COVID-19 could be prevented by gargling and rinsing, Sen. Ron Johnson claimed Wednesday.
The Wisconsin Republican argued that several unproven methods, such as zinc, vitamin D, and the “standard gargle of mouthwash,” could prevent contraction of COVID-19.
“By the way, standard gargle mouthwash has been proven to kill the coronavirus,” Johnson claimed during a virtual town hall on Wednesday. “If you get it, you may reduce viral replication … It just boggles my mind that the [National Institutes of Health] tell people, ‘Do nothing. Maybe take Tylenol.'”
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JUST NOW: Ron Johnson, on a Wisconsin tele-town hall, pushes mouthwash as a COVID treatment.
“By the way, standard gargle, mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus. If you get it, you may reduce viral replication. Why not try all these things?” pic.twitter.com/V0cdxPYc7K
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) December 8, 2021
In a follow-up tweet responding to the clip posted by Heartland Signal, Johnson pointed to a randomized test trial from May claiming an antiviral mouthwash can act as a “barrier measure” against spreading COVID-19.
A collection of clinical and in vitro experiments with SARS-CoV and related viruses in 2015 and 2018 published in Nature in June found that some mouthwash can reduce the number of viral loads in human saliva, making it less likely to infect someone else. But the study concluded mouthwash could not be used to treat or prevent COVID-19.
Listerine, one of the most popular mouthwash brands on the market, explicitly states on its website, “LISTERINE® Antiseptic is not intended to prevent or treat COVID-19 and should be used only as directed on the product label.” The company recognizes the product appears to affect the disease but states that “more research is needed to understand whether the use of mouthwashes can impact viral transmission, exposure, viral entry, viral load and ultimately affect meaningful clinical outcomes.”
Johnson has made other claims disputed by health experts. On Dec. 1, Johnson claimed Dr. Anthony Fauci had overblown the COVID-19 pandemic in the same way he reportedly overhyped the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. When Fauci responded that he didn’t “have any clue what he’s talking about,” Johnson shared a clip from 1983 of the infectious disease expert saying the spread of the virus through “ordinary close contact” outside of sexual contexts in a manner that could affect children was “disturbing.”
Fauci says he doesn’t “have a clue what I’m talking about.”
Maybe this clip of him from 1983 fearmongering at the expense of AIDS patients will refresh his memory.
You can’t make this up, and I didn’t. pic.twitter.com/M9BVdK9HAV
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) December 8, 2021
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Johnson has also expressed concerns about the federal government pushing a federal vaccine mandate, describing the effort as “highly suspicious.”
There have been more than 49.1 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States, and 75.9% of people over the age of 5 have received at least one vaccination dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health experts say vaccination is a safe and effective way to prevent viral transmission.
