Commentary-
President Trump first highlighted the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 in March. Anti-Trumpers immediately responded with negative statements about the medication and went so far as to claim that treatment with hydroxychloroquine increased mortality rates. That claim was subsequently reversed, but media reports continued to claim that hydroxychloroquine wasn’t effective, or hadn’t been sufficiently studied and proven to be effective. Had Trump not come out in favor of treatment with hydroxychloroquine, it would probably now be in use throughout the country.
I am usually accustomed to advocating for positions within the mainstream of medicine, so have been flummoxed to find that, in the midst of a crisis, I am fighting for a treatment that the data fully support but which, for reasons having nothing to do with a correct understanding of the science, has been pushed to the sidelines. As a result, tens of thousands of patients with COVID-19 are dying unnecessarily. Fortunately, the situation can be reversed easily and quickly.
– Dr. Harvey A. Risch
As it turns out, Trump may have been correct. According to a recent opinion article in Newsweek magazine, “The Key to Defeating COVID-19 Already Exists. We Need to Start Using It”. This article wasn’t written by a politician, but by a physician. And not just any physician, but by Harvey A. Risch, MD, PhD , Professor of Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health. Dr. Risch cites study after study documenting the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, given in combination with the antibiotics azithromycin or doxycycline and the nutritional supplement zinc.
The most telling part of Dr. Risch’s commentary states, “I am usually accustomed to advocating for positions within the mainstream of medicine, so have been flummoxed to find that, in the midst of a crisis, I am fighting for a treatment that the data fully support but which, for reasons having nothing to do with a correct understanding of the science, has been pushed to the sidelines. As a result, tens of thousands of patients with COVID-19 are dying unnecessarily. Fortunately, the situation can be reversed easily and quickly. “
Dr. Risch isn’t the only physician citing hydroxychloroquine treatment as a cure for COVID-19. We have heard from local physicians who have prescribed the drug and their patients quickly recovered. They noted that the drug isn’t a preventative, but a treatment. And they also echo Dr. Risch’s statement that hydroxychloroquine treatment is most effective when it’s administered as soon as possible after infection is detected.
According to Dr. Risch, “Hydroxychloroquine has shown major success when used early in high-risk people but, as one would expect for an antiviral, much less success when used late in the disease course. Even so, it has demonstrated significant benefit in large hospital studies in Michigan and New York City when started within the first 24 to 48 hours after admission.”
You can read the entire Newsweek article by clicking the link below.
