TRIBUTES have flooded social media after the news that Dr Zelenko – who gained prominence during the height of the Covid pandemic – had lost his four-year battle with a rare form of cancer on Thursday, June 30.

Dr Zelenko – the creator of the "Zelenko Protocol" which earned him a Nobel Prize nomination – passed away after reports that his health had dramatically declined just hours earlier. He was 48.

Dr Vladimir "Zev" Zelenko was a physician, scientist and activist for medical rights and "earned admiration from prominent leaders from around the world", one person noted on Twitter.

He graduated from SUNY at Buffalo School of Medicine in 2000, was Board Certified in Family Medicine and was the medical director at Monsey Family Medical Centre.