‘Don’t Do It’: Fauci Warns People Should Not Be Taking Horse Drug for Covid

Dr. Anthony Fauci reacted with some exasperation Sunday to the baffling news that people in multiple states are taking a drug meant for animals to treat covid-19 symptoms.

Ivermectin has not been proven an effective treatment for the coronavirus. It can be used to treat parasites in humans, but the ivermectin people have been taking is used to treat animals like horses. And in addition to the serious risks that come with taking ivermectin for covid in the first place, the FDA pointed out there is a difference between ivermectin products for humans and animals. The idea it’s an effective treatment was floated by some on Fox News.

CNN’s Jake Tapper spoke with Fauci on Sunday about vaccine mandates and concerns about the impact of Hurricane Ida on the public health crisis in the Gulf Coast.

At one point Tapper asked Fauci for his reaction to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis positioning himself as a fighter of “Faucism,” as well as attacks from other politicians.

Fauci lamented “politicization of what should be a purely public health issue.”

Tapper then brought up ivermectin to ask, “Poison control centers are reporting that their calls are spiking in places like Mississippi and Oklahoma because some Americans are trying to use an anti-parasite horse drug called ivermectin to treat coronavirus, to prevent contracting coronavirus. What would you tell someone who is considering taking that drug?”

“Don’t do it,” Fauci said. “There is no evidence whatsoever that that works, and it could potentially have toxicity, as you just mentioned, with people who have gone to poison control centers because they’ve taken the drug at a ridiculous dose and wind up getting sick.

“There’s no clinical evidence that indicates that this works.”

You can watch above, via CNN.