Pfizer recently announced that its new drug Paxlovid was 89% effective in preventing hospitalization due to COVID-19 and is seeking emergency use authorization for it. Antivaxxers claim that ivermectin targets the same protease and is being “suppressed” to protect Pfizer’s profits, even coining the hashtag #Pfizermectin. What’s the real story? Hint: Antivaxxers…exaggerate. And distort.
A study claiming that COVID-19 spike protein gets into the nucleus and inhibits DNA damage repair, thus increasing the chances of cancer, has gone viral. Even if it shows exactly what the authors claim it shows, it is not evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe.
As the drip-drip-drip of negative evidence for ivermectin against COVID-19 continues to roll in, conspiracy theorists are doubling down. Why? It’s always about the grift.
Scientists have generally concluded that evidence points to a natural origin for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, as a far more likely explanation for the pandemic than a laboratory origin. Recently, there has been a lot of media chatter about the “lab leak” hypothesis. Is there new evidence? Nope. The “lab leak” hypothesis is fast becoming a conspiracy theory.
Antivaxxers are nothing if not clever. The latest antivaccine claim is that the spike protein made by COVID-19 vaccines injures the lung and will later cause pulmonary hypertension. It’s a claim based on flimsy evidence and extrapolation from cell culture.
