Dr. Zev Zelenko, the frum doctor whose “Zelenko Protocol” gained him national attention in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, has sadly passed away after a protracted battle with cancer. He was 49.
“It is with immense sorrow that we announce the passing of our founder Dr. Vladimir “Zev” Zelenko,” Zelenko Labs said in a statement. “Dr. Zelenko was a physician, scientist, and activist for medical rights who touched the lives of millions of people. Some were saved as his role as a doctor, and even more were inspired by his words. His “Zelenko Protocol” saved millions and earned him a Nobel Prize nomination and the admiration of a U.S. President among other prominent world leaders.”
The obituary written by Zelenko Labs reads as follows:
Dr. Vladimir “Zev” Zelenko, the man who discovered and implemented the treatment for Covid-19 that over the past two years has been responsible for saving millions of lives worldwide, has passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was 48.
Born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1973, Zev’s family immigrated the United States in 1977 and settled in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York.
He attended Hofstra University where he earned with a B.S. in chemistry with high honors. He then went on to the Buffalo School of Medicine where he earned his M.D. in 2000.
Zev had a family medical practice in Monroe, New York in 2020 during the onset of what would become the Covid-19 pandemic. As a physician who masterfully combined the skills of both critical thinking and the scientific method, and who shaped their application out of his love for both God and patients, Zev was not content to sit back and wait for politicians or public health officials to settle upon a prescribed treatment path. People were dying. He began searching almost immediately for a method of treatment.
Aided by initiative, good fortune, and from his account divine intervention, he discovered such a treatment in combining Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), zinc, azithromycin, and other various drugs, especially steroids, and creating what has come to be known as the “Zelenko protocol.” The key to the protocol was very early intervention to treat the virus inside the cellular level before it could break loose and develop into a full-blown respiratory disease.
Up to the time of his death, Zev had overseen the treatment of approximately 7,500 patients using his protocol and experienced only three patient deaths. The use of the Zelenko protocol has spread worldwide.
While he was nominated along with other courageous doctors for a Nobel Prize in recognition of his groundbreaking treatment and outspoken advocacy on behalf of patients, for the most part Zev faced censorship and condemnation for his taking a bold stand against prevailing orthodoxy. For whatever their motives, politicians and health officials worldwide attempted to either downplay or outright deny the efficacy of the Zelenko protocol and its simple, low-cost treatment path. Numerous studies were constructed to deliberately hide the effectives of using HCQ (later ivermectin) in conjunction with other drugs.
There were even steps taken by politicians like then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to forbid the use of HCQ in treating patients. Social media platforms joined in the effort to silence Zev, with Twitter having famously banned him from the platform in late 2020.
As Voltaire said, “It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.”
Despite numerous studies over the past two years that have supported the effectiveness of his protocol, access to the treatment remains denied to significant portions of the population and is simply ignored by many physicians.
Undeterred, Zev went in search of another method to treat patients that could circumvent government restrictions. HE discovered that the natural supplement Quercetin could serve the same function as did HCQ in assisting zinc to attack the still developing virus inside the cell. It was not as effective, but as Zev was fond of saying, “You don’t go to war with the army you wish you had. You go to war with the army you’ve got.” He discovery of Quercetin, which he likened to being a .22 caliber compared to HCQ’s .50 caliber ultimately led to the development of his Z-Stack supplement.
Over the past year-and-a-half, Zev has been an outspoken critic of the mRNA vaccine pointing to both its serious side-effects and its alteration of genetic code. He has been especially critical of the use of the vaccine in children who are not old enough to give their own informed consent and who face virtually no risk of serious illness from Covid-19. He has shared his views over a broad spectrum of web-based podcast interviews and at numerous live appearances across the country. He has been routinely greeted with applause interruptions and standing ovations.
As to the rare form of cancer with which he was diagnosed in early 2018 and told of its 100 percent terminal prognosis, Zev repeatedly referred to it as having been a gift from God. “My cancer is what prepared me for the Covid-19 pandemic,” He would say. “Without it, I would not have developed my passion for searching for answers that others said couldn’t be found, and without it I could not have held to the persecution and ridicule I received for daring to treat patients. I have looked death in the eye and I have been made ready to meet God. I fear nothing on this earth.”
A man of profound faith, he believed until the end that God had created a special mission for him on this earth, and that the prayers of millions had kept him alive long enough to fulfill that mission.
Zev recently announced the formation of his new Z Freedom Foundation, dedicated to continuing his critical work. He also announced the release of his memoirs, titled simply Zelenko, that will be available in late-summer to early fall 2022.
He is survived by his wife, Rinat, their two children, Shira and Liba, and six children from his previous marriage, Levi Yitzchok, Esther Tova, Eta Devorah, Nochum Dovid, Shmuel Nosson Yaakov, Menachem Mendel. Also his parents, Alex (Aaron) and Larisa (Leah) and his brother Ephraim (w. Chany).
In his simple and beautiful poem, High Flight, WWII Canadian Air Force pilot John Gillespie Magee said that he put out his hand, “and touched the face of God. For those who were blessed with having had a chance to cross paths, if even for a fleeting moment, with the remarkable man who was Vladimir “Zev” Zelenko, there is a sense of knowing that in this instance and with this soul, God simply could no longer wait to touch the face of the man who gave so much hope and so much life to so many during his time on His earth.
Memoriam can be given in Zev’s name to the Z Freedom Foundation at www.zfreedomfoundation.com
Yehi zichro baruch.
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35 Responses
BD”E He was a great Tsadik he did so much for the Klal may his neshama have a Aliya
Chabal Al Deabdin
BDE
BD”E.
He fought as valiantly for the cause he believed in, despite the opposition as he did against his cancer.
TNTzVa”H
BDE
May he have a lichtiger Gan Eiden
He saved thousands of lives both pre covid & POST COVID
We all owe him a big thank you!
Ive lost a very dear friend, but most of all the world has lost a man of truth a man who fought for the truth.
no doubt he is in gan eden with the rest of the anshei emes!!
צר לי עליך אחי נעמת לי מאד
“Nominated for a Nobel Prize.” Get serious!
Having someone start an online petition suggesting Zelenko deserves a Nobel Prize is not what most people mean by “nominated for a Nobel Prize.”
אױ װײ אױ װײ אױ װײ what a pity, my eyes hurt of holding tears, I can’t cry now. אױ װײ אױ װײ אױ װײ what misfortune! What zechus I have for meeting him? Why did the life give me that pleasure and now this pain?
H’ will take care of your pure neshamah the same way you dedicated your live taking care of your fellows, Am Yisroel and lately the whole world !!!
H’ Yenachem Lanu !!!
He should be a mailing yoisher
Is President Donald Trump שליט”א delivering the הספד at this most untimely לוויה?
Bdh!
One man that wasn’t moved by the bureaucracy. The establishment tore him down and he forged on with amazing results. He was a walking kidush Hashem!! Such amazing Emunah and Bitachon. A true Tzadik!!
Klal Yisrael was fortunate to have such a great tzadik/dr in our midst. Woe to us for this tremendous loss.
May his neshama have an aliya and condolences to his wonderful family.
יהי זכרו ברוך
His belief in himself led to the loss of thousands, no one was helped by his ideas.
As for all of us who got the vaccine, he felt we were no longer human.
No accident that this צדיק גמור shares the very same יארצייט as יוסף הצדיק
Words cannot express how much humanity owes this man ,his tireless efforts and contributions,his never ending willingness to help others even in the face of his own health challenges ,of the people I am aware of he should receive a bundle of Nobel prizes I personally know many people who conquered the Covid virus with very little impact via the use of the “Zelenko protocols”.
So many people owe him for their lives and sanity because he gave us knowledge,hope, wisdom and enriched our souls.
Will miss him greatly, ❤️🥰🙏
Saved thousands? A tzaddik? What kind of delusional bubble does a person have to be living in to believe something so completely and obviously false by any standard of rationality or normality?
Zinc was possibly not given in the studies of hydroxychloroquine, nor perhaps the antibiotics, contrary to Dr. Zelenko’s advice, so resulting in differing outcomes.
RE: As for all of us who got the vaccine, he felt we were no longer human.
Your comment proves he was right at least in your case.
fake chareidi:
He saw the results of his expertise in his own practice and shared it with untold number of others. How dare you malign him that “no one was helped” by his work?
As for all those who got the vaccine, he never claimed that; rather, that they were now biologically different due to the shots. It’s evil to defame people.
@Damp359 One who lives in a rational, informed world does “radical” things like learn biochemistry, read original sources and think for themself. When such a method is applied to Zelenko’s protocol, it becomes clear that Zelenko was on to something and that his protocol was fought against and (in some cases) banned for non-medical and non-scientific reasons.
On the other hand, people who live according to the opinion of “experts” and bureaucratic institutions are often times left to wonder how people more rational and informed them then can not agree with those “truths” that are widely repeated but never established or intellectually defended.
For just one example, take a look at the RECOVERY study down in England to show that HCQ does NOT work. According to Zelenko’s protocol, zinc is what disrupts the ability of the virus to reproduce and hcq is what lets zinc into the cell. In the RECOVERY study they did NOT give zinc. As such, the study is totally worthless as it leaves out the key “ingredient” in Zelenko’s protocal.
Also, Zelenko recommended his protocol in stage one of the development of covid. In the RECOVERY study they looked at late stage two and/or stage three patients. Again, worthless.
And yet, this RECOVERY study was cited in Scientific American as showing that hcq is not effective. It was cited in academic journal reviews of review studies as showing that hcq is not effective.
Now, the writers and editors at Scientific American know how to read Zelenko’s protocol and know how to read a basic medical study. It is not hard to see that the RECOVERY protocol does not at all relate to Zelenko’s protocol. And yet, they act as if it does.
This is what we call intellectual corruption. Corruption because of laziness, because of ideological blindness, because of financial conflict of interest – or for some other reason. Whatever the reason is, it is corrupt and those who take the time to become informed recognize that it is corrupt.
It is akin to all the financial experts who recommended 0-prime loans in the build up to the housing crisis — or the experts who knew that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, or the experts who trained the Afghan army for years, armed them with the top military equipment and told us that the Taliban could not quickly and easily take over Afghanistan.
I could go on.
“Experts” and the pronouncements have a very spotty record in the history of science and medicine. Indeed, as one more famous example — everyone would agree that Einstein was an expert in physics (to put it mildly). And yet, he was totally wrong when it came to quantum physics. You can be an expert, you can be brilliant, you can be one of the best scientists and thinkers that the world has ever known AND YET YOU CAN STILL BE WRONG IF THE EVIDENCE AND LOGIC AND REASON SHOW THAT YOU ARE WRONG.
So, if you do NOT want to live in a bubble vis-a-vis treating covid – then the most effective way is to learn the relevant medicine and science needed to understand how to treat covid, read the PRIMARY sources, listen to both sides (include those who are in the minority), do research and THINK. Only then will you have a chance not to be in a bubble and actually be able to come to something akin to a rational and informed understanding of what is going on.
Of course, it’s no guarantee — we can’t study everything and there will always be issues of interpretation, world views, etc. But it at least will free you from living in the real bubble of relying on the opinion of “experts” and bureaucratic institutions.
Dr. Zelenko had this approach when it came to treating covid and that is why he was able to come up with a protocol that (from all the available evidence that I have seen) seems to have been quite effective and saved many lives.
May HKBH rightly reward him for all the good that he did. Zichrono l’bracha.
amazing man
such an inspiration
Baruch Dayan Emet
He kept us and world sane in the insane world of Faouchisim.
Kept up calm by taking merely vitamins and updating us constantly. Taking away the trauma the world insisted we must go through.
A man of Chessed, bravery, honesty and Yiddish Neshama.
May his Neshama have Aliyah.
Thank you Doctor. Ish Emes
BDE
@HaKatan
He actually used those exact words “no longer human”
https://twitter.com/BadCOVID19Takes/status/1478858154553266179?t=_OReDeH5bDbUMirr-QfHuw&s=19
Hashem gave us the vaccine to be able to fight the virus no one changed religion or character from the vaccine.
I am sure he is giving din vcheshbon now ….fir the words he said
At the end of the day neither parties are right. The pro vaccine and the anti vaccine are all missing the point. It’s not the vaccine that cures and its not the absence of the vaccines which cures either. It’s Hashem that is the ultimate doctor.
While I don’t agree with everything with came out the Niftar’s mouth, the entire world owes him Hakaras Hatov for willing to try a treatment when no clinician was willing to step up to the plate.
IMHO every family of KJ/Monroe especially of those who’s memebers he treated and saved has a CHIYUV GAMUR to him proper kavod hameis and/or learn (ie: mishnayos, both at the very least) in his memory.
What a loss! Dr. Zelenko was a true warrior and a fighter for emes! He will be greatly missed.
And for those who have written negative comments on this thread – Shame on you!
@Ng76b3c @chareidi
… and yes, I also believe Hashem gaves the “vaccine” but not be misused or abused. I also believe Hashem gave us early treatments as he creates the refuah before the machala. I also find extremely piggish to jab youth when older seniors from poorer countries who could benefit most from these jabs have no access to it, so it’s all about $.
(I subscribe to my own family MD of 45+ years practice “risk vs reward” philosophy who said those over 30 or with significant comorbidities and without a confirmed recovery should get mRNA jabbed. All this was back then while the spikevax strain was still nogea in the parsha of the virus, and not today.)
@MyTwoCents what a silly reply.
You insist “study biochemistry” but “don’t trust the experts.” From whom should one learn biochemistry, if not experts?
You cite the mistakes of experts in the field of foreign and military policy, as if those things are the same as science and medicine, when these things are absolutely nothing like each other. In doing so, you reveal your complete failure to understand anything whatsoever about how science works. It renders your comments about “rationality” to be just pure foolishness.
You cite a couple of studies in which you attempt to poke holes. Instead, why don’t you cite a study which supports Zelenko’s claims?
And you imply some nefarious intent to silence and delegitimize Zelenko? But you have zero evidence that. It’s just another nutty conspiracy theory. We hear a lot about multinational drug companies. But who do you think makes HCQ and Azithromycin?
BDE
He definitely meant well that’s all that matters. Whether you agree with his opinion or not doesn’t minimize the tragedy. BDE
The death of any Yid at such a relatively young age is tragic, no matter what one might think about his work. However, some of the mindless adulation and parroting of conspiracy theories in the article are unworthy of a “news article”.
I never met him but I will be forever grateful for his determination to help fight this disease in the face of hatred – as seen right here, right now, in the terrible responses above.
We took his protocol (& yes, we are now fully vaxed) before we got infected. In fact, we had our first vax days before we were diagnosed, but were clearly already sick. We just didn’t know. However, thanks to his protocol we were only mildly sick for a week & this was at the height of the pandemic in January 2021. Many months after we recovered we took subsequent vaccinations for practical reasons.
I get that many people disagreed with his ideas. But reading some of these comments, reading the hatred for a man who did his utmost to save lives, makes me fully understand why Moshiach isn’t here.
for all of those who are writing here and took the vaccine. not to worry in a couple of years you will be up there and you can ask him or tell him whatever you’d like or maybe by then you’ll see he was right…
one thing for sure Dr Zelenko saved thousands of lives with his protocol and saved thousands from taking the poison death shot.
שר וגדול נפל היום בישראל he was a talmid chochom and a true oved Hashem, i knew him personally and was close with him. i miss him greatly. צר לי עליך אחי נעמתי לי מאד
Perhaps Dr. Zelenco was thinking the mRNA vaccine was parallel to the forbidden mixing of species in Yiddishkeit known as Kilayim.
Dear “shaken” you don’t know whether I had the vaccine or not!
Chareidi amiti: how can you possibly say he helped no one. I was helped by him when I got covid. How are you so sure of yourself?
Someone with his smarts had no life insurance?