View in browser

Mother Jones Daily Newsletter
 

October 14, 2021

Hello, Kiera Butler here, senior health reporter and editor at Mother Jones. Over the course of the pandemic, I’ve been keeping a close eye on the online groups where misinformation proliferates. Since almost the beginning, conspiracy-minded groups have set their sights on purported miracle cures—first it was the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, boosted by President Trump, and then, more recently, the antiparasitic drug ivermectin. Abundant evidence shows that neither of these drugs is effective enough to be widely prescribed to treat or prevent COVID-19. Nevertheless, their proponents continue to insist that the drugs work—and that they’re better than vaccines.

This week, in my travels through these anti-vaccine social media groups, I have begun to notice a new treatment being touted. Group members claim that it can “kill C-19 virus in the sinuses” and that “lots of doctors swear it works to keep C-19 from invading the lungs.” What is this miracle drug, you may wonder? It’s a steroid called fluticasone. You probably know it as Flonase, a wildly popular inhaled medication for allergies.

Wouldn’t that be great if the same thing you take for hay fever could stop COVID in its tracks? Sure it would! The only problem is that there isn’t robust evidence that it does anything at all to combat the coronavirus. But, of course, that won’t stop anti-vaccine groups from embracing it. That’s because they are convinced that the holy grail of COVID treatments is hiding in plain sight. Some even go so far as to attack scientists who attempt to rigorously evaluate potential treatments. So strong is their faith in miracle cures that they believe administering a placebo to some trial participants is therefore unethical.

As I wrote in this piece, in order to find effective COVID treatments, we need well-designed science rather than a cultish following of the drug du jour. Until we know what those large-scale trials find, well, I’d hold off on huffing Flonase (unless, of course, you have allergies).

—Kiera Butler

Advertisement

ACLU
Top Story
 
Top Story

Who Keeps Us Safe?

Two 911 calls, six years apart, reveal the perils of policing and the promise of alternatives.

BY MADISON PAULY

SPONSORED POST

 
Sponsored Content

Achieving Climate Justice for 500 Million Family Farms Worldwide

Why Fairtrade organizations and farmers say global leaders need to step up and how you can help.

THIS CONTENT WAS PAID FOR AND SPONSORED BY FAIRTRADE AMERICA.

Trending
 

More evidence: New details of armed Trump extremists continue to emerge in January 6 cases

BY MARK FOLLMAN AND DAN FRIEDMAN

Don't expect any justice for Haitians who were abused at the border

BY FERNANDA ECHAVARRI

A Harvard study is going viral among anti-vaxxers. The author says they are all wrong.

BY ALI BRELAND

Huntington Beach has reopened, but the aftermath of the oil spill is far from over

BY MARK MURRMANN

Advertisement

ACLU
Special Feature
 
Special Feature

Bad Bosses

Stories of asshole managers—and the workers who fought back.

COMPILED BY NOAH LANARD AND JACOB ROSENBERG

Get More From David Corn
 

This Land by David Corn is a new newsletter that's unlike anything else in your inbox. Read why we think Mother Jones Daily readers will love it, or just sign up to start getting it with the next issue.

Sign Up

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by forwarding it to a friend or sharing it on Facebook and Twitter.

Mother Jones

Donate Subscribe

This message was sent to sherrypasquarello@gmail.com. To change the messages you receive from us, you can edit your email preferences or unsubscribe from all mailings.

For advertising opportunities see our online media kit.

Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.

www.MotherJones.com
PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755