Free Republic

The Spanish health watchdog has said it sees no reason to stop the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), the potentially dangerous medicine touted as a Covid-19 treatment by the US president. Several European nations, including France, Italy and Belgium, have decided to suspend prescription of the anti-malaria drug, which came to international prominence after US President Donald Trump said the medicine could be used to tackle Covid-19 and that he himself was taking it. The Spanish health watchdog, AEMPS, said the paper published by the magazine Lancet, which warned about health risks associated with HCQ, was not conclusive enough to stop...

The World Health Organization is temporarily suspending the use of hydroxychloroquine from its global study into experimental treatments for the coronavirus. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a news briefing Monday that a study published last week showed those taking hydroxychloroquine had a greater risk of heart problems and death.

For months, President Trump has promoted hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for covid-19, calling the anti-malarial drug a “game changer,” asking patients, “What do you have to lose?” — and even announcing that he was taking the drug himself in an attempt to ward off the novel coronavirus. On Monday, however, the World Health Organization announced it had temporarily halted its global trial of the drug, citing a new study that found a significantly higher risk of death among those taking hydroxychloroquine or the closely related drug chloroquine.

Russia’s Health Ministry announced it will not ban hydroxychloroquine, seen by some as potentially dangerous. The drug, touted by US President Trump, has been suspended for use in treating Covid-19 in France, Italy, and Belgium. On Thursday, the Russian Health Ministry stated on its website that hydroxychloroquine’s effectiveness and safety in the treatment of coronavirus is continually being monitored, but the ministry is not taking any steps towards outlawing it. This decision is in sharp contrast to moves made by some European countries which, due to safety concerns, have completely stopped the prescription of the drug to fight the coronavirus....

The World Health Organization (WHO), under the leadership of Ethiopian politician and Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, cannot be trusted. It has become another untrustworthy corrupt globalist enterprise. Spread of the new coronavirus that originated in China has not yet reached a level that would deem it a global public health emergency, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The virus has sickened more than 600 people, and 25 have died.“Now is not the time. It’s too early to consider that this event is a public health emergency of international concern,” Didier Houssin, chair of the WHO emergency committee, said...