Fauci Backpedals on Vitamin C and D Recommendations
Editor's Note: As if we need any more proof of what a self-serving fraud Fauci is, here's more! This evil toad has not said one word about the importance of boosting our immune system to help protect us from COVID-19 illness. . . until now.
By Dr. Joseph Mercola
Mercola.com
Story at-a-glance
- The largest hospital system in New York state, Northwell Health, has been giving COVID-19 patients admitted into intensive care 1,500 milligrams of intravenous vitamin C three to four times a day in conjunction with the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin
- Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the face of the White House coronavirus response team, says life probably will not go back to normal until we have the ability to vaccinate the entire global population against COVID-19
- Yet, four years ago, Fauci touted vitamins C and D as good for boosting your immune system and fighting infectious disease
- The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing finds vitamin D “plays a critical role in preventing respiratory infections, reducing antibiotic use, and boosting the immune system response to infections”
- An April 2020 scientific review presents evidence that vitamin D supplementation could reduce risk of COVID-19 infection and death. Researchers recommend raising your vitamin D level 40-60 ng/mL (100–150 nmol/L). “For treatment of people who become infected with COVID-19, higher vitamin D3 doses might be useful,” the researchers state
As reported in my April 7, 2020, article "Vitamins C and D Finally Adopted as Coronavirus Treatment," the largest hospital system in New York, Northwell Health, has been giving COVID-19 patients admitted into intensive care 1,500 milligrams of intravenous vitamin C three to four times a day in conjunction with the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin, both of which have shown promise in coronavirus treatment.1
According to Dr. Andrew G. Weber, a pulmonologist and critical-care specialist affiliated with two Northwell Health facilities on Long Island, "The patients who received vitamin C did significantly better than those who did not get vitamin C. It helps a tremendous amount, but it is not highlighted because it's not a sexy drug."2
NIAID Director Backpedals on Vitamin C and D Recommendations
Curiously, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the face of the White House coronavirus response team, is now saying life probably will not go back to normal until we have the ability to vaccinate the entire global population against COVID-19.3
I say "curiously," as just four short years ago, in a Washingtonian article,4 "How to Avoid Getting Sick When You're Around People All Day," Fauci touted vitamins C and D as being good for boosting your immune system and fighting infectious disease.
Vitamin C "can enhance your body's defense against microbes," he said — a statement backed by recent research showing vitamin C supplementation lowers your risk of the common cold.5 At the time, Fauci said he was taking 1,000 milligrams (mg) of vitamin C, himself, every day. "Many people also do not get enough vitamin D, which affects a lot of body functions, so that would be helpful, too," he added.
Yet, in a March 26, 2020, interview with RealClear Politics,6 he changed his tune, saying there was "no definite proof" that the vitamins work, even though some studies show they do. What changed? Why did he say vitamins C and D help boost immune function and ward off infectious disease four years ago, only to deny it now?
Global Vaccine Plan in Action?
Is Fauci simply promoting Bill Gates' vaccine agenda? It's not an implausible idea, considering Fauci is on the Leadership Council board responsible for putting together Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Vaccine Action Plan — a collaboration between the Foundation, NIAID, UNICEF and the World Health Organization.7 As explained in a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation press release:8
"The Global Vaccine Action Plan will enable greater coordination across all stakeholder groups — national governments, multilateral organizations, civil society, the private sector and philanthropic organizations — and will identify critical policy, resource, and other gaps that must be addressed to realize the life-saving potential of vaccines."
It's quite feasible that one "gap" that would need to be addressed "to realize the life-saving potential of vaccines" would be the elimination of inexpensive patent-free competition such as nutritional supplements.
Considering the fact that many reports from medical professionals treating COVID-19 patients are showing favorable results using old medicines and supplements such as IV vitamin C and zinc, there's absolutely no reason to announce the end of normalcy unless we vaccinate billions of people.
In fact, zinc is currently looking like one of the most important remedies against COVID-19. Compelling evidence suggests the reason the antimalarial drug chloroquine appears so useful in the treatment of COVID-19 is because it acts as a zinc ionophore (zinc transporter) so it improves zinc uptake into the cell.
Zinc is crucial for healthy immune function9 and a combination of zinc with a zinc ionophore was in 2010 shown to block the replication of SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV-1) in cell culture within minutes.10 Many of the symptoms of COVID-19 are also near-indistinguishable from those of zinc deficiency.11
In the featured Liberty Report video above, Dr. Ron Paul, former GOP congressman, also points out that Fauci's "doom and gloom predictions" of 2.2 million deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. alone12 have completely collapsed, "with the new official prediction coming in under the normal flu numbers for 2018."
Indeed, April 8, 2020, a new model referred to as the Murray Model13 predicts COVID-19 will kill 60,000 in the U.S. by August14 — a far cry from 2.2 million!
In the film, Paul’s cohost, Daniel McAdams, and Paul compare South Carolina’s and Colorado’s shut down responses to suggest that even though Colorado had earlier and stricter social distancing rules, Colorado had still tallied up more than three times as many deaths by April 8, 2020, as South Carolina did with looser rules.
For example, I looked up some statistics: South Carolina, with 5.1 million people, didn’t shut down all “non-essential” businesses until April 1.15 Colorado, with a population of 5.7 million, shut down skiing operations16 as well as its entire legislature17 March 14; closed restaurants, bars and other large gathering places March 17;18 and issued a full stay-home order for all residents March 25.19
Listen to Paul’s report to find out more on this topic, but here’s a hint: Colorado, with all its earlier shut downs, had 193 deaths20 as of April 8, 2020, compared to South Carolina’s 63 deaths.21 (Please remember that the COVID-19 numbers change daily, sometimes hourly, and that this video was published April 9, so the numbers in it were current at that time, but have changed since.)
COVID-19 Vaccine Will Bypass Safety Testing
Even if a vaccine comes out in a year, which is astoundingly rapid, we will have no proof that it's safe and effective since researchers are foregoing some of the normally required safety testing in order to get a vaccine out as soon as possible.22
What if it turns into a repeat of the fast-tracked H1N1 swine flu vaccine released in Europe during the swine flu pandemic of 2009-2010?
In July 2009, the U.S. National Biodefense Safety Board unanimously decided to forgo most safety and efficacy tests to get the vaccine out by September of that year.23,24 Europe also accelerated its approval process, allowing manufacturers to skip large-scale human trials25 — a decision that turned out to have tragic consequences26 for an untold number of children and teens across Europe.
Over the next few years, the ASO3-adjuvanted swine flu vaccine Pandemrix (used in Europe but not in the U.S. during 2009-2010) was causally linked27 to childhood narcolepsy, which abruptly skyrocketed in several countries.28,29
Children and teens in Finland,30 the U.K.31 and Sweden32 were among the hardest hit. Further analyses discerned a rise in narcolepsy among adults who received the vaccine as well, although the link wasn't as obvious as that in children and adolescents.33
A 2019 study34 reports finding a "novel association between Pandemrix-associated narcolepsy and the noncoding RNA gene GDNF-AS1" — a gene thought to regulate the production of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor or GDNF, a protein that plays an important role in neuronal survival.
They also confirmed a strong association between vaccine-induced narcolepsy and a certain haplotype, suggesting "variation in genes related to immunity and neuronal survival may interact to increase the susceptibility to Pandemrix-induced narcolepsy in certain individuals."
There's Much We Still Do Not Know
The fact that health authorities seem to have conveniently forgotten this travesty is shocking, considering it was only a decade ago. Here we are again, awaiting another fast-tracked vaccine for a virus we still don't even fully understand.
For example, in recent days, some doctors have noted their patients' symptoms appear closer to altitude sickness than pneumonia.35 Their blood oxygen levels are devastatingly low, yet they're not gasping for air. Doctors in the field are also noticing that patients put on ventilators have a much higher death rate than those who are not ventilated.36,37 Yet standard of care for low blood oxygen calls for ventilation.
This situation really highlights the danger of making medical assumptions. Fauci and Gates insist a vaccine is the only thing that can open the world back up for business, yet they have no evidence to back up the notion that a vaccine is the best way to protect public health.
To top it off, Fauci and Gates are both talking about the possibility of rolling out a national tracking system with implantable vaccine certificates. People who are unwilling to take a gamble with a novel coronavirus vaccine may actually have their social and professional lives restricted indefinitely, should such a plan be implemented.
Remember, the devastating Pandemrix vaccine was found to induce narcolepsy by affecting a noncoding RNA gene. It wasn't because it contained a toxic substance such as, say, aluminum, which, theoretically, could be chelated out.
As of right now, one of the main contenders for a COVID-19 vaccine is also using an entirely novel method of manufacturing. The biotech company Moderna is using synthetic mRNA to instruct DNA to produce the same kind of proteins COVID-19 uses to gain access into our cells.
The idea is that your immune system will learn to recognize and kill the real virus. What the limited human trials on this vaccine will NOT tell us is whether it might have devastating genetic effects. No one expected Pandemrix to have genetic effects. Yet it did.
Vitamin D in COVID-19 Treatment
It's scientifically indisputable that vitamin D plays an important role in human health, and findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)38 and a vitamin D review paper39 published in the journal Nutrients, April 2, 2020, both suggest vitamin D deficiency could have serious implications for COVID-19. As reported by Medical Xpress, April 6, 2020:40
"The report,41 'Vitamin D deficiency in Ireland — Implications for COVID-19. Results from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA),' finds that vitamin D plays a critical role in preventing respiratory infections, reducing antibiotic use, and boosting the immune system response to infections.
With one in eight Irish adults under 50 deficient in vitamin D, the report highlights the importance of increasing intake … TILDA researchers recommend that adults over 50 should take supplements — not just in winter, but all year round if they don't get enough sun…
Professor Rose Anne Kenny, principal investigator of TILDA, said: 'We have evidence to support a role for vitamin D in the prevention of chest infections, particularly in older adults who have low levels. In one study Vitamin D reduced the risk of chest infections to half in people who took supplements.
Though we do not know specifically of the role of vitamin D in COVID infections, given its wider implications for improving immune responses ... at-risk cohorts should ensure they have an adequate intake of vitamin D.'"
The second paper, published in the journal Nutrients, carries the telling title, "Evidence That Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of Influenza and COVID-19 Infections and Death."42 As reported in the abstract:
"The world is in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health measures that can reduce the risk of infection and death in addition to quarantines are desperately needed.
This article reviews the roles of vitamin D in reducing the risk of respiratory tract infections, knowledge about the epidemiology of influenza and COVID-19, and how vitamin D supplementation might be a useful measure to reduce risk. Through several mechanisms, vitamin D can reduce risk of infections.
Those mechanisms include inducing cathelicidins and defensins that can lower viral replication rates and reducing concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines that produce the inflammation that injures the lining of the lungs, leading to pneumonia, as well as increasing concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines …
Evidence supporting the role of vitamin D in reducing risk of COVID-19 includes that the outbreak occurred in winter, a time when 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations are lowest; that the number of cases in the Southern Hemisphere near the end of summer are low …
Vitamin D deficiency has been found to contribute to acute respiratory distress syndrome; and … case-fatality rates increase with age and with chronic disease comorbidity, both of which are associated with lower 25(OH)D concentration.
To reduce the risk of infection, it is recommended that people at risk of influenza and/or COVID-19 consider taking 10,000 IU/d of vitamin D3 for a few weeks to rapidly raise 25(OH)D concentrations, followed by 5000 IU/d. The goal should be to raise 25(OH)D concentrations above 40–60 ng/mL (100–150 nmol/L). For treatment of people who become infected with COVID-19, higher vitamin D3 doses might be useful."
Dark-Skinned Individuals at Greater Risk for COVID-19
An opinion43 in The Wall Street Journal by psychiatrist Dr. Vatsal G. Thakkar also points out that "black Americans are dying of COVID-19 at a higher rate than whites," and vitamin D deficiency, which weakens immune function, is far more prevalent among those with darker skin color. He writes:
"Researchers last week released the first data44 supporting this link. They found that the nations with the highest mortality rates — Italy, Spain and France — also had the lowest average vitamin D levels among countries affected by the pandemic …
As an Indian-American, my skin type is Fitzpatrick IV, or "moderate brown." Compared with my white friends, I need double or triple the sun exposure to synthesize the same amount of vitamin D, so I supplement with 5,000 international units of vitamin D3 daily, which maintains my level in the normal range. Most African-Americans are Fitzpatrick type V or VI, so they would need even more."
Vitamin D Deficiency Contributes to ARDS
Thakkar's views are also supported by research45 published in the journal Thorax, in which they show patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), resulting from severe respiratory illness such as pneumonia, by and large tend to be deficient in vitamin D, and that vitamin D deficiency contributes directly to ARDS.
The study also found that, for those at risk of developing ARDS after surgery, pre-surgery vitamin D level was the only measure indicative of whether or not a patient would develop lung injury after surgery. After adjusting for confounding factors, surgical patients with vitamin D levels below 8 ng/ml (20 nmol/L) had a 4.2fold higher risk of developing ARDS than those with levels at or above 8
Sources and References
- 1, 2 New York Post March 24, 2020
- 3 Today.com April 7, 2020
- 4 Washingtonian January 15, 2016
- 5 Life Extension April 7, 2020
- 6 RealClear Politics March 26, 2020
- 7, 8 Gates Foundation, Global Vaccine Action Plan
- 9 NIH Zinc Fact Sheet
- 10 PLOS Pathogens November 4, 2010 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1001176
- 11 Knowledge of Health March 31, 2020
- 12 The Intercept March 17, 2020
- 13 IHME April 2, 2020
- 14 CNN April 8, 2020
- 15 WISTV April 2, 2020
- 16 The Denver Post March 14, 2020
- 17 The Denver Post March 14, 2020
- 18 The Denver Post March 16, 2020
- 19 The Denver Post March 25, 2020
- 20 The Denver Post April 8, 2020
- 21 SCdhec April 8, 2020
- 22 STAT News March 11, 2020
- 23 Science in Society July 27, 2009
- 24 National Biodefense Science Board July 2009
- 25 The Guardian July 26, 2009
- 26 CDC.gov, Narcolepsy Following Pandemrix Flu Vaccination in Europe
- 27, 32 Eurosurveillance June 30, 2011; 16(26)
- 28 European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control September 20, 2012
- 29, 33 CIDRAP January 30, 2013
- 30 PLoS One. 2012;7(3):e33536
- 31 BMJ 2013;346:f794
- 34 EBioMedicine. 2019 Feb; 40: 595–604
- 35 STAT News April 8, 2020
- 36 Business Insider April 9, 2020
- 37 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine March 30, 2020
- 38, 41 TILDA.tcd.ie Vitamin D deficiency in Ireland — Implications for COVID-19. Results from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)
- 39, 42 Nutrients April 2, 2020; 12(4): 988
- 40 Medical Xpress April 6, 2020
- 43 Wall Street Journal April 16, 2020 (Archived)
- 44 MedRxiv.org Preprint April 15, 2020 DOI: 10.1101/2020.04.08.20058578
- 45 Thorax 2015;70:617-624
ng/ml.