Opinion
Featured Image
 Shutterstock

March 30, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — During the first year of the COVID pandemic the government has persistently blocked wide use of cheap, proven, and effective protocols for early home treatment and prevention. Details of how and why the government has done this and, instead, chosen to back expensive medicines and vaccines are in my new book Pandemic Blunder. Here I give details on two new solutions that merit strong attention by Americans, the public health system and federal agencies.

First is a medical study that found baby low dose aspirin use is associated with reduced risk of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and in-hospital mortality for COVID-diagnosed patients. It was an observational study involving a number of U.S. hospitals. “Three hundred fourteen patients (76.3%) did not receive aspirin, while 98 patients (23.7%) received aspirin within 24 hours of admission or 7 days before admission.”

Millions of people safely take baby aspirin, usually because their doctor recommends it, because as the study noted: “Low dose aspirin has been utilized for prevention of stroke and myocardial infarction in high-risk patients, and the US preventive services task force recommends its use in adults with elevated cardiovascular risk. Aspirin reduces cardiovascular events.”On the safety issue of bleeding, this study noted “we did not find a significant increase in major bleeding in patients who received aspirin.”

Importantly, the study noted: “The proportion of patients in each group receiving other therapeutics, including azithromycin, convalescent plasma, dexamethasone, therapeutic heparin, hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, and tocilizumab, did not differ.” Aspirin works because it helps stop blood clotting in the lungs and is an anti-inflammatory agent.

Also noted, of public health significance, is that “Aspirin is inexpensive, widely available, and has a well-described risk profile. These attributes, in conjunction with our pilot data, support aspirin’s role as a potential adjunctive therapeutic in COVID-19.” Frontline doctors, in other words, should consider prescribing aspirin in addition to generics such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, supplements, mainly zinc and quercetin, and vitamins D and C.

A study in Israel also examined the effects of using low-dose aspirin. It “found that people who’d already been taking low-dose aspirin to reduce their risk of heart disease had a 29% lower risk of contracting COVID-19 compared to those who didn’t take aspirin, and that rates of aspirin use were much lower among COVID-19 patients than among those who didn’t get infected. Among people who did get COVID-19, the time it took for COVID test results to go from positive to negative was significantly shorter among those who used aspirin, and the duration of their disease was two [to] three days shorter, depending upon preexisting health conditions.”

Odds are that you have heard little or nothing about these positive results for low dose aspirin use in the fight against COVID infection. Why? Aspirin is very cheap. For those taking one of the home use protocols for preventing COVID infection detailed in Pandemic Blunder, the question of adding aspirin is worth discussing with their doctor. This is especially important for those resisting taking a COVID vaccine.

Other news from Israel may be even more important. Both Israel and New Zealand have approved the use of a nitric oxide nasal spray that helps prevent COVID infection and transmission. It will be sold over the counter. The product protects users from viruses that enter the body through the upper nasal passages. The Canadian company SaNOtize, which created the spray, said that it kills viruses in the upper airways, preventing them from incubating and spreading to the lungs.

U.K. clinical trials showed that the spray was an effective antiviral treatment that could prevent the transmission of COVID-19, shorten its course, and reduce the severity of symptoms and damage in those already infected. Researchers said that the spray is “a safe and effective antiviral treatment that could prevent the transmission of COVID-19, shorten its course, and reduce the severity of symptoms and damage in those already infected. The UK study used a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial that included 79 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Most of the patients were infected with the UK variant that has been dominant in the country for several months. The nasal spray reduced the viral load by 95% in the first 24 hours and 99% within 72 hours.”

The study found that the spray accelerated the clearance of the virus by a factor of 16-fold compared with a placebo. Thus, the company claimed that by reducing the viral load, the spray proved that it could also reduce infectivity.

The U.K. researchers said there were no adverse effects in 7,000 self-administered treatments given in earlier Canadian clinical trials. SaNOtize will seek emergency use authorization in the U.K. and Canada based on the findings. The company says the drug is easy to manufacture and store, and could soon be “widely available at low-cost for long-term care facilities, healthcare and frontline workers, and the general population.”

Early tests at Utah State University’s Antiviral Research Institute showed that the nasal solution inactivated more than 99.9 percent of the COVID-19 virus.

Dr. Regev, one of the founders of the company, said the spray could have prevented much of the world’s COVID-19 infection, and could now help save lives in countries where access to the coronavirus vaccines is limited.

“We are hoping that our nasal spray will now save many lives of people in countries that are waiting for the vaccine,” said Dr. Regev. “This will be affordable and can be used for prevention, to protect from any respiratory viral infection.”

“As to nitric oxide, the pharmacology, toxicity, and safety data for use in humans has been well-established for decades,” said Dr. Chris Miller, Chief Science Officer and co-founder of SaNOtize.

The only mystery now is whether the U.S. government will stop focusing on expensive medicines for hospitalized patients and experimental vaccines that many people have qualms about taking, and instead start giving priority for new COVID approaches like wider use of aspirin and eliminating regulatory barriers to the rapid commercialization of the nitric oxide nasal spray.

Dr. Joel S. Hirschhorn, as a full professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, directed a medical research program between the colleges of engineering and medicine. At the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Governors Association, he directed major health-related studies. He has testified at over 50 U.S. Senate and House hearings and authored hundreds of articles in journals and on websites, plus op-ed articles in major newspapers. He has been an executive volunteer at a major hospital for more than 10 years. His newest book is PandemicBlunder.