WATCH: Maddow destroys Fox News for making Mississippi’s hospital crisis even worse

On Friday, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow laid into Fox News for hyping up Ivermectin, a chemical used to deworm livestock, as an unproven drug for COVID-19, which has caused people in Mississippi to poison themselves with livestock formulations and worsen the state's hospital crisis.

"In that state that, frankly, has enough to deal with, they are now facing a new challenge related to COVID," said Maddow. "The Mississippi State Department of Health confirming today that, quote, 'at least 70 percent of the recent calls to poison control in Mississippi have been related to ingestion of livestock or animal formulations of Ivermectin purchased at livestock supply centers.' Why are people taking livestock formulations of Ivermectin in Mississippi? That's a horse dewormer. Literally people won't take the vaccine because they're super suspicious of that, but they're taking horse deworming medication that they're buying at a feed store? For COVID? Why, on top of everything else Mississippi has to deal with right now, why are they dealing with this? I don't know, but I have a guess."

Maddow played several clips of Ivermectin being promoted on Fox News, including one of Sean Hannity listing it as one of many "proactive treatments and practices that are already helping COVID-19 patients all across the country."

"You thought it was just hydroxychloroquine, right? Kind of me too," said Maddow. "I guess I haven't been paying enough attention, but apparently they've been pushing this as well. Oh, Ivermectin, it is curing COVID all over the world. No, it is not. There's been one significant study about Ivermectin saying, oh, this works for COVID. That study has been withdrawn because the data in it was apparently faked and the introduction to it was apparently plagiarized."

"Nevertheless, Fox News is busy saying, don't take the vaccine but do take this horse deworming medication, trust us, it is proven," said Maddow. "You could trust them or you could trust the FDA, which says do not take Ivermectin for COVID. You could trust the NIH, which says do not take Ivermectin for COVID. WHO says do not take Ivermectin for COVID. Even the company that makes the drug says, my god, seriously, people, do not take Ivermectin for COVID. Yes, use it to deworm your horses, but this is not a COVID drug. Fox News says otherwise though."

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