September 19, 2021

Ivermectin dominates the day’s coverage. The Washington Post runs a story on horse owners struggling to find the drug as Americans seek it out, and NPR frames the anti-parasitic as the new totem of the “anti-vaccine movement,” arguing the interest has more to do with politics than science. Both pieces lean on the “horse dewormer” label while acknowledging, in passing, that ivermectin is a human medicine with a Nobel-winning history and that trials in humans are ongoing.

The New York Times reports on patients who refused the vaccines but eagerly sought monoclonal antibody treatment from Regeneron, a contrast the paper treats as hypocrisy rather than as people weighing a therapy after infection against a shot beforehand. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, says a vaccine for young children should be available in the fall, with Pfizer likely cleared before Moderna.

CNN publishes a fact-check on whether Biden’s vaccine mandates are “unlawful,” a question states are already preparing to test in court, and airs a documentary on the search for the virus’s origins as world leaders gather at the United Nations with the pandemic on the agenda.