The US has supplied Brazil with 2 million doses of hydroxychloroquine for use against the coronavirus, the two governments said on Sunday, despite medical warnings about risks associated with the anti-malaria drug.
The White House released a joint announcement on the drug, whose use has been touted both by US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, just days after the WHO suspended testing it in Covid-19 patients because of safety concerns.
Trump himself said in mid-May that he was on a regimen of hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure, even though the US Food and Drug Administration had issued a warning about its use for the coronavirus.
Bolsonaro said recently he kept a box of the drug in case his 93-year-old mother needed it.
“The American and Brazilian people stand in solidarity in the fight against the coronavirus,” the statement said. “We are announcing the United States Government has delivered two million doses of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to the people of Brazil.”
