Pigs, Cows, and Other Animals May Have to Be Put to Death Because COVID Misinformation Is Causing a Run on Ivermectin

One of the most frustrating aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is that scientists and health officials have been forced to deal with not only a highly contagious disease that has killed more than 690,000 people in the U.S. so far, but also an onslaught of dangerous misinformation. Obviously, the two most significant targets of said misinformation have been mask wearing and vaccines, lies about which have literally set us back in the fight to return to normalcy. Then there are other, seemingly less significant things that have still had enormous unintended consequences including, but not limited to, making us look like a nation of actual morons. And yes, we’re talking about ivermectin, the antiparasitic drug used to deworm pets and livestock that some people think humans should be taking to treat COVID-19.

If you’re not a consumer of conservative media and/or the audio offerings of conspiracy theorists, where the likes of Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Alex Jones have been pushing the drug as a miracle cure, you may not be familiar with ivermectin, but like we said five seconds ago, it’s a common medication if you happen to have four legs and/or a tail. There are human formulations of ivermectin that are used to treat infections such as ascariasis, head lice, and rosacea, but the oral form’s dosage is much lower. Not to mention there are actually studied and approved vaccines that largely prevent people from even getting COVID, so there’s no need to start messing around with Misty or White Lightning’s medication, right? If we were a normal society, the answer would be “yes, right,” and that would be the end of that conversation. But because Fox News and its fellow right-leaning outlets have scrambled people’s brains, we now have a situation wherein not-insignificant segments of the population are saying to themselves, Well, gee, if a higher dosage is what I need, I’ll just use the one they make for animals. What could go wrong? Shockingly, it turns out the answer is a lot!

For one thing, people have been poisoned and died. For another, the mammals that actually need ivermectin can’t get it anymore. Per The New York Times:

While certain versions of ivermectin can treat head lice and other ailments in people, other formulations—which come in forms such as liquid and paste—are common across the equine and livestock industries as ways to get rid of worms and parasites. People are increasingly trying to obtain those animal products to ward off or battle the coronavirus, farmers, ranchers, and suppliers said. The demand has strained the equine and livestock world. Jeffers, a national retailer of animal supplies, recently raised the price of ivermectin paste to $6.99 a tube from $2.99. Overwhelmed by orders, one farm supply store in Las Vegas started selling the medicine only to customers who could prove they had a horse. In California, a rancher was told the backlog of orders was so large that she was 600th in line for the next batch. The dearth has led some farm owners, ranchers, and veterinarians to switch to generic or more expensive alternatives for their animals. Others have turned to expired ivermectin or quietly stockpiled the drug when they could. Many were alarmed.

“I’m pretty worried,” said Marc Filion, the owner of Keegan-Filion Farm in Walterboro, S.C., which uses the drug for his 400 pigs and 25 cattle. If he couldn’t treat his pigs with the medicine when they were five weeks old, he said, they could develop diarrhea and might need to be killed.

Again, just as a reminder, it’s not as though humans don’t have a safe and effective way to prevent COVID infections already. We do; they’re called vaccines, and people should take them. But instead, because people don’t know what’s “in” the vaccines, some are causing a run on the drug Wilbur and his friends actually need.

These experiences underscore the real-world effects of misinformation and how far the fallout can spread, said Kolina Koltai, a researcher at the University of Washington who studies online conspiracy theories. “It doesn’t just affect the communities that believe in misinformation,” she said. “This is something that’s affecting even people who don’t have a stake in the vaccine—it’s affecting horses.”

Last month, prescriptions for human formulations of ivermectin jumped to more than 88,000 a week, up from a prepandemic baseline of 3,600, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data on people buying animal ivermectin was not available…. The [FDA] posted on Twitter last month that people should not use the drug for COVID, writing: “[You are not a horse. You are not a cow.] Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”

Imagine the place one has to be in life where they need to be told, “You are not a horse. You are not a cow.” And if you can’t quite believe these people exist, head on over to Facebook or Reddit, where they’re having lively discussions about the best vehicles for ingesting ivermectin, which, apparently is peanut butter.

Inaccurate information has since flourished on social media sites such as Reddit and Facebook. In one Facebook group, Ivermectin Covid-19 Testimonials, 4,200 members swap advice on what side effects to expect from taking the drug and how to calculate dosages of paste meant for horses. The discussions are often echoed on podcasts and elsewhere.

“Ivermectin paste do you take orally or rub into skin?” read one recent post in the Facebook group.

“Put it on a cracker with a dab of peanut butter on same cracker,” a commenter responded.

Facebook said it removed content on potential ivermectin transactions, as well as any claims that the drug is a guaranteed cure. Reddit said it encouraged open discussion as long as the discussions did not violate its policies.

And if that seems insane, know that people are out there not only trying to score medicine intended for animals, but also taking hospitals to court to get it—and winning. Per FiveThirtyEight:

Along with demands and protests over ivermectin, there have been multiple cases of individuals suing hospitals to force them to treat a COVID-19 patient with the drug. In more than one case, these lawsuits have been successful. A judge in Illinois…ordered a hospital to allow a patient with COVID-19 to receive ivermectin after her daughter sued for the treatment. In at least two cases in New York, judges made similar orders. In Ohio, a judge ordered a hospital to administer ivermectin to a patient with COVID-19 after his wife sued, but then a different judge overturned that order. Similar cases have been brought forward in California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Delaware, and Texas.

So yeah, this is where we are as a society.

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