Suddenly 'Doctor' Oz Agrees With Dr. Fauci On Hydroxychloroquine

By Aliza Worthington — April 22, 2020

Who is old enough to remember all the way back to last week, when Fox's Favorite Fraud, Dr. Oz, was still pushing the great possibilities of hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19?

Well, he seems to be having second thoughts, after a study done by the Veterans Administration showed a higher rate of death among COVID patients treated with the drug than patients given a regular course of treatment. Gee, could it be that Dr. Fauci was right? That should have scientifically-based, randomized trials before we aggressively push such things to our already fact-averse viewing audience?

Dr. Oz has, and I am putting this kindly, "evolved." This morning on Fox and Friends, he sang a different tune for his hosts.

DR. OZ: Well the VA study looked at older and quite a bit sicker patients, all male patients in their hospitals, and they showed that the drug by itself didn't help, it might harm that population. As you know, there have been other studies done -- the VA study was retrospective. They looked back to see what had happened because they weren't gathering the data at the time that they were actually giving the medications. Studies that have done this prospectively, so looking forward and giving it -- as collecting data as they are going along like in France or the randomized trials from China have shown benefits, but only really when it's given earlier to patients.

The fact of the matter is, we don't know. Thankfully these medications are prescription-only, so doctors are desperately awaiting the completion of the higher quality randomized trials, and we've covered them on the show several times. South Dakota, University of Minnesota now has over a thousand patients randomized. There's additional trials going on. Let's get the data so we know what we are dealing with.

OOOOOH. The fact of the matter is, we don't knooooow. How nice. After Trump has now stockpiled the drug to the point where there is a shortage for the patients who actually NEED it. Patients with Lupus, and Rheumatoid Arthritis are even more vulnerable because their medication is in short supply.

The hosts tried to salvage the segment, asking if combined with the Z-pac, hydroxychloroquine still held out hope as a cure for COVID-19. But Dr. Oz, with the sudden insight and alignment with an actual scientist, held strong.

DR. OZ: I got to say, I think at this point there is so much data coming from so many places, we are better off waiting for the randomized trials Dr. Fauci has been asking for. Otherwise, it's -- we keep reacting back and forth for studies that show opposite results. And a lot of it might have to do with when you get the medication. If you give it to people who are already having breathing tubes down their throat, it's not going to have the same kind effect as if you give it early. But we don't have randomized data from the United States to educate us well enough right now.

You don't say, Dr. Oz? We're better off listening to Dr. Fauci than to you? Just think where we would be if Trump had done that.

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