments and pretending that they don’t really work or that they’re conspiracy theories.”

Now, let’s evaluate this statement. Mr. Rogan essentially says that vaccines are not a treatment for COVID-19, but ivermectin and other methods are. This head-scratching reasoning says to me that Mr. Rogan is not a proponent of “prevention is the best medicine.” It’s like not wearing your seat belt, getting into a wreck, and depending on the ER doctors, staff and surgeons to put you back together after your body has been flung against the windshield. This doesn’t seem quite fair to healthcare professionals.

As a veterinary technician this really gets my goat. Over the years I have seen many animals die because the owners either didn’t know better, or failed to follow recommended guidelines for vaccines and preventative measures. We are seeing the same scenario here in the US with 29% of unvaccinated people more likely to end up in the hospital, and that unvaccinated people are nearly five times more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than vaccinated people. A Massachusetts study showed that of the vast majority of hospitalized patients in that state (74%) are unvaccinated individuals.

I understand that it is a challenge to encourage the public to get vaccinated, but why individuals such as Joe Rogan continue to push for unproven treatments for COVID has me stumped. And it’s not just ivermectin. There’s the treatment using hydrogen peroxide with a nebulizer, ingesting bleach, taking colloidal silver, or exposure to UV rays. My favorite is televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s treatment. He urged followers to touch their televisions as a means of vaccination by proxy, and also attempted to exorcise COVID-19 on at least three occasions by summoning “the wind of God”, stating that the “wind” can destroy the virus. He also urged followers to ignore public health advisories and come to his churches, saying they could be healed there by the laying on of hands if they fell ill.

Remember the old Westerns where the traveling snake-oil salesman, his circus-like cart pulled by some old sway-backed horse, would drive down the sleepy main street in some old dusty frontier town? The crowd would emerge from their homes, and huddle around the hawker, who would stand up on his soap-box, and tout the miracle cures contained in various colored bottles. Cures for dyspepsia, headaches, arthritis, GI issues, baldness. You name it, he had the cure for everything!

Proponents of ivermectin, and the multitude of other supposed COVID-19 treatments, sound like the old hawkers and “miracle makers” in those old movies. Promising unproven cures, touting their “safe” and “natural” methods, and poo-pooing doctors and science. With all their bluster and entertaining antics, they avoided the reality of how absolutely useless those little bottles were.

The peddlers of ivermectin say it’s safe, and why not try it? What’s the harm? Why not take de-wormer, monoclonal antibodies and homeopathic remedies to treat COVID-19, what do you have to lose?

The real harm is that millions of Americans are staunchly opposed to vaccination, and would prefer to ingest horse de-wormer and try other unproven treatments rather than follow the science of preventive medicine.

Unless you have a horse that needs de-worming, don’t go to the feed store and buy a tube of ivermectin paste, try the vaccine instead.