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President Trump on Monday said he has been taking the drug hydroxychloroquine, an unproven drug to treat the novel coronavirus for “about a week and a half.”

"I happen to be taking it [hydroxychloroquine]," Trump said during a roundtable event at the White House. "A lot of good things have come out. You'd be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the front-line workers. Before you catch it. The front-line workers, many, many are taking it."

“I’m taking it, hydroxychloroquine. Right now, yeah. Couple of weeks ago, I started taking it. Cause I think it’s good, I’ve heard a lot of good stories.”

The president said that he’s taking a pill prescribed by the White House doctor. “I take a pill everyday. At some point I’ll stop. What I’d like to is I’d like to have the cure and or the vaccine and that’ll happen very soon.” Trump dismissed side effects warned by the FDA, saying “All I can tell you is, so far I seem to be OK.”

“I’m not gonna get hurt by it. It’s been around for 40 years,” he said. “For malaria, for lupus, for other things. I take it. Front-line workers take it. A lot of doctors take it — excuse me, a lot of doctors take it. I take it.”



The White House physician said in a statement Monday that hydroxychloroquine could be beneficial to the president after a White House staffer tested positive for the coronavirus.

“After numerous discussions he and I had regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks,” Sean Connely wrote.

During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump dismissed warnings about a hydroxychloroquine study, calling it a “false study.”

“There was a false study done where they gave it to very sick people, extremely sick people, people that were ready to die. It was given by obviously not friends of the administration and the study came out, the people were ready to die, everybody was old, has bad problems with hearts and diabetes and everything else you can imagine.”

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence is not taking the drug. In a Fox News interview at the NASA headquarters, he said “My physician hasn’t recommended that but I wouldn’t hesitate to take the counsel of my doctor.” He added “I would never begrudge any American taking the advice of their physician.”
During a meeting with Arkansas’ governor, Trump told reports he will stop taking hydroxychloroquine in a “day or two.”

 “I think the regimen finishes in a day or two — yeah, I think it’s two days, two days,” the president told reporters.

“I get a lot of tremendously positive news on the hydroxy,” Trump added. He said he previously took a pill “every day” for around a week and a half.
                   
This article was last modified on May 20, 2020 at 8:59 PM ET
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