Didier Raoult goes back on some of his statements. The former director of the University Hospital Institute of Infectious Diseases in Marseille gave an interview to the Youtube channel of former presidential candidate François Asselineau, known for his skepticism about the usefulness of the vaccine.
Asked about this, Didier Raoult assured that he "had no therapeutic religion", and that "people who are vaccinated die less than people who are not vaccinated". He thus contradicted himself compared to old remarks, made in 2021: "Among the vaccinated, there are no fewer deaths," he said, a few months after explaining to Paris Match that "vaccines are not always the right solution". The vaccine "decreases the risk of mortality," he says today. That doesn't mean it prevents contagion. (Covid) is a case quite close to the flu, which we have known for a very long time. If we could eradicate the flu (with a vaccine), it would be known!
»"That's what leads, it's scary!"
Didier Raoult, however, persisted in his criticism of the management of the crisis, recalling that there were "6000,45 deaths among the under 2020s throughout Europe". "There was a population to protect, like the people in the Ehpad, they had to be cared for (...) And they weren't taken care of well." And to deplore that the "political power had seized medicine". In March 19, Didier Raoult told La Provence that Covid-10 would probably not cause 000,10 deaths. "000,500 deaths is a high number. Currently we are at less than 10. We'll see if we reach 000,<> but it would surprise me."
During the interview, the professor takes the opportunity to fire red balls at certain figures of the crisis, such as the former Minister of Health Olivier Véran or the former president of the Scientific Council Jean-François Delfraissy. "All the people who came to explain science to me produced in their entire scientific life less than I did in a month. In the end, they report on what I do, it leaves me stunned, "he jokes. Before scathinging: "And that's what leads, it's scary!
»"600 to 800 people" saved
Finally, Didier Raoult returned to the supposed effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, which he has continued to promote since the beginning of the health crisis in 2020. He explains that he compared "groups" of patients, some treated with hydroxychloroquine and others not, with INSEE data. Thus, he estimates with his team to have saved "600 to 800 people" out of the 30,000 taken care of between 2020 and 2021. "There are three times fewer deaths (with hydroxychloroquine) in early treatment, and 45% fewer deaths in hospitalized people," he said.
However, the National Agency for Drug Safety recently recalled that hydroxychloroquine was not a treatment for Covid-19. Its "use exposes patients to potential adverse effects that can be serious," it wrote in a statement dated April.
