Bad and Unethical "Science" that Took YEARS to Correct

Recently, the paper that claimed hydroxychloroquin was an effective treatment for COVID-19 was FINALLY retracted, 4.5 years AFTER its publication in a supposedly professional science journal published by Elsevier. It was supposedly peer-reviewed... only 36 hours after submission. And who's the owner of the journal? The author of the paper himself, Jean-Marc Lorain. The paper was IMMEDIATELY questioned after its publication, as its timeline made no sense. For the timeline to work, the author must have started the study BEFORE its ethics rules had been approved!  Further more, a study only a year later got the exact opposite result: Use of HCQ lead to INCREASED mortality. Yet the paper remain published with no retraction. In fact, one of the co-authors (the rest requested their names to be removed from the paper) tried to sue the critic. That is, until 4.5 years later... when it was FINALLY retracted. 

This paper was cited by bajillion COVID deniers claiming government were withholding "vital medicine" from the public, which also included horse dewormer ivermectin. People were so desperate for ivermectin (which also had NO effect on COVID-19) they were robbing pet stores and veterinary clinics. What they don't tell you is these COVID denier doctors are actually selling Ivermectric and Hydroxychloroquin on the side and making BIG BUCKS... until exposed by a hacker. 

The only bad and unethical science in recent memory that surpassed this was Andrew Wakefield's bogus vaccine link to autism study. Not only was the data unethically sourced, Wakefield did not disclose he was developing a vaccine himself. THAT paper in the Lancet took a DECADE to be retracted. 

Just because it's published in a journal doesn't mean it's reliable and good science. 

Religious COVIDiocy: Televangelist Marcus Lamb died of COVID after sharing conspiracy theories about COVID

Marcus Lamb was CEO of Daystar TV Network, one of the largest Christian broadcasters in the US. He died on November 30th, after being diagnosed of COVID on November 12th. 

Lamb was well known for his homophobic and transphobic views as well as his endorsement of "gay conversion therapy" where homosexuals are subjected to brainwashing and other abuses attempting to "convert" them back to heterosexuals, a practice that was denounced by the UN. 

Lamb was also caught buying a private jet with the Trump Administration COVID business loan called "paycheck protection program", which as the name suggests, was meant to be used to keep people employed. He ended up paying that back almost immediately. 

During COVID times, Lamb featured an antivax panel featuring antivax misinformation superspreaders such as RFK jr ("I am pro safety!"), Sherry Tenpenny ("vaccines makes you magnetic!"), and Ryan Cole (IVM will cure you!). 

It is believed that Lamb treated himself with IVM, HQL, and more. It clearly didn't work. 

His son blamed everything on "the enemy", which is Daystar's euphemism for "the Devil". 

COVIDiocy Conspiracy: Ivermectin Doctors are Making Big Bucks Off Antivaxxers

The Intercept, a sort of journalistic Wikileaks, has obtained data that shows right-wing doctors are making big bucks out of the right-wingers who were fed anti-vax disinformation. 

According to The Intercept, the group known as AFLDS (America's Frontline Doctors), best known for COVID-19 disinformation since the summer of 2020, referred many people to SpeakWithAnMD.com, a telemed platform based on Cadence Health. Each consultation is $90 for a call, where doctors "trained by AFLDS" prescribe non-sense meds like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, and if they got a prescription, they are delivered by Ravkoo. However, many patients paid but never got a callback. 

The data from Cadence Health and Ravkoo was obtained by an anonymous hacker who gave the data to the Intercept. 

The Intercept contacted Cadence Health, and it shut down quickly, claiming unwillingness to be profiting off COVID "quackery". 

It is worth noting that the head of AFLDS, Dr. Simone Gold, was arrested and charged for the January 6th Capitol Insurrection. Gold was well known for stating that COVID is not very deadly, and the COVID vaccine is more dangerous than the disease. Given that over 700000 Americans have DIED from COVID, and unvaccinated are 99% of the recent deaths, this is clearly wrong. 

According to the hacked data given to The Intercept, about 281K people paid 6.7 MILLION dollars in TWO MONTHS (between July and September 2021) for consultations with SpeakWithAnMD.com's "AFLDS trained doctors", and when shown this data, Cadence Health's CEO was flabbergasted, and terminated the contract with SpeakWithAnMD.com immediately. 

The same data also indicated that 340000 prescriptions were filled by Ravkoo between November 2020 and September 2021, worth about 8.5 MILLION dollars. Out of that, 46% were for ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine. NEITHER are valid treatments for COVID, as both are antiparasitic, not antiviral. Another 30% are for zinc or azithromycin, neither of which have an effect on COVID. That's more than 3/4 of all orders. When shown this data, Ravkoo CEO claimed he stopped doing business with AFLDS and SpeakwithAnMD.com at the end of August. When shown data that there are prescriptions from AFLDS in September, the Ravkoo CEO surmised that they are probably refills. 

The Intercept goes into details on the origins of AFLDS (it's funded by pro-Trump ultra-right Tea Party Patriots Foundation to counter FDA's cautious response to COVID), and into more details about how both AFLDS and SpeakWithAnMD's parent company reacted to the leak (by gathering a team of over a dozen lawyers). 

You can read the whole Intercept article here: https://theintercept.com/2021/09/28/covid-telehealth-hydroxychloroquine-ivermectin-hacked/

My thoughts: I was wondering WHY would AFLDS, and its fellow misinformers like FLCCC and BIRD misinform people like that. Turns out, there is a FINANCIAL incentive after all. 

I first encountered FLCCC when one of their doctors prescribed ivermectin to a COVID patient in an Ohio hospital OVER THE PHONE, where he doesn't even have privileges. The hospital refused to fill it, and the patient's wife sued, and a judge actually gave the wife a win, until another judge blocked it. 

What's interesting is FLCCC is NOT willing to stand behind its recommendations. Look at their own disclaimer:

Disclaimer can be summarized as you can't
blame FLCCC if you got sick and/or died

And AFLDS was reported by Time of taking the money and not even giving consultations, in an investigation that predated the hack given to Intercept. 

These people are essentially selling snake oil to fearful people, and using a doctor's white coat to do it. 

Don't be a COVIDiot and get swindled by these crooked quacks. 

Get vaxxed. It's that simple.