John J. Uskert

April 1, 2020

Governor Eric Holcomb

Indiana State House

200 W. Washington Street, Room 206

Indianapolis, IN 46204

Re:  COVID-19  Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin

Dear Governor Holcomb:

I have written and emailed my senator, Senator Todd Young, numerous times.  I also have written and emailed Senator Mike Braun, Representative Susan Brooks, Dr. Stephen Hahn at the FDA and Dr. Anthony Fauci numerous times with little or no substantive reply to my queries.

You see, I am a retired pharmacist having practiced pharmacy in the states of Alabama, Florida and Indiana since 1973 until my retirement in December 2014.

Hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine and azithromycin have been on the market for decades; the use of these medications have been found safe.  They have also recently been demonstrated to be effective in combating, mitigating and perhaps curing COVID-19 in several small tests and studies with astonishing results. They also have approval from the FDA for emergency “compassionate use.”  I urge you, as governor of the state of Indiana, to do two things: 1. Adopt the immediate use of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin and make this drug protocol the first line of treatment for Indiana patients testing positive for COVID-19; encourage and mandate treatment by our Indiana physicians to administer 600mg hydroxychloroquine daily for 6 days, together with a Z-pak for infected (hospitalized) patients; 2. Procure a sufficient supply of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to treat all Indiana residents.

Your authorization and compassionate use of these two medications will prove Indiana to be a leader in these dismal times.  The use and benefit of these meds far outweigh any possible risks.  We can offer and demonstrate the cure of COVID-19.  As it currently stands, treatment of an ill, hospitalized COVID-19 patient is admission to ICU, intubation, ventilation and waiting for certain death through suffocation.  This is not treatment.  Such “care” of patients is immoral, irrational, without hope and has done nothing from a therapeutic sense.

With a population of approximately 7 million residents (and assuming a 10% infection rate), 700,000 Indiana residents may contract COVID-19.  Of the 700,000 infected Indiana residents, 15% or 105,000 residents may require hospitalization.  If current percentages hold consistent, 2.5% of infected residents, or approximately 17,500 Indiana residents, will die from COVID-19.  This is obscene and can happen very quickly with no vaccine and no therapeutic treatment.

Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin have been used safely for decades, with common side effects (mainly abdominal issues) in less than ten percent of the population taking the meds.  Serious side effects may occur in 0.1 to 1%.  Assuming the serious side effect is death,  mathematically, at a 1% rate of serious adverse event from either, or both, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, Indiana will experience the death of 1% of the hospitalized, infected patients (105,000 residents) or 1,050 residents.  I will reiterate, the death of 17,500 Indiana residents is obscene, needless and avoidable.  I urge you to commence the HCQ and azithromycin protocol immediately.

Sincerely,