COVID-19 therapeutics: how to sow confusion and break public trust during international public health emergencies

Abstract

Since SARS-CoV2 was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, those tasked with the stewardship of public health at a global, regional, and local level—policymakers, politicians, scientists, drug regulators, health officials, professional associations, journal editors, publishers, and clinicians—have displayed rushed decisions and lapses in judgment in their handling of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as potential COVID-19 therapeutics and prophylactics. These lapses merit noting as they hold lessons for how the guardians of medicines regulation and public health can inadvertently sow confusion and damage public trust.