Fact-checking Trump’s claims about hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug he’s touting as a coronavirus treatment
WASHINGTON — President Trump can’t seem to stop talking about hydroxychloroquine.
There is currently no proven treatment for the coronavirus and Covid-19, the respiratory disease it causes, leading political figures to grasp for potentially effective stopgap measures as the global death toll nears 100,000. Hydroxychloroquine, used for decades as a medication to treat malaria and lupus, has generated by far the most excitement — within the Trump administration in particular — despite a lack of scientific evidence that it’s effective against Covid-19.
On Sunday, the debate escalated when Trump effectively prevented Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease researcher, from answering a question about hydroxychloroquine during a White House press briefing. And over the weekend, Axios reported Fauci was berated by Trump’s economic adviser, Peter Navarro, for calling evidence supporting hydroxychloroquine’s use “anecdotal.”
Trump, it appears, has sided with his economic adviser and has repeatedly contradicted Fauci, a physician-researcher who leads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He even said he would consider taking the drug himself, as a preventive measure.
The president’s has also sparked a run on the drug, in some cases preventing patients with lupus, who have relied on the drug for years, .
