The White House released a memo from the physician to the president on Monday evening following Donald Trump’s announcement that he is taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure against the coronavirus.
Mr Trump has pushed the anti-malaria drug for weeks as a potential treatment for coronavirus. Federal health agencies have warned of serious negative side effects for its use.
In the memo, Sean Conley, a commander in the US Navy, says that he and the president have had numerous discussions about the evidence for and against the use of the drug, and decided that the “potential benefit” outweighed the “relative risk”.
Read the letter below:
The memo does not state that the president was prescribed hydroxychloroquine, nor does it confirm that he is taking the drug, causing some to question if the president is telling the truth.
Late last month the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a dire warning against taking the drug.
“The FDA is aware of reports of serious heart rhythm problems in patients with Covid-19 treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, often in combination with azithromycin and other QT prolonging medicines. We are also aware of increased use of these medicines through outpatient prescriptions,” the agency said.
“Therefore, we would like to remind healthcare professionals and patients of the known risks associated with both hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. We will continue to investigate risks associated with the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for Covid-19 and communicate publicly when we have more information.”
Medical professionals, as well as lawmakers and pundits from both sides of the political divide, have slammed the president's apparent use of the drug, describing it as "dangerous".
As of Tuesday morning, the US has 1.54 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 90,684 officially recorded deaths.
