Abstract
A Preliminary Study of COVID-19 Prevention through Vitamin C, D, and Zinc Supplementation in a Small Clinic Setting: Pre-vaccine and Post-vaccine Follow-up
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Objective: To determine whether select vitamin and mineral supplements could decrease the risk of COVID-19 infection in the absence of an available vaccine (pre-vaccine) and if it could prevent the occurrence of breakthrough COVID-19 infections (post-vaccine).
Design: A two-part pre-vaccine observational study was conducted without matched controls to establish appropriate dosages and tolerance to prolonged vitamin and mineral supplementation. Similarly, a post-vaccine follow-up was conducted after several months.
Setting: A small private clinic in North India.
Subjects: The clinic that took part in this trial employed a total of 15 staff members; 9 men and 6 women. They included 2 doctors (one male, one female), 3 nurses, 2 laboratory technicians, 1 security guard, 1 cleaner and 6 general maintenance staff. All participants consented to take part in the study.
Intervention: The pre-vaccine supplements selected for the clinic staff included a combined daily dose of Vitamin C (500 mg) and zinc (20 mg) in tablet form plus a weekly dose of Vitamin D3 (60,000IU) capsules. The post-vaccine supplements selected were a combined daily dose of Vitamin C (500 mg) and zinc (20 mg) in tablet form plus a weekly dose of Vitamin D3 (60,000IU) capsules. The Vitamin D3 dose was gradually halved (to 30,000 IU) as extensive intake of higher doses may be inadvisable.
Results: The first pre-vaccine trial was initiated on July 1, 2020 and extended to December 31, 2020 and the second pre-vaccine trial was initiated on January 1 and extended to March 22, 2021. No COVID-19 infections occurred among the unvaccinated hospital staff during the first or second trial period despite the presence of active coronavirus cases in the town where the clinic was located. Post-vaccine, no breakthrough COVID-19 cases were observed among any of the hospital staff between April 1 and December 31, 2021 with continued vitamin and mineral supplementation.
Conclusions: The vitamin and mineral combination included in this preliminary study was selected for its special biochemical qualities in potentially combatting the coronavirus and was well-tolerated. It was concluded that this type of targeted supplementation of medical professionals and healthcare workers in an environment of potentially heightened exposure to coronavirus could be beneficial at the established dosages, which were non-biological doses well above corresponding biological doses. Moreover, post-vaccine supplementation may have played a role in preventing breakthrough COVID-19 infection as no cases were observed among any of the hospital staff with continued oral supplements. However, the Vitamin D3 dosage was gradually decreased to half since this vitamin can also act as a hormone and alter metabolic activity in the human body. Due to the small sample size, further studies should be conducted with larger test groups, matched controls, placebo groups, and a complete statistical analysis.
Keywords: Novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Obesity, Diabetes, Hypertension, Cigarette smoke, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, RNA virus replication
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