Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin hit back at the New York Times and other media outlets Tuesday for their criticism of his hearings on potential early treatment COVID-19 therapeutics, telling Newsmax TV that their coverage and characterizations of the testimony was “close-minded.”
The 65-year-old Republican blasted the Daily Mail and Newsweek in addition to the Times, who – after calling Johnson a “snake oil salesman” in an opinion piece two weeks ago – again accused Johnson of “amplifying dubious theories and questionable treatments pushed by (President Donald) Trump.”
The Times story came on Monday, a day ahead of his Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin as early treatments.
“It’s just stunning how close-minded the approach has been to early treatment,” Johnson said on “Spicer & Co.” “It just makes so much sense. We have these cheap, widely available pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals that now there is growing evidence that it is effective. Why have we denied that? Why have we vilified doctors that first and foremost have the courage to treat COVID patients, that refuse to follow NIH guidelines, which basically say: ‘Send patients home and do nothing at all. And hope and pray you don’t get sick enough, because we’re not to treat you until you get sick enough to hit the hospital.”
Besides hydroxychloroquine, which recently has been shown in peer-reviewed studies to help patients with COVID-19 and noted anecdotal claims of saving lives, Johnson referred to ivermectin, a drug developed in the 1970s to treat livestock for parasitic diseases but was later used in humans to cure river blindness and elephantiasis. It, too, has shown promise in unapproved uses for COVID-19.
“All we’re asking is, ‘take a look at it,’” Johnson said. “If you’re a patient, and you get a COVID diagnosis, find a doctor who is willing to have an open mind and be willing to try some of these things that are completely safe. They’re some of the safest drugs ever developed. And they’re just be used off-label and it looks as evidence comes in, they’re being used successfully.
“Why go home in fear all by yourself, in isolation, when they’re maybe some treatments. I just do not understand the closed minds here.”
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