Trump says he's taking hydroxychloroquine

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

President Trump is apparently no longer simply touting the controversial malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as an effective coronavirus treatment — he says he's actually taking it as a preventative measure.

Trump told reporters Monday that he's been taking the medication, which hasn't been proven to effectively treat COVID-19 and has been warned to come with potentially serious side effects, for about a week and a half, with the permission of a White House physician.

The president's reasoning is that he's apparently heard stories about "many, many" frontline workers and doctors who are taking it themselves or prescribing it to their patients with success. Trump said he began taking the drug as a preventative measure after he got "a lot of positive calls about it."

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"So far, I seem to be ok," Trump said.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.