When the state senators from South Carolina held two hearings on COVID-19 treatment in September, they heard about the benefits of ivermectin-many lawmakers agreed and shared them The experience of loved ones.

Although federal regulators have recently warned against using the drug to treat COVID, the demand for access to the drug is loud and firm.

Ivermectin is a generic drug that has been used for decades to treat river blindness, scabies and even head lice. Veterinarians also use it in different formulations and dosages to treat animal parasites (such as worms).

At a hearing in South Carolina, Presley Stutz III reminded the panel that his father, a famous Republican leader in the state, died of COVID a month ago. He believes that Ivermectin can help him. But the doctors at the hospital will not discuss it.

“In order to save my father’s life, I did my best to not allow myself to be thrown into jail,” he told the panel of experts because the legislators expressed condolences.

“What happened here?” He asked, the enthusiasm in his voice getting higher and higher. “My dad is dead!”

The plea for public officials has been established. Now politicians are beginning to take action, mainly to satisfy their conservative voters.

After the pandemic began, scientists started clinical trials to see if ivermectin could help treat COVID. Some are still in progress. However, mainstream medical providers refused to treat it as a COVID treatment on the grounds that the quality of the research so far was poor, and the two notorious “preprint” studies that had been disseminated before peer review, and later due to inaccuracy and inaccuracy. Remove defective data from the Internet.

On August 26, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised clinicians not to use ivermectin on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence that ivermectin was beneficial, and pointed out that unauthorized use can cause accidental poisoning. The CDC reiterated that vaccination is still the best way to avoid serious illness and death caused by the coronavirus.

But many Americans still believe that ivermectin may be beneficial, and some politicians seem to be listening to them.

South Carolina Republican Senator Tom Corbin said: “If we have effective drugs here — or seem to work — I think we haven’t tried them. It’s absolutely terrible.” He questioned coming to the State Capitol to oppose Iver Doctors who are working hard to incorporate the element into mainstream use.

Doctors questioned the implicit insults that they did not follow best practices: “Any hint that any of us will prevent our patients from receiving effective treatment at all costs is a real insult to our profession,” the college’s Professor Anne Andrews said. The Medical University of South Carolina has been caring for COVID patients throughout the pandemic.

Some politicians in states such as South Carolina did not seem to heed the medical consensus, but got clues from marginal doctors. At a hearing in September, the state senator answered Dr. Pierre Kory’s call.

Last year, Kory established a non-profit organization called the Front Line COVID-19 Intensive Care Alliance, which promotes Ivermectin. He said that he did not make money by prescribing drugs, although the organization is indeed collecting donations and has not yet submitted the required financial documents to the IRS.

Corey admits that his medical advice has left him in an “island”.

In December last year, he testified for the first time before a U.S. Senate committee on ivermectin. That video went viral on the Internet. Although it was taken down by YouTube, his testimony in the Senate prompted patients across the country to request ivermectin when they fell ill.

By late August, the number of outpatient prescriptions had increased by 24 times. The number of calls to the poison control hotline has tripled, mainly because people have taken ivermectin preparations for livestock.

Corey said his views on ivermectin have actually lost two jobs. In his current hospital in Wisconsin, he is in charge of the intensive care unit for two weeks every month, and the management called him to a meeting in September, where he was told that he could no longer prescribe ivermectin. He said that he has been giving it to “every COVID patient.”

“After pharma-geddon was released, yes, they closed it,” he told South Carolina lawmakers. “I will tell you that many hospitals across the country have closed a few months ago.”

Defining the battle of ivermectin as a battle against anonymous federal agencies and large pharmaceutical companies has attracted Americans who are already skeptical of the science behind the pandemic and the approved COVID vaccine.

Corey said that successful cases of COVID treatment in other parts of the world have been suppressed, and vaccines have been promoted instead.

In an interview with NPR, Corey said he regrets the flash point he helped ignite.

“I feel very sad for the patients, and I feel very sad for the doctors,” he told NPR. “The two of them-the patient and the doctor-are trapped.”

Patients still demand treatment, but their health system tells doctors who sympathize with their wishes not to try.

Now, conservatives elected to public office will feel the political rewards if they step in to help patients get drugs. State legislatures, including those in Tennessee and Alaska, are discussing various ways to increase access to ivermectin-proposals such as protecting doctors from prescribing, or forcing pharmacists to fill out problematic prescriptions.

The Montana News Service reported that the state’s Republican Attorney General sent a state police officer to a hospital in Helena, where a patient with a political background died of new coronary pneumonia. Her family wants ivermectin.

St. Peter’s Hospital stated in a statement that the doctors and nurses were “harassed and threatened by three public officials”.

The statement added: “These officials have no medical training or experience, but they insist that our providers provide treatment for COVID-19 that is not authorized, clinically approved, or does not meet the guidelines set by the FDA and CDC.”

On October 14, the Republican Attorney General of Nebraska resolved the dispute and issued a nearly 50-page legal opinion, arguing that those considering the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for COVID “off the label” The doctors used are acting within the scope of their state medical standards. License, as long as the doctor obtains the patient’s proper informed consent.

Some patients filed lawsuits to obtain ivermectin, but the results were mixed. A patient in Illinois was rejected. But other hospitals, including one in Ohio, were forced to use the drug with the opposition of doctors.

Even if they have gained strong political support, some ivermectin fans say they are now avoiding the healthcare system-because they have lost faith in it.

Lesa Berry of Richmond, Virginia, had a friend who died of COVID-19 earlier this year. Although Berry and the patient’s daughter asked, the doctor refused to use ivermectin.

She said they know more now.

“My first attempt was to get her out of the hospital,” Berry said. “Because now when you go to the hospital, they only give you the contents of the CDC agreement.”

Berry and her husband bought their own ivermectin and kept it at home.

This story comes from a partnership that includes NPR, Nashville Public Radio, and KHN.