“I wonder if conspiracy peddlers like ‘J’ actually bother to examine the references they provide?”
Apparently not. Here’s a case in point. In Point 1, J said:
“Several studies proving the efficacy of a number of treatments, as attested to by the WHO’s own work in India using Doxycycline and Ivermectin: https://www.who.int/india/news/feature-stories/detail/uttar-pradesh-going-the-last-mile-to-stop-covid-19
As there’s no mention of Doxycycline or Ivermectin in the linked report (from 7 March), it can hardly attest to their efficacy. It only states that Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) will be deployed widely and the results will be monitored centrally. There’s no mention of any findings because the monitoring project was only starting at the time.
How can advance notice of a forthcoming study be used to imply efficacy? The implication must be that because the state of Uttar Pradesh started conducting a study of these purportedly therapeutic drugs, that they must therefore be effective. That argument is a bit presumptive. J continues:
“Within five weeks of this WHO trial, cases dropped to just 22 in Uttar-Pradesh and nearly zero deaths despite 5% vaccination, compared to thirty thousand cases and two hundred deaths a day at the same time in Kerala, with 20% vaccinated.”
Really? Who says?? (Maybe ‘WHO’ says?) That’s the essential part of J’s argument which requires a reliable source. But none is provided.
The sources I’ve consulted say different. It turns out that the study found the drugs were *not* effective so they were dropped from the Indian government’s recommended treatment protocol.
Here’s an update to the story published a month after the report linked above: https://www.asiafinancial.com/ivermectin-loses-favour-in-indias-covid-treatment-protocol
June 8, 2021
(AF) India’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Monday announced revised guidelines for treating Covid, dropping all medicines including the widely-used and controversial Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine and Favipiravir as approved drugs, except antipyretic and antitussive drugs for asymptomatic and mild cases.
As Indian states like Goa, Karnataka, and Uttarkhand allowed the use of Ivermectin to all its adult residents as a Covid prophylactic, New Delhi in April 2021 too joined the bandwagon to “recognise” the low evidence of Ivermectin therapy and said that it “may be” used for those with mild cases and in home isolation.
In May, the ICMR also updated its guidelines and started suggesting Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine as optional treatments for mild cases.
However, alarmed by its overuse, in mid-May World Health Organization jumped in and warned that the general use of Ivermectin is for treatment of parasitic infections – not for Covid.
“Safety and efficacy are important when using any drug for a new indication. WHO recommends against use of Ivermectin for Covid except within clinical trials,”’ Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s chief scientist, tweeted.
‘J’ didn’t mention that (rather crucial) part of the story: “the WHO’s own work in India” which he cited as an endorsement of those “bandwagon” drugs in fact proved they were so ineffective that the WHO advised health boards to stop using them.
“All the necessary data is in”, indeed.