The mainstream media is on full hype mode with Merck’s recently developed pill to treat COVID-19. It is great news for sure, but the truth is that several natural compounds produce better results.
Yes, Merck’s antiviral drug molnupiravir can prevent death and reduce hospitalization from COVID-19, but it provides zero benefit in hospitalized or more severe cases.
And it really does not seem to stack up to things that I have recommended like vitamin D3 and quercetin.
What I want to do here is make a very quick comparison to illustrate despite the media hype, the natural approach produces better outcomes.
First, let’s take a look at the results with molnupiravir.
The primary Merck study included 775 people who had had mild to moderate COVID for less than five days.
• Molnupiravir reduced death by 100% as 8 people in the placebo group died while no one on molnupiravir died.
• Hospitalization was reduced by 48% as 7.3% of people on molnupiravir had to be hospitalized versus 14.1% of people on the placebo
• Molnupiravir produces ZERO benefits in patients already hospitalized with COVID. So, it does not produce any benefit in patients with more severe disease.
What these results show me is that molnupiravir is like a fire extinguisher under your sink. It is great at putting out the small fire because of a quick response, but it is no match for a larger fire. Speed of delivering it early on in the infection probably is critical to any benefit.
For comparison, let’s take a look first at vitamin D3. First, as you probably remember, I wrote an article on my website on How 90% of COVID Deaths Could Have Been Prevented by making sure vitamin D3 status was sufficient for optimal protection.
One study found when people are hospitalized with COVID have blood levels of 25-OH-D3 were below 25 ng/ml, which indicates a vitamin D3 deficiency, 85% of these patients died. When blood levels were above 34ng/ml, no patient died. And this blood level is not even ideal, the target is 50-80 ng/ml.
There was also a study in hospitalized COVID patients where standard therapy alone was compared to those also treated with 25-OH-D3. While 8% of the group receiving standard medical care died, no one in the D3 group did. And while 50% of the control group had to be admitted to ICU, only 2% of the vitamin D group did. Like molnupiravir, 25-OH-D3 treatment completely prevented death. It reduced admission to ICU by 25 times. And it was effective in patients already admitted to hospital with severe disease. Remember that molnupiravir has no benefit in severe disease.
Another thing to consider is that molnupiravir was compared to a control group that only received a placebo while 25-OH-D3 was being compared to the best therapy the hospital had to offer.
Quercetin is something else that I have highlighted as a treatment for COVID based on not only detailed studies showing an antiviral effect, but also clinical results from two trials.
These two published human clinical studies with an enhanced form of quercetin for improved absorption both produced better results than molnupiravir.
Quercetin cut hospitalization by 68%. And when patients did have to be hospitalized, the average stay was 6.77 days in the standard care group but only 1.57 days in the quercetin group. Quercetin not only reduced mortality by 100%, but also had a 100% success rate in preventing patients from entering the ICU.
Although it may be argued that it is difficult to compare studies of different populations and methods, it is clear that these natural supplements have demonstrated an ability equal to molnupiravir for reducing death and superior to molnupiravir for reducing hospitalization and for treating people who are already hospitalized with severe disease.
Yet, none of these safe and effective measures or positive studies received any attention in the media. It is a sad commentary to make as it is possible that nearly countless lives may have been saved if these measures would have been promoted as enthusiastically as some of the pharmaceutical treatments such as molnupiravir.
Furthermore, instead of the U.S. Government signing a $1.2 billion contract with Merck to supply 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir at $712 per course, a better outcome and least costly approach may have been produced by making sure every American had a blood level of 25-OH-vitamin D3 above 34ng/ml.
Here is the bottom line. The U.S. government and the medical establishment missed a great opportunity with COVID. When the pandemic first hit, the focus and messaging should have been:
“Americans and people of the world, this virus is a killer if you have a weak immune response. If you are over 85 or have an unmodifiable risk factor associated with low immune function, you need to practice social distancing and wear a medical-grade mask.
Regardless, everyone needs to improve their health, lose weight if needed, and do everything they can to improve their immune system including taking key supplements like vitamin C, D3, zinc, and selenium.”
Instead, we were told at the very beginning at the first press conference by Fauci, et al. that there was nothing that can be done to improve immune function and we just would have to wait for a vaccine….
Thanks for listening, please take action.
