Theodore Dalrymple on the disgrace of Didier Raoult, the scientific giant who touted a worthless Covid “cure”

“I have nothing to declare except my genius.”—Attributed to Oscar Wilde at the New York Customs, 1882 OSCAR WILDE’S QUIP, THOUGH WITHOUT its lightness of tone, might have served as the title of Professor Didier Raoult’s autobiography. A man eminent in his field of microbiology, he shot to fame and media attention at the beginning of the Covid-19 epidemic when he vigorously promoted the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as both preventive and life-saving. He soon attracted a cult-like following, not least among whom numbered Donald Trump. Raoult became infatuated with his own infallibility. He was certainly made for gurudom. A man of large presence and personality, to put it mildly, his appearance was not at all what might have been expected of a medical scientist. On the contrary, he looked…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, August - September 2023

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