- Dr. Stella Immanuel, whose video promoting an unproven COVID-19 treatment was endorsed by President Trump, is a member of a controversial group of doctors backed by the Tea Party.
- The Frontline Doctors Group of the United States has called for the closure measures to be lifted and criticized the measures taken to curb the spread of the disease.
- The founder, Dr. Simone Gold, told the AP in May that “there is no scientific basis that the average American should be concerned” about COVID-19.
- The group is backed by Tea Party Patriots, a conservative group that has backed protests against the blockade measures.
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Dr. Stella Immanuel, who appeared in a controversial video promoting the unproven treatment of COVID-19 hydroxychloroquine, is a member of a group of pro-Trump doctors who for months have been pushing disinformation about the virus.
In the video, shared by President Donald Trump, Immanuel appears before the Supreme Court in Washington DC with other members of America’s frontline doctors.
The group’s founder has been a vocal critic of the steps taken to curb the spread of COVID-19, and said in May that most Americans shouldn’t worry about it.
In the video, members of the group are seen with Republican Congressman Ralph Norman. They promote the substance as a preventive and cure for COVID-19, despite the FDA warning that it is not a proven COVID-19 treatment and can cause dangerous heart problems in some patients.
Immanuel also questioned the effectiveness of the masks as a measure to stop the spread of the disease, despite mounting evidence that it is one of the best measures.
Since then, flamboyant claims have emerged from Dr. Immanuel, proposing that sexual dreams involving demons cause illness and that alien DNA is used in medications, The Daily Beast reported.
The hydroxychloroquine video was widely shared on social media, and the right-wing populist site Breitbart promoted it.
The president’s son Donald Trump Jr had his Twitter account temporarily frozen for sharing it, violating the site’s rules against promoting misinformation about the coronavirus. The video was removed by Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The press conference in which the doctors spoke was organized by the Tea Party Patriots, a right-wing non-profit group that supported protests against blockade measures in several US states during the first peak of the pandemic. .
Tea Party Patriots has raised $ 24 million to support Republican candidates and causes since 2014, reported NBC News.
Dr. Simone Gold, who describes herself as a Los Angeles-based “doctor-attorney”, started America’s frontline doctors. On social media she has been arguing for months against the blocking measures, and appears in the video shared by Trump.
In May, the Associated Press reported that the Trump campaign was recruiting doctors to argue for the reopening of the U.S. economy as soon as possible.
At the same time, guidelines developed by public health experts called for a gradual and gradual reopening of the economy to prevent a resurgence of the virus.
Gold was listed as the first signatory in a May letter by 400 people calling for the economy to reopen.
She told the AP at the time that “there is no scientific basis that the average American should be concerned” about COVID-19. She denied having worked in coordination with the Trump campaign.
She did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
There have been more than 151,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the United States.
