The rise of the ivermectin cult is one of the most nonsensical storylines — in a sea of nonsensical storylines — to emerge during the pandemic. Even now, as Covid begins to become a less dominant force in our lives, the ivermectin bunkum continues.
There have been several recent large, well-done, clinical trials, including one published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, that definitively show, according to one of the study’s authors, “there’s really no sign of any benefit.”
But this growing body of it-doesn’t-work evidence hasn’t stopped ivermectin champions from championing. “RETRACT PAPER @NEJM NOW!!!!!” an anti-vaccine physician posted on Twitter a few days after the study was published. In her view it is a “CRIMINAL PAPER” that is “PROMOTING MURDER.” (All caps and exclamation marks in original, of course.)
Unfortunately, a large part of the ivermectin “debate” has been severely polluted by fraudulent and poorly done studies. Many of the papers that suggested a possible benefit have been retracted or found to be fundamentally flawed. But the damage has been done. These studies live on as unkillable Zombie Papers that feed the “ivermectin works!” mythology.
And why do they live on? Because ivermectin very quickly became not about science but about ideology and in-group signaling.
