Posted on 05/16/2020 7:04:24 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
WASHINGTON (AP) Facing growing criticism, the Department of Veterans Affairs said Friday that it will not halt use of an unproven malaria drug on veterans with COVID-19 but that fewer of its patients are now taking it.
In responses provided to Congress and obtained by The Associated Press, the VA said it never encouraged or discouraged its government-run hospitals to use hydroxychloroquine on patients even as President Donald Trump heavily promoted the drug for months without scientific evidence of its effectiveness.
Still, it acknowledged that VA Secretary Robert Wilkie had wrongly asserted publicly without evidence that the drug had been shown to benefit younger veterans. The VA, the nations largest hospital system, also agreed more study was needed on the drug and suggested its use was now limited to extenuating circumstances, such as last-ditch efforts to save a coronavirus patients life.
In the first week of May, 17 patients had received the drug for COVID-19, according to VA data obtained by the AP. The department declined to say how many patients had been treated with hydroxychloroquine for the coronavirus since January, but a recent analysis of VA hospital data showed that hundreds of veterans had taken it by early April.
VA has not endorsed nor discouraged the use of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients and has left those decisions to providers and their patients, the VA said. While all drugs have the potential for adverse events and some drugs in particular, like hydroxychloroquine, are known to have specific risks, when they are used carefully and judiciously, they can be managed safely.
As of Friday, 11,883 veterans had been confirmed to be infected with the virus and 985 had died, according to VA statistics.
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
Trump heavily promoted it? More like the MSM promoted a false narrative.
So you see Dr. Fauci...you are not the end all....and all doctors who prescribe the malaria cocktail are likely not as stupid as you say they are.
He mentioned it...not promoted it.
Many vets took chloroquine ( predecessor drug) for years on deployments to SEA and other areas where malaria is endemic.
Plenty of science available on this proven drug.
Article loaded with slant. Commie run operation it seems this military.com
The media hates Trump so much it wants people to die from not getting the drug that Trump SUGGESTED might help.
They described him as “touting,” “hyping,” “peddling” the drug, and the NYT investigated to see if Trump had any investments in the company that produces the drug. He has, amounting to under $1,000.
Article content is from AP which is deep state media.
But of course they fail to use zinc?
even as President Donald Trump heavily promoted the drug for months without scientific evidence of its effectiveness.”
BS on two points in one sentence. So even the military publication is a rats nest.
“President Donald Trump heavily promoted the drug for months”
I watched EVERY minute of EVERY task force press conference and I can conclusively say that the statement above is BULLSHIRT!
He didn’t “promote” it, PERIOD! He certainly didn’t “heavily promote” it!
“Could be”, “MIGHT be”, “check with your doctor”, etc, etc, etc. ALWAYS a qualifier. Always just an “OPTION” to “CONSIDER”.
ZINC!
YOUTUBE President Trump on HCQ and then a success story
The bitter truth is that Faucci and his big pharma friends do not want the general public to use hydroxycloroquine because this well established anti-malaria drug is inexpensive. It threatens the ability of researchers to receive government grants and investors in pharmaceutical companies to profiteer off of the pandemic by releasing new drugs that are subject to patents.
I remember the President saying he had heard good things and was hopeful about its effectiveness, but I must have been asleep for the many months he was heavily promoting it.
In the text of the article it reads, “The VA, the nations largest hospital system, also agreed more study was needed on the drug and suggested its use was now limited to extenuating circumstances, such as last-ditch efforts to save a coronavirus patients life.”
As everybody knows advocates say use it early and if you wait it may be to late. VA doctors don’t know that?
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