Dr. Anthony Fauci — the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — is disputing claims suggesting hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug touted by the president, is a proven treatment for COVID-19.
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell noted President Donald Trump doubled down on his endorsement of hydroxychloroquine which, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), should not be used to treat the coronavirus because it is not known to be effective and comes with risks.
Mitchell asked Fauci how damaging it is for Trump to continue to defend the drug as a potential treatment.
“You look at the scientific data and the evidence and the scientific data, the cumulative data on trials, clinical trials that were valid, namely critical trials that were randomized and controlled in the proper way. All of those trials show consistently that hydroxychloroquine is not effective in the treatment of coronavirus disease or COVID-19,” Fauci said.
Watch his comments below:
Fauci reiterated the most important thing the nation can do is “follow the science.”
His comments come amid controversy surrounding a video tweeted by Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. showing a group of doctors making false claims about the coronavirus, as IJR previously reported.
One of the doctors identifies “hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and Zithromax” as a cure for the coronavirus.
The president shared a part of the video featuring a woman named Stella Immanuel who claimed she used the drug on hundreds of patients.
The video was later removed from Facebook.
Mitchell went on to ask Fauci if the nation needs to do more to stop these “dangerous conspiracies” from misleading Americans.
“When there’s a video out there for a bunch of people spouting something that isn’t true, the only recourse you have is to be very very clear in presenting the scientific data that essentially contradicts that,” Fauci said.