Guo Wengui pushes unproven drug ivermectin to treat Covid

Guo Wengui, a wealthy businessman who fled China in 2014 and is linked to several high-profile far-right personalities in America, has been using his online network to promote unproven drugs to treat Covid-19 while spreading misinformation about the vaccines used to combat the disease.

As recently as a Sept. 5 livestream, Guo used his show on the online platform GTV to push ivermectin, which is used to treat parasitic infections, and malaria drug artemisinin as ways to battle the novel coronavirus.

Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the World Health Organization have approved either drug for treating Covid. The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have in fact warned against using ivermectin to treat and prevent Covid infections.

Guo declared in a recent social media that parents should not get their kids vaccinated and compared such a move to murder. “Please do not take your children to get vaccinated anymore. It is not about getting a shot that simple but equivalent to murder,” Guo said in a translated September Gettr post. “Those who were vaccinated might face an unpredicted severe consequence.”

The CDC recommends that people ages 12 and up to get a Covid vaccine, which has been shown to be highly effective in cutting the chances of hospitalization and reducing the spread of the disease. Authorities are expected to approve the use of the vaccine for younger children later this year.

GTV, which routinely features Guo himself, has been described by researchers at Graphika as part of the businessman’s larger media empire and misinformation network.

Guo is among a group of mainly conservative voices who are pushing ivermectin and other unauthorized Covid treatments as President Joe Biden’s administration and state governments struggle to convince more Americans to get vaccinated. Sixty-two percent of people 12 and up are fully vaccinated in the U.S., according to CDC data.

NBC News reported that a pro-Trump telemedicine website and right-leaning organizations have been some of the biggest purveyors of false information regarding unproven coronavirus treatments.

Guo has been close to former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon for years. A foundation linked to Guo recently hosted an event that featured remarks Bannon and others tied to former President Donald Trump, including lawyer and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former national security advisor Michael Flynn and MyPillow CEO and conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell.

Guo fled China in 2014 in anticipation of corruption charges. After Guo criticized China’s leaders, warrants were reportedly issued for his arrest on charges that included corruption and bribery. Guo has denied the charges. He has since been sued by investors in GTV. His attorneys have called the plaintiffs’ accusations “unfounded.”

“Remember, artemisinin, ivermectin, dexamethasone, oxytetracycline, hydroxychloroquine, and zinc are the necessary medicines to fight the CCP virus. These few…