In one part of the Trump administration, hydroxychloroquine remains a valid treatment and preventative for COVID-19, despite expert warnings. Speaking to reporters Thursday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany promoted the drug as a potential “prophylaxis” for the novel coronavirus and downplayed the dangers documented in recent studies as “hyperbole,” saying Donald Trump is feeling “very good” after claiming to have taken a two-week regimen of the drug he’s spent months promoting. “He said, quote, he’s ‘feeling perfect,’” McEnany told reporters in a briefing. “Quote, he’s ‘feeling absolutely great’ after taking this regimen. And, quote, he ‘would take it again’ if he thought that he was exposed.”
Whether Trump actually took hydroxychloroquine, which he has repeatedly suggested without evidence could be a magic bullet, is anyone’s guess—his reputation as a pathological liar makes it hard to suss out the truth. But in other parts of his own administration, warnings about the drug have multiplied. Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, said on CNN Wednesday that the “scientific data is really quite evident now about the lack of efficacy for it.” And on Thursday, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie told House lawmakers that his agency had “ratcheted down” its administration of the drug—though he also defended its continued use. “We are all learning as we go,” Wilkie testified.
Meanwhile, news about the drug has only become more damning. A major study in the journal Lancet last week found that coronavirus patients who took hydroxychloroquine were at a higher risk of death than those who were not; patients who took the drug were also more likely to develop serious arrhythmias that could lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Researchers were “unable to confirm a benefit” for the drug’s use against COVID-19, they wrote. The World Health Organization suspended its global hydroxychloroquine trial after the publication of the report. Countries like France have banned the drug’s use in COVID-19 cases altogether, citing a lack of scientific evidence that it does anything at all.
In continuing to tout the drug, the likes of Trump and McEnany find themselves increasingly divorced from reality—and other administration officials show no inclination to cover for them. “The Trump White House is now completely out of sync with the FDA regarding hydroxychloroquine,” CNN’s Marshall Cohen observed Thursday, referring to the agency’s guidelines last month warning against its use in coronavirus cases. “McEnany touted HCQ as a preventative drug for coronavirus and urged people to get prescriptions from doctors. FDA says there’s no proof it works and it’s not authorized for at-home use.”
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