Vladimir Zelenko

Vladimir "Zev" Zelenko was born to Larisa (Portnoy) Zelenko and Alex in Kyiv, Ukraine (then, part of Soviet Ukraine), on November 27, 1973.{{Cite news |last=Risen |first=Clay |date=July 1, 2022 |title=Vladimir Zelenko, 48, Dies; Promoted an Unfounded Covid Treatment |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/us/vladimir-zelenko-dead.html |access-date=July 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}{{cite news |last1=Feldman |first1=Ari |title=Why Dr. Vladimir Zelenko staked his reputation on hydroxychloroquine |url=https://forward.com/news/447109/zelenko-hydroxychloroquine-trump/ |access-date=January 10, 2021 |work=The Forward |date=May 22, 2020}} His father was a taxi driver and his mother worked at a fur factory before working as a computer programmer at Morgan Stanley. 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.

Zelenko earned a Doctor of Medicine degree in 2000 from the State University of New York at Buffalo and subsequently specialized in family medicine.{{cite web |title=Zelenko Vladimir |url=http://www.nysed.gov/coms/op001/opsc2a?profcd=60&plicno=227158 |website=Verification Searches |publisher=New York State Education Department |access-date=January 11, 2021 |archive-date=April 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420070319/http://www.nysed.gov/coms/op001/opsc2a?profcd=60&plicno=227158 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |title=Vladimir Zelenko, MD doctor profile |url=https://www.docinfo.org/search/docprofile?docid=00BE0C8A-4603-4F72-BB08-1B572BA62595 |website=Docinfo |publisher=Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States |access-date=July 1, 2022}}

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. He described the treatment as a three-drug combination consisting of the anti-malarial medication hydroxychloroquine, the antibiotic azithromycin, and zinc sulfate,{{cite news |last1=Sandler |first1=Rachel |title=NIH Panel Recommends Against Using Hydroxychloroquine And Azithromycin, Drug Combination Touted By Trump |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/04/21/nih-panel-recommends-against-using-drug-combination-touted-by-trump-outside-clinical-trials/ |access-date=January 10, 2021 |work=Forbes |date=April 22, 2020}} and posted an open letter to Trump with similar claims two days later.{{cite news |last1=Kasprak |first1=Alex |title=Has Dr. Zelenko Successfully Treated 669 Coronavirus Patients? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/zelenko-669-coronavirus-patients/ |access-date=January 10, 2021 |work=Snopes |date=March 30, 2020}}{{Unreliable source?|date=September 2024}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Kasprak |first1=Alex |title=Are Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin 'Game Changers' in Fight Against COVID-19? |url=https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/03/25/chloroquine-covid-19/ |access-date=January 10, 2021 |work=Snopes |date=March 25, 2020}}{{Unreliable source?|date=September 2024}} 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.

In July 2020, the month after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 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.{{cite journal |first1=Roland |last1=Derwand |first2=Martin |last2=Scholz |first3=Vladimir |last3=Zelenko |title=COVID-19 outpatients: early risk-stratified treatment with zinc plus low-dose hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin: a retrospective case series study |journal=International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents |volume=56 |issue=6 |page=106214 |year=2020 |doi=10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.106214 |pmid=33122096 |pmc=7587171}} (Under a Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)){{cite journal |last1=Scholz |first1=Martin |last2=Derwand |first2=Roland |last3=Zelenko |first3=Vladimir |title=COVID-19 Outpatients – Early Risk-Stratified Treatment with Zinc Plus Low Dose Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin: A Retrospective Case Series Study |journal=International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents |date=July 3, 2020 |volume=56 |issue=6 |page=106214 |doi= 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.106214|pmid=33122096 |pmc=7587171 }}{{cite web |last1=Block |first1=Jonathan |title=Another Study Claims Hydroxychloroquine Can Fight COVID-19 |url=https://medshadow.org/another-study-claims-hydroxychloroquine-can-fight-covid-19/ |website=MedShadow Foundation |access-date=July 1, 2022 |date=July 17, 2020}} 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".{{cite news |last1=Zelenko |first1=Zev |title=Newly Published Outpatient Study Finds that Early Use of Zinc, Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin Is Associated with Less Hospitalizations and Death |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/newly-published-outpatient-study-finds-that-early-use-of-zinc-hydroxychloroquine-and-azithromycin-is-associated-with-less-hospitalizations-and-death-301094237.html |access-date=July 1, 2022 |work=www.prnewswire.com |date=July 15, 2020 |language=en}} 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."{{cite journal |last1=Manivannan |first1=Elangovan |last2=Karthikeyan |first2=Chandrabose |last3=Moorthy |first3=N. S. Hari Narayana |last4=Chaturvedi |first4=Subash Chandra |title=The Rise and Fall of Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine as Compassionate Therapy of COVID-19 |journal=Frontiers in Pharmacology |date=May 6, 2021 |volume=12 |pages=584940 |doi=10.3389/fphar.2021.584940|pmid=34025393 |pmc=8134745 |doi-access=free }} 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.{{cite web |title=Zinc |url=https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/supplements/zinc/ |website=COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines |publisher=National Institutes of Health |access-date=July 1, 2022 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine |url=https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/antiviral-therapy/chloroquine-or-hydroxychloroquine-and-or-azithromycin/ |website=COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines |publisher=National Institutes of Health |access-date=July 1, 2022 |language=en}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Hanau |first1=Shira |title=Jewish MD who promoted virus cocktail is leaving community where he tested it |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-md-who-promoted-virus-cocktail-leaving-community-where-he-tested-it/ |access-date=December 29, 2020 |publisher=The Times of Israel}}{{cite news |last1=Hanau |first1=Shira |title=Doctor who promoted coronavirus cocktail is leaving the community where he tested his treatment |url=https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/jta/orthodox-doctor-who-promoted-coronavirus-cocktail-is-leaving-the-community-where-he-tested-his-treatment/article_716bb3fb-d5e5-58d4-8872-2641aa50dc93.html |access-date=December 29, 2020 |agency=JTA |publisher=clevelandjewishnews.com}}{{cite news |last1=Woods |first1=Amanda |title=NY doctor who promoted COVID-19 drug cocktail leaves Jewish community |url=https://nypost.com/2020/05/21/doctor-who-promoted-covid-cocktail-leaves-jewish-community/ |access-date=December 29, 2020 |publisher=New York Post}}

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

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.{{cite web |first=Fernanda |last=Ferreira |title=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 |url=https://science.feedback.org/review/no-evidence-dietary-supplements-containing-zinc-ionophore-promoted-vladimir-zelenko-effective-against-covid-19/ |access-date=September 16, 2024 |website=Science Feedback |publisher=Health Feedback |date=January 18, 2022}}

In January 2022, Zelenko claimed that children are more likely to die from COVID-19 vaccines than from COVID-19.{{Cite web|date=January 20, 2022|title=Video makes false comparison between kids COVID and vaccine risks|url=https://www.aap.com.au/uncategorised/video-makes-false-comparison-between-kids-covid-and-vaccine-risks/|access-date=February 17, 2022|website=Australian Associated Press|language=en}}

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.{{cite news |last1=LaFraniere |first1=Sharon |last2=Roose |first2=Kevin |title=Doctor Who Promoted Malarial Drug Draws Scrutiny of Federal Prosecutors |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/us/coronavirus-doctor-zelenko-malaria-drug.html |access-date=January 10, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=May 5, 2020}} The lecture was attended by conservative commentator Jerome Corsi, who had been collaborating with Zelenko on a telemedicine Web site. 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.{{cite news |last1=Helderman |first1=Rosalind S. |last2=Zapotosky |first2=Matt |title=Justice Dept. scrutinizes White House-connected doctor linked to disputed coronavirus treatment |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/vladimir-zev-zelenko-fox-news-trump-hydroxychloroquine-jerome-corsi/2020/04/30/82622456-8af2-11ea-ac8a-fe9b8088e101_story.html |access-date=January 11, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 30, 2020}} Zelinsky, who worked on former special counsel Robert Mueller's team, had previously questioned Corsi during the investigation of Roger Stone.{{cite news |last1=Cheney |first1=Kyle |last2=Samuelsohn |first2=Darren |title=Roger Stone ally expecting Mueller indictment |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/12/roger-stone-ally-indictment-mueller-984950 |access-date=January 11, 2021 |work=Politico |date=November 12, 2018}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Balsamo |first1=Michael |last2=Madhani |first2=Aamer |title=Conservative author says email mix-up led to COVID-19 probe |url=https://apnews.com/article/26955d773048886c9ae6db53feac3564 |access-date=January 11, 2021 |work=Associated Press |date=May 1, 2020}} Zelinsky requested all communications between Corsi and Zelenko, including text messages, podcast documents, and marketing materials for their website, which Corsi supplied.{{cite news |last1=Sheth |first1=Sonam |title=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 |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/doj-investigates-doctor-pushing-questionable-coronavirus-treatments-after-accidental-email-2020-5 |access-date=January 11, 2021 |work=Business Insider |date=May 1, 2020}} Zelenko denied any wrongdoing and said that he thought that his study had FDA approval because he had spoken with FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn.

Zelenko was married twice and had eight children.{{cite web |last1=Bensoussan |first1=Barbara |title=What the Doctor Ordered; As told to Barbara Bensoussan. Originally featured in Mishpacha Issue 803|url=https://mishpacha.com/what-the-doctor-ordered/ |website=mishpacha.com |date=March 18, 2020 |publisher=Mishpacha Magazine |access-date=December 31, 2020}}

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 had been handed, including a life-threatening disease.{{cite book |last1=Zelenko |first1=Vladimir |title=Metamorphosis: The Journey and Transformation of a Jewish Soul |date=2019 |publisher=Israel Bookshop Publications |isbn=978-1-60091-656-4 }}{{page needed|date=December 2020}}{{Primary source inline|date=December 2020}} Zelenko also lectured about his personal story and the book he wrote about it.{{cite news |last1=Times Herald-Record |title=Monroe physician Dr. Zev Zelenko to share his life story |url=https://www.recordonline.com/news/20191124/monroe-physician-dr-zev-zelenko-to-share-his-life-story |access-date=December 31, 2020 |publisher=recordonline.com |date=November 24, 2019 |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006092832/https://www.recordonline.com/news/20191124/monroe-physician-dr-zev-zelenko-to-share-his-life-story |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |last1=Crown Heights Info |title=Lubavitch Physician Dr. Zev Zelenko Speaks at Chabad of Orange County |url=https://crownheights.info/chabad-news/688274/lubavitch-physician-dr-zev-zelenko-speaks-at-chabad-of-orange-county/ |website=crownheights.info |date=November 28, 2019 |access-date=December 31, 2020}} He also told of his personal journey in Mishpacha magazine. 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".{{cite book |last1=Zelenko |first1=Zev |title=Essence to Essence: Life Through the Lens of Chassidic and Kabbalistic Wisdom |date=November 25, 2019 |publisher=Zev Zelenko MD |isbn=978-0-578-60906-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISBN9780578609065 |language=en }}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

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 had been battling cancer for several years. He is survived by his wife and eight children.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-07-01 |title=Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, who touted unconventional COVID treatment, dies at 49 |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/dr-vladimir-zelenko-who-touted-unconventional-covid-treatment-dies-at-49/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220703032541/https://www.timesofisrael.com/dr-vladimir-zelenko-who-touted-unconventional-covid-treatment-dies-at-49/ |archive-date=2022-07-03 |access-date=2023-03-20 |website=The Times of Israel |language=en-US}}{{cite web | url=https://collive.com/dr-zev-zelenko-49-obm/ | title=Dr. Zev Zelenko, 49, OBM | date=June 30, 2022 }}

• Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine during the COVID-19 pandemic

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal |first1=Peter A. |last1=McCullough |first2=Paul E. |last2=Alexander |first3=Robin |last3=Armstrong |display-authors=etal |title=Multifaceted highly targeted sequential multidrug treatment of early ambulatory high-risk SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) |journal=Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=517–530 |year=2020 |doi=10.31083/j.rcm.2020.04.264 |pmid=33387997|doi-access=free |hdl=11375/26557 |hdl-access=free }}
• {{cite book |last1=Zelenko |first1=Zev |title=Essence to Essence: Life Through the Lens of Chassidic and Kabbalistic Wisdom |date=November 25, 2019 |publisher=Zev Zelenko MD |isbn=978-0-578-60906-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISBN9780578609065 |language=en }}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

• [https://www.vladimirzelenkomd.com/ Official website]

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Category:1973 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:21st-century American physicians

Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent

Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent

Category:American primary care physicians

Category:Baalei teshuva

Category:Medical responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

Category:Physicians from New York (state)