Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Trump administration’s Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said he would not recommend hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus.
Host Chuck Todd asked, “Look, I know you’re not a political person, but the president continues to advocate for hydroxychloroquine. Is that a danger to public health?”
Giroir said, “So from a public health standpoint, at first hydroxychloroquine looked very promising and there were not the definitive studies, and at this point in time there are five placebo-controlled trials. At this point in time, we don’t recommend that as a treatment, and there’s no evidence to show that it is. On the other hand, we have Remdesivir and steroids, which reduces mortality by 30%. We still don’t know about immune plasma, and a vaccine looks promising. Right now, hydroxychloroquine, I can’t recommend that.”
Todd asked, “Are you concerned that because of this mixed messaging that it’s going to continue to sort of create this fog, if you will, about treatments and misuse of this drug?”
Giroir said, “So hydroxychloroquine needs to be prescribed by a physician. But I think most physicians and prescribers are evidence-based and they’re not influenced by whatever’s on Twitter or anything else. The evidence just doesn’t show that hydroxychloroquine is effective right now. I think we need to move on from that and talk about what is effective.”
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