I hold no political affiliation. I feel like it is important that I make that message clear before I begin. I think the far left and the far right are equally absurd and to choose one political agenda over the other, without even CONSIDERING that both sides can each have good ideas and bad ideas, is wildly closed minded to me. But that’s not the point of my message here. This is less about my affiliation with politics and more about my affiliation with the science community. It is something that I have chosen to dedicate my life to because I am attracted to its quest for the unbiased truth.
That being said, the way that politics has used Hydroxychloroquine as a campaign tool is sickening. Science will do their job with the drug. If it works, they will figure that out. If it doesn’t work, they will still figure that out. But the political community has skewed the minds of people who know literally nothing about science by publishing biased articles to support their own agenda. It went from being a drug that could potentially help save millions of people and it has turned into a tool to achieve political gain.
Honestly, the drug may work. The drug very well could be curing 100% of people, but we don’t have unbiased proof of that yet; things
take time. All the stories about the drug are just reports from doctors tinkering around with their treatments on the fly. Coronavirus doesn’t have a definitive treatment plan because it’s a brand new mutation, so doctors on the front lines are being forced to experiment in the field. Hypothetically, a doctor gives Hydroxychloroquine to a patient and they get better. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it was solely the drug that made them recover. The majority of the people are getting better anyways, so who’s to say that the prayers that they have been sending aren’t curing them. I’m not saying either one is right, we just genuinely don’t have the controlled studies to support it.
In no way do I think that doctors should stop using Hydroxychloroquine in clinical practice either, but science has and always will do their best to answer important questions. Arguing about it at the political level is only halting the momentum of the research because large media outlets on both sides of the political spectrum are pushing biased stories to help their case in this upcoming election. This medication is used for other health conditions like chronic Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis. It is used because it’s risks vs. benefits have been tested in clinical trials by people who have really big brains. So asking, “what do we have to lose?” completely neglects the fact that we could run out of the medicine and then the people who really need it, the ones it has actually been tested for, may not have access to it. So if this drug ends up being tested and it’s determined that it doesn’t work as well as other options, many people’s lives could be negatively affected by this political push to put all of our eggs in one basket.
Like I said, I hold no political affiliation, and I am not rooting for whether the drug works or not, I just think we should all shut up about it, and let science do their job behind closed doors like it’s been doing for the last billion years. I am fearful that we are going to neglect potentially better options if we determine efficacy based strictly on empirical findings.
I’m not trying to come across as a conspiracy theorist when I say this, but politics has brainwashed people into “choosing a side” on the drug rather than being open minded about exploring its true efficacy. That should never, EVER happen in science. You must remain unbiased and actually determine which side is correct so we can do what’s best for our PATIENTS and not for the POLLS. This doesn’t just go for Hydroxychloroquine either. At the end of the day, the patient should receive the therapy that is the most effective for their condition, rather than the drug that has the best marketing team. As my Pharmacology professor always says, “be Y.O.D.A.” You must always be Your Own Data Analyzer, and don’t just believe everything people say on the internet. Literally… question what I am saying to you. I am challenging you to research what I am saying. You may end up teaching me something.
