How Hydroxychloroquine Became A Thing

On the Media

• Episode: How Hydroxychloroquine Became A Thing
• Website: On the Media
• Feed URL: http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia
• Duration: 00:19:15
• Published: 2020-04-08 18:00

President Trump has continued to push the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for Covid-19, even though scientists say more research is needed to prove that it is safe and effective. But how'd we get here in the first place? Julia Carrie Wong is a reporter for The Guardian who has traced how a misleading, flawed study from France has become a widely-cited piece of evidence by media personalities on Fox and elsewhere. In this podcast extra, she explains what's deeply wrong with the study's conclusions and what happened when it got to be featured prominently by Trump's preferred television network. Wong talks to Bob about what's so appealing about the hydroxychloroquine narrative and why the administration might be so attracted to it.