Make America Healthy Again - Trump populism comes to health regulation (2 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

This is going to need a thread as we move forward - there are now clear signs that Trump supports a new, critical if not dubious approach on vaccination, and his HHS nominee RFK Jr. regularly espouses eating raw milk and raw meat . . . dietary components most experts agree are more dangerous than their heated counterparts.

Health is certainly one of those areas were anti-institutionalism and turning to popular influencers over medical science comes with genuine risk of harm.

Today Trump provided his most clear indication that he is a vaccine skeptic - claiming (falsely of course) that the USA doesn't "do as well" as other nations that use no vaccines at all.

 

[Optimus Prime]

A proponent of using the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 despite scant evidence of its efficacy has been named to a top pandemic prevention role at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Washington Post reports.

Steven J Hatfill is a virologist who served in Donald Trump’s first administration, during which he promoted hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus in the early months of the pandemic, when vaccines and treatments were not yet available.

He recently started as a special adviser in the office of the director of the administration for strategic preparedness and response, which prepares the country to respond to pandemics, as well as chemical and biological attacks.

The Trump administration embraced using the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, along with other drugs such as ivermectin and chloroquine, as treatments against Covid-19, despite concerns over both their efficacy and potentially serious side-effects.

In June 2020, just months after the pandemic started, the Food and Drug Administration warned against using hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat Covid-19 over “reports of serious heart rhythm problems and other safety issues”, even after Trump approved ordering millions of doses of the drug for US patients from Brazil.

Last year, a study released at the onset of the pandemic that promoted hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 was withdrawn by the publisher of the medical journal.

In an interview with the Post, Hatfill defended his support of hydroxychloroquine, which remains in use to treat diseases including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

“There is no ambiguity there. It is a safe drug,” Hatfill said, noting that “they gave the drug to the president” in 2020, when Trump contracted Covid-19.............

US scientist who touted hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid named to pandemic prevention role

Steven J Hatfill, who promoted the drug despite scant evidence of efficacy, becomes special adviser at HHS

www.theguardian.com