President Donald Trump and his administration kept up their out-sized promotion Monday of an anti-malaria drug not yet officially approved for fighting the new coronavirus, even though scientists say more testing is needed before it's proven safe and effective against COVID-19.
Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro championed Hydroxychloroquine in television interviews a day after the president publicly put his faith in the medication to lessen the toll of the coronavirus pandemic.
What do I know, I'm not a doctor," Trump said Sunday.
"But I have common sense.
Trump held out promise for the drug as he grasps for ways to sound hopeful in the face of a mounting death toll and with the worst weeks yet to come for the US.
The virus has killed more than 10,000 in the US, and measures meant to contain its spread have taken a painful economic toll and all but frozen life in large swaths of the country.
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But medical officials warn that it's dangerous to be hawking unproven remedies, and even Trump's own experts have cautioned against it.
The American Medical Association's president, Dr Patrice Harris, said she personally would not prescribe the drug for a coronavirus patient, saying the risks of severe side-effects were "great and too significant to downplay without large studies showing the drug is safe and effective.
In a heated Situation Room meeting of the White House's coronavirus task force on Saturday, Navarro challenged the top US infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, over his concerns about recommending the drug based only on unscientific anecdotal evidence.
Navarro, who has no formal medical training, erupted at Fauci, raising his voice and claiming the reports of studies he had collected were enough to recommend the drug widely, according to a person familiar with the exchange who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the blow-up.
Fauci has repeatedly said current studies provide only anecdotal findings that the drug works.
In response, Navarro told CNN on Monday: "I would have two words for you: 'second opinion.'