President Donald Trump speaks at the daily coronavirus briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on March 22, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Mar 23, 2020
Nigerian health officials are urgently warning people not to self-medicate with unproven treatments after three Nigerians overdosed on chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted--without evidence--as a possible treatment for the novel coronavirus.
CNNreported Monday that "three people were hospitalized in the [Nigerian city of Lagos] after taking the drug."
"The Lagos State Health Ministry issued a brief statement saying there was no 'hard evidence that chloroquine is effective in prevention or management of coronavirus infection,'" CNN noted. "Chloroquine is used to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis."
Despite warnings from health experts that chloroquine has not been tested for treating COVID-19, Trump falsely claimed during a press briefing Sunday that the evidence for chloroquine's effectiveness in treating the coronavirus is "very strong."
"Why should we be testing it in a test tube for a year and a half when we have thousands of people that are very sick, and we can use it on those people and maybe make them better?" the president asked.
\u201cTrump on using unproven and dangerous drugs for coronavirus: "Why should we be testing it in a test tube for a year and a half when we have thousands of people that are very sick, and we can use it on those people and maybe make them better?"\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1584915887
Sunday's briefing was not the first time Trump has peddled false or unproven claims about chloroquine's effectiveness in treating COVID-19.
"Now, a drug called chloroquine--and some people would add to it 'hydroxy-.' Hydroxychloroquine. So chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine. Now, this is a common malaria drug," Trump said during a briefing last Thursday. "The nice part is, it's been around for a long time, so we know that if it--if things don't go as planned, it's not going to kill anybody."
"There's tremendous promise," Trump contineud. "And normally the [Food and Drug Administration] would take a long time to approve something like that, and it's--it was approved very, very quickly and it's now approved, by prescription."
After president's remarks, the FDA issued a statement clarifying that it is "investigating" chloroquine as a possible coronavirus treatment but has not yet approved the drug for that purpose.
On Friday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) put out a tweet noting that the World Health Organization "has NOT approved the use of chloroquine for COVID-19 management."
"Scientists are working hard to confirm the safety of several drugs for this disease," NCDC added. "Please DO NOT engage in self-medication. This will cause harm and can lead to death."
According to Bloomberg, Nigeria reported two cases of chloroquine poisoning following Trump's Thursday briefing.
\u201c#FactsNotFear\n\n@WHO has NOT approved the use of chloroquine for #COVID19 management. Scientists are working hard to confirm the safety of several drugs for this disease.\n\nPlease DO NOT engage in self-medication. This will cause harm and can lead to death.\n\n#COVID19Nigeria\u201d— NCDC (@NCDC) 1584713962
Ignoring warnings from medical professionals, Trump proceeded to double down on his claim about chloroquine's effectiveness in a pair of tweets on Saturday, declaring to his nearly 75 million Twitter followers that "HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine."
\u201cHYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents).....\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1584799988
\u201c....be put in use IMMEDIATELY. PEOPLE ARE DYING, MOVE FAST, and GOD BLESS EVERYONE! @US_FDA @SteveFDA @CDCgov @DHSgov\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1584799988
"It only took a day for the president's tweets to get people hospitalized," lamented one Twitter user.
As ProPublica's Charles Ornstein reported Sunday, Trump's decision to boost chloroquine as a possible coronavirus treatment has "triggered a run on the drug" in the United States, causing a shortage of the medicine for those who need it to treat other serious conditions.
"Healthy people are stocking up just in case they come down with the disease," Ornstein reported. "That has left lupus patients... and those with rheumatoid arthritis suddenly confronting a lack of medication that safeguards them, and not only from the effects of those conditions. If they were required to take stronger drugs to suppress their immune systems, it could render them susceptible to more serious consequences should they get COVID-19."
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nigerian health officials are urgently warning people not to self-medicate with unproven treatments after three Nigerians overdosed on chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted--without evidence--as a possible treatment for the novel coronavirus.
CNNreported Monday that "three people were hospitalized in the [Nigerian city of Lagos] after taking the drug."
"The Lagos State Health Ministry issued a brief statement saying there was no 'hard evidence that chloroquine is effective in prevention or management of coronavirus infection,'" CNN noted. "Chloroquine is used to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis."
Despite warnings from health experts that chloroquine has not been tested for treating COVID-19, Trump falsely claimed during a press briefing Sunday that the evidence for chloroquine's effectiveness in treating the coronavirus is "very strong."
"Why should we be testing it in a test tube for a year and a half when we have thousands of people that are very sick, and we can use it on those people and maybe make them better?" the president asked.
\u201cTrump on using unproven and dangerous drugs for coronavirus: "Why should we be testing it in a test tube for a year and a half when we have thousands of people that are very sick, and we can use it on those people and maybe make them better?"\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1584915887
Sunday's briefing was not the first time Trump has peddled false or unproven claims about chloroquine's effectiveness in treating COVID-19.
"Now, a drug called chloroquine--and some people would add to it 'hydroxy-.' Hydroxychloroquine. So chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine. Now, this is a common malaria drug," Trump said during a briefing last Thursday. "The nice part is, it's been around for a long time, so we know that if it--if things don't go as planned, it's not going to kill anybody."
"There's tremendous promise," Trump contineud. "And normally the [Food and Drug Administration] would take a long time to approve something like that, and it's--it was approved very, very quickly and it's now approved, by prescription."
After president's remarks, the FDA issued a statement clarifying that it is "investigating" chloroquine as a possible coronavirus treatment but has not yet approved the drug for that purpose.
On Friday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) put out a tweet noting that the World Health Organization "has NOT approved the use of chloroquine for COVID-19 management."
"Scientists are working hard to confirm the safety of several drugs for this disease," NCDC added. "Please DO NOT engage in self-medication. This will cause harm and can lead to death."
According to Bloomberg, Nigeria reported two cases of chloroquine poisoning following Trump's Thursday briefing.
\u201c#FactsNotFear\n\n@WHO has NOT approved the use of chloroquine for #COVID19 management. Scientists are working hard to confirm the safety of several drugs for this disease.\n\nPlease DO NOT engage in self-medication. This will cause harm and can lead to death.\n\n#COVID19Nigeria\u201d— NCDC (@NCDC) 1584713962
Ignoring warnings from medical professionals, Trump proceeded to double down on his claim about chloroquine's effectiveness in a pair of tweets on Saturday, declaring to his nearly 75 million Twitter followers that "HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine."
\u201cHYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents).....\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1584799988
\u201c....be put in use IMMEDIATELY. PEOPLE ARE DYING, MOVE FAST, and GOD BLESS EVERYONE! @US_FDA @SteveFDA @CDCgov @DHSgov\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1584799988
"It only took a day for the president's tweets to get people hospitalized," lamented one Twitter user.
As ProPublica's Charles Ornstein reported Sunday, Trump's decision to boost chloroquine as a possible coronavirus treatment has "triggered a run on the drug" in the United States, causing a shortage of the medicine for those who need it to treat other serious conditions.
"Healthy people are stocking up just in case they come down with the disease," Ornstein reported. "That has left lupus patients... and those with rheumatoid arthritis suddenly confronting a lack of medication that safeguards them, and not only from the effects of those conditions. If they were required to take stronger drugs to suppress their immune systems, it could render them susceptible to more serious consequences should they get COVID-19."
Nigerian health officials are urgently warning people not to self-medicate with unproven treatments after three Nigerians overdosed on chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted--without evidence--as a possible treatment for the novel coronavirus.
CNNreported Monday that "three people were hospitalized in the [Nigerian city of Lagos] after taking the drug."
"The Lagos State Health Ministry issued a brief statement saying there was no 'hard evidence that chloroquine is effective in prevention or management of coronavirus infection,'" CNN noted. "Chloroquine is used to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis."
Despite warnings from health experts that chloroquine has not been tested for treating COVID-19, Trump falsely claimed during a press briefing Sunday that the evidence for chloroquine's effectiveness in treating the coronavirus is "very strong."
"Why should we be testing it in a test tube for a year and a half when we have thousands of people that are very sick, and we can use it on those people and maybe make them better?" the president asked.
\u201cTrump on using unproven and dangerous drugs for coronavirus: "Why should we be testing it in a test tube for a year and a half when we have thousands of people that are very sick, and we can use it on those people and maybe make them better?"\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1584915887
Sunday's briefing was not the first time Trump has peddled false or unproven claims about chloroquine's effectiveness in treating COVID-19.
"Now, a drug called chloroquine--and some people would add to it 'hydroxy-.' Hydroxychloroquine. So chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine. Now, this is a common malaria drug," Trump said during a briefing last Thursday. "The nice part is, it's been around for a long time, so we know that if it--if things don't go as planned, it's not going to kill anybody."
"There's tremendous promise," Trump contineud. "And normally the [Food and Drug Administration] would take a long time to approve something like that, and it's--it was approved very, very quickly and it's now approved, by prescription."
After president's remarks, the FDA issued a statement clarifying that it is "investigating" chloroquine as a possible coronavirus treatment but has not yet approved the drug for that purpose.
On Friday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) put out a tweet noting that the World Health Organization "has NOT approved the use of chloroquine for COVID-19 management."
"Scientists are working hard to confirm the safety of several drugs for this disease," NCDC added. "Please DO NOT engage in self-medication. This will cause harm and can lead to death."
According to Bloomberg, Nigeria reported two cases of chloroquine poisoning following Trump's Thursday briefing.
\u201c#FactsNotFear\n\n@WHO has NOT approved the use of chloroquine for #COVID19 management. Scientists are working hard to confirm the safety of several drugs for this disease.\n\nPlease DO NOT engage in self-medication. This will cause harm and can lead to death.\n\n#COVID19Nigeria\u201d— NCDC (@NCDC) 1584713962
Ignoring warnings from medical professionals, Trump proceeded to double down on his claim about chloroquine's effectiveness in a pair of tweets on Saturday, declaring to his nearly 75 million Twitter followers that "HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine."
\u201cHYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents).....\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1584799988
\u201c....be put in use IMMEDIATELY. PEOPLE ARE DYING, MOVE FAST, and GOD BLESS EVERYONE! @US_FDA @SteveFDA @CDCgov @DHSgov\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1584799988
"It only took a day for the president's tweets to get people hospitalized," lamented one Twitter user.
As ProPublica's Charles Ornstein reported Sunday, Trump's decision to boost chloroquine as a possible coronavirus treatment has "triggered a run on the drug" in the United States, causing a shortage of the medicine for those who need it to treat other serious conditions.
"Healthy people are stocking up just in case they come down with the disease," Ornstein reported. "That has left lupus patients... and those with rheumatoid arthritis suddenly confronting a lack of medication that safeguards them, and not only from the effects of those conditions. If they were required to take stronger drugs to suppress their immune systems, it could render them susceptible to more serious consequences should they get COVID-19."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.