The Trump administration began examining a program last week offered by an Orthodox Jew doctor named Vladimir Zelenko, 46, of New York, Ukraine, who claims, without evidence, to cure about 700 Corona patients by using a malaria drug called hydroxychloroquine in combination with other substances.
No one knows if the drug can actually work, and it usually takes at least a year of experimentation to reach conclusions, but Trump argued last week that the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine would “game-changer.”
Zelenko published his findings in an open letter. Fox News presenter Sean Hannity read the letter in an interview with Vice President Mike Pence.
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In a Facebook post, Zelenko called for Trump to “recommend Americans take the drug.” Shortly thereafter, Zelenko received a call from the White House. The vice president announced that he had instructed the FDA to expedite the approvals so Zelenko’s prescription could be handled, which includes a combination of Hydroxychloroquine, with Azithromycin (Z-Pak), anti-fever pills, vitamin supplement zinc, and antibiotics.
Tuesday last week the Food and Drug Administration was approving the use of the off-label drug “right now.”
Sources in the administration told The Washington Post that the drug is experienced on thousands of patients in serious condition. Zelenko said he handled hundreds of New York ultra-Orthodox people and that they all were in fair condition and almost everyone recovered.
Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Moshe Asman told Yedioth Ahronoth that he recommended the authorities to adopt the method of treatment. “He’s a doctor and up. He has a clinic in New York’s suburb, there are 40,000 Satmar followers. None of them died, nobody needed hospitalization. The amazing result speaks for itself,” he said.
Tzipi Shmilovich, New York and Edward Dox, Kyiv, Ynet News
