Utah paid $800k for hydroxychloroquine

[struggle4progress]

12. Who will be held accountable for nonsensical ideas ?

Opinion by Frida Ghitis
Updated 7:01 PM ET, Thu April 23, 2020

... "What do you have to lose?" Trump asked Americans during an April 4 news briefing, as he urged anxious viewers to take the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine -- which we now know could lead to more deaths -- for Covid-19.

The answer, of course, is their lives. What do the people of Georgia have to lose, he may ask again, as he initially cheered on Gov. Brian Kemp, who is disregarding Trump's own guidelines and starting to reopen the state at the height of a pandemic ...

For weeks, Trump and Fox News hosts and guests incessantly repeated unproven claims about hydroxychloroquine. The country's top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, tried valiantly to lower expectations. But Trump persisted. "I really think they should take it," he advised, blocking Fauci from commenting. We all wished there were a quick, easy cure, but we also wanted a responsible leader.

"It's just a feeling," he explained as he promoted the drug from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters. I'm a "smart guy." Trump said he had ordered 28 million doses; he wrongly claimed the US Food and Drug Administration approving hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19 treatment. People rushed to buy it, creating shortages for those who needed it to treat diseases like lupus ...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/23/opinions/trump-nonsensical-ideas-rick-bright-covid-ghitis/index.html