This is an amazing and important story from @WStoneReports: hydroxychloroquine is unproven as a treatment for COVID-19. Which means it needs study. But because President Trump publicly promoted it, some people are reluctant to study it. @MorningEdition @NPR
The story quotes Dr. Christine Johnston, who's trying to test hydroxychloroquine: "We are hearing now from some participants that the study and the drug feel too political and they just don’t want to participate at all.” @MorningEdition @NPR
The president's promotion of the drug was followed by an FDA warning about potential side effects. Dr. John Giles is now having trouble studying the drug at Columbia University: "Pretty much everybody said, Well that's the drug that's dangerous to your heart." @MorningEdition
It's "a very safe drug," says Giles. But it has some risk. Scientists need to learn if it has benefits that outweigh the risk. This subtlety doesn't fit in with politics where we're supposed to be absolutely for or against all things based solely on our view of one person. @NPR
The president, who says he is taking the drug, said yesterday: "It's gotten a bad reputation only because I'm promoting it." This appears true. By leaping to a conclusion, he caused others to leap to the opposite conclusion. Science does not yet support any conclusion.
This is an iconic story of identity politics. Facts don't matter at all. For some people, if you're for Trump, you're for whatever he says. If you're against Trump, you're against that. Scientists seeking facts are criticized merely for seeking them.
