Tucker Carlson Laments Ivermectin Shortage With Doc Who Claims It Treats Covid: ‘But You Can Buy Xanax By the Pound’

Tucker Carlson hopped back on the ivermectin train on Monday night, stopping in Quackville to speak with a psychiatrist who claimed the anti-parasite drug is also an effective treatment for Covid-19. (It is not.)

The drug, which can be used to treat certain parasites in humans and some animals, has inexplicably gained popularity in some right wing media circles. As a result, numerous states have reported a surge in ivermectin-related calls to poison control. In addition, feed stores have reported customers buying livestock dewormer to use on themselves.

“Every night this week,” the Fox News host declared, “we are going to do a segment on treatments for Covid. So if you get Covid, what are your options?”

As has been noted the world over, the Covid vaccine is the best way to prevent Covid in the first place. And if a vaccinated person does get a breakthrough case, they are far less likely to require hospitalization or die. More than 97% of those being hospitalized with Covid now are unvaccinated people, who also now account for more than 99% of deaths from Covid-19. As for ivermectin, it is not an effective treatment for Covid-19, but people keep asking for it anyway.

But sure, let’s talk about a drug that’s in my dog’s heartworm chewables.

The Fox News host cited a paper in the American Journal of Therapeutics suggesting that ivermectin led to “significant reductions in mortality.” What he did not mention is that the paper in question was based in part off of a study in Egypt that was later retracted after it was likely to contain fabricated data and plagiarism.

Carlson then welcomed Dr. Mark McDonald, again, a psychiatrist, who claimed ivermectin had helped pandemic patients in a region of India.

“It could be a lifesaver,” said McDonald. “This medication which is shown to be safe, incredibly safe, and amazingly effective for parasitic infections in children. It was so effective that the inventor won a Nobel Prize just a few years ago. [It] has in many ways cured this viral pandemic in countries where it’s been instituted. Most recently in Uttar Pradesh in India.”

Carlson claimed – and McDonald agreed – that large chain pharmacies are in some cases refusing to fill prescriptions for ivermectin.

“But you can buy Xanax by the pound,” replied Carlson, referring to a benzodiazepine which you definitely cannot purchase “by the pound.”

While Carlson was citing an obscure and dubious academic paper and McDonald was raving about the alleged effectiveness of ivermectin in Uttar Pradesh, an ongoing global “clinical trial” involving two billion fully vaccinated people continues to show that getting vaccinated in the first place is the best and safest way to fight Covid-19.

Watch above via Fox News.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.