Michael Yeadon turns on ivermectin, and hilarity ensues

We’re now nearly four and a half years into the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the longer it goes on the more odd things happen in the contingent of people, be they physicians, scientists, or lay people, who have minimized the disease, peddled unproven—and now disproven—repurposed drugs as cures, claimed that SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, was due to a “lab leak,” and spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about COVID-19 vaccines. Sure, there are the usual crank fights (everyone versus Robert Malone, “inventor of mRNA vaccines,” comes to mind). One blast from the past whom I’ve seen resurfacing lately is Dr. Michael Yeadon. Before the pandemic, Yeadon worked for Pfizer in drug development for respiratory diseases as a vice-president of of the company’s allergy and respiratory research unit in Sandwich, Kent, and later formed his own biotech company. However, after the pandemic hit in 2020, he soon pivoted to become of the earliest purveyors of the antivax lie that COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility—in December 2021, just as the vaccines were rolling off the production lines for the first time in large quantities at Pfizer!—and later expanded his antivax fear mongering to claim that the vaccines were not just causing infertility but “depopulation.” Amazingly, it’s been over three years since I last wrote about this particular antivax crank, which is why his resurgence interests me.

So what has Michael Yeadon been up to lately? Remember how I mentioned above the quacks and cranks who promoted unproven—and now disproven—repurposed drugs like ivermectin to treat COVID-19? Beginning in late 2020, as it was becoming clear that the evidence regarding the original repurposed drug for COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine, was trending in a very negative direction (i.e., failing to support its efficacy for COVID-19), a veterinary deworming medicine that is also used to treat helminthic diseases (diseases caused by roundworms) in humans, became the new hydroxychloroquine. I’m referring, of course, to ivermectin, which became, either by itself or in combination with other unproven or disproven supplements, repurposed drugs, and the like, every COVID-19 quack’s favorite COVID cure. Heres’ where things get fun. I’ve been seeing across the wretched hive of scum and antivax quackery, Substack, a number of articles quoting Yeadon thusly about ivermectin:

Actually, it’s something I need to mention. I’ve only learned in the last three weeks, and so you probably won’t have heard it, but it all fits when I say it. You know that there was a- you know, ‘Team Hero’, the alternative media people. Not me, the people who are 100 times more famous around the world. I won’t mention them at this particular point, but you all know who I’m thinking. So many doctors who are Americans. And as soon as the pandemic arrived, they came up with ‘early treatment for Covid 19’ didn’t they? And they pushed and pushed and pushed. At first I thought there was a virus and said it was great that they were coming up with treatments. Then later when I realized there wasn’t, I thought they were- I thought, why are they pushing this stuff? I thought, they’re pushing harmless placebos on the worried well, and they’re providing a belief structure that there really is a pandemic. Otherwise, why would these clever people be going out of their way to sell you this stuff? And it’s like, unfortunately, it’s much worse than that, one of the centre stage drugs that they want you to take, Ivermectin, is one of the most violent fertility toxins I’ve ever come across. And I didn’t know this because, like you, you probably didn’t think to do the deep research. And I didn’t.

Here’s the whole video, on—where else?—Rumble:

This quote makes me realize that I totally forgot to write about Yeadon again a few months back, when he turned into a virus denier—yes, someone who denies that COVID-19 was a novel disease, that the coronavirus that causes it, SARS-CoV-2, was ever isolated, and that there ever was a pandemic, calling the backdrop to the pandemic “a global crime scene of unprecedented scale and nature” and the COVID-19 vaccines “potions against demons,” a “psyop.”

But enough about that. Yeadon has gone so far down the rabbit hole of COVID-19 conspiracies and antivax conspiracies that he apparently decided that he had to distinguish himself somehow in this population by inventing a conspiracy theory that would rile up his fellow conspiracy theorists, namely that “they”—this time all those quacks like the ones at the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care (FLCCC) Alliance, who in the US were the most enthusiastic grifters selling ivermectin for COVID-19, before expanding to more general quackery, including cancer quackery, and “combining Eastern and Western medicine“—were in on the conspiracy. The idea seems to be that it wasn’t just the vaccines and the companies manufacturing them that were part of the psyops, but also all the quacks selling ivermectin as a cure-all for COVID-19, apparently knowing that it was supposedly a horrific toxin when it comes to fertility. Unsurprisingly, he claims to have this knowledge based on secret document leaks and studies:

So someone contacted me a few weeks ago with a bloody great dossier of papers that go back from its discovery and is unquestionably at around the doses you’re being required- you’re being suggested to take in rats and rabbits, and in some limited studies in humans, it reduces the ability to conceive and to grow babies to term. And doesn’t it fit? Doesn’t it fit? Why did this- There’s nothing that’s major on the world stage that’s accidental, I’m afraid. That’s the problem. And so now you know. There’s nothing major on the world stage that’s accidental. Who put ivermectin there? Well, the perpetrators did. And why did they put it there? It’s like if you don’t get jabbed and avoid impacts on your fertility, a good chunk of you will take ivermectin instead. And it gets worse. And then I’ll stop talking about this because I haven’t written about it yet, but it’s on my mind. There are lots of other supplements that the worried well take. And again, I had thought it was mainly a money making business. Right? A money making business. They’ll sell you K2 or whatever it is. And there’s loads of things I’ve never heard of. And you look at them in the health- the so-called health food store.

While I do have to admit, ironically enough, that Yeadon is correct about the supplement business peddling mostly useless products in order to make money, the rest of this is just more conspiracy mongering. I’ve perused PubMed for articles on ivermectin and fertility, and let’s just say that the studies that I’ve found have been…less than impressive with respect to a major effect on fertility that would justify Yeadon’s characterization of it as “one of the most violent fertility toxins” out there. I’m not saying that there isn’t some evidence that ivermectin has mild adverse effects on fertility, but the studies are conflicting, and the FDA even stated in 2020 that reduced sperm count or male sterility is not a known side effect of ivermectin. The claim seems to derive from a single study in 2011 published by the Scholars Research Library in an online journal called the Archives of Applied Science Research, which claims that it is a peer reviewed, open access online publication, but in reality appears to be a bottom-feeding pay-to-play “open access journal.” The rest of the fertility studies that I’ve been able to find are all animal studies in mice, rats, rabbits, horses, rams, and the like, with mixed results in rabbits, possible fertility issues in rodents, and no fertility issues in humans and larger animals.

None of that stops Yeadon from continuing to spin his conspiracy theory:

And my wife will often ask me what will this do? I’ve said, I’ve never heard of it. I was originally a biochemist and toxicologist. I’ve never heard of it. I have to look it up. It’s real. It does exist. But I thought they were just flogging benign placebos to the worried well, just to steal money off them. Unfortunately, it’s no so. Many of the supplements, including most of the really famous ones, hamper the elimination from your body of ivermectin. So if you are a person that thinks, well, I’m going to take care of my health and not have the jabs, I’ve got this ivermectin that will protect me, and I’ve got all these other supplements. And those supplements stop your body eliminating ivermectin. It’s a drug-drug- a negative drug drug interaction. It’s like this can’t be coincidence, folks. It’s not coincidence. But there were several of these health supplements that the papers specifically showed were what’s called PGP, P-glycoprotein, P-glycoprotein inhibitors, and ivermectin is secreted using P-glycoprotein pathways. And it was like, oh my God. And we have ivermectin in the bathroom cabinet and all the PGP inhibitor supplements in the in the kitchen cupboard, and we threw them all in the bin.”

Wow! The evil goes even deeper than I thought! According to the conspiracy theory, not only is ivermectin a “violent fertility toxin,” but all those other supplements “they” sell you with ivermectin make the situation worse because they supposedly block the body’s elimination of ivermectin! I couldn’t stand to listen to all of Yeadon’s appearance (the clip above is just a five-minute excerpt of a much longer video), but I was amused to see him go on and on about how you can “question” individual drugs or even a class of drugs like statins, but if you “question” vaccines you are in deep, deep doo-doo, so to speak, and professional societies will come crashing down on you like the proverbial ton of bricks.

Unsurprisingly, Tim Truth—a hilarious pseudonym for the podcaster interviewing Yeadon—laps this all up approvingly:

I’m gobsmacked by the ivermectin thing. I mean, that is a real, real shock.But I think what it shows is what Albert Pike famously said, you know, when they want a hero we will supply them. So, during the whole plandemic, the fake pandemic, there were various freedom fighters you hinted at, particularly American doctors who emerged apparently as heroes for our side, that they too were questioning the system and they were fighting back. The ones that get prominence are always working for the enemy, aren’t they?

Predictably, Yeadon answered yes, and continued on:

See, that’s the point. Without naming individuals, there are certain people who I would have regarded professionally as my peers pretty much. They’ve grown large organizations, the purpose of which is now absolutely clear to me.

Of course it is now. Like all conspiracy theorists, Yeadon thinks that he is the possessor of “hidden knowledge” to which only a very few brilliant or chosen people are privy.

While it’s not entirely unexpected to see Yeadon go full conspiracy crank, it was somewhat unexpected to see him go full conspiracy crank in a way that makes all the “brave maverick doctors” selling ivermectin as a cure-all for COVID-19 (and now cancer) part of the conspiracy by big pharma to pump everyone full of mRNA and thereby depopulate the earth. Totally expected is the reaction of some of those promoting ivermectin to Yeadon’s—in their eyes—heel turn. Tess Lawrie, for instance, who led the UK version of FLCCC, The BIRD Group, was most definitely not pleased. Ironically enough, she is correct about the studies used by Yeadon to back up his claim:

The notion that ivermectin may cause infertility has been floating around since 2021 based on decade-old, mainly animal studies. After scanning such studies in 2021, I did not find the claim to be credible based on the supporting evidence.  The animal studies being shared as proof, I found to involve very high doses of ivermectin, given for long periods with very short term follow up. Anything given in high doses, including overdosing on water, can cause harm. In my opinion as a research scientist with expertise in evaluating bodies of evidence, much more research was needed before making a claim that ivermectin is harmful to human fertility.

Back in 2021, when this assertion was doing the rounds on social media, it felt to me to be more like a distraction, as it does now. 

More amusingly, she also makes arguments based on—sort of—logic:

• If the globalists are secretly pro-ivermectin and are delighted that its widespread use for worms and other infections, inflammation, and cancer will contribute to genocide, why are all the doctors who use ivermectin being censored and losing their licences? Why aren’t we being embraced into the globalist fold and showered with Gates’ money and media coverage?
• Having been given billions of times worldwide, ivermectin clearly hasn’t managed to wipe us out yet so doesn’t seem to be a very good genocidal tool if it is such. Through our air, food and water, there are many more direct ways the globalists can harm and are harming us. In addition, they’re angling for more and forced lipid nanoparticle (LNP) biotech products to be given by our governments to us in the guise of ‘vaccines’.
• Are the animal studies being shared as evidence that ivermectin causes infertility really reflective of how ivermectin is being used in living men and women?

Silly Tess, the globalists are far more clever than you give them credit for. They are playing, as Yeadon puts it else where in the interview, eleven-dimensional chess. The answer to the first question is obviously: It’s a psyop. It’s what “They” want you to think, that “They” are opposed to ivermectin. In reality, “They” are “censoring” the brave mavericks because “They” know that martyring such brave mavericks will only make ivermectin more popular. As for the second point, I can say the same thing about the vaccines, which kill damned close to no one and do not cause infertility; they are clearly an even worse tool of global depopulation than ivermectin! The answer to the third question, of course, is, of course, no. The doses used in the animal studies were very, very high.

Let it not be said, however, that Lawrie herself isn’t prone to conspiracy theories in which ivermectin might be part of a global depopulation plot. It’s just that “They” won’t do it in the same way that Yeadon seems to think:

Do I think the globalists might try to use ivermectin as part of their depopulation agenda?

Yes, I do. It is clear that the globalists want to get access to our bodies to inject stuff. It occurred to me as far back as 2021 that they may well be planning an ivermectin injection to be rolled out in due course, and we see these being developed by the usual culprits.

So although the answer to the question above is YES, it is not for the reasons put forward; rather because the ivermectin injection deployed by these sociopaths would most likely contain the same harmful nanotechnology as the Covid-19 biotechnology, with LNPs and assorted other toxic ingredients.

“They” are most certainly incredibly clever, wouldn’t you say?

Dr. William Makis, the disgraced and delicensed nuclear medicine radiologist who falsely claims that he’s an oncologist and is one of the inventors—possibly the inventor—of the lie that COVID-19 vaccines cause “turbo cancers,” cancers much more aggressive and deadly than your ordinary run-of-the-mill cancers, is similarly not at all pleased with Yeadon’s new conspiracy theory, proclaiming that IVERMECTIN is under attack again – a threat to Cancer Industry & Vaccine Cartel, Ivermectin is now attacked as a “fertility toxin” just ahead of new mRNA Vaccines, new Pandemic and possible lockdowns. Unsurprisingly, Makis advocates treating these “turbo cancers” with ivermectin.

His response is one big rant:

My response to Dr. Mike Yeadon would be: “no, Ivermectin is not a violent anti-fertility drug”. It’s not even a non-violent “anti-fertility drug”. The peer reviewed literature doesn’t support such a statement and there is no real world evidence of this either.

Dr.Yeadon’s logic on “depopulation” completely falls apart as well. Young fertile people are not taking Ivermectin.

I would argue that Big Pharma’s “War on Ivermectin” has been one of the most costly blunders in the entire Pharmaceutical Industry’s history, instead of being some clever 5D chess game to trap the unvaccinated.

Millions of people have woken up to the corruption of Big Pharma – and if they lied about Ivermectin, they lied about statins, they lied about psychiatric drugs, they lied about childhood vaccines and they certainly lied about Influenza Vaccines and COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines. Stocks and profits are crashing, and Big pharma may never recover. 5D chess? I doubt it.

Oh dear. Lawrie thinks “They” are playing multidimensional chess, but Makis thinks “They” are stupid. Which is it?

Makis does, of course, have an “explanation” for why “They” are attacking ivermectin now. It’s fairly predictable, but it made me laugh nonetheless, perhaps because of its very predictability:

Millions of people are now learning about Ivermectin’s cancer fighting capabilities and Ivermectin represents an existential threat to a multi $100 billion Cancer Drug Industry hell bent on bringing failed mRNA Vaccine technology onboard, to profit from millions of people suffering from Cancer and especially mRNA Induced Turbo Cancer.

Ivermectin also remains an existential threat to the rollout of new mRNA Vaccines for Disease X, whether that Disease X is Influenza H5N1, Monkeypox or something else. They will lock us down and tell us that the new mRNA Vaccines are the “only way out of this Pandemic”. And they will ensure you don’t have access to Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine.

Wait a minute, “Dr.” Makis. That last strategy sounds rather clever; that is, if you believe that COVID-19 was a “plandemic,” that pharmaceutical companies rolled out the vaccines to profit even though they “knew” they were deadly, and that “They” are planning another “plandemic” with “Disease X” but want to make sure that you—yes, you!—don’t have access to ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, so that they can lock you down again and pump you full of new vaccines, all in order to give you turbo cancer.

Obviously, this is a situation in which everyone involved, including Yeadon, Lawrie, Makis, “Tim Truth,” and any other cranks and conspiracy theorists tempted to weigh in, are all wrong, all cranks, and all wingnuts. It is, however, quite entertaining to watch a crank fight like this. There is only one meme for this:

Meanwhile, this will be Orac and other supporters of science-based medicine:

I really need to think of a new spin on this particular conspiracy theory that Yeadon is peddling that can piss both sides off.