2023-12-07 23:15:00
Misinformation Surrounding AZT and Anthony Fauci Circulating on Social Media
There are videos and false information circulating on social media in the United States. The first video clip claims that Anthony Fauci, former director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), once endorsed the drug zidovudine (AZT) to treat AIDS patients. From being infected with the HIV virus in the 1980’s, it was found that the drug AZT caused AIDS patients to have more side effects leading to death than AIDS patients who did not use the drug. It’s no different from now that Anthony Fauci is recommending that people get vaccinated against COVID-19. But it turns out that vaccine deaths are higher than patients dying from COVID-19.
A 1989 interview with former American molecular biologist Harvey Bialey in Spin magazine confirmed that zidovudine increased the risk of death among patients.
However, an investigation by Fact Checker abroad did not find either claim to be true at all. The first video to attack Anthony Fauci comes from the controversial documentary Plandemic 3: The Great Awakening, a trilogy of documentaries that spread misinformation about vaccines and the spread of COVID-19. As for the second message, which refers to the opinion of the late American molecular biologist Harvey Bialey, it lacks credibility because Harvey Bialey was a scientist who supported the idea of AIDS Denialism, who did not believe that the virus HIV is the cause of AIDS. Currently, such beliefs are classified as fake science or Pseudoscience Harvey Bialey’s claims also lack evidence and contradict medical facts.
Zidovudine, or AZT, is considered the first antiretroviral drug used to treat patients infected with the HIV virus. AZT was originally developed to treat cancer patients in the 1960s, but research was halted after no benefit was found in cancer patients. Until the drug AZT was returned to research for use in treating people infected with the HIV virus for the first time in 1984.
The FDA’s approval was based on a 1986 trial by Burroughs Wellcome, the company that makes AZT, that involved 300 AIDS patients, half of whom were treated with AZT for six months and the other half. The placebo was a sugar pellet. But the trial ended after just 16 weeks after only one person in the AZT group died. As for the placebo group, 19 people died.
However, after the release of AZT, the drug was attacked on several grounds. The drug testing process is lacking in tightness. When some subjects admitted that they could clearly tell the taste of whether they were given AZT or a sugar pellet used as a placebo. In addition, many AIDS patients taking AZT experience a number of side effects.
A 1989 study found resistance in patients taking the drug for more than 6 months, which led to the realization that treating HIV-infected patients with only one type of medicine is not effective. This led to research in 1996 that found that using three or more types of antiretroviral drugs or Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) helped to better stop the virus from replicating and reduce the chance of drug resistance of the virus further.
In conclusion, the claims made in the videos and false information circulating on social media are unsubstantiated. It is important for the public to rely on credible sources and fact-checking organizations to verify information before believing and sharing it.]
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