Early laboratory research indicated that ivermectin could kill the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but this was later found to require, in many cases, toxic doses far exceeding those approved for humans. Antivaxxers latched onto this and ran with it, spreading the misinformation far and wide.

Well, there was evidence that it helped and then mainstream pharmaceutical buried the evidence and killed all the scientists. Cause it'd affect their bottom line. And then you've got the secret kabal controlling everything that wants us hooked on their drugs for mind control. The anti-christ is alive, right now, and his name is healthcare /s

The real reason is probably that it was a dewormer that helped some very sick people feel better when they had covid, and then conspiracies about it took off when scientists said "yeah, that's probably not helpful for covid". Science is a messy process, but because of the authoritative way it's taught, people have trouble connecting the process of finding answers in real time with the firmness of the results. That, plus grifters pumping people full of fear and anxiety so they keep coming back for the next hit. It's not pushing ivermectin because they have stake in it. It's pushing ivermectin because it fits a pre-established narrative and thinking is, like, real tough, y'all. You gotta, like, put effort into that. Which is dumb. I've got this one drum, I'mma bang it all day.

Much like every culture war issue the right grabs onto: there's no logical basis for it. It became an in-group thing to signal to others that you're "one of the good ones". Sane people pointed out how bad it was which only made ivermectin more entrenched as THE healthy thing like crystals, red light therapy, essential oils, basically anything not backed up by a healthcare expert.

I think its just people that can't tell memes from facts.

Having worms is common in poorer parts of the world and deworming humans is quite common. I imagine it's made its way through immigrant communities and then white people latched on.

Something else white people stole 🤣