LISTEN: Sen. Johnson Says 'Try A Bunch' Of Debunked COVID 'Treatments'
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) continued his attacks on the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine and his promotion of debunked coronavirus "treatments" during a Washington Times podcast on Tuesday.
"I've been an advocate for early treatment," Johnson said. "I'm very agnostic. I don't care what drug will work. Try a bunch of them."
He then goes on to say that people should "particularly" try the ones that are "safe," claiming that ivermectin has under one hundred deaths in over 31 years and hydroxychloroquine has "a couple hundred deaths."
"Now the CDC is warning the public and they know the public is going to conflate these," he continued.
\u201cI don't care what drug will work. Try a bunch of them." \n\nWhile attacking safe & effective COVID vaccines, @SenRonJohnson continues to advocate dangerous & debunked "treatments" that he knows can cause people real harm. #WISenpic.twitter.com/8eGpqMKAeR— American Bridge 21st Century (@American Bridge 21st Century) 1629898022
He made these incredibly dangerous comments as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was forced to put out a warning about ivermectin, a drug that is sometimes used to treat parasitic worms in humans.
Though there is a version of the drug made for human use, ivermectin is mainly used to treat large animals, like horses and cows. But that has not stopped anti-vaxxers, as Oklahoma has struggled to keep ivermectin on shelves and 70 percent of calls to Mississippi's poison control center are about ingestion of the de-worming drug, according to CNN.
"Animal drugs are often highly concentrated because they are used for large animals like horses and cows, which can weigh a lot more than we do—a ton or more," notes the FDA advisory. "Such high doses can be highly toxic in humans."
You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it.https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/why-you-should-not-use-ivermectin-treat-or-prevent-covid-19\u00a0\u2026— U.S. FDA (@U.S. FDA) 1629547061
"Well, of course," Johnson said, admitting taking a drug made for animals is not fit for human ingestion.
He also took to Twitter to defend himself:
I have advocated for early treatment of Covid, never a veterinarian grade drug. Any suggestion otherwise is a grotesque lie. That @NIH, @CDCgov, and @US_FDA didn\u2019t help develop early treatments is one reason why a growing number of Americans no longer trust them.https://twitter.com/journalsentinel/status/1429908603163578379\u00a0\u2026— Senator Ron Johnson (@Senator Ron Johnson) 1629770406
But his attempt at a defense has not stopped him from pushing the use of these drugs, even though the FDA says that they do not approve the use of ivermectin for treating or preventing COVID-19. Moreover, it is not an anti-viral drug, meaning it is not used to treat viruses such as the coronavirus.
Hydroxychloroquine, the other drug Johnson strongly advocates, has also been debunked. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) "has formally concluded that the drug provides no clinical benefit to hospitalized patients."
"Owning the elites by taking a horse pill rather than getting the vaccine is really a telling commentary on just how much blind partisanship has taken over among Trump conservatives," wrote CNN Editor-at-Large Chris Cillizza. "Telling -- and terrifying."
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