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Senator Ron Jonson participates in a Senate hearing.

Ron Johnson Wednesday, Aug 25 2021

Johnson’s Anti-Anti-COVID Rhetoric Is Effectively Pro-Pandemic

Aug 25, 2021

Wisconsinites want to get back to normal. Johnson is putting people at risk.

Rather than encourage Wisconsinites and Americans to get one of the various safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, Ron Johnson, “who contracted Covid, but still hasn’t gotten vaccinated, continues to push misinformation that is literally making people sick.”

On top of leading the charge against the American Rescue Plan COVID-19 relief bill — which included relief checks, the expanded child tax credit, and funding for vaccines, schools, and businesses — Johnson has engaged in months of persistent anti-anti-COVID rhetoric — echoed in multiple interviews each week. The latest example: Yesterday on the “Bold and Blunt” podcastJohnson continued to advocate the use of ivermectin, despite an FDA warning and multiple state poison control centers issuing advisories against the drug’s use to treat COVID-19.  

Defiantly insisting, “I don’t care what drug will work. Try a bunch of them,” Johnson also baselessly accused the FDA of “attacking me” — all because the FDA said that humans shouldn’t take medication that’s been formulated for animal use.

LISTEN:

Read the latest coverage on Ron Johnson pushing dangerous, false “treatments” that have people around the country calling poison control:

WIZM: Unless you are a horse don’t take ivermectin

  • “It should not have to be said. You are not a horse, you are not a cow. That is the message from the Food and Drug Administration to those considering taking the drug ivermectin.”
  • “Yet Johnson, who contracted Covid, but still hasn’t gotten vaccinated, continues to push misinformation that is literally making people sick.”

Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin: Doctors warn against livestock drug as COVID-19 treatment

  • “MILWAUKEE— The FDA this week again warned Americans not to take ivermectin— a drug primarily used as a livestock dewormer— after various cable news guests and politicians, including Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, have continued to advocate for its possible use as a COVID-19 treatment for months.”


KXAN-TV: Texas Poison Control says calls about ivermectin livestock dewormer on the rise, medication not

  • “Several notable conservative personalities have promoted the medication, including Fox News host Laura Ingraham and Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ‘You are not a horse. You are not a cow’: FDA issues blunt warning on taking ivermectin, drug promoted by Ron Johnson to treat COVID-19

  • “For months, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has been talking up the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin as part of a cocktail of repurposed drugs for early treatment of COVID-19.”
  • “On Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration issued a blunt warning for people not to use ivermectin to treat COVID-19.”

Urban Milwaukee: Johnson Opposes Ventilators, Pushes Horse Medicine

  • “Wisconsin’s Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson has come out with yet another statement opposing recommended medical treatments for COVID-19.”
  • “On Friday Johnson also issued a tweet backing the use of ivermectin to fight COVID-19.”

STAT: Ivermectin for Covid-19: abundance of hype, dearth of evidence

  • “Yet ivermectin boosters and merchants have convinced many to use this therapy for Covid-19 […] In June, YouTube suspended the account of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, for a week for spreading misinformation about ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.”

Vice: Anti-Vaxxers Move the Goalposts After FDA Approves COVID Vaccine

  • “[R]ight on cue, anti-vaxxer social media influencers and Republican politicians are finding new reasons to oppose the vaccine.”
  • “Even before the FDA gave full approval, Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who has for months criticized the outreach campaign to get people vaccinated, argued that the approval process was rushed due to politics.”

Published: Aug 25, 2021

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