Jennifer Watson: HCQ safe & effective if used early in treatment of Covid-19

To The Daily Sun,

Recently I have been made aware of a large amount of research that has been done throughout the world on the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). When used in the early stage of Covid-19, along with azithromycin and zinc, it has been extremely successful in treating the disease. Some doctors using this as an out-patient protocol have seen hundreds of patients with no deaths at all. Impressive evidence from a study of the work of Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, a physician who treated patients north of NYC, saw fewer hospitalizations and fewer deaths among those patients taking this protocol. His study has been submitted for peer review, and you can see it here (https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202007.0025/v1).

Hydroxychloroquine is safe. It has a 65-year-old history and is considered so safe that in many countries it is an over-the-counter drug. It is currently used to treat malaria, arthritis, and lupus in daily levels comparable to the doses Zelenko gives his Covid-19 sufferers. Pregnant women can take this drug. The American College of Rheumatology says on their website that: “Hydroxychloroquine typically is very well tolerated. Serious side effects are rare.” In the reasonable doses advocated by the Zelenko protocol, it is very safe, apparently safer than aspirin or Tylenol.

The drug appears to be effective when used in the early stages of the illness before the virus has had a chance to spread throughout a patient's body. Some of the criticism I have seen has been by those who are questioning hydroxychloroquine's effectiveness in treating Covid019 when it has entered the more critical stage where hospitalization and ventilators are the norm. Zelenko and many other doctors throughout the world are advocating for the use of HCQ not at that stage of the disease but in its initial stage.

Unfortunately, the disinformation that is out there has caused this drug to be restricted in the U.S., including N.H. I have no idea if the suppression of this drug protocol is politically motivated or possibly influenced by the fact that no one stands to earn a lot of money on a generic drug. No matter. This safe, long-used medication is worth trying. If we as N.H. citizens want our doctors to have the freedom to prescribe this treatment combination to us should we fall ill with Cove-19, we are going to have to ask our governor and our legislators to look at the recent evidence and allow N.H. doctors the freedom to choose this treatment option for their patients. This becomes increasingly important as New Hampshire continues to open up, especially as we head into the fall and winter months when more time is spent indoors.

Please write or call Governor Sununu and your own legislators and politely request that they make this protocol available to New Hampshire citizens.

Jennifer Watson

Laconia