Months after China allowed a few dozen cases of a new coronavirus to grow into a global pandemic, the world is racing to find a cure for COVID-19.
While a clinically proven vaccine is still in the works, there are hopeful reports of existing drugs that are seemingly able to help patients triumph over the worst the disease has to offer.
These apparent wonder drugs, which include hydroxychloroquine, have sparked a worldwide debate over their usefulness.
Some who have taken the anti-malarial drugs credit the medications for their survival, and proponents point to these uplifting examples as the best news yet in the current pandemic.
Others, like Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, took a different stance on hydroxychloroquine.
Illegal immigrants allegedly ran multi-million-dollar gift card fraud scheme hitting stores daily across Texas
Trump rebukes Ukraine after Putin says his home was attacked
Gen. Flynn Sends Blistering Request to Trump: ‘We The People Demand Accountability!’
Jan. 6 pipe bomb suspect fights DOJ delay in turning over evidence
Trump Admin Stands Firm After Jesus-Centric Christmas Messages Spark Media Freak-Out
Trump tears up Obama-era Latin American policy with renewal of Monroe Doctrine
Tennessee officers rescue woman considering jumping from bridge on day after Christmas
Ilhan Omar disclosures show husband’s companies surged in value as Minnesota reels from $9B fraud
Top Female Tennis Player Takes on No. 671 Man in ‘Battle of the Sexes’ – It Wasn’t Even Close
‘America first’: Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray launches House bid
Trump Signals Military Hit First Target Inside Venezuela After Finding Drug Facility: ‘We Knocked That Out’
China surrounds Taiwan with warships, fighter jets in largest military drills on record
Missing 19-year-old Camila Mendoza Olmos believed to be ‘in imminent danger,’ Texas sheriff says
Manhunts across America in 2025: Five cases that left cities, campuses and towns on edge
5 pivotal 2026 Senate races will determine whether Republicans maintain governing trifecta under Trump
Whitmer’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs threatened doctors who prescribed the drug with investigations and administrative punishments, according to a letter issued by the agency last week.
This came after President Donald Trump himself hyped the promising drugs, a move which caused critics in politics and the media to wage a campaign against the medicines’ use:
President spreading super dangerous misinformation that will make crisis worse.
— David Rothschild (@DavMicRot) March 21, 2020
The Michigan governor, whose anti-Trump attitude and political presence make her a potential vice presidential pick for Democratic candidate Joe Biden, appears to have changed her mind on the usefulness of hydroxychloroquine.
Only a day after the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine sulfate, Whitmer was gunning for her cut from the national stockpile.
Illegal immigrants allegedly ran multi-million-dollar gift card fraud scheme hitting stores daily across Texas
Trump rebukes Ukraine after Putin says his home was attacked
Gen. Flynn Sends Blistering Request to Trump: ‘We The People Demand Accountability!’
Jan. 6 pipe bomb suspect fights DOJ delay in turning over evidence
Trump Admin Stands Firm After Jesus-Centric Christmas Messages Spark Media Freak-Out
Trump tears up Obama-era Latin American policy with renewal of Monroe Doctrine
Tennessee officers rescue woman considering jumping from bridge on day after Christmas
Ilhan Omar disclosures show husband’s companies surged in value as Minnesota reels from $9B fraud
Top Female Tennis Player Takes on No. 671 Man in ‘Battle of the Sexes’ – It Wasn’t Even Close
‘America first’: Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray launches House bid
Trump Signals Military Hit First Target Inside Venezuela After Finding Drug Facility: ‘We Knocked That Out’
China surrounds Taiwan with warships, fighter jets in largest military drills on record
Missing 19-year-old Camila Mendoza Olmos believed to be ‘in imminent danger,’ Texas sheriff says
Manhunts across America in 2025: Five cases that left cities, campuses and towns on edge
5 pivotal 2026 Senate races will determine whether Republicans maintain governing trifecta under Trump
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin confirmed to Michigan news outlet Bridge Magazine on Monday that the administration is not only asking, but “pursuing a request” for the drug.
The change of heart could not have come at a better time, either.
Michigan has been one of the areas of America hardest hit by the coronavirus.
While it doesn’t have the same sheer number of cases as New York, Michigan’s 7,615 confirmed cases make it the fourth-worst-off state, according to data from Johns Hopkins.
The new flow of drugs provides hope that the tide may soon turn.
Some experts, like Dr. Vladimir Zelenko of New York, say the drugs are a game-changer.
Zelenko claims his cure rate with a hydroxychloroquine cocktail is 100 percent.
#coronavirus News Alert: Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, a board-certified family practitioner in NY, has now treated 699 Covid-19 patients with 100% success using Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate, Zinc and Z-Pak. All symptoms of shortness of breath resolved within 4-6 hr https://t.co/siCvNg845Q pic.twitter.com/lOrUvBHp0A
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) March 29, 2020
Although several countries have embraced the drugs, many still remain skeptical of the promised effects.
Hydroxychloroquine is becoming such a hot commodity that one of the medication’s main producers, Hungary, has banned the export of the potentially life-saving substance, according to Reuters.
It remains unclear if this will threaten the supply chain enough to endanger American lives, but if it does, it could be high time for President Donald Trump to whip out his infamous “Art of the Deal” negotiation style so that every citizen — Democrat and Republican alike — will have access to this drug when it’s needed the most.
Story cited here.
