READ THIS FIRST
First, well-meaning friends and colleagues, who understandably have concerns about medical monopoly breathlessly shared this 'white coat summit at capitol hill' video that claimed to "correct" disinformation - which is classic projection of the type Jared Yates Sexton describes HERE.
As a natural skeptic, I had my concerns.
White coats? What - when not even seeing patients?
Breitbart? Are you kidding me? That outlet is synonymous with alt-right misogyny.
As far right fundamentalist friends shared the heck out it, surpassed only by left-wing alternative health, non-mainstream friends and Insta-famous wellness/success 'influencers'.
I thought just wait. 3 days and the fact-checkers will catch up.
It took ONE day.
First came a few Facebook posts urging caution:
"For any of you seeing news about today's Breitbart-sponsored "press conference" on the SCOTUS steps, please be aware of the following facts:
1. "America's Frontline Doctors" didn't exist two weeks ago. Their internet domain name was registered on the 16th of July. It's a newly-created propaganda front, and has no actual medical institutional provenance.
2. The people in the white coats (labeled "America's Frontline Doctors" to make sure you knew they were American frontline doctors) are not actually frontline doctors. Some of them aren't even physicians. To be fair, the ones who aren't physicians didn't actually claim that they were. They just stood there in their white coats (labeled "America's Frontline Doctors").
3. The right-wing media coverage of this is almost universally copied from the same script. Someone fed a text to the right-wing media, and they just ran it.
4. The social media coverage is, similarly, dominated by bots that all say pretty much the same things, often verbatim. Again, there's a script which is being copied ad nauseam.
5. There's going to be more of this kind of thing. It serves to weaken the influence of actual medical professionals' voices in the Republican political effort to pretend that COVID-19 is a negligible problem.
The smell of Republican ratfuckery is all over this thing."
2.Melissa Stout:
"I need your attention. You've seen the video Trump shared of doctors claiming scientists don't want you to know that Hydroxychloroquine cures COVID-19. So I did some digging on the doctors to see if they're credible. Here's what I found:
Dr. Immanuel has no privileges at any Texas hospital and claims that scientists are developing a vaccine to make you an atheist, modern medical treatments contain alien DNA, and miscarriage, endometriosis, and infertility are caused by having sex with demons in your dreams. It gets worse.
- Licensing: http://www.tmb.state.tx.us/page/look-up-a-license- Some of her views: https://archive.fo/G7wtb
- First location: https://g.co/kgs/s3tXpu- Second location: https://g.co/kgs/dsb8uv
- Charter school: https://orangecountyclassicalacademy.org/board-of-directorsA leaked audio of a Republican conference shows the Trump administration was fed a list of 27 pro-Trump doctors who could be "activated" on TV to "spread the message" of reopening the country as soon as possible. Tea Party Patriots, who organized the AFD event, was involved. Is this what the GOP means by "paid actors"? This video got 14 million views in ONE NIGHT and was promoted by Prager U, Breitbart, Turning Point USA, and the PRESIDENT. The person who is supposed to be LEADING while Americans are dying.- Leaked audio: https://apnews.com/4ee1a3a8d631b454f645b2a8d9597de7*As I don't have the luxury of being paid to share my opinions, I'd like to reiterate this information is just what I've found online, it's available to everyone, and should not be taken as absolute fact without individual verification*
If you find more on the other speakers leave a comment, but your girl is tired so this is all I'm doing for now."
3. Phil Collins
I truly didn’t think that any of the people I actually know would ride this video wave of Dr. Stella Immanuel without at least typing her name into Google after noticing the Breitbart emblem at the bottom of the video...but alas, here we are.
It is nice, she is passionate, and she makes you want to believe that this could be true. A simple Google search of Dr. Stella Immanuel would have also shown you a few things about her medical history and her clinic in a strip mall that sits next to the church she runs. I’ll list a few below:
- She argues that Gynecological problems (endometriosis, infertility, impotence, ovarian cysts, molar pregnancies) are the work of “demons” and “witches” that you have sex with in your sleep.
- The Illuminati has sent witches to destroy the world via Gay marriage, abortion, and children’s toys.
-She claims the government has pinpointed religion in DNA and that the government has created a vaccine to “destroy” that part of your DNA.
-She claims patients are being treated using “Alien DNA” and that the country is being run by “reptiles”.
-She has preached from her church hatred of the LGBTQ community, saying after the SCOTUS decision to legalize gay marriage that the LGBTQ community would start marrying and raping children, called it “homosexual terrorism” and praised one of her members for disowning his transgender daughter.
-There is records of her saying she supports “corporal punishment” for children.
-AND she has hypocritically said to wear masks up until the moment she was in front of video cameras.
Furthermore this entire event was staged by the Right leaning Tea Party Patriots, backed financially by wealthy Republicans, and streamed on Breitbart; in case you have forgotten, Steve Bannon runs Breitbart, Breitbart is labeled nationalist media, nationalists = white supremacists.
I want to believe that my friends are smarter than reposting media from a White Supremacists media company, I want to believe that. I want to believe my friends are smarter than seeing the first impassioned doctor shout “THERES A CURE!” and holding on to that as a new life line. I really really want to believe that we all understand that there is no “cure” for Covid-19 and media like this is incredibly dangerous for the young folks who think this is all a hoax anyway.
Come on friends. Be smarter.
*Update: the website for America’s Frontline Doctors Summit, has been removed.
Then - the inevitable flurry of articles:
Hydroxychloroquine: Why a video promoted by Trump was pulled on social media
Astral sex and alien DNA: Who is the doctor behind the misleading COVID-19 video shared by Donald Trump?
This is from a Christian magazine. (NOTE: we are not ALL right-wing fundamentalists - and guess what? Loads of us aren't even American. Just like the vast majority of Muslims are not extremists, fundamentalists, or terrorists.)
A Doctor Promoted by Trump Is Also Concerned About the Side Effects of Having Sex With Demons
Trump Shares Messages Calling Dr. Fauci A ‘Fraud,’ Promoting Hydroxychloroquine
How Quack Doctors And Powerful GOP Operatives Spread Misinformation To Millions
"A group calling itself “America’s Frontline Doctors” spread false information about COVID-19 with the help of Facebook, right-wing media and President Trump."
Who Are ‘America’s Frontline Doctors’, the Pro-Trump, Pro-Hydroxychloroquine Weirdos Banned From Social Media?
Dark money and PAC's coordinated 'reopen' push are behind doctors' viral hydroxychloroquine video
"The virality of the video underscores the difficulty in moderating coronavirus misinformation as treatments and public health responses have become more political."
(PAC = political action committee)Immanuel has been a vocal supporter of Trump on social media since 2016, and used Facebook and Twitter to spread conspiracy theories, including that the coronavirus was manufactured in China. She also operates the religious organization "Fire Power Ministries" from her Houston clinic, where she posts videos expressing extreme beliefs, including falsely attributing medical issues such as miscarriage, gynecological problems and impotence as stemming from spiritual possession by demon spirits.
Finally, a few pithy comments I gleaned:
* "A lot of the tweets and RTs about this seem to have a fair amount of anti-Semitism to them. Stuff about "Jewish media" and "Jewish remdesivir" and the like."
* "I did watch the video and she lost me when she said we don’t need controlled clinical trials. She said none of the 350 patients that she saw in her office had died, and that was enough evidence for her that HCQ works. I’ve never seen a reputable doctor put anecdotal evidence over controlled trials. She is a GP. Perhaps she would have a different opinion if she were an ER doc or worked in the ICU. To push HCQ as a “cure” is irresponsible and potentially deadly."
Also worth considering the experience of patients who actually need to take this drug:
"The side effects are shocking
even using it for rheumatoid atheist it’s a double sword. Help with pain... or lose my hair & suffer kidney dysfunction."
This is by Ian Breakspear, one of Australia's leading Naturopaths and Senior Lecturer at Endeavour College of Natural Health:
"So this “America’s Frontline Doctors” video has been doing the rounds, and it’s a little concerning to see some people taking it seriously. I’ve had some colleagues ask me about it. It is somewhat understandable that members of the public might take it seriously, as they are using classic techniques of manipulation – such as wearing white coats to make them look authoritative, medical and scientific (when they are out in the open and not in a health care or lab setting where they may be needed), blending truth and fiction together to make it hard to tell what is what, and also using quite emotional language in some cases.
However the credibility of the information provided, and the way it is provided, is highly suspect. Below I discuss why. For those who wish to see the recorded press conference first hand, I’m not linking to the video because it keeps getting removed from social media (which I am fine with given how misleading it is), but the transcript can be read here: https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/americas-frontline-doctors-scotus-press-conference-transcript/amp
The biggest thing people are focusing on is a claim from some of the doctors that they have the cure for COVID-19, including hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and zinc.As we know, hydroxychloroquine was been postulated as a treatment since the early stages of this pandemic, however ongoing research has indicated that the initially published positive results were not able to be duplicated. This is the value of science – that a claim needs to be rigorously investigated and show consistently – not just once – that it holds up to scrutiny. And so far hydroxychloroquine has not held up under that scrutiny, especially in more highly symptomatic cases of COVID-19 – which of course are the ones for which we are really hoping for a successful treatment.
Now looking at some of the specific statements:Dr. Stella Immanuel: (06:46)“So right now, I came here to Washington DC to say, America, nobody needs to die. The study that made me start using hydroxychloroquine was a study that they did under the NIH in 2005 that say it works. Recently, I was doing some research about a patient that had hiccups and I found out that they even did a recent study in the NIH, which is our National Institute … that is the National … NIH, what? National Institute of Health. They actually had a study and go look it up. Type hiccups and COVID, you will see it. They treated a patient that had hiccups with hydroxychloroquine and it proved that hiccups is a symptom of COVID. So if the NIH knows that treating the patient would hydroxychloroquine proves that hiccup is a symptom of COVID, then they definitely know the hydroxychloroquine works.”
There are whole lot of issues here:1) As far as we know SARS-CoV-2 didn’t exist in 2005, so there could not have been published research showing the efficacy of a drug on killing that particular virus.2) How can treating a patients for hiccups successfully with hydroxychloroquine (HQ) actually prove that hiccups are a symptom of COVID-19, let alone that HQ is a cure for COVID-19? It is scientifically nonsensical. Whilst hiccups have been recorded as an atypical symptom of COVID-19, in the single patient case report (full text here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7165082/ ) the authors state the patient initially only presented with a 4 day history of hiccups and 4 month history of weight loss. Testing revealed the patient was positive for SARS-CoV-2, was treated with HQ for a few days, and discharged. There was no information given as to the out-patient follow up of this individual, no subsequent testing to determine if the virus had been cleared. The authors don’t even make the slightest hint that HQ successfully treated HQ – they are merely pointing out the need to be alert to unusual symptoms in patients who otherwise may not have the classic COVID-19 clinical picture.3) The fact that this doctor can’t even seem to say the full name of the American NIH without assistance, does not fill me with confidence.
Simone Gold: (11:02)“My gosh. Dr. Immanuelle also known as warrior. Before I introduce the next guest, I just want to say that I wish all doctors that are listening to this bring that kind of passion to their patients. And the study that Dr. Immanuel was referring to is in Virology, which talks about a SARS viral epidemic that affects the lungs that came from China. And they didn’t know what would work. The study showed that chloroquine would work. It sounds exactly like it could have been written three months ago, but in fact, that’s study in Virology, which was published by the NIH, the National Institute of Health when Dr. Anthony Fauci was the director. Again, the official publication of the NIH, Virology, 15 years ago showed that chloroquine … we use hydroxychloroquine, it’s the same … little safer … works. They proved this 15 years ago when we got this novel coronavirus, which is not that novel, it’s 78% similar to the prior coronavirus, which is not that novel. It’s 78% similar to the prior version. The COV-1, not surprisingly. It works.”
Yes this study on chloroquine and SARS-CoV-1 exists - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1232869/
However it is an entirely in-vitro study. It is not a study done on humans, but instead cell cultures in laboratory conditions. It certainly is not reporting success of chloroquine in humans infected and symptomatic with SARS-CoV-1, or in humans as a prevention for infection from this virus.Also the statement that SARS-CoV-2 is not that novel, but in fact 78% similar to SARS-CoV-1 (which I haven’t personally verified so not sure if that number is correct), is bizarre. Humans and chimpanzees are 98% similar in genetic code, so I think 78% similarity is far from proof positive that treatment for one virus is going to work for another virus in the same family.
Speaker 9: (27:45)“Yeah, that’s a great question. Because the whole political situation has driven the fear towards this drug. So let’s address that. This drug is super safe. It’s safer than aspirin, Motrin, Tylenol. It’s super safe. All right.”
I don’t know what planet they are on, but I have seen patients with adverse reactions to HQ (when it is prescribed for other, more well-established, indications). The adverse reactions are well known and well documented, and have been for many years. Like all medicines its risk needs to be weighed against its benefit. So far the research across the world is not indicating a positive benefit vs risk in treating patients who are severely symptomatic with COVID-19.In addition to just this snapshot of bizarre statements, I’d encourage you to dig a little deeper into some of the bizarre statements around diseases made by Dr Immanuel long before COVID-19 as part of her “Fire Power Deliverance Ministries with Dr Stella Immanuel”.
Finally, if these doctors truly feel that they have the cure for COVID-19, then why have they not published? They are claiming to have hundreds of cases, surely they could publish a case series? Even if they claim that they are being blocked from publication in mainstream journals, then take it upon yourselves to publish detailed case reports on your own websites, etc. It’s not hard to get information out there in today’s world. Give us the details, the dosages, the patient histories, etc, so that we can review this information properly.
I’m not sure what this group’s agenda is, and they may have some legitimate ideas worthy of investigation. But in my opinion their unprofessional behaviour is not doing them any service, and a lot of their statements are emotive, unscientific rubbish."
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