Deadly Policy: Peer-Reviewed Cross-Country Study Finds That Routine Hydroxychloroquine Access May Have Prevented Over 520,000 COVID-19 Deaths

Countries that restricted access to hydroxychloroquine had higher fatalities. National lockdowns had no effect on fatalities.

A comprehensive cross-country analysis to identify the factors affecting COVID-19 infections and fatalities found that lack of access to hydroxychloroquine was a major factor in driving COVID-19 deaths. The study, which was published today in the Public Health Policy Research section of the IPAK PHPI open-access journal, Science, Public Health Policy & the Law, controlled for other variables like obesity, urbanization, age, healthcare infrastructure, and policy responses such as lockdowns and travel restrictions.

A key finding of the studies included was a robust negative relationship between access to HCQ and COVID-19 fatalities. Countries that restricted access to hydroxychloroquine had higher fatalities. The analysis model resulted in an estimate that around 520,000 fatalities could have been avoided if HCQ had been made widely available in countries where it was restricted.

The study also found that obesity, older populations, fewer hospital beds, and less sunshine were associated with higher rates of infection and fatalities.

In contrast to these factors, which were significant across multiple models, national lockdowns were never significantly associated with lowered mortality rates, and local lockdowns were only significantly associated with lowered mortality rates in one model. The study therefore found that policies like lockdowns, travel restrictions, and mask mandates were generally not associated with a reduction in fatalities. PCR testing was, positively associated with reported infections, but not with fatalities, which the authors attribute to the high false positive rate of the use of non-quantitative PCR testing to assess COVID-19 diagnostic status.

...