I heard a lot of what he said but a lot I had not. Zinc I heard about a lot from Day 1 of Covid, and Trump did mention it early on. In the first half, nutritionist and alternative medicine practitioner Dr. Bryan Ardis shared his research into the treatment of Long COVID, as well as how we can identify toxins in the human body and heal properly. Reflecting on the devastating impact of the pandemic, he noted that there were "7 million people dead... and 1.6 to 1.9 million of that total came in the United States." His personal connection to the crisis began when he lost his father-in-law due to what he said was "a very ill-advised hospital protocol" involving the antiviral drug Remdesivir, which he claims has a high death rate. Dr. Ardis criticized the narrative that COVID originated from a bat, suggesting instead that "labs like Wuhan are designing more deadly pathogens." He also called attention to the ongoing health symptoms stemming from Long COVID, stating, "Millions around the world currently are battling ... trying to recover their own health." He cited a January 2023 study where Long COVID patients wearing a 7 mg. nicotine patch for six days experienced a complete disappearance of their symptoms, including the loss of taste and smell, brain fog, and insomnia. Further, the study found no dependency or adverse effects, he reported. Ardis also noted that smokers are less affected by COVID due to nicotine's binding to viral proteins, similar to venom proteins from snakes like the king cobra. Ardis further contended that censorship and misinformation have obscured the effectiveness of nicotine, as well as the drug ivermectin (which binds to nicotine receptors). He also highlighted the importance of dietary supplements, particularly zinc and vitamin C, in bolstering immunity. During the pandemic, "zinc was the number one thing everybody should have been taking to prevent worse health outcomes," he said.