See the full transcript and video footage of President Trump claiming he is taking hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 prevention

• On Monday, President Donald Trump claimed that he is taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, to prevent infection of COVID-19.
• There is no evidence that hydroxychloroquine, which is also used to treat conditions including lupus, is entirely safe or effective at preventing or successfully treating COVID-19.
• Taking the drug can lead to serious side effects, including heart problems, seizures, blurred vision, and dizziness.
• See the full transcript and video footage of Trump's comments on hydroxychloroquine at the White House.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

At a Monday event with restaurant owners at the White House, President Donald Trump claimed to be taking the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure against COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

There is no evidence that hydroxychloroquine, a drug Trump has heavily promoted as a COVID-19 treatment, is safe or effective at preventing or successfully treating the disease. Taking the drug, which is also used to treat conditions including lupus, without proper medical justification or supervision can also lead to dangerous side effects, including heart problems.

Before claiming that he himself is taking hydroxychloroquine, Trump extensively criticized a whistleblower, high-ranking scientist Dr. Rick Bright, for his critiques of the administration's pandemic response. From there, he claimed to have been taking the drug for about 10 days.

"A lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy, a lot of good things have come out. You'd be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the frontline workers, before you catch it. The frontline workers, many are taking it. I happen to be taking it, I happen to be taking it, I'm taking it, hydroxychloroquine, right now yeah, a couple of weeks ago I started taking it because I think it's good, I've heard a lot of good stories. And if it's not good, I'll tell you right? I'm not going to get hurt by it. It's been around for 40 years for malaria, for lupus. I take it, frontline workers take it, a lot of doctors take it. I hope to not be able to take it soon because I hope they come up with some answer soon, but I think people should be allowed to take it. I got a letter from a doctor the other day in Westchester, New York, around the area, who didn't want anything. He just sir, 'I have hundreds of patients and I give them the z-pack, and I give them zinc. And out of many patients, out of hundreds of patients, I haven't lost one.'" 

Trump did not, however, provide any evidence that frontline workers or doctors are taking the drug in large numbers and did not acknowledge the risks of taking hydroxychloroquine for prevention. In response to a reporter's question, Trump said that White House physician had approved Trump to take the drug.

"Yes, White House doctor. I asked him, you know, 'what do you think?', and he said, "well, if you'd like it.' I said I'd like to take it, a lot of people are taking it, a lot of frontline workers are taking hydroxychloroquine — hey, a lot of people said, 'maybe he owns the company,' no, I don't own the company. I want the people of this nation to feel good. I don't want them to be sick. And there's a very good chance that this has an impact, especially early on. But you look at frontline workers, you look at doctors and nurses, a lot of them are taking it as a preventative. Totally unrelated, but they take the z-pack or the azithromycin for possible infection. Now, I haven't taken that other than an original dose, because all you need, you don't have to take it simultaneously, but the zinc you do take. So I'm taking the two, the zinc and the hydroxy, and all I can tell you is so far, I seem to be okay." 

When a reporter asked Trump for the evidence that hydroxychloroquine works to prevent COVID-19 infections, Trump asserted that a non-peer reviewed study of COVID-19 patients under the care of the Department of Veterans Affairs that found higher death rates among patients who took the drug was conducted by people that "aren't big Trump fans" and falsely claimed credit for the VA Choice of Act of 2014.

"Here's my evidence: I get a lot of positive calls about it. The only negative I've heard was the study at [Veterans Affairs], where people that aren't big Trump fans gave it, and we've done the greatest job maybe of anything at the VA cause I got VA Choice and VA Accountability both approved...now, you fire bad people at the VA, we got rid of tremendously bad people who shouldn't have been there. So we did a great job at the VA, but they had a report come out, the results of the report, it was a very unscientific report, by the way, but I get a lot of tremendously positive news on the hydroxy and I say, 'hey, you know the expression I use, John? What do you have to lose?' So I have been taking it for a week and a half, I take a pill every day. At some point I'll stop. What I'd like to do is have the cure and/or the vaccine, and I think we'll have that very soon."  

See full video footage of Trump's comments:

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