As one of Mic’s resident health journalists, I’ve reported on many supposed coronavirus “cures," from hydroxychloroquine to elderberry, all of them false and some downright dangerous. Once safe, effective vaccines emerged, I assumed those snake oil days would be behind us — but wow, was I wrong. Nowadays, people would rather take a drug meant for cows and horses than get vaccinated.
Health officials in Mississippi — the state with the second-lowest COVID-19 vaccination rate in the country — are begging people to stop taking the medicine ivermectin as an alternative to the jab, NPR reported. Calls to the state poison control center about an anti-parasitic drug typically used in cows and horses have surged so much that the Mississippi State Department of Health released an alert last Friday, penned by state epidemiologist Paul Byers. At least 70% of recent calls were related to people taking a formulation of ivermectin designed for livestock, he wrote.
