by Harriet Alexander at The Daily Mail
A malaria drug which Donald Trump was condemned for hailing as a possible COVID-19 treatment can increase survival rates by up to 200 per cent, scientists say.
Scientists found that, when ventilated patients with a severe version of COVID were given high doses of hydroxychloroquine with zinc, their survival rates could increase dramatically.
Trump said in March 2020 he was taking it to prevent him catching the virus, rather than treat it. He did not become infected until October, and was not treated with the drug.
The former president had previously touted hydroxy as a potential miracle treatment, with scientists lining up to insist he was wrong to do so.
Yet Trump’s allies on Wednesday were highlighting the study, conducted by Saint Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey on 255 patients.
It was published on May 31 on the medical site medRxiv.
Trump’s spokesman, Jason Miller, tweeted: ‘Oh.’
He quoted: ‘Study shows hydroxychloroquine and zinc treatments increased coronavirus survival rate by almost three times’
His son, Donald Trump Jr, said: ‘In the last week alone, we’ve learned that the media, so-called fact checkers and their Big Tech enforcers lied to us about the lab-leak theory, Hydroxychloroquine and the clearing of Lafayette Square.
‘All to hurt Donald Trump.
‘What else are they lying about?’
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the stridently pro-Trump congresswoman for Georgia, tweeted: ‘How many people died bc Dr. Fauci said trust the science and Hydroxychloroquine isn’t effective?
‘New study shows: Hydroxychloroquine + Azithromycin therapy at a higher dose improved survival by nearly 200% in ventilated COVID patients.
‘Trump was right.’ The former president has been banned from all major social media platforms, and has yet to issue his own statement about the new findings.
In April 2020, Trump declared: ‘We bought a tremendous amount of hydroxychloroquine, which I think is, you know, it’s a great malaria drug.
‘It’s worked unbelievably, it’s a powerful drug on malaria. And there are signs that it works on [coronavirus], some very strong signs.
‘And in the meantime, it’s been around a long time, and also works very powerfully on lupus. So there are some very strong, powerful signs, and we’ll have to see.
‘Because again, it’s being tested now, this is a new thing that just happened to us, the invisible enemy, we call it.’
He continued: ‘It’s a very strong, powerful medicine, but it doesn’t kill people. We have some very good results and some very good tests. You’ve seen the same test that I have.
‘In France, they had a very good test. But we don’t have time to go and say, gee, let’s take a couple of years and test it out. And let’s go and test with the test tubes and the laboratories.
‘We don’t have time. I’d love to do that.’
A month later, on May 28, 2020, he shocked attendees during a roundtable event at the White House by saying: ‘I happen to be taking it.
‘A lot of good things have come out. 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.’
He added: ‘I’m taking it, hydroxychloroquine. Right now, yeah. Couple of weeks ago, I started taking it. Cause I think it’s good, I’ve heard a lot of good stories.’
White House physician Dr. Sean Conley released a memo that evening, which said that after discussing evidence for and against hydroxychloroquine with Trump, they concluded ‘the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks.’
Trump’s support of the unproven drug was described by critics as reckless and dangerous at the time. He caught COVID in October, and was admitted to Walter Reed Medical Center after struggling to breathe, but later recovered after receiving a then-experimental antibody therapy…
Continue Reading