If one were to cyber-travel over to Wendy Bell's Facebook page (if one were so inclined) one would find this image:
That's right, my friends. Wendy Bell got COVID fact-checked. Again.
If
only she had a medical expert nearby to check her on her medical misinformation. A close friend or
perhaps maybe even a relative (someone who actually has a medical degree) to check her
homework before she went public with some medical misinformation that might harm people, she'd probably get fewer of these FB
fact-checks, right?
Anyway, here's what the entire bullshit board looks like:
Let's go find where she scooped up this data. As far as I can tell, her first point ("CDC NHANES STUDIES...") was taken from this paper from the NIH website published in June, 2020. This section specifically:
Our research shows that food plus a dietary supplement had a lower prevalence of nutrient inadequacies than food alone. The percentage of the population with usual intakes below the EAR in adults (≥ 19 years) from food only vs. food + dietary supplements for vitamin A (45 to 35%), vitamin C (46 to 33%), vitamin D (95 to 65%), vitamin E (84 to 60%), and zinc (15 to 11%).
While it points out an important public health issue (nutrition) and shows data supporting the use of a dietary supplement, it has nothing to do with the treatment or prevention of COVID-19.
How do I know?
Well, there's this is from the CDC (which is part of the NIH, you know):
Dietary supplements aren’t meant to treat or prevent COVID-19.
So pointing out how those supplements help in general nutrition (while a good idea) seems beside
the point when talking about COVID-19, doesn't it?
But look at what's just below Wendy's list:
Ivermectin?
Hydroxychloroquinine?
Neither has any medical evidence to support its use against the coronavirus. Let's look at each.
First, Ivermectin.
From the NIH:
There are insufficient data for the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel (the Panel) to recommend either for or against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19. Results from adequately powered, well-designed, and well-conducted clinical trials are needed to provide more specific, evidence-based guidance on the role of ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19.
And:
Ivermectin has been shown to inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in cell cultures. However, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies suggest that achieving the plasma concentrations necessary for the antiviral efficacy detected in vitro would require administration of doses up to 100-fold higher than those approved for use in humans.
Then there's Hydroxychloroquine.
Again, the NIH:
A clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of adults hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been stopped by the National Institutes of Health. A data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) met late Friday and determined that while there was no harm, the study drug was very unlikely to be beneficial to hospitalized patients with COVID-19. After its fourth interim analysis the DSMB, which regularly monitors the trial, recommended to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of NIH, to stop the study. NHLBI halted the trial immediately.
You're coming up empty, Wendy. You know that, right?
Where's your scientific data regarding the efficacy of vitamins for COVID-19 treatment? You cherry-pick a couple of studies and that's supposed to upend the CDC? The NIH?
This brings me to Wendy's last plea for help: The work of Dr. David Brownstein. Asking the googlies for help, we come to this paper from July, 2020.
This would be the same Dr Brownstein who wrote, on his own website:
I want to let you know that we have been ordered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to stop making any statements about our treatment protocols of Vitamins A, C and D as well as nutritional IV’s, iodine, ozone and nebulization to support the immune system with respect to Coronavirus Diseases 2019 (COVID-19).
You can read the letter here.
The good doctor included this paragraph from that letter:
It is unlawful under the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C Sec. 41 et seq. to advertise that a product or service can prevent, treat, or cure human disease unless you possess competent and reliable scientific evidence, including, when appropriate, well-controlled human clinical studies, substantiating that the claims are true at the time they are made. For COVID-19, no such study is currently known to exist for the products or services identified above. Thus, any Coronavirus-related prevention or treatment claims regarding such products or services are not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence. You must immediately cease making all such claims.Paging Dr. Brownstein, paging Dr. Brownstein: does Wendy Bell know about this? While she's not actually selling anything, she certainly seems to be pushing the use of vitamins for the treatment of COVID-19 while lacking any actual scientific evidence.
If only there were someone close who could explain medical science to Wendy Bell. It would certainly be in the public interest for any/all medically educated people in her family to let her know how dangerously wrong she is.
