An Unscientific War on COVID-19?

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, an Indian-American scientist and engineer, and Fulbright Scholar, has serious objections to the current strategy of the Trump administration to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a Fulbright scholar and entrepreneur who holds four degrees from MIT, including a Ph.D. in biological engineering.   Dr. Ayyadurai was recently interviewed on the pandemic.

According to Dr. Ayyadurai, the strategy of President Trump and his Coronavirus Task Force to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is wrong-headed at its very root.  My purpose here is to urge you to listen to an interview with Dr. Ayyadurai given on April 10 which has already drawn nearly 5 million viewers.  I am aware that Dr. Ayyadurai is a very brilliant but controversial figure.  His strongly held viewpoints have made him a threat to many in the medical and pharmaceutical fields.  But many controversial figures throughout history have turned the tides of error and saved lives—think of John and Baptist, Jesus Christ, or Martin Luther King.

Ignoring Our Immune System
Dr. Ayyadurai claims that the Coronavirus Task Force is ignoring the valuable function of the human immune system.  Historically, the chiropractic approach to medicine has been to view the human body as an integrated system that has been designed to promote health and wellness in mind, body, and spirit.  Thus, the chiropractic strategy is to work with the body.  The focus is upon getting proper nutrition, physical exertion, and rest while practicing habits that foster good mental, emotional, and spiritual health.  Disease is viewed as the result of imbalance or disruption within the properly functioning bodily systems.

The strategy of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, and others advising President Trump is in sharp contrast to a holistic, chiropractic approach.  According to Dr. Ayyadurai, these experts are either underestimating or are purposefully silent about the valuable role of the human immune system in protecting us from viral infection.  Dr. Ayyadurai alleges that the president is being influenced by a philosophy that is aligned with Big Pharma, the pharmaceutical industry which harvests hundreds of billions of dollars from its drugs, vaccines, and other medical supplies.  We should also note that President Trump has already taken steps to lower pharmaceutical drug costs.

Any strategy that promotes wellness through support of our immune systems will be at the expense of pharmaceutical drugs?  Even access to lower cost drugs can affect profits when they compete with newer, more expensive drugs.  A case in point:  Dr. Ayyadurai believes that Big Pharma is behind the opposition to doctors prescribing hydroxychloroquine.  This anti-malaria drug has shown promise against COVID-19 in preliminary trials.   And, you may have guessed it.  Hydroxychloroquine is an inexpensive and long-used drug compared to expensive, new drugs and vaccines that can turn a larger profit for Big Pharma.

Absent or Misleading Data
I have already explained in “Pandemic—or Policy without “Good Science?” that we lack data on the number of people who have already developed COVID-19 immunity through production of antibodies as a result of prior exposure.  In addition, according to Dr. Ayyadurai, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has advised hospital administrators to instruct doctors to “code” under COVID-19 all patients with respiratory-related symptoms in addition to those who test positive for the virus.  In this way, even deaths that are caused by other causes are attributed to COVID-19, thus inflating the death rates.

We should be asking with Dr. Ayyadurai and the tens of thousands others who are questioning current polity, when will we actually have accurate mortality due specifically to the COVID-19, and what is the “denominator,” the percentage of us who have already been exposed and have immunity.  Meanwhile, hospital administrators get money as well as help to obtain ventilators by logging a larger number of cases as COVID-19-- and, getting the benefit of more financial help to obtain ventilators.  [Dr. Ayyadurai also explains in the interview that ventilators are doing more harm than good.]

Underestimating the Damage of Social Isolation
Dr. Ayyadurai wrote a letter to President Trump on March 23 in which he explained that “we live in an era of personalized medicine.” He calls the current lockdown a one-size-fits-all approach that follows the “medieval model of medicine.”  Instead, Dr. Ayyadurai recommends that we isolate those who are infected or who are immunocompromised and treat them with immune-boosting Vitamins, A, D, and C.  

Emotional stress from social isolation, according to landmark studies he cites, leads to “upregulation of inflammatory compounds in the body and downregulation of anti-viral compounds.”  Social isolation and the associated lessoned exposure to the sun and great outdoors can cause vitamin D deficiency and, among other results, a weakened anti-microbial status in the body.

Dr. Ayyadurai recommends that we go back to work while isolating those who are infected or at-risk; and, focusing on boosting the immune system for everyone with Vitamin A, C, and D through proper diet of dark green vegetables and fruits.  He notes that “the ‘V’ in vitamin is anathema to the ‘V’ in vaccine, and to the ‘V’ in ventilators.

What Do You Think?
Conspiracy theory?  Could be.  But I for one don’t want to write off important voices during a “war” in which there are so many unanswered questions.  Please listen to the Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai interview and comment.  You may even want to write to your president, VP, and governor.