Trump stopped Fauci from answering a question about the anti-malaria drug Trump is hyping despite it being unproven against the coronavirus
by James Pasley
Insider
April 5, 2020
President Donald Trump on Sunday told reporters he wasn't a doctor as he promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine, a drug used for malaria or lupus, to treat COVID-19 patients. But when Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked for his opinion, Trump would not let him speak.
At a White House press briefing on Sunday night, Trump repeatedly spoke about using the drug on COVID-19 patients despite little clinical evidence that the pills are effective against it. He told reporters he backed the drug as he said: "I'm not a doctor. I have common sense."
The US government has stockpiled 29 million hydroxychloroquine pills, and Trump said it was a good option for treatment in lieu of a vaccine. Hydroxychloroquine is among numerous drugs researchers are testing as COVID-19 treatments.
"I'm trying to save lives," Trump said. "I want them to try it, and it may work and it may not work." Several times, he rhetorically asked: "What do you have to lose?"
But when a reporter at the briefing asked Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, what he thought, Trump did not let him speak.
"He answered that question 15 times," Trump said, cutting the reporter off, before the press conference moved on. Fauci never answered.
Fauci took the lectern late in the conference and hadn't spoken before the reporters began asking questions.
Hydroxychloroquine, specifically the way US officials should characterize it, was said to be at the center of a confrontation within the White House coronavirus task force at a meeting on Saturday.
Citing an unnamed source, Axios reported that Trump's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, who has been trying to source the drug, told the task force that overseas studies showed the drug had "clear therapeutic efficacy."
Fauci, a member of the task force, disagreed and said there was only anecdotal evidence, according to Axios. Navarro, an economist, reportedly pointed to a stack of documents he had brought to the meeting and told Fauci, "That's science, not anecdote."
The conversation apparently grew heated before the leading participants ultimately agreed that "the administration's public stance should be that the decision to use the drug is between doctors and patients," according to Axios.
EDITOR'S NOTE: "I'm not a doctor. I have common sense." Another illustrious statement from our President.
3 comments:
So then, if a drug has been shown to protect people from this virus, but has not been vetted by our medical bureaucracy, does it still protect people? Crossing your t's and dotting your i's is all well and good when you have the time and luxury of doing so. We don't always have that option.
I have a friend who's daughter-in law is an administrative RN for several hundred Rheumatoid Arthritis patients in senior living facilities. She says that Hydroxychloroquine has been used on these patients for quite some time. Not one of them has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
As I stated in another article here, my rheumatologist put me on Hydroxychloroquine several weeks ago. It's approved for my compromised immune condition, but he put me on it, primarily, to protect me from this specific pandemic. Now my doctor IS a doctor... and he ALSO has common sense. And again...just because this drug has not been through several years of testing as our medical bureaucracy and biased leftist press are demanding...if it works...it works. I mean...if you were drowning...would you turn down someone's attempt to intervene simply because he was't a certified lifeguard?
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