25 signatures reached
To: Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly
Free Vitamin D Programme
Create and roll-out an efficient, effective Free Vitamin D programme immediately to those who need it most: those in care homes and those who are clinically vulnerable.
This will save Irish lives this winter.
An initiative of this type has just been announced in the UK, where
the free deliveries will start in January, providing four months’ worth of vitamin D to up to 2.7 million people. We are a small country. We can do better.
Why is this important?
Vitamin D is a low cost, high efficacy intervention with – so far as I understand – no problematic side effects whatsoever. An efficient rollout to the vulnerable will save Irish lives this December/Jan/Feb.
As detailed below, those groups most at risk of Covid are also those least likely to have sufficient levels of Vitamin D in their system. Hence the need for a bespoke programme, as has just been announced in the UK.
Month after month, international studies have indicated the profound gains of having high Vitamin D in our system prior to contracting Covid - and of it's value in high doses for those in acute phases of the illness. This is an intervention that is effective, cheap and a no-brainer.
In Ireland, Eamon Laird & Rose Anne Kenny at Tilda published a report in April on the value of such an intervention: “This report demonstrates that of those aged 55+ years in Rep. of Ireland, 1 in 5 are vitamin D deficient during the winter and 1 in 12 during the summer. Of particular concern is that nearly 30% of those aged 70+ and 47% of those aged 85+ are deficient in vitamin D. These are the age groups who are considered to be ‘extremely medically vulnerable’ to the adverse health outcomes of COVID-19 and have been advised to participate in ‘cocooning’ during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Of extra concern is the fact that only 10.5% of those aged 70+ actually report taking a vitamin D supplement – because of ‘cocooning’ many may now lack the opportunity for sun exposure and given the low use of supplements, many of this vulnerable group could be at very high risk of deficiency. This of key importance given the usefulness of vitamin D for immune function particularly at this time. Of particular concern we have observed very high levels of vitamin D deficiency in those who are obese and those with pre-existing lung conditions both of which have been observed to make individuals particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 and complications from the virus.”
This excellent video by Doctor John Campbell outlines how, in a recent Spanish clinical trial [with a small cohort] strong doses of fast moving Vit D reduced patient’s chances of moving to ICU from 50% to 2%: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Ks9fUh2k8&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR2JAubmKhceUow3U0gLYD5Kkt-laot_jz0IvOrmwrLNv6uG1m2seLkN2d4