Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance

In January 2021, the FLCCC presented findings on the use of the anti-parasite drug ivermectin against COVID-19 to the National Institutes of Health, which ruled there was "insufficient data to recommend either for or against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19" without clinical trials.[4] A 2021 review article by FLCCC members on the efficacy of ivermectin, which was provisionally accepted by Frontiers in Pharmacology, was subsequently rejected on account of what the publisher called "a series of strong, unsupported claims based on studies with insufficient statistical significance" meaning that the article did "not offer an objective [or] balanced scientific contribution to the evaluation of ivermectin as a potential treatment for COVID-19".[14] The FLCCC review article included a study from Egypt that was later retracted after anomalies were found in its data and concerns were raised about plagiarism.[15]

In 2021 the FLCCC said "vaccination is part of the solution", but COVID-19 vaccines were not listed in its preventative protocols, and in June 2022 a FAQ on the website, "What is your position on vaccines?", was removed.[16][17] In August 2021 one doctor, Eric Osgood, resigned from the FLCCC because the group "may be contributing to people making the choice not to get vaccinated". Osgood commented: "If you're going to have a page that's dedicated to 'How do you prevent yourself from getting COVID?' that page can't not have vaccines at the top of it?"[3]

Susanna Priest, editor-in-chief of Science Communication, has said the FLCCC's messaging is discouraging vaccination, thereby prolonging the pandemic.[3]

Both co-founders of the group would later join conservative or right-wing groups promoting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.[18][19][20]

In 2021, Fred Wagshul, a member of the FLCCC, prescribed ivermectin for a patient in a hospital in Ohio where he did not have admitting privileges.[21][22] The patient's wife secured a temporary injunction from a judge of the Butler County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas ordering the man's doctors to administer ivermectin; a different judge of the same court overrode the order, determining that the plaintiff had failed to meet the requirements for a temporary injunction and writing, "there can be no doubt that the medical and scientific communities do not support the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19".[22][23]

In November 2022, Pierre Kory and the FLCCC began marketing a cocktail of supplements and drugs (e.g. ivermectin and nitazoxanide) for other viruses, influenza and Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Like the FLCCC-advocated COVID treatments, the recommendations lacked credible supporting scientific evidence. The Washington Post estimated that this cocktail could cost over $500.[24]