The FDA made clear its view of those who seek to treat COVID-19 with a variation on the veterinary deworming drug ivermectin.
“You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the regulatory agency tweeted.
That did not prevent a group of fringe doctors who nevertheless advocate its use against the virus from gathering on Saturday at the World Equestrian Center (WEC) in Ocala, Florida.
The event was organized by Dr. John Littell, who has a family practice in the area. Littell told The Daily Beast that he chose the venue because it can hold a big crowd and was the site of “Sequins and Saddles: An Evening with Governor Ron DeSantis” last month. Littell said he had not even thought of the horse connection.
“It’s a funny thing,” he said.
Littell noted that DeSantis had sought his advice about masks last year.
“A sham,” he recalled telling the governor. “It’s all just a show.”
These days Littell is more focused on ivermectin and is busy writing prescriptions for folks in other states who cannot get a local physician to do it. He is also continually writing medical exemptions from vaccine mandates. And that imparts an added twist to the venue he chose for the gathering. Horses arriving at the WEC must be accompanied by written proof that they have been vaccinated for Equine Herpes Virus and Equine Influenza.
“WEC Ocala takes horse and horse herd safety and welfare very seriously,” the center’s website says.
The meeting was held in a large conference room whose podium is stenciled with a horsehead. The featured speakers included Dr. Pierre Kory of Wisconsin. He is a bigtime advocate of ivermectin for human use, beyond its approved applications for head lice and some parasites. He spoke to the gathering of what he likes to call “pharmageddon.”
“A PR campaign designed to destroy the latest in a long line of repurposed drugs that they’ve sought to destroy for decades,” he said. “Ivermectin is the one.”
He contended that the pharmaceutical industry was “spooked” by soaring sales of a drug cheap enough to be used on livestock. He praised Aaron Rogers, the Green Bay Packers quarterback whose positive COVID test led to him revealing he is unvaccinated. Rogers was placing his faith in ivermectin.
“He said some sensational things,” Kory continued. “He’s not confused about how to navigate the world right now. He’s like, number one, we’re giving billions to pharma. They try to attack these cheap drugs. He says, ‘I have a strong belief in these cheap drugs.”
Among the other speakers was Dr. Peter McCullough, a Texas cardiologist who until six months ago was vice chief of internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center. His former employer is suing him for continuing to use his former title in media interviews. Baylor apparently does not want to be associated with somebody who has said such reckless things as nobody under 50 has reason to get the shot. He has also claimed that the vaccine has killed 50,000 Americans.
McCullough stood at the horsehead podium and offered his cracked view of a pandemic in which COVID-19 has killed 700,000 of us.
“It’s a battle of man versus the virus,” he said. “But I think in many ways it’s a battle of good versus evil.”
That drew big applause from the roughly 900 in attendance.
“I told Tucker Carlson that when I came off set, “ he said, apparently referring to a Fox News appearance.
Evil in McCullough’s view being those who advocate masks and vaccines and other proven ways to save lives. Good being people such as Carlson and himself, who have said masks and vaccine do not work, but ivermectin does.
“Anyone who attempts to block treatment for COVID-19 is participating in what is in my view an immoral, unethical and, from a civil perspective, illegal activity,” he said.
McCullough said that the ultimate answer is upon us in the form of natural immunity. We just have to do nothing.
“The war is over,” McCullough said. “No more masks. You don’t have to worry about it any more.”
He went on, “Natural immunity is the way to break the grip of fear. We no longer need to be fearful with respect to COVID-19. Show your boldness! Show that you’re not afraid!”
What McCullough describes as good is actually evil enough when it comes to adults. But in the days ahead it will be focused on kids. The argument among those at the Florida summit is that the vaccine is a greater threat to children than the virus, which is not even close to true. One of the doctors in a question and answer said that giving kids the shot was using them as ”human shields.” Such falsehoods result in dead youngsters.
Maybe Disney World would be the perfect place for the next Florida Summit on the virus.
But wait. Evil has visited the Magic Kingdom in the form of an employee vaccine mandate.
Meanwhile, although McCullough has declared the war is over, Littell ended the day by going to see a patient who is hospitalized with COVID.
“Forty-eight years old, 300-plus pounder,” he told the Daily Beast as he was en route. “We can get them better, but not everybody turns around as quickly as everyone else.”
