Scientist Who Promoted Hydroxychloroquine Named to Top Pandemic Prevention Post

Steven J. Hatfill, a virologist who promoted hydroxychloroquine as an effective early treatment for COVID-19, now holds the top pandemic prevention position at HHS.

by Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D.

Steven J. Hatfill, a virologist who promoted hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as an effective early treatment for COVID-19, now holds the top pandemic prevention position in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to The Washington Post.

On Monday, Hatfill, a White House adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term, began his second week as a special adviser in the director’s office of Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), the Post reported.

HHS didn’t immediately respond when The Defender asked how Hatfill was appointed to the role.

In an interview with the Post, Hatfill defended his views on HCQ, saying that 5,000 controlled, randomized, peer-reviewed studies attest to the drug’s safety and effectiveness when administered early in the course of the disease and at the proper dosage.

“They gave the drug to the president,” Hatfill said, referring to when Trump took the drug in 2020 while sick with COVID-19. “It is a safe drug.”

In his new job, Hatfill said he will “help get us ready for the next pandemic.”

ASPR is an agency under HHS that runs seven centers related to pandemic preparedness and response, including the Center for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and the Center for the Strategic National Stockpile.

He said he plans to work with other scientists at the agency to build “complete awareness of the scientific literature, not just for influenza, bird flu or covid but other global diseases that could represent a threat to the U.S.”

Dr. Joseph Varon, president and chief medical officer of the Independent Medical Alliance, formerly known as the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, applauded HHS for “recognizing the value of voices like Dr. Hatfill.”

“This appointment is a welcome step toward rebuilding public trust in healthcare,” Varon added.

Hatfill and Navarro tried to get FDA to reauthorize HCQ

Early in the pandemic, when Trump began promoting HCQ, the drug was swiftly cast as an unproven and potentially dangerous COVID-19 remedy.

Dr. Meryl Nass, an internist and biological warfare expert with a long history of investigating public health threats, in her Substack post, “How a false hydroxychloroquine narrative was created, and more,” wrote that the drug had been “used safely for 65 years in many millions of patients.”

“The message was crafted that the drug is safe for its other uses, but dangerous when used for Covid-19,” Nass wrote, “It doesn’t make sense, but it seems to have worked.”

In late March 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted HCQ emergency use authorization (EUA) for treating COVID-19.

But just three months later, in June 2020, the FDA revoked the EUA, stating that “emerging scientific data” suggested the drug was “unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19.”

The FDA also said the HCQ had “serious cardiac adverse events and other potential serious side effects” that made it too risky to use.

In 2020, Peter Navarro, Ph.D. — who at the time served as Trump’s assistant and directed the White House’s Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy — enlisted Hatfill to help with the White House COVID-19 response, according to documents obtained by a congressional subcommittee on COVID-19.

The two men unsuccessfully pressured the FDA to reauthorize HCQ as a COVID-19 treatment, the subcommittee reported.

Still, the White House procured millions of doses of HCQ for the national stockpile overseen by ASPR. The doses were later distributed to pharmacies and hospitals, even though the drug lacked FDA authorization.

Critics of the FDA’s decision to reverse its authorization of HCQ say that some studies used to discredit the drug involved trials in which participants received toxic doses and far too late in the course of the disease for it to be effective.

For instance, a 2020 JAMA study, which concluded that HCQ failed to lower mortality from COVID-19, looked only at patients who were given the drug after they entered the hospital.

Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, an ear, nose and throat specialist in Houston, Texas, told The Defender, “I treated over 6,000 COVID-19 patients during the pandemic, a large number of those patients took hydroxychloroquine, and no one suffered any serious side effects.”

Critics also point out that mainstream media outlets, including Forbes, circulated the inaccurate claim that HCQ was responsible for 17,000 deaths.

The study underlying the claim had only estimated deaths linked to HCQ. The study was later retracted because of data unreliability and the authors’ erroneous assumption that the patients received the same treatment.

Hatfill falsely accused of sending anthrax letters

Before Hatfill began working in the Trump administration, he was an Army biodefense researcher.

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) for years considered him a “person of interest” in its investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks, in which letters laced with anthrax began appearing in U.S. mail shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The letters killed five people and sickened 17, according to the FBI.

Hatfill was not officially exonerated until 2008. By that time, he had lost his job because of the false charges against him.

In 2003, Hatfill sued the DOJ, alleging FBI agents and DOJ officials involved in the anthrax investigation had violated the Privacy Act by leaking information about him to the media. The suit also alleged surveillance and harassment.

In June 2008, the DOJ announced it would pay $4.6 million to settle the suit.

Related articles in The Defender

• Yes, Treating COVID Patients With Hydroxychloroquine Can Save Lives

• Did HCQ Really Cause 17,000 Deaths? Experts Weigh in on Flawed But Highly Touted Study

• Sen. Johnson Requests Records From Top Medical Journals on Retracted Studies, Including Flawed Hydroxychloroquine Study

• Groundbreaking: Nebraska AG Says Doctors Can Legally Prescribe Ivermectin, HCQ for COVID, Calls Out FDA, CDC, Fauci, Media for ‘Fueling Confusion and Misinformation’