Posted Originally on TrialSiteNews on September 19, 2021

Recently Indian press touted that Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with about 230 million people was nearly COVID-19 free. An amazing accomplishment chronicled by TrialSite—a heroic public health story demonstrating how organized, proactive testing, early care, and quarantines contributed to overcoming an outright scary Delta variant-based surge from April to May of this year. The proactive use of Ivermectin, included in a home health care kit, showed to be instrumental in combating the incredibly virulent and transmissible strain of SARS-CoV-2. Public health workers made continuous visits to homes in villages and districts across the state, proactively testing and treating the condition immediately, including household contacts. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) praised the effort, yet omitted the use of Ivermectin—a scandal. Now Microsoft News (MSN) posted the story for the world to read, digest and hopefully understand.

MSN appears to be the first mainstream news source to recognize the amazing feat accomplished by the health agencies in India’s most populous state. The state experienced a massive spike in infections by April, but just two months later, the turnaround was well on its way, and what ensued should have been the story of the year.

The Outbreak

TrialSite provided in detail data associated with the Delta outbreak in India. The Delta variant of concern emerged from the State of Maharashtra and the Punjab regions by way of Lahore in Pakistan, locations where the AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered. Maps associated with the first outbreaks can be found here. Any correlation with vaccination, however, cannot be proven and may be coincidental.

The outbreak that started in the east of Maharashtra in early February moved slowly to neighboring states. But once it arrived in Mumbai, cases exploded, and the virus rapidly spread to other states. Mumbai played a huge role in the expansion of the Delta variant. A huge concentration of migrant workers are present in this giant metropolis, and upon the surge, many people fled, fearing imminent lockdown, job loss, and the like. Traveling in trains and buses, migrant workers brought Delta back to hometowns, including those in Uttar Pradesh.

Ivermectin Incorporated in State Protocol in 2020

TrialSite reported last year that the findings at Monash University (Ivermectin inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in a lab cell culture), research results in Bangladesh (see Dr. Tarek Alam et al.), and other places influenced health officials in Uttar Pradesh.

Now Microsoft News becomes the first mainstream media to introduce the Uttar Pradesh story—and for that, they should be commended. MSN shared that last August 6, 2020, a committee led by the Director-General, Medical and Health Services for the state gave the go-ahead to use the drug as a prophylactic.

MSN reposed that Vikssendu Agrawal, Uttar Pradesh State Surveillance Officer declared, “Uttar Pradesh was the first state in the country to introduce large-scale prophylactic and therapeutic use of Ivermectin. In May-June 2020, a team at Agra, led by Dr. Anshul Pareek, administered Ivermectin to all RRT team members in the district on an experimental basis. It was observed that none of them developed Covid-19 despite being in daily contact with patients who had tested positive for the virus.”

The Turnaround

On May 30, TrialSite reported an “unprecedented turnaround in Uttar Pradesh” was indeed a reality marked by a “dramatic decline in cases.” TrialSite suggested to world health leaders it was “time to smell the coffee.”   

But just how severe was the problem? By March 19, 2021, the state, with a population larger than Brazil, reported 380 cases—however, by April 24, the number of COVID-19 cases skyrocketed to 37,944. By April, India included Ivermectin on its national guidelines, much to the chagrin of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Directorate of Medical & Health Services, Uttar Pradesh went into full throttle in an unprecedented home health outreach campaign.

Health department teams of two, organized by area, proactively visited homes, conducted tests, and provided medication kits in what was probably the largest home prophylactic delivery program worldwide. Led by Dr. Anshul Pareek, General Medical and Health Services for the state, Uttar Pradesh became the first state across India to declare Ivermectin in a large-scale prophylactic program emphasizing 1) close contacts of COVID-19 patients, 2) health workers, and 3) general care of COVID-19 patients.

WHO Praises the Effort—but Omits Use of Ivermectin

WHO reported on the amazing health agency effort via its website, titled “Going the Last Mile to Stop COVID-19” the agency acknowledged government health teams were “moving across 97,941 villages, 75 districts over five days for this activity.”

WHO emphasized that public health teams of two crisscrossed  the state home to 230 million, “visiting homes in villages and remote hamlets to test everyone with symptoms of COVID-19 using Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) kits.”  Anyone that was tested positive WHO reported was immediately“…given a medicine kit with advice on disease management” accompanied with quarantines.

As TrialSite reported, local media such as the Hindustan Times reported that Uttar Pradesh accounted for nearly 75% of all COVID-19 recoveries nationwide. Yet severe press censorship was in effect. No Western media at the time covered the unfolding activity at the time (except TrialSite), while coverage in India was guarded. Few newspapers and online journals uttered the word—Ivermectin—but some media managed to do so.

Merck & WHO Cabal

WHO went on the offense once India established Ivermectin on its national protocol. WHO’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan tweeted that Ivermectin should not be used, referencing Merck’s warning about the drug. See TrialSite’s entry on the Merck-Ivermectin warning topic. Of course, this tweet triggered the Indian bar association lawsuit against WHO. Indirectly including Merck in her tweet, WHO’s Dr. Swaminathan insulted not only millions of people but also evidenced her true naivety.

Of course, Merck was paid $356 million in December to develop a COVID-19 therapeutic—Molnupiravir.

Since then, the Biden administration has awarded Merck a $1.2 billion guaranteed procurement contract should the drug become either authorized on an emergency use basis or approved. Any data that indicates some ivermectin benefit represented an inconvenient truth for Merck. Ivermectin had to be banished from the public discussion.

Most certainly, that’s why over the past few months, an intense and particularly vile smear campaign emerged in mainstream media. Various medical establishment organizations now vilified Ivermectin and anyone discussing positive benefits. Elite academicians and physician society and board leadership to mainstream media writers found it paid to trash talk the drug—it was the start of hunting season, and Ivermectin was the target. Notably, the drug has become fondly referred to across mainstream media as the deworming agent for horses.    

Social media had already systematically censored any content mentioning the drug for months previous. For example, when TrialSite reported in January 2021 that Slovakia authorized the use of the drug for the pandemic, Facebook immediately censored that article, despite the fact that it was the truth—and not misinformation.

Much of the media over the past couple of months exploited a reference made by the FDA and CDC to data from the Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) indicating a three-fold increase in Ivermectin-related calls to one of their 55 poison control centers.

TrialSite was able to secure that data. Our analysts found that the number of calls increased from 435 to 1,143 and that only 1% of the calls involved anything serious (11 incidents). There were no deaths despite legitimate physician prescriptions increasing from a few thousand per month to nearly 90,000. TrialSite determined, based on the data hand sanitizer (4 deaths), was more dangerous. We also noted that the media was confusing legitimate physician-to-patient prescriptions versus the illicit use of the veterinary version of the drug.

MSN posted a summary of the amazing Uttar Pradesh turnaround. An amazing accomplishment that should have been chronicled by every major media, rather a media blackout for all things Ivermectin helped suppress the pathbreaking public health accomplishment.  But the truth has a way of finding the light.

Call to Action: Follow the link to the MSN story—the first mainstream media account of the amazing Uttar Pradesh story.