Ivermectin Experience In India -- September 7, 2021

Updates

September 15, 2021: India update. 

September 7, 2021: Asia appears to be doubling down on Ivermectin, one of the safest drugs ever. Meanwhile, the US is getting ready to ban the drug outright. Link here. A huge thank you to a reader for sending me this link. 

I have no dog in this fight yet; I simply follow the science and am curious why the US would ban this incredibly safe drug without even performing controlled studies.  

The good news: it appears the virus will burn itself out sooner than later. Sweden is preparing to remove all "Covid-19 restrictions." Link here. 

Later: a reader provides this link: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/09/as-us-prepares-to-ban-ivermectin-for-covid-19-more-countries-in-asia-begin-using-it.html.

Original Post

I track this story here. 

From a reader.

Add India to the sub-Saharan experience.

Ivermectin.

Ivermectin.

Ivermectin.

Uttar Pradesh, India: most populous political subdivision in the world. Population, 200 million. Covid-19 related deaths, as of September 1, 2021: 22,825.

22,825 / 200 million = 0.00014 = 0.014% or rounding, 0.00%.

From this linked article:

The state Health Department introduced Ivermectin as prophylaxis for close contacts of Covid patients, health workers as well as for the treatment of the patients themselves through a government order on August 6, 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

A year after the country’s first Covid-19 cluster, with 5 cases, was reported in Agra district, the Uttar Pradesh government has claimed that it was the first state to have introduced a large-scale “prophylactic and therapeutic” use of Ivermectin and added that the drug helped the state to maintain a lower fatality and positivity rate as compared to other states.

Citing the results from Agra in the month of May and June last year, following which the use of Ivermectin, a medicine to treat parasitic ailments, along with Doxycycline was introduced as a protocol across the state for both prophylactic as well as treatment purposes, the state Health Department said it would conduct a controlled study once the second wave of the pandemic subsides.

Why is India, and not the US, conducting a nationwide controlled study? 

US death rate:

• population: 330 million
• Covid-19 related deaths: 666,627
• death rate: 0.002 = 0.2%

0.2 / 0.01 = the US Covid-19-related death rate is 20 times that of a much more densely populated state in India. And we won't even discuss the state of health care in either country.

A four-tablet snack pack distributed to all physicians to dispense to close contacts of Covid-19 in India. A 3-mg table, once a day for four days = 12 mg total, if I read the article correctly.

Again, why does the US not do a controlled study:

• no Ivermectin in California
• Ivermectin in Florida

India will do exactly that once the current second wave dissipates. 

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Wynken, Blynken and Nod
aka Fauci, Blinken, and Joe

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
   Sailed off in a wooden shoe,—
Sailed on a river of crystal light
   Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
   The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to find the Covid-19 cure,
   That thrives in this beautiful sea;
   Bottles and bottles have we,"
            Said Wynken,
            Blynken,
            And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
   As they rocked in the wooden shoe;
And the wind that sped them all night long
   Ruffled the waves of dew;
The little stars were the Ivermectin tabs
   That thrived in the beautiful sea.
"Now cast your bottles wherever you wish,—
   Never afraid are we!"
   So cried the stars to the fishermen three,
            Wynken,
            Blynken,
            And Nod.

All night long their bottles they threw
   To the stars in the twinkling foam,—
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
   Bringing the fishermen home:
'Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemed
   As if it could not be;
And some folk thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed
   Of sailing that beautiful sea;
   But I shall name you the fishermen three:
            Wynken,
            Blynken,
            And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little bods,
   And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
   Is a wee one's trundle-bed;
So shut your eyes while Mother sings
   Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
   As you rock in the misty sea
   Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:—
            Wynken,
            Blynken,
            And Nod.

See first comment: https://poets.org/poem/wynken-blynken-and-nod. 

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Today's History Lesson

The Moriscos: from Brittanica.

This week's book: The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean, illustrated edition, David Abulafia, c. 2013.

A great book to start re-reading again during Rosh Hashanah, September 6, 2021, - September 8, 2021. Skip to chapter 155 of 213 to read about the Moriscos. 

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Some Days

Some days I lose all interest in the news, in the stock market, in anything -- today is one of those days. 

It's going to be a day of reading, swimming, and watching Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman in Saratoga Trunk. Movie-goers beware: a midget and an actress in blackface have leading roles, and the movie is set in 1800's New Orleans, French Quarter. This movie should be an "R" or perhaps even an "X." It could be difficult to watch for some. Interestingly enough, the African-American is allowed to join Ingrid Bergman in an otherwise-all-white upper class restaurant. OMG, the blasphemy. It's actually a pretty good movie to watch. Based on a novel by Edna Ferber. And this is why I love TCM. A 1945 movie. Casablanca: 1942.

Saratoga Trunk was Warner Bros.' most popular movie of 1946, according to wiki. Flora Robson, in blackface, was nominated as best supporting actress. 

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Summer of '21