HHS Dep. Secretary: We Taking In Hydroxychloroquine So It Can Be Handed Out
On FOX Across America with Jimmy Failla, Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan defended the use of hydroxychloroquine as a way to fight COVID-19.
“You look at our stockpile, we have received millions, tens of millions of doses of chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine into our strategic national stockpile to be distributed. So we’ve taking it in to hand it out. So that’s a statement. We didn’t reject those donations. We’re taking it in and distributing it. So there is one part of the department. The FDA has approved this in their emergency use authorization. So that’s our scientific experts at the FDA giving their approval for an emergency use. People say, well, the FDA hasn’t fully approved it Well, FDA goes through a clinical trial process that is very granular that has to determine safety and effectiveness across the board. They’ve got a way of doing these things that takes a long period of time, because that’s what Americans expect, is that we have the gold standard scientific advice given on these things that takes a long period of time and a lot of evidence. On the other hand, whereas there’s a lot of studies out there, lots of anecdotal evidence, we’ve seen lots of these developed overseas and domestically on these. And ultimately FDA doesn’t regulate. We don’t regulate the practice of medicine. If a doctor and a patient decide that they want to use these drugs, that is up to them. That is not a federal determination. A lot of people mistake that. They think it’s illegal to take these drugs if FDA hasn’t approved them, that’s not the case.”
