The FLCCC was started by eight medics and two former journalists in April 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.[2] According to its co-president, Paul E. Marik, the group has a shared interest in vitamin C.[1]
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The group initially started promoting Marik's discredited sepsis treatment protocol as a treatment for COVID-19, and in April 2020 it circulated press releases promoting vitamin C, heparin, hydroxychloroquine and other drugs, before pivoting to ivermectin promotion in October 2020.[2]
Advocacy of ivermectin for COVID-19 Edit
In January 2021, the FLCC presented findings on the use of the anti-parasite drug ivermectin against COVID-19 to the National Institutes of Health, which ruled there was "insufficient data to recommend either for or against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19" without clinical trials.[3]
A 2021 review article by FLCCC members on the efficacy of ivermectin, which was provisionally accepted by Frontiers in Pharmacology, was subsequently rejected on account of what the publisher called "a series of strong, unsupported claims based on studies with insufficient statistical significance" meaning that the article did "not offer an objective [or] balanced scientific contribution to the evaluation of ivermectin as a potential treatment for COVID-19".[9] The FLCCC review article included a study from Egypt that was later retracted after anomalies were found in its data and concerns were raised about plagiarism.[10]
Stance on vaccines Edit
The FLCCC has said “vaccination is part of the solution”, but COVID-19 vaccines are not listed in its preventative protocols.[11]
In August 2021 one doctor, Eric Osgood, resigned from the FLCCC because the group "may be contributing to people making the choice not to get vaccinated". Osgood commented: "If you're going to have a page that's dedicated to 'How do you prevent yourself from getting COVID?' that page can't not have vaccines at the top of it".[2]
Susanna Priest, editor-in-chief of Science Communication, has said the FLCCC's messaging is discouraging vaccination thereby prolonging the pandemic.[2]
Ohio lawsuit Edit
In 2021, Fred Wagshul, a member of the FLCCC, prescribed ivermectin for a patient in a hospital in Ohio where he did not have admitting privileges.[12][13] The patient's wife secured a court order ordering his doctors to administer ivermectin, which was overridden by a higher court. In his order, the higher court judge stated that "there can be no doubt that the medical and scientific communities do not support the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19".[13][14]