Conservatives and anti-vaxxers have come up with a host of reasons to avoid getting the coronavirus vaccine along with multiple sketchy home remedies. From horse paste to hormone therapy meant for transgender women, the nutty theories have proliferated almost as fast as the virus.
But Fox host Tucker Carlson may be leading the pack with his promotion of Viagra as a lifesaving “cure.”
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Carlson and Dr. Marc Siegel discussed a report out of the United Kingdom about a woman who was given “a massive dose of Viagra.” The two insisted that the woman was on a ventilator in a coma before doctors gave her boner meds, causing her to wake up and start breathing on her own.
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The anecdote has not been scientifically validated and no evidence exists that erection dysfunction medication has any effect on COVID infection. Quoted in a British tabloid, the woman said the recovery was a “Christmas miracle.”
“Who thought Viagra would save us from the pandemic?” Carlson asked during the show.
Siegal, who pushes coronavirus quackery and opposes vaccines, cited a “study” of one patient out of Chile that he said supported the tabloid story. Doctors “found that this patient studied did not go on the respirator who got Viagra. And they actually went out of the hospital sooner,” he told Carlson. He also pointed out that people can buy erectile dysfunction drugs online without visiting a doctor in person.
He said that the drug cures “lung problems” and “improves blood flow to the lungs.” Viagra is also used to treat high blood pressure in the lungs, but like any miracle cure, he said it treats a range of conditions including air sickness and heart disease.
“It makes something called nitric oxide,” he explained, which is important because COVID “decreases this molecule.”
“So, I think this is the beginning of something and further studies are going on, and I think this is a potential treatment,” he said.
Since one online company will sell you both boner pills and COVID home tests, the doctor had a serious issue to consider.
“I have one question,” Siegel said. “Tucker, which do you take first? The Viagra or do you do the home test? I don’t know.”
“Well as you said, if you take – I’m quoting you – ‘a massive dose of Viagra,’ you wake up, so I think it’s pretty obvious,” a bewildered Carlson answered.
Siegel replied, “I’m getting ready to try it out.”
“Report back,” Carlson responded.
Reporting on Carlson’s latest idiocy, CNN’s Jim Acosta quipped, “I suppose some people will justify those prescriptions with just about anything,” adding that Carlson’s show “really should come with a Surgeon General’s warning for disinformation.”
