Given that we live in a time when the world blows up multiple times a day, and where new news becomes old news in an instant, the word that podcasting 900 pound gorilla Joe Rogan contracted COVID-19 is now very ancient news. Since I first read the story though, I’ve been irked by the hypocrisy at the heart of it which I can’t shake.
Rogan’s podcasting career has been built on an anti-establishment aw shucks, I’m just asking questions persona which clearly resonates with the millions of people who listen to him every week. As a daughter of a scientist who taught me the importance of a certain level of healthy skepticism, I appreciate why Rogan would connect with people. The problem comes when skepticism is replaced with a kind of gleeful “nuh-uh” response to any topic, and a celebration of “both siderism” which IMHO is how we end up getting news about whether Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s opinion about the vaccine is as valid as, say Anthony Fauci’s. It goes without saying that Rogan has been a vaccine skeptic, suggesting that young healthy people don’t need to get vaccinated (an opinion he has walked back) or that requiring proof of vaccination is a step towards an authoritarian state.
Almost immediately after Rogan’s illness was announced, headlines started popping up everywhere saying that Rogan announced he was taking Ivermectin to treat his infection. Ivermectin, which is used to treat parasitic worms in developing countries, as treatment for COVID has become a darling of anti-vax, anti-mainstream healthcare circles, which often overlap with right-wing politics and politicians. It’s difficult to find rational reasons why the idea of Ivermectin has taken hold as a miracle cure. In the very early days of COVID a research paper from Egypt was shared on a site for research that has not yet found publication. It suggested that Ivermectin reduced COVID deaths by 90%. The paper was never published by a reputable science journal, and was removed from the Research Square platform when complaints were raised about the soundness of the study. Studies of Ivermectin since then have shown no meaningful benefit of the drug for Covid patients.
But the mystique of Ivermectin took hold in anti-vax message boards and talk radio as the COVID cure THEY don’t want you to know about. And Joe Rogan announcing that he’s using Ivermectin to fight his Covid is a clarion call to his fans that he’s walking the walk and they should too.
What’s missing from these headlines trumpeting that Rogan is taking Ivermectin to treat his Covid, and from many of the brief sensational articles about it, is that Rogan has shared in detail his treatment which, along with the Ivermectin, includes monoclonal antibodies, prednisone and an IV vitamin drip. Monoclonal antibodies are an accepted treatment for COVID which is generally reserved for people at high risk for developing severe COVID. Prednisone is also a standard steroidal treatment for respiratory illnesses.
In other words, Rogan is fully availing himself of the top of the line mainstream medicine recommended treatment for his COVID, while still indulging his fan base’s belief that ivermectin is the cure that the FDA is keeping from you; a belief significantly fanned by the platform Rogan has given to fraudsters, tricksters and denialists. Rogan of course is able to afford the top of the line treatments with access to doctors who can make sure he gets his monoclonal antibodies in the safety and comfort of his own home while anyone you know with COVID is lying on a gurney in a hospital hallway that has no beds available while their family argues with their insurance about whether monoclonal antibodies are covered.
Rogan’s doctors can also prescribe him the actual human ivermectin, which he can afford to pay full price for, which probably wont harm him and will leave him 100% parasite free. Your doctor isn’t going to do that, and your insurance isn’t going to cover it, unless you actually have parasitic worms.
There’s a dark cynicism at work here by people like Rogan and from the sensationalist media that is emphasizing his use of ivermectin while ignoring or downplaying the rest of his treatment (which is the part that’s actually going to cure him). Rogan is winking to his fan base to say see, I’m a rebel just like you. I’m bucking the establishment and taking my worm medicine to cure a virus and you should too. Meanwhile ivermectin poisoning has skyrocketed as desperate, frightened people turn to veterinary grade heart worm pills and sheep dip. All of which makes me wonder if Rogan is invested in ivermectin and/or the funeral industry, since that at least would suggest that greed is Rogan’s motivation as opposed to just being a sociopath who doesn’t care if his followers get sick or die.
Rogan isn’t the only hypocrite of the anti-vax cheerleaders. Every anchor at Fox news is vaccinated, which Fox mandated for all its employees. Politicians like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Ron DeSantis court the anti-vax vote secure in the knowledge that they have excellent taxpayer funded health care options most of us do not have.
I struggle with a lot of anger towards people who refuse to vax and/or refuse to mask. But I also feel sad and sorry that so many people are living in an anti-vax information bubble fed by personalities like Rogan, Fox news personalities, and politicians using people’s fear to energize their cause and their coffers. Professional skeptics like Joe Rogan sow fear and confusion and reap the rewards from fans who come to them for reassurance and the advertisers that follow. But their lucrative skepticism magically evaporates when their own health is involved.
Resources:
Flawed ivermectin preprint highlights challenges of COVID drug studies
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02081-w
Random Knowledge Syndrome 