WATCH: Senate holds second hearing on COVID-19 early outpatient treatment

The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee held a second hearing Dec. 8 on early outpatient treatment for COVID-19.

Watch the hearing in the video player above.

Among the medical professionals who testified at this hearing was Dr. Jane Orient, the executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Orient has expressed opposition to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate and promoted the drug hydroxychloroquine, which has not proven effective in treating the novel coronavirus. The FDA rescinded its Emergency Use Authorization for hydroxychloroquine in June.

During last month’s hearing on COVID-19 outpatient treatment the Senate debated the merits of hydroxychloroquine for more than two hours despite the fact that the nation’s top health experts have said it has not proven helpful in treating COVID-19.

Brown University’s School of Public Health Dean Dr. Ashish Jha testified at the first hearing and later told MSNBC that Senate committee members’ attempt to frame hydroxychloroquine as a “miracle drug” despite scientific evidence that it is not effective was “very, very odd.”

The PBS NewsHour will update this story as it develops.