Dr. Oz is now rethinking a coronavirus “miracle” drug he previously touted, following backlash from the public. In a new interview on Wednesday’s Fox & Friends, Oz stated, “We don’t know if it works.” While discussing the global pandemic, Oz was asked by one of the show’s co-hosts if he had a response to to a Veterans Administration study that found there was no benefit to hydroxychloroquine.
That study also determined that the death rate was actually a higher among coronavirus patients who were given the drug as treatment. Oz replied, “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.” Interestingly, Oz then backed up leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who he’d previously disagreed with on the topic.
Videos by PopCulture.com
After weeks of touting an unproven anti-malarial drug as a potential coronavirus cure, Dr. Mehmet Oz did an abrupt about-face, noting that a recent study shows “we don’t know” if hydroxychloroquine works as a COVID-19 treatmenthttps://t.co/PQki6skwZm
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 22, 2020
“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,” he said. “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.”
The controversy started in early April, when Oz proclaimed hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug, to be potentially helpful in the fight against Covid-19. Fauci disagreed with this theory, and Oz politely addressed their opposing positions. “He’s a pro and I respect him a lot, but a small study that shows statistical significance is a really important observation,” Oz said on April 6, per The Daily Beast.
“If it takes me 30,000 patients to show a difference, is that better than showing a difference in 62 patients? If a small trial demonstrates statistically significant differences, you should respect it.” He later added, “But we march into battle with the army we have, and doctors around the world are choosing hydroxychloroquine more than any other solution.” Now, however, Oz appears to have changed his stance on the drug, now saying that he sees the lack of overall certainty of its effectiveness.
