Photo via @inminivanhell/Twitter, americasfrontlinedoctors.org
September 29, 2021, 10:18 am
A report by The Intercept based on data they received from hackers reportedly shows that a network of right-wing doctors and other healthcare workers are making millions off of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, fueled by their pushing of false anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories. They’re also making quite the killing from “online consultations” with these doctors, who will (for $90 a pop) provide prescriptions for these medications to people who found that normal doctors just tell them to get vaccinated and that livestock dewormer will not help them if they already have COVID-19.
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This grift is brought to you by America’s Frontline Doctors, an explicitly right-wing organization that came into existence in 2020 to “promote pro-Trump doctors during the coronavirus pandemic.” They work with CadenceHealth.us, a telemedicine platform, and Ravkoo, a drug shipping company, to prescribe and delivery their snake oil after spreading misinformation into anti-vaxxer and pro-Trump conspiracy groups.
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So far, America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) has raked in at least $15 million off of this scheme, and that’s just based off of the data lifted from their two partner companies, which the hacker told The Intercept was “hilariously easy” to accomplish. Meanwhile, many of the duped “patients” who paid the $90 fee for the consultation say they never got the promised consultation, though that may be for the best considering what’s happening to many people trying to take ivermectin for COVID.
“My mom has now been admitted to the hospital with Covid,” wrote one Telegram user. “AFLDS has not returned a call or message to her and they’ve taken over $500 out of her account!”
AFLDS was originally exposed as a grift by a TIME report published back in May, but this new data shows just how much money the operation has been able to make, somehow without getting shut down yet, while filling up the nation’s hospitals with unvaccinated COVID patients and ivermectin overdose cases. According to The Intercept, chances are high that they have made much more than that $15 million, which might explain how a $90 consultation fee somehow turned into $500 for that Telegram user’s mom.
To the credit of Cadence Health, the company shut down their website almost immediately after receiving a call from Intercept reporters revealing the scam. Their home page now displays a countdown clock until their presumably AFLDS-free re-launch. Ravkoo CEO Alpesh Patel, meanwhile, claims that the company stopped doing business with AFLDS in late August, suggesting data from early September showing ongoing business was just for some leftover refills, because they were overwhelmed with the sheer volume of orders
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The face behind this operation is Simone Gold, who some may remember as the woman who was fired from her job as an ER doctor for promoting hydroxychloroquine and later arrested for participating in the January 6 assault on the Capitol. Gold could be seen with her friend and AFLDS communications director John Strand in a crowd of people who were actively trying to push past Capitol police and enter the building, according to the criminal complain against her. She was also caught on video preaching to the mob with a bullhorn and giving a speech at the rally preceding the riot.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the whole scheme is the AFLDS doctors themselves, with the organization exposing just how many healthcare professionals really should not be allowed to work in healthcare. They include Stella Immanuel, who famously claimed that the chronic reproductive illness endometriosis is caused by having sex with demons in your dreams.
Gold, meanwhile, touts anti-vaxxers with huge platforms like Joe Rogan, who has even called himself an idiot for spreading misinformation without listening to actual health experts.
*First Published: September 29, 2021, 10:18 am
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