OPINION:
What has been amply demonstrated by the past six months of reactions to hydroxychloroquine from the research community, the medical profession, and Anthony Fauci? That you cannot trust a word out of any of these people’s mouths (“Hydroxychloroquine ’very safe,’ says Dr. Scott Atlas; blasts ’garbage’ medical studies,” Web, Aug. 29).
There were the obviously fraudulent studies published by The Lancet and then retracted, but also two recently published, randomized controlled trials from the U.K., as well as the trial funded (and subsequently discontinued) by the World Health Organization. These randomized trials showed no effect from hydroxychloroquine, but the devil lies in the details. Upon further inspection of what was actually done in the trials, we find that the patients were actually given doses 8 to 10 times what was normally prescribed for hydroxychloroquine, a drug that has been used for the past 75 years. This, of course, demonstrates that if you cannot kill someone with the SARS-2 virus, you can probably do it with 10 times the recommended dose of hydroxychloroquine.
The recent Henry Ford Health Center trial of hydroxychloroquine indicated a 50% mortality reduction. And a Belgium retrospective study of over 8,000 subjects showed a more 30%-plus mortality reduction. Note that in these trials the dosage and timing were well within what is has been considered safe for the drug, not goosed by a factor of 10. These two trials do not prove anything because they are observational, but they do provide good reasons to do an honest randomized trial.
Of course, we are not going to get that out of the medical research establishment when there is so much money at stake. Hydroxychloroquine HCQ is dirt-cheap, and is sold over the counter in many parts of the world.
SAMUEL BURKEEN
Reston, Va.
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