Month: August 2021

President Joe Biden pledged retaliation after a pair of explosions near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday killed 12 U.S. service members and dozens others. The Islamic State-Khorasan Province, a self-proclaimed offshoot of the IS which has denied affiliation with the Afghan-based militant group, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirmed the service members’ deaths, and said another 15 Americans were injured.  He added that Afghan civilians also “fell victim to this heinous attack.”

Biden spoke in the East Room of the White House hours after the attack at the Abbey Gate and a hotel near the airport where the United States and other countries are working to evacuate foreign nationals and Afghan civilians. The United States, Britain and Australia had warned citizens to stay away from the airport due to “credible threats” warning of an impending terrorist attack.

Biden said he has ordered commanders to develop operational plans to strike the IS-K’s assets leadership and facilities, adding that the United States has “some reason to believe” they know the leaders behind the attack and that the United States will find means to “get them wherever they are” without a large military operation.” Biden then warned: “To those who carried out this attack as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay.”

Biden also said he would grant any additional forces needed to respond to the attack and protect Americans seeking to evacuated, but that military officials remained committed to carrying out the mission as planned. Said the President: “We must complete this mission and we will. And that’s what I’ve ordered them to do. We will not be deterred by terrorists, we will not let them stop our mission, we will continue the evacuations.”

Editorial credit: Nick_ Raille_07 / Shutterstock.com

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent out an advisory on Thursday against the use of a drug prescribed to fight parasites in animals, which some believe can also treat those diagnosed with COVID-19. The CDC said it is seeing an alarming number of prescriptions for the drug ivermectin, due to false claims that it can be used to treat COVID-19. Ivermectin is primarily used by veterinarians to deworm large animals like horses and cows, and can be used for lice or parasites in humans. The US Food and Drug Administration had previously cautioned against using ivermectin to treat Covid-19, tweeting over the weekend: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”

Doctors investigated the possibility of using the anti-parasitic drug to fight COVID, but clinical trials yielded insufficient evidence. The use of Ivermectin is now prompting a huge increase in calls to poison control centers and visits to understaffed emergency rooms and overdoses of the drug can cause stomach problems, nerve damage, seizures, disorientation, coma and even death.

The CDC advisory reiterated that vaccination rather than treatment “is the safest and most effective way to prevent getting sick and protect against severe disease and death” from Covid-19.