How America Beat COVID-19 By Taking A Sheep De-Wormer
Except that's not quite what happened
(Thanks to long-time reader David Flanders for the inspiration on this one)
In news that should surprise no one with a functional frontal lobe, a large study has shown that Ivermectin is…wait for it…useless again COVID-19.
(Consolation: It’s still a helluva sheep de-wormer, though.)
Of course, the True Believers are moaning about how the study was “flawed,” “biased,” or just plain wrong, proving once again how much more intelligent they are than scientists.
Since we’re on the subject of smarter than scientists (and doctors), how about the Kansas State Senate, which has passed a bill requiring pharmacists to fill prescriptions for Ivermectin?
Kansas senators early Thursday morning narrowly passed a bill that would force pharmacists to fill unproven off-label prescriptions for drugs intended to treat or prevent COVID-19.
The bill's promotion of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine has been a priority of right-wing Republicans, as well as its protection for doctors against health board investigations and anti-vaccine mandate measure.
"Thousands of Kansans and hundreds of thousands of Americans have died because of this propaganda that shut down early treatment," said Sen. Mark Steffen, R-Hutchinson. "I fully believe that this passage of this bill through the Senate will gain national attention and help be a very important part of getting the care to the people who need it."
The bill would allow doctors to prescribe ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine and any other FDA-approved drug that isn't a controlled substance for an off-label use to prevent or treat COVID-19.
It further requires pharmacists to fill the prescriptions, removing their professional discretion to refuse to fill a prescription, unless they find a reason other than the connection to COVID-19.
Pure coincidentally, Sen. Steffen, whose day job is as an anesthesiologist, has admitted that he’s under investigation by Kansas’ Board of Healing Arts for prescribing Ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. But, he insists, the bill “wouldn't personally benefit” him.
Right. No conflict of interest at all. Move along, sheeple. Nothing to see here, y’all….
In fact, the bill would retroactively shield him and other healthcare providers from being investigated by the Board of Healing Arts for prescribing Ivermectin. How convenient, eh? Fortunately, the retroactive provision sought by Steffen was struck from the version sent to the Kansas House of Representatives.
The fact that numerous reputable studies have shown that Ivermectin has no effect as a treatment for COVID-19 is lost on Steffen, who, naturally,:
claims otherwise.
"Studies overwhelmingly show that ivermectin has up to an 85% chance of reducing hospitalizations and death when given early for COVID," he said in caucus. "This is about decreasing suffering and death of the individual patient."
If Steffen were a conscientious medical professional concerned about “decreasing suffering and death,” he’d be advocating for preventive measures and treatments that have proven effective. He’d be recommending vaccines to protect individuals from contracting the virus in the first place. He’d be touting proven treatments for those who’ve been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Instead of doing that, Steffen is concerned about pushing his political agenda, and people continue dying because he’s ignoring scientific data in favor of conspiracy theories and Right-wing politics.
Then again, four years of Donald Trump has rendered April Fools Day a pointless exercise, hasn’t it?
When trained medical professionals lean more on their Right-wing Trumpian politics than on their medical training, one must wonder if they’re fit to practice in their field. Do they have the health and well-being of their patients as their top priority? Or is it about marching to the beat of the twice-impeached Orange God-King?
As if the bill wasn’t already problematic enough,
the Senate legislation would exempt children and students enrolling in child care facilities, preschools, day care centers or K-12 public schools from immunizations required by the secretary of Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The exemption, advocates said, was necessary to prevent those facilities from trampling a person’s sincerely held religious beliefs. In Kansas, individuals can secure vaccination exemptions from schools and other facilities.
“No one will give you a litmus test,” said Hilderbrand, who carried the bill on the Senate floor. “Nobody has the right to question your religion.”
The definition of religious belief was broadly stated in the bill to include “theistic and non-theistic moral and ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong that are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.”
So it’s not enough that Kansas legislators want to protect medical professionals who’d endanger the health and perhaps even the lives of their patients by prescribing Ivermectin. They’d also take the Sunflower State back to a time when childhood diseases crippled and even killed large numbers of young children.
What’s next, bleeding them with leeches??
When I was a child, if my parents couldn’t prove that I was up to date on my vaccinations, I couldn’t go to school. There was no question and even less debate. Those were the rules, and no one disputed them. Few children had measles or mumps; even fewer had rubella. NO ONE contracted whooping cough or any other childhood diseases. Vaccinations of previous generations had wiped them out. Unfortunately, they’re coming back to several parts of the country because of religious exemptions and parental protests.
Yes, Virginia, the inmates are now running the asylum.
Never mind that there’s well over a century of scientific data that proves the safety and efficacy of vaccines. The fact is that vaccines save lives. Are they absolutely 110% safe? Of course not; what in this life is? What gets lost in the Sturm und Drang is that even with the occasional adverse reaction to vaccines, they’re still far safer than contracting the diseases they’re intended to prevent.
Perhaps I’m being too cynical, but it’s beginning to feel like parts of America are sliding into a mash-up of Idiocracy and Dumb and Dumber. Our growing collective distrust of intelligence, experience, and competence is something that will do America no good over the long haul. Indeed, it will make it even more difficult for us to take full advantage of scientific advances if we insist on the equivalent of treating patients with snake venom.
President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho: I know shit’s bad right now with all the starvin’ bullshit. And the dust storms. And we runnin’ out of French Fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution.
I certainly hope so…because it’s not as if the Kansas Legislature will be much help.