A few months after doing an about face on his vaccine stance, Joe Rogan has said he caught COVID-19 while on tour. And because he’s what we’ll call a “counter-mainstream” podcast host, of course Rogan took the unproven horse dewormer ivermectin as part of his treatment regimen.
What, he couldn’t get his hands on some hydroxychloroquine?
If you haven’t heard, ivermectin is an anti-parasitic medication mainly used to treat horses but also, in smaller doses, to fight river blindness and intestinal roundworms in people. Now, obviously, a virus is not a worm, so why anti-vax and right wing personalities have latched onto ivermectin as a possible cure for COVID-19 is down to more of the usual “don’t be a sheep” herd mentality.
Of course, Rogan is a hugely successful and wealthy comedian, so wouldn’t you know it, he also had access to some legit COVID treatments like monoclonal antibodies. (Whether the noted health nut has a chronic illness that would actually qualify him for such access under FDA guidelines is unknown.)
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After feeling rundown coming off a round of shows in — wouldn’t ya know it — Florida, Rogan got himself tested and came down positive. “We immediately threw the kitchen sink at it,” he said in a Instagram video message to fans. “All kinds of meds: monoclonal antibodies, ivermectin, Z-Pack, prednisolone, everything. And I also got an NAD drip and a vitamin drip. And I did that three days in a row, and so here we are on Wednesday, and I feel great. I really only had one bad day.”
Few people who come down with COVID-19 are going to have that kind of medical access, but the danger here is that those who believe in the power of a horse dewormer to fight a coronavirus will likely find some justification in Rogan’s experience. That’s despite the fact that he took all the drugs, many of which the FDA is not down with as COVID treatments, meaning it’s impossible to determine what actually helped his case. (Editor’s Speculation: It was the monoclonal antibodies.)
Ivermectin has repeatedly failed clinical trials testing its effectiveness against COVID-19, yet prescriptions rose from an average of 3,600 a week in 2019 to more than 88,000 in one week in August alone (via the CDC/The Washington Post). That’s potentially dangerous, as health departments are already seeing ivermectin poisoning as folks try to buy the horse dewormer version instead of getting a real prescription.
“You are not a horse. You are not a cow,” the FDA clarified in a recent tweet. “Seriously, ya’ll. Stop it.”
Yet to that, Rogan says, “A wonderful heartfelt thank you to modern medicine for pulling me out of this so quickly and easily.”
It’s unknown if Rogan is currently vaccinated, but given his tour schedule and many major venues’ precautionary requirements, it seems likely he is. He recently offered refunds for fans who have “an ideological or physiological reason for not getting vaccinated.” As a result of his own diagnosis, he’s moved his planned Nashville show from this Friday to Sunday, October 24th.
Find the Joe Rogan Experience host’s complete statement about COVID and ivermectin below.
This is a developing story…
