TikTok's Ivermectin-Touting @DoctorCovidTwentyOne Is a South Florida Gynecologist

In a viral TikTok video posted Saturday, Dr. Tara Solomon stands in the shade of a tree, holding forth about ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug typically used to treat livestock. Except she's telling her more than 50,000 followers to use the controversial medicine as a COVID-19 treatment despite the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved it for that purpose.

"Welcome to Broward County," Solomon says. Having dispensed with that formality, she gets down to brass tacks.

"Ivermectin, as you know, is a protease inhibitor and is known in India and South America to reduce the viral load severely of any kind of COVID," Solomon says in the 57-second clip, which has netted 600,000 views and counting. "I don't think there's any other medication on the market that can do that right now, including hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, and monoclonal antibodies."

As birds chirp in the background, the blond-haired woman, sporting pink lipstick, sparkly pink eyeshadow, and winged liner, goes on to say that she's having trouble refilling prescriptions of ivermectin for her South Florida patients. She advises people to search for pharmacies and doctors near them that will prescribe the medicine to them.

According to the Florida Department of Health, Solomon is a licensed medical doctor specializing in gynecology. According to her website, Solomon graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and completed her residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center She now runs the Women's Wellness Center, a practice located in Coconut Creek, where she specializes in obstetrics, gynecology, and infertility.

She's also the author of a book, What Your Gynecologist Never Told You…And Your Mother Didn’t Know: Everything You Need To Know Before Your Next Gynecologic Visit.

But on TikTok, she calls herself @DoctorCovidTwentyOne and bills herself as a "certified covid teledoctor." Every day, she shares videos about the medicine with her TikTok followers. As her video — which states false and potentially dangerous information in contradiction to the FDA — continues to gain traction, she accumulates more followers. More than 5,000 accounts have begun following her today alone. Her videos have garnered a total of 122,000 likes. She claims to have successfully treated 270 patients for COVID-19 using ivermectin and steroids.

Solomon is one of several Florida physicians who have recently promoted the unproven drug as a potential COVID-19 treatment. (She has no relation to the Miami-based Tara Solomon, founder of the public relations firm TARA, Ink.)

"Why are OBs [obstetrician] treating COVID with anti-parasitics? Yikes. Very embarrassing," one commenter wrote on her TikTok clip.

"Wow, this is beyond irresponsible," another commented.

A third wrote, "Who is calling a gynecological office to be diagnosed with COVID?"

Solomon declined New Times'  request to discuss her take on ivermectin, responding via email, "Not now, saving lives is too important."

TikTok didn't immediately respond to a New Times email asking whether Solomon's videos violate the platform's guidelines. Under the heading "Integrity and Authenticity" (subheading "Misinformation"), the site prohibits "Medical misinformation that can cause harm to an individual's physical health." And under "Suicide, self-harm, and dangerous acts," TikTok outlaws "Content that depicts or promotes ingesting substances that are not meant for consumption or could lead to severe harm."

Solomon boasts about the benefits of ivermectin on her other social media platforms, too.

On Facebook, she regularly posts about the benefits of ivermectin, sharing her patients' purported success stories. Her posts are often flooded with comments from current and potential patients inquiring about the drug.

"One of the added benefits of the 'I' med is that it eliminates parasites from the digestive tract," she wrote in one post. "This may lead to abdominal discomfort and cramping, but it's a good cleanse."

In another Facebook post, she told people who are "following the Mask Protocol" to not double their dose of ivermectin because it would cause too much "dizziness, nausea, and vomiting."
Ivermectin has garnered national headlines in recent days, as people in the U.S have turned to the controversial drug as a way to treat COVID-19. Florida Poison Control recently reported a surge in calls about the drug, with most callers reporting that they'd used a version of the medicine made for animals.

"You are not a horse. You are not a cow," the FDA recently tweeted. "Seriously, y'all. Stop it."

In other news, the FDA fully approved the Pfizer vaccine for people 16 and older last week.