Fox News’ Neil Cavuto was so shocked by President Donald Trump’s admission that he has begun taking hydroxychloroquine that the anchor his viewers not to follow the president’s example: “It will kill you. I cannot stress enough: It will kill you.”
“That was stunning,” Cavuto said on “Your World” after rolling the clip of Trump saying he’s been taking the medication as a preventive measure against the coronavirus despite no medical evidence that the anti-malarial drug is effective as either a treatment or a deterrent for COVID-19.
“The president of the United States just to acknowledged that he is taking a hydroxychloroquine, a drug that really is meant to treat malaria and lupus,” said the Fox News anchor, who has multiple sclerosis. “The president is insistent that it has enormous benefits for patients either trying to prevent or already have COVID-19. The fact of the matter is, though, when the president said, ‘What have you got to lose,’ in a number of studies, those certainly vulnerable in the population have one thing to lose: their lives.”
Cavuto, who was backed up by St. Joseph University Hospital Chairman of Medicine Dr. Bob Lahita later on in his show, cited studies showing the drug had no real effect on COVID-19 and, in at least one study, was associated with death of patients with “vulnerable conditions.”
As an immunocompromised person himself, Cavuto has been reporting on the reopening of the American economy from a unique position, highlighting how workers can stay safe when businesses reopen.
“The V.A. study, to which the president alluded, wasn’t a loaded political one,” Cavuto said of one of the studies that Trump referenced. “It was a test on patients there and those who took it in a vulnerable population, including those with respiratory or other conditions, they died. I want to stress again: They died.
“If you are in a risky population here and you are taking this as a preventative treatment to ward off the virus — or, in a worst-case scenario, you are dealing with the virus and you are in this vulnerable population — it will kill you. I cannot stress enough: This will kill you,” Cavuto continued. “So, again, whatever benefits the president says this has — and, certainly, it has had for those suffering from malaria, dealing with lupus — this is a leap that that should not be taken casually by those watching at home or assuming, ‘Well, the President of the United States says it’s OK.’”
Cavuto went on to say he was not trying to make a political point.
Fox News's Neil Cavuto is stunned by Trump's announcement that he's taking hydroxychloroquine: "If you are in a risky population here, and you are taking this as a preventative treatment … it will kill you. I cannot stress enough. This will kill you." pic.twitter.com/e6D5alfAgc
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 18, 2020