Fox News host Maria Bartiromo told Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Thursday that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were effective against COVID-19 ― echoing falsehoods that persisted at the peak of the pandemic. (Watch the video below.)
Both conservative-backed drugs sparked controversy as the global health crisis raged and both were deemed as ineffective treatments for the virus by several prominent studies.
But Bartiromo, during a segment about former White House expert Dr. Anthony Fauci’s handling of the outbreak, brought them up as if “in a time warp,” one critic on Twitter wrote.
“There were also all these lies about the emergency authorization,” Bartiromo said. “They needed the emergency authorization to get the vaccines down everybody’s throats, but in order to do that, they had to prove there was nothing else on the market that could actually treat COVID. We all know ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine were effective, weren’t they?”
Maria Bartiromo wonders why emergency authorization of a Covid vaccine was necessary when people could've just taken ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine pic.twitter.com/PCORD6FQHb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 16, 2023Fox News took heavy flak for promoting vaccine conspiracy theories and unproven medicines, but Bartiromo seemed undeterred in reviving them.
“Criminal gaslighting,” another Twitter user sniped.
Paul’s assertion about the effectiveness of natural immunity after an infection has gained credence, but vaccination is still preferable to prevent the risk of catching the virus, especially for the unvaccinated, NBC News noted.
Here are more tweets about Bartiromo’s comments.
There were lots of Fox viewers that took Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine that couldn’t be reached for comment.
— HappyGoLucky (@vendetta80_77) March 16, 2023Everyone at Fox had to be vaccinated before they went back into the studio, including the people that are telling their viewers that the vaccine isn't safe.
— Ted (@trom771) March 16, 2023This is just criminal gaslighting...
— Apparently Boosted Steve (@Steverocks35) March 16, 2023