In a controversial position, the former Minister of Public Health of the Dominican Republic and former president of Dominican Medical College, questions whether it’s the right and prudent move to base the Caribbean island nation’s entire COVID-19 strategy on vaccines. Rather, in this country known for its use of the anti-parasite drug ivermectin, Dr. Erasmo Vásquez suggests that it’s not certain if vaccines will even work against the mutating SARS-CoV-2 virus. In a locally-televised interview the prominent doctor in this Caribbean island nation argues that a national plan to combat and overcome the virus is certainly needed and that perhaps an enforced regimen of social distancing, hygiene, confinement as needed, and prophylaxis with ivermectin has in fact lowered the death rates there. But the good intentions of this prominent doctor come into question once he carelessly tosses out inaccurate numbers as to vaccine safety and the nation’s overall performance when it comes to COVID-19 case and death rates.
Ivermectin Use During the Pandemic in the Dominican Republic
Dr. Vásquez informed the viewers that a great number of physicians and health care professionals here in the DR were treating COVID-19 with ivermectin as prophylaxis or as early-onset therapy. Back in June, during the height of the pandemic’s first wave, TrialSite interviewed Dr. José Natalio Redondo, president of Grupo Rescue, the leading national private health network in the DR. They operate three hospitals as well as affiliated referral hospitals, urgent-care facilities, and in-home services. Dr. Natalio shared that he had treated 1,300 early-state COVID-19 patients, observing dramatic results. By September 2020, the health provider had treated approximately 6,000 patients with great success according to press accounts.
