Last year, in the early months of Covid-19, Trump was avidly pushing hydroxychloroquine. In the middle of May, he said everyone should be taking it, claiming "there's a very good chance that this has an impact," and told the press that he'd been taking it for weeks (video below).
Following Dr. Trump's sage advice, Oklahoma bought 1.2 million hydroxychloroquine pills for $2 million, even though no other US state followed through on purchasing the pills. Now they want a refund.
From HuffPost:
Oklahoma came under scrutiny last year for its order of 1.2 million hydroxychloroquine pills — about 100,000 doses — from FFF Enterprises, a private medical supply wholesaler based in California.
As The Associated Press noted in April, at least 20 other states also ordered the drug after Trump's promotion of it, but the vast majority of them obtained the medication through donations. Only Utah and Oklahoma chose to shell out their own money to buy the drug, AP said.
Utah spent $800,000 on its hydroxychloroquine stockpile, but the state promptly canceled its order after facing backlash for the purchase. Oklahoma, however, defended the acquisition, with the state's then-secretary of health saying that the money would not go to waste because hydroxychloroquine "is useful for any number of ailments."
According to The Frontier, Oklahoma is now seeking to return its hydroxychloroquine stockpile to FFF Enterprises. It remains unclear how much, if any, of its $2 million could be refunded.
