Asthma Medicine Not Proven as COVID-19 ‘Cure’

Quick Take

A viral headline on Facebook claims that a vaccine isn’t “Needed” for COVID-19 because “There Is Already A Cure.” But the supposed “cure” is an asthma medication, touted by a Texas doctor, that has not yet been proven in clinical trials as an effective treatment for COVID-19 — though researchers are exploring its efficacy.

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In a video interview shared on social media in early July, a Texas doctor promised a “silver bullet” and “cure” for COVID-19.

The answer, Dr. Richard Bartlett claimed, is an existing asthma medicine — inhaled budesonide, a corticosteroid — whose success, he suggests, negates the need for a vaccine. The video has racked up 4 million views on YouTube and its claims have migrated elsewhere. A headline shared on Facebook nearly 40,000 times, for example, claims that “COVID-19 No Vaccine Needed, There Is Already A Cure.”

But experts say the medication has not yet been proven as an effective treatment for COVID-19 and, even if helpful, wouldn’t dismiss the need for a vaccine for the novel coronavirus that causes the disease — which would help to prevent that there is “currently no licensed medication to cure COVID-19.”