Guest “big mouthsAt RMC, government spokesperson Olivier Veran on Monday returned to the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular the disagreements between the government and infectious disease specialist Didier Raoult over the use of hydroxychloroquine as a means to combat the virus.

Two years after the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, Olivier Veran made the assessment. The former Minister of Health was mentioned in a new book on September 8 entitled behind the waves (Editor: Robert Lafont). In the programme, in particular, the split between the Marseille IHU of Didier Raoult, who promoted hydroxychloroquine as a tool in the fight against Covid-19, and many of his peers as well as the government.

For Olivier Veran, Didier Raoult conflated science with magic, “which sometimes meet, but often oppose”: “Science takes time, fumbles, and breaks down. We had a vaccine in exceptional circumstances, but we still had to wait a year.” , remembers on Monday on set”big mouths“.” Meanwhile, everyone is afraid. So, to collectively bring together fear, magic can provide solutions that may seem logical to us,” adds the current government spokesperson.

“The trap that we collectively fell into is that we thought the magic solution was a solution to everything, and it deserved a scientific solution. I would have been the first to be happy if hydroxychloroquine saved lives. And prevented people from getting sick. It’s French production and French research and it doesn’t cost much. But It was not so, ”explains Olivier Veran.

“He had a conviction and took it as evidence.”

The former Minister of Health regrets that Didier Raoult “used an amulet”, stressing that he does not need a study and resorts to the argument of authority to justify the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat patients with Covid-19, and sometimes even prevent the onset of the disease.

While Khawatir bin Muhammad is the president of the association Marseille in a state of anger, Supports a group ofbig mouths“who has treated Didier Raoult “many elected officials” with chloroquine, Olivier Veran wants to avoid any complication: “You take 100 patients who were treated with chloroquine and another 100 who were not treated with chloroquine, you have the same result.” In 80% of cases, they do not have a fever or have a very mild fever. And in 20% of cases, people will have slightly more forms of symptoms.

“It’s like telling you I had herbal tea when I had COVID-19, I had a fever for two days and everything was gone. It’s cool, but it’s statistics. Science is different from magic because it proves it,” explains Olivier Veran. For him, Didier Raoult had a “conviction” and “because of his lofty view of himself, he took this condemnation as evidence”.

An open investigation against IHU

Olivier Veran claims that he contacted Didier Raoult, in particular at the beginning of the epidemic, believing that the Marseille IHU was one of the best equipped institutes to fight Covid-19, welcome to pass the testing policy of the institution.

But the Covid-19 pandemic appears to have benefited the institute. At least from Didier Raoult. The epidemiologist has since been targeted by a major investigation. According to a report by the General Inspection for Social Affairs (Igas) and its counterpart for Higher Education and Research (IGESR) published on September 5, numerous medical, scientific and administrative deviations that may “result from a criminal qualification”, noted at the IHU, throughout Didier Raoult’s tenure.