As Reuters reports, on Saturday the CDC website added this to the information it provides to doctors seeking treatment advice for COVID-19:
“Although optimal dosing and duration of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19 are unknown, some U.S. clinicians have reported anecdotally... ”
This was followed by a number of “anecdotes” about how Trump’s favored drug might be administered. It didn’t quite advise to deliver it along with a Diet Coke and a load of hamberders (as Trump says), but it might as well, since what the CDC was peddling directly to doctors is also known as nothing more than unproven rumors.
After an uproar from medical professionals pointing out that the government was pumping out information that has: 1) already gotten people killed, 2) was definitely contributing to a shortage for people who badly need these drugs, 3) had no scientific basis, the CDC eventually changed the site on Tuesday evening.
The area that previously pushed Trump’s pet project now includes this sadly accurate language:
“There are no drugs or other therapeutics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to prevent or treat COVID-19.”
The site doesn’t include warnings about off-label use of chloroquine, but at least it no longer seems to be actively making the situation worse.
