If Albert Einstein (apocryphally) thought “human stupidity” was infinite, that’s only because he didn’t live long enough to encounter Trump Derangement Syndrome. To be fair, TDS is merely a special brand of stupid. But its stupidity is so infinite that it leaves nothing untouched. Not even innocent medications.
Hydroxychloroquine is a medication that’s been approved for 65 years and prescribed to millions of patients every year. Then the Bad Orange Man mentioned it.
Suddenly, hydroxychloroquine was cyanide, arsenic and DDT all rolled into one. Dozens of US states immediately banned what had, for over half a century, been a benign and commonly-prescribed medication.
At issue was whether hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment for the COVID-19. Initial results suggested maybe. But the Establishment had a narrative to push: the Wuhan Plague is the deadliest pathogen in, like, forever. Unless they had attended select, politically-approved, right-on leftist peaceful riots, citizens could do nothing but cower in their own homes and only venture outdoor with their faces fearfully muzzled.
On no account were the plebs to start taking their health into their own hands. Shut up and listen to the science, you deplorables.
Except that real science (as opposed to the mythical “the science”) is suggesting that maybe the Bad Orange Man was onto something.
Scientists administering hydroxychloroquine to hundreds of health workers in Victoria and NSW say they still believe the controversial drug may prevent people contracting coronavirus and have vowed to continue their investigations.
Hydroxychloroquine has been discontinued from the world’s major randomised clinical trials because it has been shown to be ineffective in reducing the severity of COVID-19 or mortality rates from the virus.
But scientists at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne say the drug may still play a role in preventing people contracting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, with scientific studies not yet ruling out the efficacy of the drug as a prophylactic.
In fact, the studies pooh-poohing hydroxycholoroquine have often proved to be garbage.
The Lancet published a study that claimed COVID-19 patients taking hydroxychloroquine were dying at higher rates and experiencing higher rates of cardiac toxicity. The esteemed scientific journal was forced to retract the study after it emerged it was based on dodgy data.
This doesn’t mean, of course, that the drug is a magic bullet against the China virus, but that’s never been the claim. But no one ever banned, say, AZT, because it didn’t cure HIV. But it certainly helped – and, as the evidence is increasingly saying, so does hydroxychloroquine.
“The evidence that shows that the drug doesn’t particularly help with treatment really never deterred us because we always thought that … if the drug did have a role in preventing people from getting COVID-19, it has to be even before they were exposed to SARS-CoV-2,” said Professor [Marc] Pelligrini.
“The drug doesn’t appear to be effective in helping people recover more quickly if they’ve got COVID-19, and people often misconstrue that as meaning the drug has got no efficacy whatsoever, no matter what circumstances you use it in.”
But such nuanced logic is beyond the simplistic, Trump-deranged thought processes of the legacy media.
Emergency care nurse at The Alfred hospital, Claire Lobb, said she had no hesitation in volunteering[…]
“As a nurse clinician, I’m familiar with hydroxychloroquine and its uses so I know it is widely used to treat a number of conditions and that it is relatively well-tolerated with very little side effects, if taken under medical supervision.
“If this study does prove that hydroxychloroquine is useful as a prophylaxis, then I would feel really proud to know that I played a small part in helping my colleagues on the frontline in this pandemic. To have a drug that is cheap and widely available to reduce transmission of the virus to frontline healthcare workers would be really helpful, especially while we are waiting for a vaccine.”
Maybe it will prove to have some efficacy, maybe not. The only way to be sure is to test it rigorously.
Meanwhile, rushing to ban a cheap, effective and relatively harmless medication just because the Bad Orange Man endorsed it is the height of anti-science lunacy.
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