Previously, we recommended a moratorium to healthcare providers concerning prescriptions of hydroxychloroquine. Since that time, no significant benefits have been found in the recent randomized evidence for post-exposure prophylaxis and among hospitalized patients. Regarding risk, hydroxychloroquine derived a reassuring safety profile from decades of prescriptions for autoimmune diseases of greater prevalence in younger and middle-aged women, whose risks of fatal outcomes due to QTc prolongations are very low. In contrast, the risks associated with COVID-19 are much higher because mortality rates for COVID-19 and the side effects of hydroxychloroquine are both highest in older patients and those with comorbidities, both of whom are predominantly men. The current totality of evidence more strongly supports our previous recommendations concerning the lack of efficacy and possible harm of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19.
After reviewing the various categories of side effects, this survey
Risk versus Benefit of Using Hydroxychloroquine to Treat Patients with COVID-19
concludes that HcQ is no benign placebo…
…we have summarized the available data pertaining to the adverse events associated with HCQ use, alone or in combination with azithromycin, in patients with COVID-19 in order to fully assess the risk versus benefit of treating COVID-19 patients with these agents. The results of this review lead us to conclude that the risk of adverse events associated with using hydroxychloroquine (with or without azithromycin) outweigh the potential clinical benefits and thus recommfend against its use in the treatment of COVID-19.
Clinical protocols have improved from the beginning of the pandemic, and while vaccination together with treatment - much improved from the onset of the pandemic - will not grant immortality, it provides protection against the likelihood of severe disease and the scythe of the reaper is not likely to be covid. This is what is saving untold thousands of lives.