Here are my thoughts on Ivermectin.
While I think the “Horse dewormer” title is quite amusing, I have nothing truly ill to say about Ivermectin. It is not used exclusively for horses, and has been used for treating parasitic infections in humans for certain diseases (although probably not the most common anti parasitic). I’m not going to go out of my way to undermine its potential efficacy in treating covid, but do we have solidified literature on how to use it for Covid specifically? What is the recommended dose? How often? How long should one stay on it? Should people take it prophylatially? (Probably not feasible for a population to all take a medication for prophylaxis.)
If Ivermectin ends up somehow turning into a drug that can decrease mortality and morbidity for those who are infected, then great. We already have a fantastic option in terms of prophylaxis being the vaccine. I do think it would be foolish to substitute the vaccine with ivermectin in that regard. For one it would be considerably more expensive and exhausting to take medication indefinitely. Second, ivermectin likely isn’t intended to be taken for months or years (what are the long term side effects of prolonged ivermectin?). Hopefully ivermectin can save lives in the hospital. But getting vaccinated is the most feasible way of decreasing your odds of getting hospitalized.
