Fact Check: Trump's Inaccurate Claims on Hydroxychloroquine
Source: New York Times
Trump’s Inaccurate Claims on Hydroxychloroquine
The president falsely described scientific research around the malaria drug, falsely denied the existence of a federal warning against it and argued, with no evidence, that large numbers of health care workers were taking it.
By Linda Qiu
May 21, 2020
Updated 3:02 p.m. ET
As President Trump has promoted hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus and claimed to be taking it himself, he has continued to make inaccurate or incomplete statements about the drug. Here is a fact check of his recent claims.
WHAT MR. TRUMP SAID
“You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the front-line workers before you catch it. The front-line workers, many, many are taking it.”
— at a round table with restaurant executives on Monday
“Hydroxychloroquine is used by thousands and thousands of front-line workers, so that hopefully they don’t catch this horrible disease or whatever you want to call it.”
— in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday
This lacks evidence. It is certainly possible that some doctors and health care workers are still taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive treatment, but there is little support for the president’s repeated suggestion that the practice is widespread.
The American Medical Association said in a statement that it “does not know of any tracking or surveys examining personal use of hydroxychloroquine among health care workers.”
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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/us/politics/trump-fact-check-hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-.html