Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir on Sunday he can't recommend hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment because “trials do not show any benefit.”
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Giroir, a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, conceded there was a time hydroxychloroquine “looked very promising,” but then, “there were not the definitive studies.”
“At this point in time, there's been five randomized control, placebo controlled trials that do not show any benefit to hydroxychloroquine,” he said.
“At this point in time, we don't recommend that as a treatment. There's no evidence to show that it is. But on the other hand, we have remdesivir, we have steroids which reduces mortality by 30%.
“We still don't know about immune plasma, but it has worked in many other circumstances, there are many trials and you heard that national call for that. And a vaccine looks very promising as well. We have many things that do work. Right now, hydroxychloroquine, I can't recommend that.”
Giroir also said most doctors “are evidence-based and they're not influenced by whatever is on Twitter or anything else.”
“Hydroxychloroquine needs to be prescribed by a physician. There may be circumstances, I don't know what they are, where a physician may prescribe it for an individual,” he said.
“But I think most physicians and prescribers are evidence-based and they're not influenced by whatever is on Twitter or anything else. And the evidence just doesn't show that hydroxychloroquine is effective right now.”
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