“One of the most bizarre experiences of my life”: Inside the Ivermectin Cult
US private and Medicare insurance plans may have paid up to $2.4 million for ivermectin prescriptions for COVID-19 in the week of August 12, 2021 alone. The total estimate for last year? $130 million. All for a drug that hasn’t been approved to treat the virus.
Ivermectin was developed back in the 1970s for treating head lice and certain parasitic infections in humans and livestock. In the early days of the pandemic, it was trialled as a treatment for Coronavirus, but the trials were not successful so, naturally, CDC, FDA and the Infectious Diseases Society of America refused to approve the drug for treating coronavirus.
This didn’t stop millions in the US from becoming obsessed with Ivermectin – and I just can’t wrap my head around this craze.
Some are calling it an “ivermectin cult.” I spoke to Jack Lawrence, a medical student at St George’s University of London, who was one of the first to uncover serious problems in a huge study supporting Ivermectin against Covid. His findings, which showed how the study was full of howling discrepancies, went viral - but did not stop Ivermectin devotees from seeking out the drug.