Trump takes a medicine for malaria for coronavirus prevention

On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced that he is taking the drug for malaria as a preventive agent for coronavirus. Last month, the Federal Directorate for Control of the Safety of Food and Medical Preparations warned that this medicine can only be used for patients under stationary treatment under the supervision of doctors.

During a press briefing, President Trump said that he has been taking Gidoxichlorokhin and zinc-containing supplements for more than a week. According to the president, his doctor does not recommend taking this drug, but he asked the White House doctor to prescribe a prescription for him. “I began to accept it, because I think this is a good remedy,” Donald Trump explained. According to the official statement of the White House doctor, Sean Conley, after numerous discussions of the advantages and disadvantages of the drug with the president, they decided that "potential benefits are outweighing relative risk."

President Trump has repeatedly spoke about this drug as an effective tool from Covid-19, although its effectiveness was not confirmed experimentally. “There is no evidence that hydroxykhlorokhin prevents or cures Covid-19,” says Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association, in an interview with the Associated Press Agency. “Preliminary research results do not look promising.” At the same time, the use of the drug can cause dangerous, potentially fatal side effects, including cardiac arrhythmia.

The speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said that she would prefer that "our president would not take drugs not approved by scientists, especially considering his age and, let's say, the weight category."

In early May, two employees of the White House revealed a coronavirus causing the Covid-19. Since then, partial insulation measures were introduced there in order to prevent the possibility of infecting the president and vice president. Employees of the administration working in the White House were obliged to wear medical masks, and the president, vice president and their closest assistants are tested daily for the presence of coronavirus.