# What do the people who think ivermectin is effective against COVID-19 believe is the reason health providers do not want to prescribe it? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [January 13, 2022, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674 "2022-01-13T02:04:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/1 "2022-01-13T02:04:06Z")
Some kind of conspiracy I assume? Or what? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/2 "2022-01-13T02:07:37Z")
A big one is that Big Pharma won’t make money off of long-approved generic drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/3 "2022-01-13T02:17:06Z")
You’re assuming that these people think that anything has a reason. That’s already putting more thought into it than they have. All of them, combined. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/4 "2022-01-13T02:51:14Z")
They believe that the health care providers have been hornswoggled by Big Pharma, which is lying about the studies and/or not allowing studies to occur. And that only the ivermectin-believers are able to do the internet research to uncover this information. And that the fact that people in other countries are swilling ivermectin means it must work. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/5 "2022-01-13T03:31:37Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > They believe that the health care providers have been hornswoggled by Big Pharma, which is lying about the studies and/or not allowing studies to occur. Right. And also that they are sheeple who listen to other doctors and, worse, likely Democratic government officials. We can ask the same sort of thing about people who think cancer docs are giving painful expensive treatments instead of more natural (their word) alternatives that are at least as good. But it depends on personality. A lot of people like to think positively about the world and the people in it without spending a lot of time trying to reconcile potential contradictions. So they may think that mainstream docs, and folks I consider quacks, all have a patient’s best interest in their hearts. I would never visit a chiropractor if you gave me a billion dollars, but others prefer one from column A and one from column B. P.S. I’ve heard there are a few reformed chiropractors who limit their practice to possibly beneficial massage, never doing chiropractic manipulations. Apologies to them for what I wrote above. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/6 "2022-01-13T03:56:59Z")
[Ivermectin](https://specialistsales.com.au/shop/animal-health/cattle-products/cattle-lice-control/pour-on-cattle-lice-control/ivomec-pour-on-for-cattle-ivermectin/) is available from your local veterinary in volumes up to 20L in a range of formulations including pour-on, or orally as anthelmintic drenches, pastes and lozenges and comes in apple flavour. This means that you can avoid those nasty needles when being treated and as you can buy in bulk say “Ivomectrin and supersize me” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/7 "2022-01-13T04:03:48Z")
I’m amused that ivermectin was invented by Merck, which is about as Big Pharma as you can get (2021 revenues estimated at $47+ billion.) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/8 "2022-01-13T11:21:00Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > And that only the ivermectin-believers are able to do the internet research to uncover this information. Anyone can find studies that show ivermectin works against COVID; many such studies have been done, and the reports can be found online. What’s harder for the layperson to understand is that most of these studies are flawed in some way. The average antivaxer doesn’t understand the difference between a case-control study, a randomized clinical trial, a meta-analysis, and anecdote. They don’t understand enough about statistics to grasp how big a clinical trial needs to be in order to prove results with adequate confidence to justify public policy. Add in a hefty dose of **[confirmation bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias)**, and you get a person who readily accepts evidence of ivermectin’s effectiveness, no matter how flawed it may be, and has great difficulty accepting evidence of ivermectin’s ineffectiveness, no matter how rigorous it may be. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/9 "2022-01-13T13:02:54Z")
There’s a long-standing delusion among the woo-prone that the Medical Establishment is deliberately withholding safe, cheap, effective cures for just about everything, so that they can make big $$$ keeping people sick and dependent on ineffective treatments, including of course Pharma drugs. It’s a cousin to the belief that there is a miracle additive you can add to gas to get 500 miles per gallon, but has been suppressed by Big Oil. Ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamin D to prevent or cure Covid-19 - they’ll grab at anything when afflicted by that mindset. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/10 "2022-01-13T14:04:05Z")
Americans want the “technological magic bullet”. That’s reflected in the drug advertisements seen on TV which have the message: “Take this drug and you’ll soon be climbing mountains, running marathons, playing the piano (gee, I never could play the piano before)”. So it is hard for them to accept that life isn’t that simple. Haven’t you heard the statement “These aren’t really vaccines because they aren’t 100% effective.” Of course, for the pitchers of woo, there’s no problem. They will say: “Take this drug and it cures EVERYONE.” Then there’s the belief that a recommendation from a neighbor is best because everyone else has a vested interest. Need an auto mechanic? Ask your neighbor for a recommendation. Need some home repair? Ask your neighbor for a recommendation. As pointed out before - this doesn’t work well when dealing with a complex subject with a lot of confounding variables. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/11 "2022-01-13T14:10:31Z")
[NOTE: The following is a discussion of beliefs that I DO NOT SHARE. They are erroneous, dangerous, and often the exact opposite of reality.] Closely related to that, is the widely held belief in the broader anti-vax movement that vaccines are a major profit center for Big Pharma _and_ for doctors. Even if _your_ doctor isn’t corrupted by the lure of big profits from vaccines, they are susceptible to pro-vax propaganda and professional pressure from the corrupt medical establishment and peer pressure from their greedy fellow docs who want all of that sweet, sweet vaccine money. So instead of using cheap, convenient, easy treatments with minimal side-effects, they’ll push experimental, costly vaccines with terrible side-effects. Or, one level deeper, they’re deliberately pushing vaccines that are _designed_ to make you sick, so that you’ll have to rely on Big Pharma and Big MD for costly, lifelong treatments. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/12 "2022-01-13T16:57:12Z")
And of course, MDs and the rest of the Health Establishment are eager to sacrifice themselves and their families and friends, avoiding cheap, safe and effective cures because the lure of sweet, sweet Pharma lucre is way too strong to resist. I could tell you the cure for cancer, but…nah. The money’s too good. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/13 "2022-01-13T19:48:00Z")
I’m not convinced that the ivermectin believers have thought as much about the healthcare providers’ motives as the question assumes. I’m not one of them, but I dabble in that sort of thing, when the stakes are low and I’ve already tried the standard treatment. I’ve taken unproven herbal supplements, tried OTC meds for off-label uses, even bought a few quacky quasi-medical devices. My internal monologue isn’t anything like “those evil doctors and researchers just want me to stay depressed! But I know the truth!” It’s more like “well, I give up on therapy/meds. This thing probably won’t kill me, and who knows? I’ll try just about anything at this point.” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/14 "2022-01-13T19:59:11Z")
My mother is convinced Ivermectin is an effective treatment for COVID-19. She sent me a link to some studies, and, well, I’ve got to admit that as a layperson those studies certainly look official. No, I didn’t read them and even if I had I’m not really qualified to tell you whether or not it was a good study. But I can see why people might get the impression that Ivermectin and other treatments are effective. ---
**Author:** ![SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpacemanSpiff_II)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/15 "2022-01-13T21:53:23Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > There’s a long-standing delusion among the woo-prone that the Medical Establishment is deliberately withholding safe, cheap, effective cures for just about everything, so that they can make big $$$ keeping people sick and dependent on ineffective treatments, including of course Pharma drugs. There’s a bit of truth to that claim, but not nearly as dramatic or as conspiratorial as you put it. The core problem is that in order to win widespread and FDA approval you need to undertake big studies and all sorts of other steps, all of which cost a lot of money, and this money needs to be paid by someone. If someone hopes to make Big Bucks marketing the drug, then they’re willing to go through all that, but if it’s some generic drug that the company makes pennies off of, then they’re not nearly as motivated. So you could have a drug that exists in generic form and which is an effective treatment but which will fail to get acceptance because no one has the motivation to expend all the effort and energy to prove its effectiveness in major studies etc. I believe this is a widely acknowledged problem in the field. Of course, this **does not** mean that ivermectin in particular is effective, but it is a rational basis for discounting the medical consensus that its benefits are unproven and dubious. A better candidate for this phenomenon is fluvoxamine. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/16 "2022-01-13T22:02:44Z")
> **A Summary Of The Reason :** > _ahem_ > "Yab-Dabba, Abba-Babba. {BELCH} {FART}. That’s why. 🤦‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/17 "2022-01-13T22:06:09Z")
It’s a cousin to the claim that “drug companies won’t investigate natural remedies because they can’t be patented”. Both claims overlook the obvious point that “natural” and repurposed drugs can often be modified to make them work better and/or more safely, and those modifications are patentable and may turn out to be highly profitable. It does take a lot of money to go through proper testing and clinical trials, which largely explains why major pharmaceutical firms don’t jump on every drug that features in optimistic anecdotes and pilot studies. The multi-billion dollar supplement industry could establish a fund to finance such research but hasn’t. Why risk big bucks only to found out that your remedies are useless and/or harmful, when the current system under DSHEA lets you profit hugely through vague claims that X “supports \_\_ health”? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/18 "2022-01-13T22:06:27Z")
Are you saying fluvoxamine is a treatment for COVID? It’s an anti-depressant used for OCD. Googling… Why the hell does it even mention COVID? From NIH,… > [@](#): > > In a murine sepsis model, fluvoxamine was found to bind to the sigma-1 receptor on immune cells, resulting in reduced production of inflammatory cytokines.1 In an in vitro study of human endothelial cells and macrophages, fluvoxamine reduced the expression of inflammatory genes.2 Ongoing studies are establishing whether the anti-inflammatory effects of fluvoxamine observed in nonclinical studies also occur in humans and are clinically relevant in the setting of COVID-19. Hmmm. So one of the side effects (anti-inflammatory) may help recovery from COVID. Harumph. Sounds more logical than using an anti-parasitic (used to kill large things) against a virus (a very small thing) - kinda like using a bazooka to kill a mosquito. Yeah, it might work. but … Oh, and NIH also included > [@](#): > > ## Recommendation > > - There is insufficient evidence for the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel (the Panel) to recommend either for or against the use of fluvoxamine for the treatment of COVID-19. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/19 "2022-01-13T22:07:30Z")
I think their medical knowledge comes from one of those banner ads: “Grandma finds home remedy for covid, [Doctors are furious!](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/one-weird-trick-doctors-hate-him)” (Slightly) more seriously, I think some people’s implicit philosophy is that anything bad that happens to them or those around them is someone’s fault. Which, of course, yes, sometimes people are jerks to other people. But, this is an example of that philosophy taken to its extreme, where a new illness appearing must be _someone’s_ fault, and it must be someone on the Left’s fault, it can’t be my tribe. When you’re coming at it that way, it makes “sense” to demonize people like Fauci, and reject their solutions (while still being desperate to believe there is _some_ solution out there)… ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674/20 "2022-01-13T22:09:03Z")
It is true that Ivermectin is effective against parasitic worms, who in turn can make Covid worse. So curiously enough, Ivermectin helps Covid patients who also have severe worm infestations. This is often the case in the Third World, where the Covid victims are also often younger and less obese. Curing their worm affliction helps many (not all!) of those people in their fight against Covid. This fact is almost completely irrelevant in the USA and in Europe, as worms are not at all common there. Cite by [Scott Alexander](https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/ivermectin-much-more-than-you-wanted). Quite a long read. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-people-who-think-ivermectin-is-effective-against-covid-19-believe-is-the-reason-health-providers-do-not-want-to-prescribe-it/957674.md?page=2)