Well, not quite. It wasn't so much an endorsement but the longstanding policy that doctors can prescribe any medication off-label for almost any purpose, as @PeteS in CA noted upthread. There was never a ban on HCQ or ivermectin, but it's never been an approved treatment nor proven effective, either. (The good news is that they're generally safe, meaning even if they are pretty much placebos, it's still harmless.)
There are those on this site who swear by the mRNA shots, "safe and effective" and all that.
Ivermectin, Doxycycline, and zinc worked for me when I had a confirmed case of COVID. Over 60, overweight, borderline diabetic (that's three comorbidities) and I was well in a week. I also took vitamin C and Vitamin D. But the whole strategy of IVM is to use it as an ionophore to get Zinc ions (known to be effective against the original SARS,
in vitro and
In vivo) into the cells that the virus replicates in and destroys. Zinc ions disrupt viral replication. You'll see Zinc in cold medications/remedies, for the same reason, despite colds being caused by a variety of virus types.
Now, just one of me is "anecdotal evidence", but there are almost innumerable people who had the same or similar results, whether the doctors who were trying desperately to get the Emergency Use Authorization and liability waivers for the mRNA shots. Billions of dollars were at stake, so those in the Pharma funded, Government funded Medical establishment were not about to admit nor allow discussion of any treatments, period.
For that reason, I would wager that there was collusion between "Social Media" platforms like Facebook, You Tube, and Twitter, to name three, to suppress (censor) any information that shed a favorable light on ANY treatment, no matter how effective.
You can say these medications (IVM and HCQ) were still available for those who were using them for approved uses on and off label. I call bullshit. I have a relative who had taken HCQ for years prior to COVID for Rheumatoid Arthritis. That relative had one hell of a time getting prescriptions filled, which pre-COVID had been routine 90 day supplies with routine 90 day medical examinations to make sure there were no adverse effects. At best that relative, in their 80s, could get a 30 day supply. Why did the CDC pooh-pooh "horse medicine"? Because that was about the only way to get IVM.
Considering the HCQ and IVM protocols were three-part, and intended to be used at the very onset of the disease to disrupt viral replication, I read the 'studies' which claimed both drugs to be ineffective, and those studies were conducted with only IVM or HCQ, or rarely, the antibiotic, but NEVER Zinc supplementation, administered to critical hospitalized patients (viral replication already at its peak). Those 'studies' were designed to show ineffectiveness.
Fill your gasoline engine car with diesel and you will come to the conclusion that the car is junk and diesel is not a useful fuel. Used properly, both are useful.
But useful was not what was being sought, EUAs and Liability waivers, and sales, sales, sales...were.
It was all about selling the jabs.
Hundreds of thousands died needlessly over money.