Hydroxychloroquine has become a political drug...

Now wait a second, he's not the only Democrat who is claiming the benefits of using hydroxycholoroquine. That medicine is one used in the treatment of malaria and is being promoted as a treatment to the coronavirus. The bad news is that promoting it's use is proving political in a time where we need treatments to this virus which is burning through the world's population.

A Democratic New York City Councilman says hydroxychloroquine saved his life after a near-fatal run-in with COVID-19 in March.

Paul Vallone, who represents northeast Queens, took the drug along with a standard flu Z-pack, and came back from the brink almost immediately.

“I couldn’t breathe, very weak, couldn’t get out of bed. My doctor prescribed it. My pharmacy had it. Took it that day and within two to three days I was able to breathe,” Vallone told The Post. “Within a week I was back on my feet.”

Though Vallone went public with his coronavirus diagnosis in an April 1 Twitter post, saying he was experiencing “mild symptoms,” his actual condition was considerably more severe. Vallone’s initial prognosis was particularly grim, as he also suffers from sarcoidosis, an auto-immune disease that attacks his lungs.

“We were in panic mode when I went down because I didn’t have a lot of immune response,” he said. “I needed something to stay alive.”

Hydroxychloroquine “worked for me.”

Vallone’s brother Peter, a former City Councilman and a current civil court judge in Queens, also became a convert after his brother’s illness.

“I guess all those doctors who are prescribing it are right. This drug is already on the market and the patent is up so it’s cheap. A new drug won’t be. So big money does not want this drug to be used. Always follow the money,” Peter Vallone said in a May 12 Facebook post, sharing a link to an NYU study touting the drug.

I guess you want to know who was the other Democrat? And it was very early into this pandemic during the time of panic buying and lockdowns. Back when we didn't know as much about this virus:

State Rep. Karen Whitsett, who learned Monday she has tested positive for COVID-19, said she started taking hydroxychloroquine on March 31, prescribed by her doctor, after both she and her husband sought treatment for a range of symptoms on March 18.

"It was less than two hours" before she started to feel relief, said Whitsett, who had experienced shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes, and what felt like a sinus infection. She is still experiencing headaches, she said.

Rep. Karen Whitsett (Photo: Michigan House of Representatives)

Whitsett said she was familiar with "the wonders" of hydroxychloroquine from an earlier bout with Lyme disease, but does not believe she would have thought to ask for it, or her doctor would have prescribed it, had Trump not been touting it as a possible treatment for COVID-19.

Trump, at his daily coronavirus briefings, has repeatedly touted the drug in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin, despite criticism from health professionals that it is unproven and potentially dangerous. There have also been complaints that Trump's remarks have resulted in a shortage of the drug for those people who normally use it for its recommended purposes.

Why is talking about this drug as a treatment for coronavirus political? Because Trump has been talking about it, but I thought this was a dangerous illness. We need treatments to get back to some semblance of normal right? And yet, someone out there whether a doctor or nurse or politician wants to discount the President's assertion out of hand and anyone else who believes this could be an effective treatment without any study or consideration. I don't understand....

I also get the feeling any news from this NYC councilman will get suppressed. This is not something that's going to get spread because it goes against the grain of anyone who wants to discount President Trump.

It sort of happened to Michigan State Representative Whitsett.  She got censured by her caucus when she talked about this drug.

h/t Newsalert