The core hydroxychloroquine claim of the CMN is that it is an effective treatment in the very earliest stages of infection when used with Zinc, Vitamin D, Vitamin C and a cocktail of other drugs.
The key reference providing support to this assertion is this article, the lead author of which is Dr Peter McCullough, vice-chief of internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Centre in Dallas, Texas. Zelenko is one of his 56 co-authors.
The article should be taken seriously, says Mathieson, because it is “peer reviewed”. The evidence is “now virtually beyond dispute,” he says.
But a check of the credentials of the journal in which it appeared – Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine – reveals that McCullough himself is the editor-in-chief of the journal in which he has published.
On top of that, the peer review process was astonishingly quick. The paper was submitted on 28 November, accepted after revisions on 15 December and published just a fortnight later.
Baylor Scott and White Health, which runs the medical centre where McCullough holds his position, told me that the article “does not reflect the views of Baylor Scott and White Health”.