I don't think it can be said often enough that the leftist establishment's dismissal of all early treatments for COVID in favor of vaccines, followed by hospitalization when people are in extremis, will go down as the greatest slaughter of Americans since the Civil War.  Whether driven by politics, profit, or the power that vaccine mandates have given them, the entire leftist establishment dismissed ivermectin as a "horse dewormer," making it almost impossible for doctors to prescribe it.  Yet a Japanese study shows that, in fact, ivermectin is both "safe" and "effective."

Because COVID appeared in America during an election year, Democrats and other leftists could not allow Trump to deal with it successfully.  That meant they had to slap down any possible treatments and keep the focus on ruinous lockdowns, ineffectual masks, and chimerical vaccines.  Any early treatments were dismissed as poisonous.  Instead, we were told there was nothing to be done about COVID until we were near death, at which point going to the hospital might save us — especially if we got incredibly expensive, toxic, minimally effective Remdesivir.

When Trump mentioned the possible efficacy of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an old, stable, safe malaria medicine, it was instantly shouted down as a deadly fish treatment.  That came as a surprise to me because, several years ago, when I was going to Cambodia, Kaiser's travel nurse automatically prescribed HCQ as a prophylactic to prevent my getting malaria.  Although I'm the person who always gets the side-effects, I had no problems with HCQ (plus I didn't get malaria).

Then, when word began to emerge from Africa, Latin America, and India that ivermectin, a truly magical anti-parasitical that has changed life across the third world for the better, the establishment instantly tagged it as a "horse dewormer."  And once again, Americans were denied a safe, effective early treatment for COVID.

Mind you, these medicines weren't just subject to derision.  The FDA refused to authorize them for COVID treatment.  Vast HMOs, usually headed by leftists, also refused to allow them to be used in an off-label way.  Not only did Meryl Nass, a physician in Maine, have her license suspended for prescribing ivermectin and HCG, but the medical board demanded that she undergo a psychiatric evaluation to get it back.

To understand what was going on, imagine a situation in which you develop an infection — say, a urinary tract infection (UTI).  Currently, you're uncomfortable, and it's getting worse.  You contact your doctor, seeking an antibiotic.

To your surprise, the doctor tells you you can't have the antibiotic because it might upset your stomach.  Instead, the doctor says you should wait until you're running an incredibly high fever, have agonizing abdominal pain, and are beginning to hallucinate.  At that point, head to the hospital, and your doctor will see about treating you.  Oh, and he'll treat you with an industrial-strength antibiotic that has a 75% chance of permanently damaging your liver and kidneys.

Image: Ivermectin (seized in Austria, a vaccine mandate nation, lest it help people recover) by the Bundesministerium für Finanzen.  CC-BY-2.0.

What you really should do, says your doctor, is get a shot against future UTIs.  Never mind that you're generally very unlikely to get a UTI or that UTIs are easily treated in their early stages.  He also tells you to ignore that the shot won't actually stop you from getting UTIs.  What's important is that it might lessen the chances of your going septic.  Maybe.  And don't worry about the fact that the shot might damage your heart and increase your chances of cancer.  And for God's sake, stop whining...

To add insult to the profound injuries the establishment has inflicted on the American people, with more than 800,000 deaths attributed to COVID, a Japanese study confirms that ivermectin was always safe and effective:

A Japanese conglomerate has found that the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin is effective and safe for the treatment of the coronavirus Omicron variant, according to a phase III clinical trial.

Kowa Co. Ltd., a conglomerate with interests in trading, hospitality, and electronics, along with health and medical applications, issued a press release (pdf) on Jan. 31 stating that ivermectin has been found to be effective against Omicron.

Kowa representatives didn't respond to a request for comment by press time.

The company, working with Kitasato University based in Tokyo, said that ivermectin has the "same antiviral effect" on all "mutant strains," including Alpha, Delta, and Omicron. Kowa added that ivermectin suppresses invasion of the virus and inhibits its replication.

(UPDATE: Epoch Times, to which I've linked, has added the following update: "Correction: This article has been updated to make clear the findings released by Kowa were based on non-clinical trial data. The Epoch Times regrets the error.")

This is like Dorothy discovering that her ruby slippers always had the power to return her to Kansas.  However, they wouldn't work as long as she wasn't ready to believe.

We cannot resurrect those who died or remedy the lives destroyed thanks to the establishment's murderous determination to prevent Trump from being re-elected.  But one day, when (if) American life returns to normal, the people most responsible for denying treatment to Americans (I'm looking at you, Dr. Fauci) must be put in the dock and tried for crimes against humanity.