Senate hearing testimony by Dr. George Fareed, a Harvard MD with honors and more profile given below:
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony-Fareed-2020-11-19.pdf
Since early March both in my Brawley clinic and Dr. Brian Tyson’s The All Valley Urgent Care Clinic in El Centro (where I also work), over 25,000 fearful people were screened, over two thousand four hundred were COVID-19 positive and we treated successfully many hundreds of the high risk and symptomatic ones.
And this doctor has excellent credentials:
http://www.ivcommunityfoundation.org/media/managed/npd2019/NPD_2019_Program.pdf
PHILANTHROPIST OF THE YEAR Dr. George Fareed
Dr. George Fareed graduated with honors from Harvard Medical School in 1970 and has been practicing medicine for 49 years. He spent the first 20 years after graduation researching and teaching at Harvard and UCLA. He was Assistant Professor at HMS from 1973-1976. He was Associate Professor at UCLA from 1976-1996. He received the Soma Weiss Award for his DNA research. He founded International Genetic Engineering, Inc. in 1980 and Advanced Antigens, Inc. in 1991, the same year he opened his medical practice in Brawley, CA. And, he was the US Davis Cup tennis team physician for 20 years and worked at 38 team matches and the US Olympics in Sydney in 2000. In the memorable 1995 Davis Cup final against Russia in Moscow, he helped Pete Sampras bounce back from grueling leg cramps. He has been recognized for his many accomplishments including the 2004..........
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You can read his full profile in the link...but my point is:
Whenever I went to doctor for my family one question I always had was how many they treated and what was the result and the doctors credentials. If a doctor tells me they treated hundreds of patients and all of them are doing well, that usually works for me to take that treatment.
Why should not be taken seriously for Covid and ignore these doctors?
Short answer: The person may be right.
Longer answer: This opinion shows the challenge when there are 'competing' schools of thought. When this issue becomes driven by 'us vs them', constructive discussions become difficult and often deviate from basic data, reasoning, weight of evidence etc. The opinion also shows the challenge related to balancing personal and collective responsibility.
For various reasons, i've been involved in self-regulatory ventures which included to limit or terminate certain activities or even careers. A basic principle involved to respect alternative ways to think but the burden of proof should lie on the person voicing unusual or contrary opinions. So far, the evidence for the use of hydroxychloroquine at any stage of CV remains unconvincing and a lot of what the emerging school of thought is doing is to focus on the container, not the content. When assessing specific cases, the following type of comment sometimes appeared: [the] "doctor tells me they treated hundreds of patients and all of them are doing well". This was typically a massive red flag.
"doctor tells me they treated hundreds of patients and all of them are doing well". This was typically a massive red flag."
Many if not most patients go to a doctor and ask how the previous patients with similar situation did under their care.
"So far, the evidence for the use of hydroxychloroquine at any stage of CV remains unconvincing and a lot of what the emerging school of thought is doing is to focus on the container, not the content"
People have been talking over each other but talking about different treatments in different diseases.
First of all, Dr. Fareed was not talking about using Hydroxychloroquine alone. From his testimony
"We have always used a triple HCQ cocktail: HCQ (3200 mg over 5 days), azithromycin or doxycycline and especially zinc, which is often left out in the studies"
They try to treat early. Many studies are done in hospital (see below for example):
"The cocktail is best given early within the first 5 to 7 days while the patient is in the flu stage ( I have had success treating even as late as 14 days when patients have been sent home untreated from the ER). The timing of the drug is when the virus is in the period of maximal replication in the upper respiratory tract"
He testified using in high risk patients.
"I use it especially in high risk individuals (over 60 or with co-morbidities and anyone with moderate to severe flu symptoms)---the healthy do not need the treatment. I used this regimen to successfully treat 31 elderly nursing home residents in an outbreak in June and 29 recovered fully"
Now he added another agent
"I am routinely now combining Ivermectin in a quadruple HCQ/IVM cocktail with excellent results since Ivermectin is safe and has a different anti-covid action."
If you see few days back article by NIH (Nov 24)
Hydroxychloroquine doesn’t benefit hospitalized COVID-19 patients
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/hydroxychloroquine-doesnt-benefit-hospitalized-covid-19-patientsThis randomized study is in hospitalized patients, doesnt mention zinc, and not ivermectin.
But the whole point of the treatment Dr. Fareed is talking about is to reduce hospitalization.
"The results are consistently good, often dramatic, with improvement within 48 hours·I have seen very few hospitalizations, and only a few deaths in patients that were sick to begin with and received the medication late while hospitalized."
That is after treating:
"over two thousand four hundred were COVID-19 positive and we treated successfully many hundreds of the high risk and symptomatic ones"
So when people say Hydroxychloroquine doesnt work....are they talking about using it early, in high risk patients with cocktail that includes zinc, azithromycin or doxycylin, and now ivermectin? Otherwise they are talking about different patient population and different medicines and different disease, IMO.
Not recommending any treatment. Only for discussion.
