Dr. Vladimir “Zev” Zelenko, the man who discovered and implemented the "Zelenko Protocol" in response COVID-19, which millions worldwide credit with saving their lives over the past two years, 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 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 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," based on the concept of 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 launched to dispute the efficacy 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 a natural supplement's similarity in function to HCQ. 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.” His 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 claiming it had both its serious side-effects and its altered 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
