“Ten gothic under the tongue every four hours and the miracle is done”said the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, when presenting days ago and amid the skepticism of the scientific community a drug that it claimed is “effective” against Covid-19.
Carvativir was the latest in a series of unusual remedies, without published medical studies, which the socialist ruler has endorsed during the coronavirus pandemic, which leaves more than two million deaths in the world.
“We have expressed our concernrepeatedly, at the announcement of therapies that have no scientific evidence published, ”the president of the Venezuelan Society of Infectology (SVI), María Graciela López, told AFP.
President Nicolás Maduro during a government act on Covid. (EFE)
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At the end of last year, Maduro spoke of “a molecule “that” nullified “the virus. And months before he recommended healing with a yuyos tea.
“It is important that researchers, research institutions, publish their findings using randomized clinical studies with a strict methodology. In the case of those drugs or molecules discussed by the Venezuelan authorities, we would make exactly the same recommendations, “said Sylvain Aldighieri, from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
That body asked avoid “politicizing vaccines and other measures” against covid-19, as this can “cost lives”.
The miraculous droplets promoted by President Nicolás Maduro. (AFP)
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Maduro has referred to Carvativir as “the miraculous droplets of Dr. José Gregorio Hernández”, an emblematic doctor who died in 1919 and venerated in Venezuela as a saint.
Selling it as “the powerful antiviral that neutralizes the coronavirus,” the president announced last Sunday thatmass production would start immediately.
The Chavista Ministry of Science and Technology says that the active principle of the medicine is isothymol, “present in essential oils” of plant species such as thyme and oregano.
In response, an alarmed National Academy of Medicine of Venezuela published “a preliminary note” in which it asks for “more data.”
He stressed that thyme derivatives could have “therapeutic potential”, but in the absence of published studies, this drug cannot be considered a “candidate for an anti-covid-19 drug”.
“Maybe it could have some benefit, but if you use the word ‘miraculous’, you produce immediate rejection in the scientific community,” said specialist López.
Although he asked for “respect” after the criticism, Maduro this week qualified his announcement, saying that Carvativir is “A complementary antiviral” in the treatment.
The controversial heir to Hugo Chávez, had already been surprising with other announcements. In October he celebrated the “discovery” of a molecule by “Venezuelan scientists”, baptized as DR10, who said that awould help develop drugs against Covid-19.
Its vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, said a few days later that the finding had been presented to the World Health Organization (WHO). Data never confirmed. By the way, as in the case of Carvativir, published studies that validate the announcement are unknown.
In another controversial recommendation, Maduro said the ozonotherapy, which consists of administering a mixture of oxygen and ozone to patients, “It is impressive in the recovery” of Covid-19. He did not stay there and on January 18 he inaugurated the National Ozone Center.
Qualifying ozone therapy as “pseudoscience” and “fraud,” the Infectious Society recalled that neither the US food and drug agency, the FDA, nor the European EMA, recognize this practice.
Shortly after the first cases of coronavirus in Venezuela were detected in March 2020, Maduro, who campaigned at the time saying that Chávez was visiting him reincarnated as a bird, rrecommended a lemon verbena tea, elderberry and honey, among other ingredients, as an “antidote”. Obedient, official agency accounts on social media spread the recipe as “a cure.”
Maduro said that the yuyos infusion was developed by a doctor named Sirio Quintero, although it was later known that this man had no medical studies.
The president also released papers in which Quintero called the coronavirus a “biological weapon”.
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube decided remove such content for its anti-misinformation policies around Covid-19.
Among Maduro’s “miracles”, Venezuela has not yet publicly defined a vaccination plan, although it did announce the acquisition of 10 million vaccines from Russia.
The country of 30 million inhabitants registers almost 125,000 cases and 1,200 deaths from the virus, according to official figures, which the opposition denounces as a mere make-up of reality.
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama have started their vaccination campaigns in Latin America.
Maduro had said that the mass vaccination would take place between December and January, but now, without giving details, he projects it for April while recommending yuyos and “gothic”.
Source: AFP
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