Jessica Gold, assistant professor of psychiatry in the School of Medicine
“HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine.” President Trump tweeted this in response to a poorly conducted clinical trial.
Despite warnings from his scientific advisers, he told the world that anti-malarial medications like hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine could revolutionize the treatment of Covid-19. But whether the president knows it or not, these medications can have very serious psychiatric side effects. Furthermore, the public may not know this.
And there has now been an alarming surge in people looking for these medications. Pharmacists have told us they are out of stock, in part because some doctors — including dentists — are reportedly stockpiling the medications for themselves and friends and families. Non-physicians are calling in fraudulent prescriptions for themselves.
Read the full piece in The New York Times.