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Under a doctor's direction so that the dosage and monitoring for side effects is an individual choice. As is any off label drug use. Having an adult child who can't take vaccines I can see the point of trying "something" that might work, at least for some small number of people. Provided it could be done safely.
However an unproven treatment as an excuse to avoid vaccination or an argument for not wearing a mask it does not pass the smell test for me. The drug does have prior use in humans against parasites that shows it can be at least safe in proper dosage but the results for use against virus or this specific virus is not all that compelling. Certainly much less complete than the testing of the vaccines.
I really have a hard time understanding this sometimes. The entire world went into overdrive to develop a vaccine, we have not one but three that are shown to be safe and effective in extensive testing and tracking for side effects. If everyone who can safely get the vaccine did so the few who can't tolerate vaccines or don't take them based on religious doctrines of their faith would have much less to worry about. Whole lot of folks wouldn't end up in the hospital or dying. Or with long term impacts of covid.
Someone said deciding if one is going to get the vaccine or not is really such a first world issue. Much of the world is struggling to even have the opportunity while about 30 percent of our country avoids it and then protests against having any consequences for declining the vaccination.
If I owned a restaurant or bar I would want my staff and patrons to all be vaccinated. We ban smoking in these places as we consider the smoke to be a potential health risk worth preventing, I would say covid warrants at least the same level of effort to prevent the harm it causes.
Growing up I knew people who had survived polio, met people that had survived small pox. As I got older getting the flu vaccine just made sense because I was more likely to get the seasonal flu and it tended to be a worse case when I did. Up until this pandemic the idea of vaccines as somehow something to be shunned was really a fringe idea. Not anymore. Whole media ecosystem supporting FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) about the vaccine. Many people simply won't entertain the idea that vaccination might be a good choice for reasons that tend to leave me scratching my head.
I know some of these folks, they are not stupid. It is just the arguments made seem all over the place and all seem to lead back to "you can't trust those sources" but you can trust the ones that they find which support inaction in the face of a pandemic. A doctor shouting at a school board meeting is to be trusted. The FDA, AMA, the vast majority of people in the health care field or infectious disease field are to be dismissed because this guy had a video go viral. It is a puzzlement <- name the movie.
At times I have worked where masks and PPE was required, it didn't seem to hurt me any. Just the opposite, it kept me safer. Have family that have worn masks for their jobs some for decades, likewise without ill effects that are now being used as an excuse to not wear masks. Such a small thing that even if the benefit is limited it is better than doing nothing.
My parents taught us kids that we had some obligation toward the wider community. That we had to live with the consequences of our actions. Both of which were I think common lessons taught when I was growing up, and generally instilled in the kids our generation raised. This makes me view much of what is being said and done in this pandemic with more than a little bewilderment.
In 1918 they could do nothing but mask and self quarantine. We have a huge blessing in the form of an effective vaccine. Can't make sense of not availing ourselves of that benefit which we enjoy over the past and much of the world.
My guess is it will get worse before it gets better. My belief is it didn't have to and doesn't need to continue to get worse going forward.
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