Hydroxychloroquine: When medicine and politics clash
Image Credit: The Hindu
ISLAMABAD, August 8 (online): Dr. Yenting Chen is a board certified emergency medicine physician.he explains how medicine is clashing with politics over an ineffective drug.
For many professionals in the science and healthcare communities, the return of hydroxychloroquine to public discussion came as a shock.
Hydroxychloroquine is an antimalarial drug that researchers initially hoped could be a potential treatment for COVID-19. Over the last few months, scientists have extensively studied hydroxychloroquine in multiple randomized controlled trials.
All of the randomized controlled trials came to the same conclusion: There was, unfortunately, no demonstrated benefit in the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19.
As a result, most healthcare providers have moved on from hydroxychloroquine. Instead, the medical community has looked at other therapies with proven benefits, such as remdesivir and steroids.
However, surprisingly, we now find ourselves discussing hydroxychloroquine again in the press and on social media.
One pivotal event appears to be an opinion piece promoting hydroxychloroquine based on early flawed observational studies written, inexplicably, by a professor of epidemiology at Yale.
Soon after, a YouTube video appeared, which promoted hydroxychloroquine as a “cure” for COVID-19 based on anecdotal experiences. A group of doctors claiming to be “America’s Frontline Doctors” made this video. However, people have questioned their “frontline” credentials.
Together, these pieces of content fueled conspiracy theories claiming that the scientific community has unfairly discredited hydroxychloroquine in an attempt to hurt the Trump administration.
Social media is now awash with people stating that they will demand hydroxychloroquine from their doctors. The governor of Ohio has successfully pressured the state’s board of pharmacy to reverse a ban on hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19.
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