YouTube odiously continues to pull down videos on ivermectin, even as the evidence for efficacy mounts by the day. The latest meta- analysis based on a meta analysis of more than 21 randomised that included more than 2,700 patients , reports that there is low and moderate certainty that ivermectin cuts death rate by significant 68%. Also there is low certainty evidence that ivermectin reduced infection by a significant 86%, that means if ivermectin taken once a week could prevent infection as much as the best vaccine.
Ivermectin has to be kept in mind against the background of rapid development of variants of concern. A theory currently being proposed is the concept of immune selective pressure. This is the pressure mounted by a vaccine on the virus that compels the virus to transform or mutate. In between 2 shots of a spike focussed vaccine, there is production of antibodies but antibodies produced are not effective enough to fully neutralise the invading virus. The antibodies are not fully developed. The virus now has the time, space, and luxury to mutate and evolve into new variant, which can infect a cell with greater ability and also evade immunity. Worse, a variant of concern can be more virulent and deadly. The recent fiasco in India with the Delta variant is an example.
There is a fear that selective immune pressure by mass vaccination will churn out more variants of concern, hence there are bound to be more Delta variants. We could have very soon a Delta plus plus variant.
What could be a reasonable alternative? Ivermectin comes to mind because it blocks attachment of the virus to ACE 2 receptor. The blocking by ivermectin takes place regardless of alterations in the virus. Ivermectin does not depend upon changes in the epitopes of Covid 19 virus. It prevents binding of the virus to the ACE2 receptor, and therefore it matters little to it if there is a change in an amino acid in any protein of the virus.
Ivermectin is an extremely cheap, safe and effective generic drug available in every town of India. Covid 19 virus will be around us for many years, it is therefore incumbent on all governments to seriously consider using ivermectin as a prophylactic.
My personal clinical experience with Ivermectin has been very positive. Not a single patient for mine landed up in hospital, each began recovery within 2-3 days.