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FAQ: COVID-19 Vaccine information

Covid-19 Updates

Will gargling wash the virus away?

April 13, 2020 | Kim Schive

April 13: MIT Medical answers your COVID-19 questions. Got a question about COVID-19? Send it to us at CovidQ@mit.edu, and we’ll do our best to provide an answer.

I’ve gotten the following advice about preventing COVID-19: “You should be gargling with warm water with salt or a vinegar solution twice a day. It helps keep the virus and other things from traveling from your throat to the lungs.”

Is this good advice and something a medical professional would endorse or recommend?

No. While this claim has spread widely on social media, there is no evidence that gargling warm water with salt or a vinegar solution prevents infection with COVID-19. Interestingly, this “cure” was popular during the spread of SARS, MERS, and Zika as well — and was equally useless then.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends gargling with warm salty water as one way to soothe a sore throat, it won’t work to stop infection with COVID-19 or any other virus.

This news story has not been updated since the date shown. Information contained in this story may be outdated. For current information about MIT Medical’s services, please see relevant areas of the MIT Medical website.

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