United States (US) President Donald Trump has claimed that contracting Covid-19 was a “blessing from God” and vowed to make the experimental antibody drug Regeneron free for all Covid patients.
The US leader was hospitalised on Friday, October 2, after testing positive for the virus. He took an experimental drug Regeneron and on Monday he returned to the White House, with his doctors saying he felt much better and stronger.
Regeneron, which was given to President Trump in an eight-gram injection last week, is an experimental drug that hasn’t received emergency use approval from the US Food and Drugs Administration.
The patient is injected with the drug, which contains lab-enhanced antibodies generated to mimic how the body would react to an invading virus.
The purpose of injecting the antibodies is to boost the body’s immune system so the virus can be destroyed.
Shares of the pharmaceutical company climbed to almost five percent after the president’s remarks.
In a video clip shared on his Twitter late Wednesday night, October 7, Mr Trump described how he “felt good immediately” after taking the emergency antibody cocktail, which he praised as a “miracle.”
“I spent four days [at the Walter Reed Medical Centre], and I went in and wasn’t feeling so hot, and within a very short period of time they gave me Regeneron,” he said.
“And other things too but I think this was the key, but they gave me Regeneron and it was like, unbelievable. I felt good immediately.”
Mr Trump added: “I felt as good three days ago as I do now.”
The president also vowed to give Regeneron at no cost to all Americans sickened by the infectious disease, saying: “I wanna get for you what I got, and I’m gonna make it free, you’re not gonna pay for it.”
He also claimed that it was “China’s fault” that more than 210,000 Americans have been infected with Covid.
“You have various other drugs that help a lot, but these, I view these – I know they call them therapeutic, but to me it wasn’t therapeutic – it just made me better,” Mr Trump insisted.
“I call that a cure,” he said. “I want to get them to hospitals where people are feeling bad.”
“That’s much more important to me than a vaccine,” he added.
