Free vitamin D to reduce COVID-19 risk
Vitamin D is being supplied to clinically vulnerable people in an attempt to protect them from COVID-19 symptoms
As the pandemic continues, the UK government is drawing up plans to deliver free supplies of vitamin D supplements over the coming months to over 2 million people deemed as clinically vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and/or care home residents.
This is in response to emerging evidence that vitamin D deficiencies may increase the risk of death from COVID-19, as well as increasing the severity of the disease. The government is expected to commission its own clinical trials to further analyse the link, but as this supplement is cheap with no side effects, it has been decided to go through with the plan.
The vitamin usually plays a role in calcium and phosphate homeostasis, and is produced naturally in response to sunlight, but gloomy winter days frequently result in many people being victim to deficiencies. This is particularly exacerbated during lockdown, as individuals have less sunlight exposure as a result of staying indoors, and thus the current national lockdown is the ideal moment to implement this scheme.
