Prin of Epidemiology for Public Health

ormer President Trump began taking a drug that supposedly could prevent Covid-19 after exposure to the coronavirus in Spring 2020, but there was little research to support this claim:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/politics/donald-trump-hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus/index.html

Now, a randomized controlled trial (RCT), the gold standard of study designs, has proven that hydroxychloroquine does not prevent Covid-19.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2016638?cookieSet=1

A RCT is “considered the most scientifically rigorous study design…” (chapter 7, p.158).

In 1 page  but with reference to the textbook and the NEJM article to understand the rigorous research that needs to be done to assess the safety of medical advice, what is your opinion on former President Trump telling the public he had taken hydroxychloroquine? Does it matter that President Trump took this drug and told the world about it?