An article came out this week with the headline “A daily pill to treat Covid could be just months away, scientists say“. The article was very “formulistic” in terms of written to a very standard style of journalism, right from its headline. I read through its 1350 words, looking for, but not finding, any mention of the daily pill that you and I both already know about – ivermectin.
As far as the writer seemed to be aware, ivermectin does not even exist. At least there weren’t any terrible lies about it, but why the total silence?
Ivermectin is already featured in this series of protocols, both as a preventative measure (twice a week doses) and as an early treatment (daily). The article refers to the government signing up for $1.2 billion worth of a new experimental treatment drug that would cost $700 per course of treatment. That compares with very close to $7 per course of treatment for ivermectin. With 43.8 million Covid cases in the US, so far, that would have been the difference between $30.7 billion and $307 million in treatment costs.
As I often lament, the US needs to start realizing it is no longer a wealthy country, and abandon the unstated mantra that “the best treatment is the most expensive one”. We can’t afford a needless $30 billion in extra treatment costs, and we certainly can’t afford the hospitalization costs we’re clocking up at present as a result of no treatment at all being dispensed.
The article also shows the government investing $3.2 billion in covering the R&D costs for developing still more new anti-viral treatments. As we know from past cases where the government covers the cost of a new drug, that doesn’t mean that we, the people, then get the drug given to us for free. The pharmaceutical company still charges over-the-top amounts, ignoring that we covered their development costs and so, by rights, surely should own the drug rights.
While the government is tossing $3.2 billion into developing new drugs, couldn’t it also spend a few hundreds of dollars in getting ivermectin authorized as a Covid treatment?
Talking about money, I think the politest thing to say regarding this article about the vaccine companies standing to get billions more dollars (in revenue, not so sure about profits) from selling extra booster doses of their vaccines, is that it sure makes it tough for the drug companies to take a balanced and fair view about the need for booster shots. We should never forget that big pharma is in the job of selling their products. Their advice as to if we should use their drugs or not is no more impartial than taking advice from the local bar owner if you should have just one more drink before leaving, or asking the casino boss if it would be a good idea to bet on one more spin of the wheel.
Meanwhile, the leaders at Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca are suggesting the end of the pandemic is at hand. Well, it will be, just as soon as we buy a few more billion doses of their vaccines and boosters, perhaps….
I’ve now seen a copy of a document I’ve already seen written about. It shows a 2018 research grant request, asking for a $14.2 million initial funding grant from DARPA for the “EcoHealth Alliance” (a more sympathetic name than “Wild and Crazy China-loving scientists”) so it can work with bat viruses in China.
Does this document explain how it came to be that scientists in Wuhan created the Covid-19 virus? And was it our money that paid for it? How ironic that would be….
One more point about the proposal. It talks in positive terms of “defusing the threat of bat-borne viruses”. Two points. First, mankind has lived for thousands/millions of years without a bat-borne virus attacking it in a pandemic form. Just how severe is that threat? Are there no more important things in the world than this? Isn’t it better to leave such things well alone?
Which brings me to the second point. Is the best way to “defuse the threat” to make the viruses more deadly???
Current Numbers
There were no changes in ranking for the minor country list.
There was just a small swap of places in the major country list (Belgium and Spain) with the change not indicating so much one country growing faster than the other as it indicates Spain’s numbers slowing down more quickly than Belgium’s.
In the unlikely event that nothing greatly changes, the US seems set to reach the number one position in about twelve weeks.
There was no change in the death rate list.
The “most active last week” list saw most countries easing in their new case numbers for the last week, with a notable exception being the UK, with a 16% rise.
In Europe as a whole, there was a 2% rise, essentially entirely from the UK’s increasing numbers. Other risers were Romania with a 63% rise, Iceland with a 45% rise, and Poland going up 24%. More fortunate were Sweden (45% drop), Spain (37% drop and Switzerland (31% drop). France fell 22% and Germany went down 16%.
Mexico and Canada saw a swap in fortunes this week. It was Mexico’s turn to rise, by 11%, and Canada’s turn to fall, by a sizeable 32%. The world as a whole dropped by a pleasing 13%.
Top Case Rates Minor (population under 10 million) Countries (cases per million)
| Rank | One Week Ago | Today |
| 1 | Seychelles (211,360) | Seychelles (214,503) |
| 2 | Montenegro (200,997) | Montenegro (206,392) |
| 3 | Andorra | Andorra |
| 4 | Gibraltar (162,624) | Gibraltar (163,722) |
| 5 | San Marino | San Marino |
| 6 | St Barth | St Barth |
| 7 | Bahrain | Bahrain |
| 8 | Maldives | Maldives |
| 9 | Georgia | Georgia |
| 10 | Aruba (142,093) | Aruba (143,637) |
Top Case Rates Major (population over 10 million) Countries (cases per million)
| Rank | One Week Ago | Today |
| 1 | Czech Republic (157,100) | Czech Republic (157,391) |
| 2 | USA (128,691) | USA (131,227) |
| 3 | Netherlands | Netherlands |
| 4 | Argentina | Argentina |
| 5 | Sweden | Sweden |
| 6 | UK (108,750) | UK (112,171) |
| 7 | France | France |
| 8 | Spain | Belgium |
| 9 | Belgium | Spain |
| 10 | Portugal | Portugal |
| 11 | Brazil | Brazil |
| 12 | Colombia (95,865) | Colombia (96,051) |
Top Death Rate Major Countries (deaths per million)
| Rank | One Week Ago | Today |
| 1 | Peru (5,935) | Peru (5,940) |
| 2 | Czech Republic (2,835) | Czech Republic (2,837) |
| 3 | Brazil | Brazil |
| 4 | Argentina | Argentina |
| 5 | Colombia | Colombia |
| 6 | Belgium | Belgium |
| 7 | Italy | Italy (2,166) |
| 8 | Mexico (2,078) | USA (2,119) |
| 9 | USA (2,075) | Mexico (2,109) |
| 10 | Tunisia (2,046) | Tunisia (2,066) |
Top Rates in New Cases Reported in the Last Week (new cases per million) for Countries over one million population
| Rank | One Week Ago | Today |
| 1 | Mongolia 5,902 | Mongolia 5,871 |
| 2 | Serbia 5,610 | Serbia 5,220 |
| 3 | Israel | Cuba |
| 4 | Cuba | Israel |
| 5 | Georgia | Lithuania |
| 6 | Malaysia | UK 3,447 |
| 7 | Botswana | Malaysia |
| Slovenia | Slovenia | |
| 9 | UK 2,993 | Estonia |
| 10 | Lithuania | Georgia |
| 11 | Palestine | USA 2,540 (est) |
| 12 | USA 2,700 (est) | Romania 2,379 |
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Items below include the CDC director ignores the FDA expert panel advice, will Covid become weak and vulnerable to vaccines, massively expanded list of ivermectin supplying pharmacies around the world, what to do if your local pharmacy refuses to fill a prescription for IVM, vaccine numbers, is Sweden’s approach a success, and why are we holding visitors to a higher standard than our own people.
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Please stay happy and healthy; all going well, I’ll be back again on Thursday.
Please click here for a listing of all our Covid-19 articles.
I can’t tell you how many times people (including doctors) tell me, with a certain rigidity, that “we are following the CDC guidelines” and can’t deviate from them. What are “CDC guidelines” when they can just be pulled out of the air, a pure judgmental decision by a single political appointee, and treated as if they have the entire force of Western science and law behind them? Dr. Walensky’s background is in infectious diseases, primarily HIV/AIDS research and not in respiratory illness or virology, and she does not practice medicine.