Association show that patients who took the drug in combination with the antibiotic used in zpaks which the president also touts and did once again today were more than twice as likely to suffer cardiac arrest. Thats on top of other studies on hydroxychloroquine or the related drug chloroquine alone which patients have also developed abnormal heart rhythms. Let that sink in for a moment. The leader of the free worlgd is taking a drug that shows no apparent benefits could be putting him at risk for serious heart problems and heres how he explained it today. The frontline workers, many, many are taking it. I happen to be taking it. I happen to be taking it. Hydroxychloroquine . Im taking it, hydroxychloroquine. When did you right now, yeah. A couple of weeks ago i started taking it. I think its good, i heard a lot of good stories. If its not good, ill tell you right. Not going to get hurt by it. Did the white house doctor recommend that you take it, is that why youre taking . He didnt recommend it. He said, would you like to take it . I said, yeah. A lot of frontline workers are taking hydroxychloroquine. I dont take it because hey, people said maybe he owns the company. I dont own the company. You know what, i want the people of this nation to feel good. This is a pill thats been used for a long time for 30, 40 years on the malaria and on lupus, too. And even on arthritis i guess from what i understand. Its been heavily tested in terms of i was waiting to see your eyes light up when i said this, when i announced this. Ive tarik ive taken it for about a week and a half. Im still here. Can you explain, though, what is the evidence it has a preventive effect . Here we are, you ready . Heres my evidence. I get a lot of positive calls about it. The only negative ive heard was the study where they gave it was at the v. A. , people that arent big trump fans. Do you get that . Never mind the Research Showing the dangers, multiple studies, the ones the only ones saying negative things about hydroxychloroquine according to the president arent big trump fans, and its that simple. So, the journal of the American Medical Association apparently not big trump fans, the food and drug administration, which is part of the president s, you know, government, not fans either apparently. Or all the other researchers doing studies on this around the country and the world who are desperate for some sort of treatment that works, and the doctors who stopped giving it to the patients apparently theyre just not into trump or perhaps people to take medicine that could help them rather than seriously hurt them. Hes shown over the past weeks, whatever, the president cannot seem to stop talking about this, his drug of choice. The fda also gave emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine. Were having some very good things happening with it. Its shown very encouraging very, very encouraging early results. There are some good signs. Youve read the sides, ive read the sides. Ill say it again, what do you have to lose . What do you have to lose . Take it. If things dont go as planned, its not going to kill anybody. It will be wonderful it will be so beautiful. It will be a gift from heaven if it works. We have some other person put it forward that says, oh, lets go with it. What do you have to lose . Try it if youd like. Ive seen things i sort of like. What do i know . Im not a doctor. Im not a doctor. But i have common sense. He has common sense, he says, and he says hes taking a drug thats shown not to work and could be harmful. Lets just leave it there. And as we do, just remember this wouldnt be the first time the president has touted unproven and dangerous potentially deadly remedies. Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whatever its ultraviolet or just very powerful light. And i think you said that has a are you going to test it. I said supposing you brought the light inside the body which you can do, through the skin or in some other way. And i think you said youre going to test that, too. Then i say the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do Something Like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Yeah, theres not, theres not a way to inject disinfectant into a human being, not a good idea. Potentially very grave circumstances, very grave results, could kill people. After those remarks you may remember the president s advisors persuaded him not to do any more Coronavirus Task force briefings which is then a whole other thing. I mean, the idea that we no longer hear on a daily basis from the top scientists of the nation working on coronavirus because the people around the president said, you know what, mr. President , you shouldnt do any more, you know, talking in front of people extemporaneously about this because its apparently, you know, they thought it was harming him politically. There wasnt a whole lot of talk, though, about how further lives might be put in jeopardy or lost. So much for that. More now from Cnns Kaitlan Collins joining us from the white house. Caitlan, what is the white house saying about this claim of the president he is now taking hydroxychloroquine . Reporter so far, anderson, theyve been quiet. We asked for more details on this, exactly how long the president has been taking it, how long does he expect to be taking it. And we havent gotten any statements from the press office or from the White House Medical Office which typically has put out statements on the president s health in the past, like when hes gotten a physical or Something Like that. You know, the thing here, this is a direct contradiction of the fda ops own guidan fdas own guidance they issued in april. Hydroxychloroquine shouldnt be used outside of a clinical setting where they can check your heart rhythm, things of that nature. There are questions, is the president contradicting his own fda here by announcing hes been taking this for a weekandahalf now. Is there any acknowledgment that yeah, i know there is no actual knowledgement. As you said, his own fda has warned against this drug. You know, assuming hes taking it, im wondering is part of him taking it just, you know, him wanting to show that he doesnt listen to, you know, doctors or scientists or sound medical advice or studies because hes been touting this so long that now hes just being resistant . I mean, i dont know. It makes logically, i dont understand why he would be taking this. Reporter well, there was a little period there where he stopped touting it to sochb to where we asked him in the briefing why he stopped talking about it so much because for weeks he had been pushing it saying the sentiment, what do you have to lose, which is what he said today. And then he kind of went quiet on it after he saw several studies from the journal from the v. A. Study, the fda guidance talking about how there is no proof that it works or that it helps in any way. Actually it can be harmful if you do have coronavirus and other Underlying Health conditions. But then the president said today hes been taking it about a week and a half. Were not sure of the time line. Thats what he said earlier today. But, anderson, remember it was about a week and a half ago two people who work in the white house tested positive for coronavirus, an aid to the Vice President and the president s personal valet. That a precaution hes trying to take because that of . There is no evidence it prevents getting coronavirus. Yeah, kaitlan collins, appreciate it. Perspective from cnns chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta, Gloria Borger and erik topel. In addition to a reknowned cardiologist, on the front lines, founder and director of the Scripps Ranch translational institute. Dr. Topol, when you heard the president say this today, what did you make of it . I actually there is absolutely no data to support the use of this drug hydroxychloroquine for a preventive aspect of covid infections. And there is definite risk, as you reviewed the fda april 24th guidance there have been serious heart arrhythmias from this drug being used. And as also noted theres been a doubling of cardiac arrest just published in jama last week. We have all the data to support risk, no data to show benefit, and here the president is taking the drug. I think your point about potential defiance, not just defiance of the science and the medical work thats been done to date, but the fact that he has promoted the drug so long and so hard, perhaps it has something to do with it. Dr. Topol, youre a cardiologist. Can you explain the potential heart issues that this drug might cause if not taken as prescribed . Because as you mention the fda warned of serious heart rhythm problems. The journal of medical association was concerned of lethal consequence. I know the v. A. Study, that there were a number of cardiac issues, cardiac arrests with people who were taking this. Exactly. So, the reason why this is a serious matter is that the heart is susceptible to during the repolarization phase, after the heart has been stimulated to contract. In that phase, there is an integral called q. T. And this q. T. Can be prolonged particularly by hydroxychloroquine. In addition a signature azithro. A double whammy. Anderson, its not because you have heart disease. It could be a genetic predisposition, because of other medications one is taking. The key point be is you cant predict it. And there is this risk of this serious heart rhythm and it can result in cardiac arrest and death. Sanjay, a, how much does this concern you . And also when the president says, well, look, this drug has been around 30 years, people have taken it for malaria, i think i took it 30 years ago for malaria and i actually stopped because i didnt like it, as i recall. I was 17 years old at the time. How alarming is this . There is no evidence that this works. Its very concerning, anderson. You know, i think irresponsible because i think its sending a very wrong message. Its a message he has sent before on hydroxychloroquine. The concern is that as dr. Topol was saying, there is no evidence it works. There is potential harm. This flies in the face of all his own medical organizations, including the fda which says this medication should not be used outside of a Clinical Trial or outside of patients who are hospitalized. There is no evidence that it works either for treatment or for prophylaxis as you mentioned in the lead, anderson. It makes no sense. And almost to the point where you wonder if Something Else is going on here that were missing. Dr. Reiner, who worked at the white house before sort of brought this up, and he said, did the president have an exposure that was very significant that we dont know about and thats why theyre very concerned about him . Hes in his 70s. He has this evidence of heart disease. He had a significant exposure. Whats going on here . It doesnt make sense sanjay it sends the wrong message to people. Yeah, sanjay, i just want to go to kaitlan collins. I understand she has some information from the white house. Caitlan . Reporter we have a statement from the president s physician and that he is indeed taking it. This is sean connelly, someone he references often. Noting our reporting two weeks ago about the president s personal valet testing positive for coronavirus, he said since then the president has continued to receive regular testing and has tested negative. And then getting to the good part where he talks about hydroxychloroquine, he says, in consultation with our inter Agency Partners and subject Matter Experts around the country, i have continued to monitor the myriad studies and investigated potential covid19 therapies and i anticipate employing the same shared medical decision based on the same advice at hand in the future. He said after numerous discussions he had with the president , anderson, regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, quote, we concluded the potential benefit outweighed the risk. He said the president doesnt have any coronavirus symptoms and hes continuing to test negative for coronavirus. So its not clear really what treatment hes talking about that the president needs that would require him taking this medicine, though clearly the president made clear earlier he sees it as a preventive treatment. But this is a statement from the president s doctor confirming that, yes, he is taking this drug that his own fda has warned about taking in a nonclinical setting. Caitlan, can you just read the second part . I was confused by the language there. I might have missed something, that ended up with we decided, but there were a couple sentences before that. Reporter yeah. Its three graphs. It says talks about the president ial valet testing positive. In the second graph, it says, after numerous discussions he and i had regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risk. It says the potential benefit for treatment. Its not clear what hydroxychloroquine is treating for the president since he does not have coronavirus symptoms and they say he does not have coronavirus because hes continuously tested negative for it. Sanjay, what do you make of that statement . I mean, the doctor is saying he seems to agree with this where as the president sort of indicated, you know, the doctor said to him, do you want it . He said yes, and the doctor gave it to him. Thats what it sounds like. I dont know that the doctor, the white house doctor, dr. Connelly, would have recommended this on his own. You know, hes looking at data. If you look at the data, theres no data to suggest you should do this because theres no data to suggest, again, that it works as a prophylaxis, which is what it sounds like here. So someone who has had an exposure and now youre worried, am i going to get it. So theres no evidence that it works for that. Theres concerning evidence about it possibly being used as a treatment and you might have the significant side effects like you were talking about with dr. Topol. I dont get it. Did the president have a significant exposure and now the white house is trying to do something prophylactically . There is something here that does not make sense. But what i can tell you is that regardless, it flies in the face of all the guidance thats coming from the federal Governments Public Health organizations themselves. It just doesnt fit. Gloria, do you go ahead. No, i think thats the real question. What exactly is the president s exposure here . We know that the Vice President s press secretary was exposed, has coronavirus. We know that his valet had coronavirus. Clearly the white House Doctors are concerned. This is the president as we all know who doesnt wear a mask even though he had exposure. So, you can imagine the conversation, im sure, where his doctors were concerned and maybe the president , as you said today, just suggested, well, how can i what have i got to lose . How about taking this . And dr. Reiner pointed out, remember, he was dick chaieney doctor. At the white house they have all kinds of equipment there. They monitor the president very closely and im sure they monitor him even more closely every day. So if he develops an arrhythmia or something, they can take care of it in the way they could not with any of us if we were to take it. And again, of course, we have no idea we believe its not preventive, but the president has all of that surrounding him. Dr. Topol, just briefly, if a patient says to you, i hear this is great, ive got a lot of friends calling me about it, i want it, is it the doctors what do you do as a doctor . The responsible doctor would say, no, theres no data to support this. Theres a risk that we know of and its significant. And so we cant prescribe that. So in a way its complicit. Its really unfortunate because it is somehow it promotes the drug in a reckless way. And moreover, its this whole commitment to the game changer and all the other things that were being done for many weeks. It really is deeply concerning. Dr. Topol, i appreciate your expertise. Sure. Yeah, kaitlan collins, thanks as well. Sanjay, stay with us. When we come back a break in a vaccine thats showing promise. Well be joined but one of the volunteers who got it, neil brown. Nancy pelosi on her prescription, her own partys prescription for the Economic Impact of the pandemic and the president s firing the watch dogs he doesnt like even though he claims not to know this one. That and more when we continue. Chances are you know us. Yoohoo, progressive shoppers. We laughed with you. Sprinkles are for winners. We surprised you. On occasion, weve probably even annoyed you. Weve done this all with one thing in mind. To help protect the things you love. And if we cant offer you the best price well help you find a better one. Its not always the lowest even if its not with us. Thats how weve done it for the past 80 years. Not just today, or this month, but always. You get way more than free shipping. You get thousands when you shop for your home at wayfair of items you need to your door fast the way it works best for you. Even the big stuff. You get a delivery experience you can always count on. You get your perfect find at a price to match on your schedule. You get free two day shipping on things that make your home feel like you wayfair. Way more than furniture. Before the president made the announcement today that hes taking in effect a potentially dangerous drug to ward off coronavirus, our lead story was a possible vaccine. According to the Biotech Company moderna, eight participants developed antibodies to keep it from attacking human cells. This is from the early and limited first phase of whats anticipated to be a much larger threephase study led by the National Institutes of health. Its not been pieer reviewed. That said, one participant, Neil Browning has been a guest in our cnn global town halls. I spoke to him thursday since getting the vaccine. Were always glad to have him back. Neil, how did you feel about the moderna news and what did you think . So, when i woke up this morning it was like any other regular morning, starting to wake up, get out of bed, get ready and im scrolling through my phone looking at news feeds. I saw where the stock market was up. I figured out, huh, thats good news. Lets see whats causing it. I saw moderna, it delved into a press release they said they had the initial figures for the first four people in the small and medium dosage groups