Sen. Ron Johnson Chairs Forum on COVID Treatments and Failures in US Pandemic Response
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin chaired a panel discussion on Capitol Hill on Monday, with multiple doctors and medical experts participating, to review the United States’ COVID-19 policies and effective treatments.
One common theme that arose was the failure to promote early, effective treatment protocols.
Among the panelists were Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist from the Dallas area, and Dr. Robert Malone, who helped invent the mRNA technology used in both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Johnson opened Monday’s meeting, entitled “COVID-19: A Second Opinion,” by noting that the U.S. ranks 22nd in the world in terms of mortality caused by the coronavirus — at 2,575 deaths per million cases.
By way of comparison, Sweden is ranked 63rd, with 1,514 deaths per million.
Statista shows the U.S. ranked 18th in the world.
“Until COVID, a fundamental principle of medicine was early detection allowed for early treatment, which produced better results,” Johnson said.
“Two years into the pandemic, the compassionless guideline from the [National Institutes of Health], if you test positive is to essentially do nothing. Go home. Isolate yourself in fear, and pray you donβt require hospitalization,” he added.
The senator observed that a sound practice when faced with a serious medical challenge is to seek out a second or even third opinion, which was the purpose of Monday’s forum.
Johnson’s opening statement begins at around the 40 minute mark in the video below.
McCullough led out the panel discussion saying, βI think everyone in this room could understand there are only two bad outcomes with COVID-19: hospitalization and death.β
The physician is of the opinion that the vast majority of the over 860,000 deaths in the U.S. could have been prevented with early treatment.
McCullough put the number at 85 percent when he appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast in December.
βEarly multi-drug therapy as an outpatient works substantially, and weβve had a giant loss of life, a giant number, millions and millions of unnecessary hospitalizations,β he said at the time.
Dr. Ryan Cole, a pathologist from Idaho, recounted during Monday’s forum that his brother was one of the patients he treated.
The middle-aged man was in a higher risk group due to having diabetes and being obese.
His oxygen level had fallen to 86 percent, and he was planning to go to the emergency room.
βHe said, βI have excruciating pain in my lungs.β So I said, βYouβre going to the pharmacy. Donβt go to the ER,ββ Cole recalled telling him.
The doctor prescribed certain medications for him to get, and by the next day, the pain in his lungs had decreased significantly and his oxygen level was back to 98 percent.
Doctors talking about their success with early treatment for Covid.
Here’s Dr. Coleβs story regarding his brother. pic.twitter.com/H1sX2aui5iβ Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) January 24, 2022
“βGo home, let your lips turn blueβ is a false construct,” Cole said, contending that early treatment works.
Dr. Richard Urso — an ophthalmologist practicing in the Houston area with a background in virus research — explained he found himself drawn into treating COVID patients, simply because the need was there.
Urso pointed out that the coronavirus infection is marked by three conditions, which are treatable: respiratory distress, blood clotting and inflammation.
He initially prescribedΒ hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, vitamin D, aspirin and steroids.
“These are just strategies that donβt take a lot of thinking as a physician,” Urso said.
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“Iβve treated over 1,600 patients because patients were languishing at home with no treatment for inflammation, with no treatment for respiratory distress, with no treatment for blood clotting. It was absolutely absurd, and I wasnβt going to let it happen,” he added.
Dr. Mary Bowden — an ear, nose and throat specialist also practicing in Houston — told the panel that she has successfully treated over 2,000 patients following the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance protocols.
These involve the use of Ivermectin, povidone-iodine nasal spray, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins C and D, zinc, melatonin, curcumin (turmeric), the antibiotic azithromycin, fluvoxamine, the anti-viral Remdesivir, corticosteroids and monoclonal antibodies — among other treatments — depending on the severity and stage of the illness.
A historic day where leading experts in Covid gathered to express their concerns about the governmentβs mishandling of this health crisis. Honored to be included in the discussion. pic.twitter.com/oHZDuRWxVZ
β Mary Talley Bowden MD (@MdBreathe) January 24, 2022
MaloneΒ lamented that COVID policy has become far too politicized.
For example, he argued that mandating vaccines no longer makes sense in light of the predominance of the omicron variant, which the vaccines were not designed to counter.
“They don’t prevent infection, viral replication or spread to others,” Malone said.
In light of this fact, “if every man, woman, and child were vaccinated with these products, they cannot achieve herd immunity,β he added.
βFurthermore, [the vaccines] are not completely safe, and the full nature of the risks remain uncharacterized. It usually takes us many years to fully understand the risks of vaccines and certainly new vaccine technologies. If there is risk, there must be choice.”
