Joe Rogan’s wholly unqualified endorsement will likely only increase demand for the roundworm medication for horses that has become the Covidiots’ latest perceived miracle drug.

When frequently stoned podcast kingpin Joe Rogan announced he had COVID-19 Wednesday, he told his zillions of followers that “It turns out I got COVID. So we immediately threw the kitchen sink at it, all kinds of meds. Monoclonal antibodies, Ivermectin, Z-Pak, prednisone, everything.” We cannot unpack all of the multiple medically unsound recommendations from this wildly wealthy armchair pharmacist, but we will focus on the anti-vaccine right’s sudden fascination with Ivermectin, a horse and cattle deworming treatment that the the American Medical Association is begging people to stop taking.

Covidiots will not stop taking it, and they certainly pay money for this cow and horse drug instead of getting the free vaccine. This is happening in the Bay Area too, as the Chronicle reports that horse feed stores are seeing a surge in demand for Ivermectin among people who, naturally, do not own horses or cattle.  

“I’m a little frustrated, honestly, that we have to police people about this,” Santa Rosa’s Western Farm Center Trevor Frampton told the Chronicle. “We’re here to help you take care of your animals, not to make sure you don’t hurt yourselves. Why am I being asked to make that decision? We run a retail store.”

To be clear, there is a form of Ivermectin that is FDA approved for human use. It is not the horse version. As National Geographic explains, Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug that is quite effective in humans at treating worms, lice, and river blindness. It also comes with nasty side effects like nausea, diarrhea, and blood pressure spikes. Yes, doctors using Ivermectin did win a Nobel Prize in 2015 — for using it to treat roundworm parasites, which is a very different thing than COVID-19.

There have been legitimate scientific studies showing potential Ivermectin effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 cells, but only in test tubes and petri dishes, this has not been shown to be the case in humans. And remember, human dosages will be vastly different than those for cows and horses.

The Chron adds that the Peninsula Feed Store in Redwood City has also resorted to posting “You are not a horse” signs. A sales associate there told the Chronicle that she had recommended Ivermectin to a customer to deworm his chickens. To which the customer responded, “‘Oh, you mean the stuff to treat COVID?’ I’ve heard that stuff really works. I gave it to my kids.’”

Related: SF Symphony Chorus Director Refuses Vaccine, Chooses to Resign Instead [SFist]


Image: Winnie W. via Yelp