‘I happen to think it works’: Trump doubles down on hydroxychloroquine There is no evidence from several clinical trials that the anti-malarial has any impact in preventing Covid-19 or treating mildly to severely ill people.
Debate over the drug has resurfaced after a study run by the Henry Ford Medical Center suggested this month that the pill could help mildly ill patients recover faster. While Trump and trade adviser Peter Navarro touted the research, experts swiftly pointed out that patients were not randomized, that there was no placebo to compare with, and that many were on steroids — which are known to help with inflammation.
Still, Trump reminded reporters that he himself had taken a course of the drug prior to the FDA’s revoking its emergency-use authorization in light of data showing that it proved ineffective against the novel coronavirus and could even be unsafe. The president had markedly toned down his promotion of hydroxychloroquine for several months before resuming his advocacy this week, with coronavirus cases in the U.S. continuing to rise.
“I had no problem. I had absolutely no problem,” the president said on Tuesday. “Felt no different. Didn’t feel good, bad or indifferent, and I tested — as you know, it didn’t get me and it’s not going to — hopefully — hurt anybody.” He added that he’d read up “a lot” on the drug.
One of the messages Trump retweeted the previous night featured a video of a woman who claimed to be a Houston physician, surrounded by others in white lab coats outside what appeared to be the U.S. Supreme Court, advocating on behalf of the antimalarial medication and discouraging the use of face masks.
The president on Tuesday questioned such decisions by social media companies, positing, “For some reason the internet wanted to take them down.”
“I don’t know why — they’re very respected doctors,” Trump said, though The Daily Beast reported that the doctor featured in the video, Stella Immanuel, has also claimed that face masks aren’t necessary to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus, that alien DNA is being used in medicine and that scientists are working to create a vaccine to prevent people from being religious. (Immanuel later endorsed The Daily Beast‘s reporting, tweeting that it did a “great job summarizing our deliverance ministry.“)
When asked by a reporter on Tuesday about Immanuel’s unorthodox medical views, Trump demurred, saying he knows “nothing about her” but calling her voice an important one.
“She says she’s had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients,” he maintained, before cutting short his session with reporters.
Trump’s latest Twitter spree represents a return to form for the president, who had escalated efforts in recent weeks to undermine his own public health officials before seemingly projecting a more science-focused tone last Tuesday regarding the pandemic.
But during a tour of a vaccine production plant in North Carolina on Monday, Trump showed signs of his previous eagerness to reopen the U.S. economy in spite of record spikes in Covid-19 caseloads across the South and Southwest.
“I really do believe a lot of the governors should be opening up states that they’re not opening, and we’ll see what happens with them,” the president said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, dismissed the dubious medical advice from the president and vowed to continue in his role despite a new salvo of attacks from the White House.
In an on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Fauci promoted best practices for combating the coronavirus and repeatedly contradicted the president’s fervent defense of hydroxychloroquine.
Addressing Trump’s social media activity, Fauci stressed that Americans “should all be wearing masks outside” and agreed with the Food and Drug Administration’s decision last month to withdraw its emergency-use authorization for hydroxychloroquine.
“The overwhelming prevailing clinical trials that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated that it is not effective in [treating the] coronavirus disease,” he said.
Fauci was also asked about one of Trump’s retweets on Monday that cast doubt on his scientific credentials, including a message alleging that he had “misled the American public on many issues.”
The widely respected immunologist has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for more than 3½ decades, advising several presidents over the course of his career.
“I don’t know how to address that. I’m just going to certainly continue doing my job,” Fauci said, adding: “I have not been misleading the American public under any circumstances.”
Trump on Tuesday denied that he was trying to undermine Fauci, telling reporters that the two had just been in a coronavirus task force meeting together and claiming not to know Fauci’s stance on the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine.
But Trump argued that the drug had been politicized because of his advocacy for it and complained that Fauci’s approval rating among the public was much higher than his own.
“He‘s got this high approval rating. Why don‘t I have a high approval rating with respect — and the administration — with respect to the virus?” Trump asked, painting Fauci simultaneously as both expendable and an important teammate.
“It sort of is curious. A man works for us, with us, very closely — Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, also — highly thought of, and yet they‘re highly thought of but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That‘s all,” he concluded.