Is hydroxychloroquine a generally safe drug?

The politically charged atmosphere surrounding the drug in the context of COVID-19 can present a distorted picture. But the best evidence suggests that it has few adverse effects, although it does present some risks for patients with heart conditions.

Dr. Alieta Eck, who prescribed hydroxychloroquine for her patients who had COVID-19 symptoms, was confident the drug was safe.

"My feeling was that it was not going to do any harm, which is true. It’s a very safe medicine," said Eck, an internist in New Jersey.

A trial investigating the drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventative treatment against Covid-19 may never find out if it's effective, say scientists involved.

Controversy around the drug - touted by President Trump and the subject of online misinformation - is stopping completion of the trial, they say.

It is ineffective in hospitalised patients, but investigators hope it might work if given earlier on.

Hospitals have pulled out of the trial.

The Oxford University-led trial is aiming to enrol 40,000 frontline workers around the world.

A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 American adults conducted in April found that 53 percent of Republicans were willing to take anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, while only 18 percent of Democrats were willing to try it.

The utter arbitrariness of how public opinion on scientific questions has fractured along partisan divides reveals something rotten at the core of the national conversation.