In Viral Video, Doctor Falsely Touts Hydroxychloroquine as COVID-19 ‘Cure’
Quick Take
A widely shared video, featuring a doctor falsely claiming hydroxychloroquine is a “cure” for COVID-19, ignited an online storm that resulted in the video being pulled by social media platforms. There is no known cure for COVID-19, and current scientific evidence hasn’t found that hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment.
Full Story
A video pushing the use of an unproven COVID-19 treatment has received widespread attention, including on Twitter by President Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr., whose account was temporarily suspended for directly sharing the video.
Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have been removing the video since it started circulating on July 27 and amassing millions of views. The video spreads the debunked claim that COVID-19 can be cured with hydroxychloroquine — the drug that has been continuously touted by the president.
The clip features a Houston-area doctor named Stella Immanuel wearing a white coat in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building as she proclaims that a cocktail of hydroxychloroquine, zinc and the antibiotic azithromycin has cured COVID-19 patients.
Immanuel was speaking at a press conference arranged by an organization called “America’s Frontline Doctors.” We couldn’t find much information about the group and neither its founder, Simone Gold, nor its lawyer, Steven Mitby, returned our calls for comment. But the group appears to be connected to the , which runs the conservative Tea Party movement. The group’s logo and an open copyrighted by the foundation.
