Vladimir Zelenko

Vladimir Zelenko (November 27, 1973 – June 30, 2022) was an American family physician. He was born in Kyiv. At the age of three, his family moved to the United States and settled in Brooklyn, New York City. He received his medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2000. He was an Orthodox Jew.[1]

Vladimir Zelenko
Zelenko in a striped shirt with certificates in background
Zelenko in 2020
Born(1973-11-27)November 27, 1973
Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
DiedJune 30, 2022(2022-06-30) (aged 48)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
EducationState University of New York at Buffalo (MD)
Occupation(s)Family physician, supplement salesperson
Known forPromoting hydroxychloroquine-based treatment of COVID-19
WebsiteOfficial website

As an author, he was known for promoting a three-drug combination of hydroxychloroquine, zinc sulfate, and azithromycin as part of an experimental outpatient treatment for COVID-19 that he called the Zelenko Protocol. He also promoted unfounded medical advice, conspiracy theories, and misinformation about COVID-19 vaccination.[2][3]

On March 23, 2020, Zelenko published an open letter to U.S. president Donald Trump where he claimed to have successfully treated hundreds of COVID-19 patients with a five-day course of his protocol. Zelenko's treatment protocol quickly gained notoriety, with several right-wing media figures and various Trump administration officials promoting it, including Rudy Giuliani and then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, despite cautionary messages from health experts.[4]

Early life and education

Vladimir "Zev" Zelenko was born to Larisa (Portnoy) Zelenko and Alex in Kyiv (then, part of Soviet Ukraine), on November 27, 1973.[5][6] His father was a taxi driver and his mother worked at a fur factory before working as a computer programmer at Morgan Stanley.[5] His family moved to the U.S. when he was three years old, and settled in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City.[6]

Zelenko earned a Doctor of Medicine degree in 2000 from the State University of New York at Buffalo and subsequently specialized in family medicine.[7][8]

COVID-19 treatment and vaccine claims

On March 21, 2020, Zelenko posted a video to YouTube and Facebook addressed to U.S. president Donald Trump, in which he claimed to have successfully tested an experimental treatment for COVID-19 on hundreds of patients with coronavirus-like symptoms.[4] He described the treatment as a three-drug combination consisting of the anti-malarial medication hydroxychloroquine, the antibiotic azithromycin, and zinc sulfate,[9] and posted an open letter to Trump with similar claims two days later.[10] At the time, ongoing research was being conducted by various groups, including the World Health Organization, to determine the efficacy of using hydroxychloroquine and/or azithromycin to treat COVID-19.[11] In March 2020, Alex Kasprak, a science writer for Snopes, noted that since Zelenko did not describe his study design nor publish any data, his claims were unverifiable.[10]

In July 2020, the month after FDA withdrew emergency use authorization of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19, Zelenko coauthored a retrospective study of 141 COVID-19 outpatients who were prescribed a combination of zinc, hydroxychloroquine, and azithromycin.[12][13][14] Zelenko's study⁠ compared the outcomes of treated patients to untreated patients in his New York community, with hospitalization rates of 2.8% for treated patients and 15.4% for untreated. Based on the study, Zelenko said that his combination therapy "resulted in five times less hospitalizations and deaths".[15] A higher quality RECOVERY trial (Randomized Evaluation of COVID-19 therapy) comparing a range of possible treatments with usual care in patients hospitalized with Covid-19 found that patients who received hydroxychloroquine "did not have a lower incidence of death at 28 days than those who received usual care."[16] However, since this study used hospitalized patients it may not be directly applicable to Zelenko's focus on early treatment. The National Institutes of Health ultimately recommended against the use of zinc, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in treatments for COVID-19.[17][18]

The Satmar Hasidic community in Kiryas Joel, New York in Monroe, New York, where Zelenko was a long-time community physician, disputed Zelenko's claims about the potential infection rate in the community, which prompted Zelenko to shut down his office after nearly 20 years.[19][20][21]

In December 2020, Twitter suspended Zelenko's account for violating rules against "platform manipulation and spam".[5]

In 2021, Zelenko began selling a dietary supplement called Z-Stack, which contained zinc and several vitamins. Fact-checkers noted the lack of scientific support for Zelenko's claims of Z-Stack's ingredients boosting immunity, killing the virus that causes COVID-19, and preventing hospitalization.[22]

In January 2022, Zelenko falsely claimed that children are more likely to die from COVID-19 vaccines than from COVID-19.[23]

Zelenko's FDA approval claim

In April 2020, Zelenko presented a lecture over Zoom to a group of physicians, in which he alleged that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had granted approval to a clinical trial he was helping organize.[24] The lecture was attended by conservative commentator Jerome Corsi, who had been collaborating with Zelenko on a telemedicine website. Corsi inadvertently sent an email mentioning that Zelenko had "an FDA approved randomized test of HCQ underway" to federal prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, instead of Zelenko.[25] Zelinsky, who worked on former special counsel Robert Mueller's team, had previously questioned Corsi during the investigation of Roger Stone.[26]

According to Corsi, Zelinsky responded to his email and asked whether he had an attorney, and subsequently informed Corsi's attorney that he had discovered that Zelenko's study was not listed on a government website of FDA-approved clinical trials.[27] Zelinsky requested all communications between Corsi and Zelenko, including text messages, podcast documents, and marketing materials for their website, which Corsi supplied.[28] Zelenko denied any wrongdoing and said that he thought that his study had FDA approval because he had spoken with FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn.[24]

Personal life

Zelenko was twice married and had eight children.[29]

In 2019, Zelenko published an autobiography, Metamorphosis, that explores his journey and transformation from an irreligious, Jewish Russian-American young man to a baal teshuva (newly religious Jew), which helped him form close ties with many diverse Jewish communities, and how circumstances in his life provided him with the willpower to overcome the challenges he has been handed, including a life-threatening disease.[30] Zelenko also lectured about his personal story and the book he wrote about it.[31][32] He also told of his personal journey in Mishpacha magazine.[29] Also in 2019, Zelenko co-authored with one of his sons, Levi Yitzchok Zelenko, a book about Kabbalah, on Jewish mysticism, Hasidism, called Essence To Essence, which "describes the metaphysical dynamics shared by science, medicine, psychology, economics, law, and politics".[6][29][33]

Zelenko died at a hospital in Dallas where he was undergoing treatment for lung cancer on June 30, 2022, at the age of 48. He was battling cancer for several years. He is survived by his wife and eight children.[1][5][34]

See also

References
  1. "Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, who touted unconventional COVID treatment, dies at 49". The Times of Israel. July 1, 2022. Archived from the original on July 3, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  2. Roose, Kevin; Rosenberg, Matthew (April 2, 2020). "Touting Virus Cure, 'Simple Country Doctor' Becomes a Right-Wing Star". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 8, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  3. Boigon, Molly (January 11, 2021). "Hasidic doctor spouts conspiracy theories, anti-vaccine sentiment in video". The Forward. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  4. Roose, Kevin; Rosenberg, Matthew (April 2, 2020). "Touting Virus Cure, 'Simple Country Doctor' Becomes a Right-Wing Star". The New York Times. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  5. Risen, Clay (July 1, 2022). "Vladimir Zelenko, 48, Dies; Promoted an Unfounded Covid Treatment". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  6. Feldman, Ari (May 22, 2020). "Why Dr. Vladimir Zelenko staked his reputation on hydroxychloroquine". The Forward. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  7. "Zelenko Vladimir". Verification Searches. New York State Education Department. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  8. "Vladimir Zelenko, MD doctor profile". Docinfo. Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  9. Sandler, Rachel (April 22, 2020). "NIH Panel Recommends Against Using Hydroxychloroquine And Azithromycin, Drug Combination Touted By Trump". Forbes. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  10. Kasprak, Alex (March 30, 2020). "Has Dr. Zelenko Successfully Treated 669 Coronavirus Patients?". Snopes. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  11. Kasprak, Alex (March 25, 2020). "Are Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin 'Game Changers' in Fight Against COVID-19?". Snopes. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  12. Derwand, Roland; Scholz, Martin; Zelenko, Vladimir (2020). "COVID-19 outpatients: early risk-stratified treatment with zinc plus low-dose hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin: a retrospective case series study". International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. 56 (6): 106214. doi:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.106214. PMC 7587171. PMID 33122096. (Under a Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0))
  13. Scholz, Martin; Derwand, Roland; Zelenko, Vladimir (July 3, 2020). "COVID-19 Outpatients – Early Risk-Stratified Treatment with Zinc Plus Low Dose Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin: A Retrospective Case Series Study". International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. 56 (6): 106214. doi:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.106214. PMC 7587171. PMID 33122096.
  14. Block, Jonathan (July 17, 2020). "Another Study Claims Hydroxychloroquine Can Fight COVID-19". MedShadow Foundation. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  15. Zelenko, Zev (July 15, 2020). "Newly Published Outpatient Study Finds that Early Use of Zinc, Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin Is Associated with Less Hospitalizations and Death". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  16. Manivannan, Elangovan; Karthikeyan, Chandrabose; Moorthy, N. S. Hari Narayana; Chaturvedi, Subash Chandra (May 6, 2021). "The Rise and Fall of Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine as Compassionate Therapy of COVID-19". Frontiers in Pharmacology. 12: 584940. doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.584940. PMC 8134745. PMID 34025393.
  17. "Zinc". COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  18. "Chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine". COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  19. Hanau, Shira. "Jewish MD who promoted virus cocktail is leaving community where he tested it". The Times of Israel. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  20. Hanau, Shira. "Doctor who promoted coronavirus cocktail is leaving the community where he tested his treatment". clevelandjewishnews.com. JTA. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  21. Woods, Amanda. "NY doctor who promoted COVID-19 drug cocktail leaves Jewish community". New York Post. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  22. "There is no evidence that dietary supplements containing zinc and a zinc ionophore, such as the one promoted by Vladimir Zelenko, are effective against COVID-19". Health Feedback. January 18, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  23. "Video makes false comparison between kids COVID and vaccine risks". Australian Associated Press. January 20, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  24. LaFraniere, Sharon; Roose, Kevin (May 5, 2020). "Doctor Who Promoted Malarial Drug Draws Scrutiny of Federal Prosecutors". The New York Times. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  25. Helderman, Rosalind S.; Zapotosky, Matt (April 30, 2020). "Justice Dept. scrutinizes White House-connected doctor linked to disputed coronavirus treatment". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  26. Cheney, Kyle; Samuelsohn, Darren (November 12, 2018). "Roger Stone ally expecting Mueller indictment". Politico. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  27. Balsamo, Michael; Madhani, Aamer (May 1, 2020). "Conservative author says email mix-up led to COVID-19 probe". Associated Press. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  28. Sheth, Sonam (May 1, 2020). "DOJ began investigating a doctor promoting unproven COVID-19 treatments after Roger Stone's former associate accidentally emailed a federal prosecutor instead of the doctor". Business Insider. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  29. Bensoussan, Barbara (March 18, 2020). "What the Doctor Ordered; As told to Barbara Bensoussan. Originally featured in Mishpacha Issue 803". mishpacha.com. Mishpacha Magazine. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  30. Zelenko, Vladimir (2019). Metamorphosis: The Journey and Transformation of a Jewish Soul. Israel Bookshop Publications. ISBN 978-1-60091-656-4.
  31. Times Herald-Record (November 24, 2019). "Monroe physician Dr. Zev Zelenko to share his life story". recordonline.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  32. Crown Heights Info (November 28, 2019). "Lubavitch Physician Dr. Zev Zelenko Speaks at Chabad of Orange County". crownheights.info. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  33. Zelenko, Zev (November 25, 2019). Essence to Essence: Life Through the Lens of Chassidic and Kabbalistic Wisdom. Zev Zelenko MD. ISBN 978-0-578-60906-5.
  34. "Dr. Zev Zelenko, 49, OBM". June 30, 2022.

Further reading
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