{"id":30670,"date":"2020-05-20T19:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T19:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/05\/20\/former-va-secretary-questions-trumps-use-of-anti-malaria-drug-to-prevent-coronavirus\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:37:07","slug":"former-va-secretary-questions-trumps-use-of-anti-malaria-drug-to-prevent-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2020\/05\/20\/former-va-secretary-questions-trumps-use-of-anti-malaria-drug-to-prevent-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"Former VA secretary questions Trump\u2019s use of anti-malaria drug to prevent coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former Veterans Affairs Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/10\/17\/former-va-secretary-details-dysfunction-chaos-within-the-trump-administration\/\" target=_blank>David Shulkin<\/a> on Wednesday criticized President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to take the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/coronavirus\/\" target=_blank>coronavirus prevention<\/a>, saying it sends a dangerous message to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt this point to take a drug that has no effectiveness or no known effectiveness, but potential harm, just doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/03\/28\/shulkin-out-trump-fires-va-secretary-after-weeks-of-controversy\/\" target=_blank>Shulkin<\/a> said during an interview on CNN. \u201cI\u2019m concerned about the way that this is probably being discussed and that other Americans may believe that this is now safe to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd this clearly is not safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shulkin, who worked as a physician and health care system administrator before joining VA in 2015, served as Trump\u2019s top veterans official from 2017 to March 2018, when the president fired him for unspecified reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/10\/17\/former-va-secretary-details-dysfunction-chaos-within-the-trump-administration\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_382637587698.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Former VA secretary details dysfunction, chaos within the Trump administration<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">David Shulkin says he doesn&#039;t want to attack the president, but does see big changes needed to improved public service.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since then, Shulkin has been a high-profile voice on numerous public health issues and written a book on the tumultuous behind-the-scenes operations of the Trump administration, although he has offered muted criticism of the president himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But he blasted Trump\u2019s decision to take hydroxychloroquine \u2014 which recent studies have indicated offers little protection from the fast-spreading coronavirus and may cause serious health complications \u2014 as a \u201cpatient driven\u201d decision not based in science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNormally if you press your doctor for something and they really think it&#8217;s not a good idea for you to take (it), they&#8217;re not going to prescribe it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you&#8217;re the president and you say to your doctor \u2018I really want to take this,\u2019 how does that play out?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has touted the drug as a potential cure or vaccine for coronavirus, which has infected more than 1.5 million Americans in the last three months. But numerous scientific studies have cast doubt on his assertions, and the Food and Drug Administration has recommended \u201cextreme caution\u201d with use and prescription of the drug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In April, a study by the Department of Veterans Affairs found higher rates of death among patients with coronavirus who used hydroxychloroquine than those on other treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Trump called those findings \u201ca phony study put out by the VA\u201d and called criticism surrounding the medicine a political-based attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think it&#8217;s worth it as a line of defense,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cAnd I&#8217;ll stay on it for a little while longer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2020\/05\/17\/va-says-it-wont-stop-use-of-unproven-malaria-drug-on-veterans-with-coronavirus\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20128648081478.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">VA says it won\u2019t stop use of unproven malaria drug on veterans with coronavirus<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Facing growing criticism, the Department of Veterans Affairs said Friday that it will not halt use of an unproven malaria drug on veterans with  COVID-19 but that fewer of its patients are now taking it.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hydroxychloroquine is used in the military to prevent malaria, but Shulkin said the medicine\u2019s use there isn\u2019t comparable to use by the general public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat&#8217;s done mostly in young healthy adults who are going into the military, which is very different than many people today who are out there concerned about getting COVID-19,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shulkin added that he worries the impact of the illness on veterans may be underestimated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are 20 million veterans in this country and the Department of Veteran Affairs is reporting that there are 1,000 deaths,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy concern is is that there are many more veterans suffering, there are many more veterans that need help \u2026 we have to make sure that we\u2019re looking out and protecting all of our veterans in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Shulkin said the president&#8217;s decision sends a poor message to Americans about the safety of the drug.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[61,101,23,89,12,26,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-30670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NMRWANLYIBDQBA5ZFHQZCSDIUE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2020\/05\/20\/former-va-secretary-questions-trumps-use-of-anti-malaria-drug-to-prevent-coronavirus\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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