Rolling Stone has issued a retraction for a fake story about Ivermectin that they pushed on their internet magazine. Ivermectin is controversial because people have been using it to treat the virus, although it is not approved to be used in this way. It is, however, widely prescribed by doctors all over the world for anti-parasitic purposes. It even won a Nobel Peace Prize back in 2015. There is a form of this drug found in feed stores for horses that have been incorrectly consumed by humans. The “horse-paste” variety of the drug seems to be what mainstream media have zeroed in on.
The initial story from Rolling Stone was that several Oklahoma hospitals in rural areas were overrun with Ivermectin overdoses. The source said the problem is so bad that gunshot victims were often unable to get treatment in a timely fashion. This news nugget was almost too good for mainstream media to ignore. After all, there is a nationwide push to get “shots in everyone’s arm”. What better way to accomplish that goal than to squash any alternative forms of medication as quackery? The problem is that Rolling Stone did not do any sort of due diligence or research into the validity of the story. There is no problem with Ivermectin overdoses in Oklahoma. Emergency rooms are not overrun to the point of refusing healthcare to people who need it. The entire story was a complete fabrication.
Before the retraction, other news outlets picked up the story and ran with it. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC tweeted a story derived from the original Rolling Stone article. The tweet is still on Maddow’s page with no link to the update/retraction. This situation is the case on countless other news social media accounts and websites. Normal people are making comments on Facebook posts parroting the false story, completely unaware of the retraction. This happens over and over again with the mainstream media. They fast-track a story without regard for what the facts are and it becomes ingrained in the minds of the general public.
SOURCES:
One Hospital Denies Claim that Ivermectin Overdoses Causing ER Delays – Rolling Stone
Stephen L. Miller on Twitter: “All the usual suspects. https://t.co/YFqEnb7P5l” / Twitter
Joe Rogan Says He Has COVID-19 And Is Taking Unproven Drug Ivermectin : NPR
Oscar De La Hoya’s fight was going to be a career capstone. Then Covid hit him.
Ivermectin: a multifaceted drug of Nobel prize-honoured distinction with indicated efficacy against a new global scourge, COVID-19 – PubMed
The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – Press release
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