US President Donald Trump has dismissed a study showing a prescription malaria drug was not an effective COVID-19 treatment as an "enemy statement" against him.
"If you look at the one survey, the only bad survey, they were giving it to people that were in very bad shape ... They were very old. Almost dead. It was a Trump enemy statement," he said.
Without offering any evidence, Mr Trump also told reporters during a visit to the US Capitol that he thinks hydroxychloroquine "gives you an additional level of safety".
"People are going to have to make up their own mind," he said.
The US Food and Drug Administration has warned about potential serious side effects with the use of the drug in COVID-19 patients.
Vice President Mike Pence, whose press secretary has contracted the coronavirus, told Fox News in an interview he is not taking the drug.
"I'm not but I would never begrudge any American taking the advice of their physician," Mr Pence said, according to a transcript of the interview.
He noted the FDA had approved "off-label use" of the drug when prescribed by a physician.
"My physician has not recommended that but I wouldn't hesitate to take the counsel of my doctor. Any American should do likewise," Mr Pence said.
Weeks ago, Mr Trump had promoted the drug as a potential treatment based on a positive report about its use against the virus, but subsequent studies found it was not helpful.
White House physician Sean Conley said in a memo that he and the president had discussed the evidence for and against taking the drug and had agreed that "the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks".
