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Full-Text Articles in COVID-19
Pharmaceutical Messianism And The Politics Of Covid-19 In The United States, Gideon Lasco, Vincen Gregory Yu, Nishtha Bharti
Pharmaceutical Messianism And The Politics Of Covid-19 In The United States, Gideon Lasco, Vincen Gregory Yu, Nishtha Bharti
Development Studies Faculty Publications
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, public officials in the United States–from the President to governors, mayors, lawmakers, and even school district commissioners–touted unproven treatments for COVID-19 alongside, and sometimes as opposed to, mask and vaccine mandates. Utilising the framework of ‘pharmaceutical messianism’, our article focuses on three such cures–hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, and monoclonal antibodies–to explore how pharmaceuticals were mobilised within politicised pandemic discourses. Using the states of Utah, Texas, and Florida as illustrative examples, we make the case for paying attention to pharmaceutical messianism at the subnational and local levels, which can very well determine pandemic responses and outcomes in contexts such …