Fox News health editor slams Trump for taking hydroxychloroquine: 'Highly irresponsible'

Source: The Hill | May 19, 2020 | Joe Concha

Fox News Channel’s senior managing editor for health news, Dr. Manny Alvarez, said late Monday that President Trump is acting “highly irresponsible” for taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against contracting the coronavirus, adding that he would like “to hear from the White House physician” on the matter.

“I found it to be highly irresponsible for the president to have come out and make that statement,” Alvarez told “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier. “And I would like to hear from the White House physician, to come out tomorrow and explain to me what has changed in a week and a half or two weeks for the president to take this medication when all the data that has been coming out, you know, very repetitively has shown that there’s really not a major benefit in most hospitals, including mine.”

The criticism from Alvarez, who practices at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, came after the president revealed earlier Monday that he has been taking the antimalarial drug on a daily basis after consulting with White House physician Sean Conley. Conley said in a Monday night statement that the “potential benefit outweighed the relative risks” in prescribing the drug for the president.

“After numerous discussions, he and I regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks,” Conley wrote. “In consolation with our inter-agency partners and subject matter experts around the country, I continue to monitor the myriad studies investigating potential Covid-19 therapies, and I anticipate employing the same shared medical decision making based on the evidence at hand in the future.”

Alvarez said on Fox News that his heart sank when Trump made the comments after a day of good news regarding a potential vaccine for COVID-19 from American biotech company Moderna.

“The number of COVID cases around the country are dipping dramatically and we’re now getting into a new vaccine modality, which I think is great,” Alvarez told Baier. “So all the good news, as far as I’m concerned today, that really boosted the stock market, really plummeted in my heart at … 4:30 this afternoon when he gave … that statement, I just found it to be quite irresponsible.”

“These medications do have side effects. If you’re going to use it, you have to have a physical, perhaps an [electrocardiogram],” he added.

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  • Consistent #39114

    Consistent #39116

    Consistent #39117

    EVERYDAY #39123

    “In consolation with our inter-agency partners…”

    I think the word should be “consultation.” Are we sure Trump didn’t write that statement for the doctor?

    At this point, I don’t care what Trump does. If he takes this drug and it does not prevent COVID, or if he takes it, but develops some potentially dangerous side effect, drug interaction or whatever — well, he’s an adult, he made the decision and frankly, I won’t really care what happens to him.

    But people like Neil Caputo are right to be concerned for those deaf, dumb and blind Trump supporters who will be demanding this drug from their doctors, or perhaps acquiring it illegally because Trump says it’s a good preventative against COVID 19. They could be putting themselves at great risk. We might see more deaths from taking this drug than from the virus itself.

    By the way, hydroxychloroquine does have some legitimate treatment purposes — for malaria, maybe lupus or some other conditions. With so many people demanding hydroxychloroquine for the dubious purpose of preventing COVID 19, will there be a shortage of the drug for patients who need it for those other conditions?

    Donald Trump — our most irresponsible president ever.

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