WHITE HOUSE – In a video released Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump termed his catching COVID-19 a “blessing in disguise.”
Standing outside the White House with the Oval Office windows in the background, the president praised the treatment he received with the experimental Regeneron antibody cocktail “and various other drugs” during his 72-hour hospitalization.
“They call them therapeutic. But to me it wasn’t therapeutic. It just made me better. OK? I call that a cure,” declared Trump in the nearly 5-minute, ad-libbed video.
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT! pic.twitter.com/uhLIcknAjT
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Wednesday evening told reporters the video was “taken on the South Lawn earlier this afternoon.”
The president promised the cutting-edge antibody drug would be made available for free for all coronavirus patients in the United States.
“I want everybody to be given the same treatment as your president,” Trump said.
Regeneron confirmed that the president was provided with its REGN-COV2 antibody cocktail as part of a “compassionate use request,” which is when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows for unapproved treatments to be made available to treat ill patients when no other treatment is available.❐
