Adviser defends debunked Covid-19 treatment.. Drink Bleach...

Flouting scientific evidence, White House trade adviser defends debunked Covid-19 treatment

“I’m pleading with you and the American people to look at this drug again,” said Peter Navarro.

By QUINT FORGEY

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro defied scientific evidence Wednesday with his continued defense of hydroxychloroquine as an effective treatment for Covid-19.

But he declined to address President Donald Trump’s praise for a Houston-area physician who falsely touted the antimalarial medication as a coronavirus cure and has promoted other conspiracy theories related to alien DNA and demon sperm.

In an interview on CNN, Navarro argued “there are two gigantic sides” to the hydroxychloroquine debate — despite the Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision to withdraw its emergency-use authorization for the drug and the results of at least three new studies that found it is not helpful to Covid-19 patients.

Navarro, who is assisting with the administration’s coronavirus vaccine development efforts and coordination of the supply chain for personal protective equipment, has clashed repeatedly with public health officials including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, over the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine since the early days of the pandemic.

“I’m pleading with you and the American people to look at this drug again,” Navarro said. “Because I literally have tens of millions of tablets sitting in the Strategic National Stockpile that — if we were allowed under the doctors’ advice to get this stuff to people at the first sign of their symptoms — I guarantee you it would cut the amount of time of the symptoms, reduce the duration of the symptoms and save lives.”

Navarro’s advocacy on behalf of hydroxychloroquine has ramped up since a study conducted earlier this month by the Henry Ford Medical Center suggested the drug could help mildly ill patients recover faster from Covid-19. But experts have noted that patients who participated in that trial, which did not include a placebo control group, were not randomized and that many were also on steroids known to help with inflammation.

Meanwhile, video has circulated widely among conservatives on social media this week of Stella Immanuel, a pediatrician and a religious minister, championing hydroxychloroquine and discouraging the use of face masks during a speech outside the U.S. Supreme Court. After Trump retweeted an excerpt of her remarks late Monday, Twitter flagged the post and removed it from the president’s feed.

Immanuel has previously claimed that alien DNA is being used in medicine, that scientists are working to create a vaccine to prevent people from being religious, and that certain gynecological problems are caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches, according to a report Tuesday by The Daily Beast.

Immanuel subsequently tweeted her approval of the story, writing online that “The Daily Beast did a great job summarizing our deliverance ministry and exposing incubus and succubus. Thank you daily beast. If you need deliverance from these spirits. Contact us.”

The president described Immanuel as “very impressive” at a White House coronavirus briefing Tuesday where he was asked about her fringe healthcare beliefs.

“She said that she’s had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients, and I thought her voice was an important voice. But I know nothing about her,” he told reporters.

Trump, who was prescribed hydroxychloroquine earlier this year, also maintained that “many doctors think it is extremely successful,” saying: “I happen to think it works in the early stages. I think front-line medical people believe that, too. Some, many.”

On Wednesday, Navarro said the president discussed hydroxychloroquine “in a very sophisticated way yesterday,” but added that he had “absolutely nothing to say about” Trump’s invocation of Immanuel from the White House podium.

“I’m not going to be your prop in this circus, OK?” he told CNN.