We came across this message being forwarded on Whatsapp:

According to the message, vaccines will no longer be required from October 20th 2021, having only been approved on a “temporary experimental basis” in the European Union (EU). 5 new drugs have apparently been approved as effective in the treatment of COVID-19 and ivermectin has been scientifically recognized as an effective drug in treating COVID-19 by researchers in France. While that is a lot to take in, we’ll attempt to review this in a systematic order starting with the 5 new drugs being approved and vaccines no longer being need post October 2020.

5 new drugs to treat COVID being approved?

Clicking on the first link found on the Whatsapp message directs you to an article titled ‘COVID-19 Therapeutics Strategy: Commission identifies five promising candidate therapeutics’ by the European Commission, an organization that contributes to policy and strategy development in the EU. In the article, it describes how five promising therapeutics or treatments had been identified and were in the advanced stages of development, where they can theoretically be approved by the commission at the end of the year, provided that clinical data proves that they are safe and efficacious.

Further research on these five therapeutics found that this was indeed true, with multiple news sites reporting on the strategy for bring between 3-5 potential COVID therapeutics to market by the end of 2021. This however is only applicable should these potential therapeutics undergo and complete clinical trials to show that they are indeed safe and efficient as treatments, which the message on Whatsapp fails to indicate.

Vaccines no longer justified?

According to the message, “vaccines were approved on a “temporary experimental basis”. But since the decree will oblige to prescribe these 5 new drugs, the use of the vaccine will cease”. The article from the European Commission does not indicate anything however to show that the vaccine is experimental and a temporary solution in any way, with the addition of COVID therapeutics meant to work alongside the existing EU Vaccines Strategy to help mitigate the impact of the virus. Additionally, quotes found within the article note how vaccination is in fact the best way to end the pandemic, with the vaccines still being the best choice for preventing and reducing transmission of cases.

Further research on vaccines in the EU found no evidence to suggest that the use of vaccines will cease, with an article from Yahoo published 2 days ago (5 Oct) stating that the European Medicines Agency had given its backing for booster shots of the vaccine to be administered for people 18 years and above. Based on this evidence, the insinuation that the vaccines had been only administered on a temporary and experimental basis and would no longer be justified by the end of October is false.

Has ivermectin been scientifically recognized to be effective against COVID-19?

The use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 has been a hotly debated one, and we have written several articles about its use and efficacy in the past. While the claim of the message that ivermectin has been examined and published in an article of EMBO Molecular Medicine dated 12 July 2021 is true, the paper only indicates that it was mildly efficient on hamster samples and it has not been tested and proven to be safe in the long term.

Further research on ivermectin in the EU revealed that it has not in fact been scientifically recognised as a standard of care for COVID-19 in the EU, with the European Medicines Agency instead strongly advising against the use of ivermectin as it has not been studied beyond the clinical trial stages.

Therefore, due to the lack of evidence for ivermectin usage and the EMA recommending against its use for clinical trials, the claim that ivermectin is scientifically recognized to be effective against COVID-19 is currently unproven.