Here & Now

Homeland Security Committee Approves Vaccine Therapies

Frederica Freyberg:

Even as Wisconsin prepared to distribute vaccine, the Senate Homeland Security Committee in Washington took testimony from clinicians who continue to push for disproven therapies for the virus. At the outset of the hearing, the chair, Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, also endorsed the use of such drugs.

Ron Johnson:

At the beginning of this epidemic, when I first heard about the potential of hydroxychloroquine, it intrigued me because to me a drug like that that’s been around for 65 years, shown to be safe, it’s cheap, billions of tablets are produced every year, we could have ramped up production. If that could be proven to be effective, wouldn’t that be the dream solution? Why didn’t we pursue that?

Frederica Freyberg:

By Thursday, Johnson, together with Republican Committee Member Senator Rand Paul, sent a letter to the National Institutes of Health. The letter asked the federal government to expedite its review of early COVID-19 treatment options.