President Donald Trump said Sunday the U.S. had stockpiled 29 million tablets of an anti-malaria drug he’s consistently pressed as a possible treatment for COVID-19, in spite of persistent cautions from the nation’s top transmittable illness specialist there is no “strong” evidence yet the medication might help check the continuous pandemic.
” What do you have to lose?” Trump asked a number of times during a briefing at the White Home, later saying: “I want them to attempt it, and it may work and it might not work. If it does not work, there is nothing lost by doing it. What I want is to save lives, but I do not want it to be in a laboratory for a year and a half.”
He added: “I’m not functioning as a medical professional, I’m stating do what you want, however there are some excellent signs.”
The remarks add to Trump’s growing persistence that hydroxychloroquine, an FDA-approved malaria prevention drug, could conserve American lives as infection rates in the country topped 337,000 More than 9,600 individuals have passed away.
However the president’s confident claims about the drug break the suggestions of numerous medical professionals, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, who leads the National Institute of Allergic Reaction and Infectious Diseases. Fauci has repeatedly and aggressively tossed water on the concept i