Dear Jacinda Ardern,

Low Vitamin D prior to Covid 19 infection is associated with bad outcomes.

The required level of Vitamin D for good health at all ages is deemed to be at least 50 nanomoles per litre (nmol/L) of blood. A ViDA study showed that 20 percent of Pākehā participants, 39 percent of Māori, 47 percent of Pacific and 72 percent of South Asian participants had less than 50 nmol/L.

On 2nd June 2020 the Prime Minister was advised to supplement this at-risk population.

It is now 2nd December 2021.

Can you please forward information detailing the Labour Government's Vitamin D rollout to at risk people during the last 18 months?

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Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor
Vitamin D status and COVID-19 Prepared under urgency – 2 June 2020

Aotearoa New Zealand context:
The latest data on vitamin D deficiency in Aotearoa New Zealand comes from two sources: a survey of GP perceptions in 201324 and an adult nutritional survey in 2008–9 that reported 5% deficiency and 27% insufficiency in the NZ population. 25 The findings of a survey that is over a decade old are not likely to be representative of today’s population, however the groups identified as at-risk of deficiency are still considered at-risk:
• People with naturally dark skin
• People whose skin is not regularly exposed to sunlight, by: regularly covering a lot of your skin (e.g. use of sunscreen or use of concealing clothing, such as a burka), or o not going outside.
• People who live in the South Island (especially south of Nelson-Marlborough) and get little time outdoors in the middle of the day between May and August, resulting in a risk of vitamin D deficiency in spring.
• People with liver or kidney disease, or who are on certain medications that affect vitamin D levels. Testing for vitamin D status is more expensive than supplementing in NZ, so current policy is to supplement individuals at-risk of vitamin D deficiency at the discretion of GPs. This policy is probably also appropriate for managing individuals at-risk of severe COVID-19 disease in NZ until more information is gathered from clinical trials.
https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.auc...

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In sunny New Zealand it’s hard to believe people would have low vitamin D levels, but we do. The required level for good health at all ages is deemed to be at least 50 nanomoles per litre (nmol/L) of blood. The ViDA study showed that 20 percent of Pākehā participants, 39 percent of Māori, 47 percent of Pacific and 72 percent of South Asian participants had less than 50 nmol/L.
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2021/...
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I will document some additional information below. I also wish to note that every major media outlet in New Zealand has been aware of this information for some time now. As has RNZ / NZOnAir funded journalist Mihirangi Forbes and Maori Party leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer - both of whom have chosen to remain silent on this issue - an issue which has a significant impact on the people who they claim to represent.

Yours faithfully,

Micky Turner

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NHS UK started giving out Vitamin D to vulnerable for Covid 19 in February 2021
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronaviru...

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

‘Covid 19’ appears zero times on Ministry of Health’s Vitamin D guidelines:
https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/h...

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Vitamin K should also be given:

The importance of vitamin K in lung health was also recently discussed by another research group. Using NHANES 2007–2016 data (n = 17 681), Shen et al. showed that consumption of recommended amounts of vitamin K was associated with a 39% decrease in odds of emphysema, and they concluded that vitamin K is important for lung health [17]

The vitamin K status in 135 hospitalized COVID-19 patients was compared with controls. Similar to our findings, the extrahepatic vitamin K status was lower in the COVID-19 patients compared with the controls, and it was even lower in the poor outcome patients (invasive ventilation and/or death). In another study, in 62 COVID-19 patients, 72% of the males and 36% of the females were vitamin K deficient. Our study extends these findings to a US cohort, and also to a cohort with largely varying clinical presentation (varying from asymptomatic status to death), in which we report a significant association between vitamin K status and COVID-19 disease severity.

A state of heightened inflammation, usually measured by soluble cytokines, seems to play an important role in the pathophysiology of COVID-19. Some cytokines are potentially beneficial (type-I interferon, interleukin [IL]-7), and others harmful (tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α, IL-1β, IL-6) [18]. Anastasi and colleagues have shown a positive correlation between low hepatic vitamin K status and elevated interleukin 6 (IL-6). The anti-inflammatory action of vitamin K is shown in several studies outside of COVID-19.

These observations suggest that the association between vitamin K, but not vitamin D, and COVID-19 severity outcome is likely partially due to vitamin K’s anti-inflammatory effect. In addition, vitamin K status may unfavorably modify COVID-19 pathogenesis by several other mechanisms, including lower extrahepatic activation of the anticoagulant protein S, leading to accelerated thrombosis formation, and lower activation of MGP, reducing inhibition of mineralization of the elastic fibers in the lung, leading to accelerated elastic fiber damage.

Our findings suggest a potential relationship between vitamins D and K at the time of acute COVID-19 and an association with worse disease severity. Interestingly, both vitamin D and vitamin K may display complementary effects on the cytokine storm, thrombosis, and lung damage during COVID-19. Specifically, they display similar inhibitory effects on inhibition of NF-kB and cytokine release, and vitamins D and K appear to work synergistically to help protect against calcification and damage in the lungs

Several factors are frequently cited as risk factors for severe COVID-19 outcomes, including race, BMI, and comorbidities. Black individuals have higher mortality in the United States, with an infection rate >3-fold higher in predominantly Black counties compared with predominantly White counties [30]. Hypertension has been identified as the most common comorbidity in COVID-19, and obesity is a risk factor for COVID-19 disease severity. In our study, being non-White and having a higher BMI were independently associated with worse vitamin D and K levels; however, neither race nor BMI was associated with COVID-19 outcome after adjusting for vitamin D and vitamin K status. Similarly, hypertension was independently associated with worse vitamin K status but not with COVID-19 severity when adjusting for vitamin D and K levels. Most African Americans lack normal serum levels of vitamin D; in addition, greater adiposity is associated with lower vitamin D levels, suggesting a role for vitamin D in abdominal fat storage and function. Race, BMI, and comorbidities, specifically hypertension, may be inter-related, and racial differences in COVID-19 disease severity may be due to additional socioeconomic and health care disparities; however, our findings suggest that vitamins D and K may play a role in modulating the associations between these factors and COVID-19 disease severity.

source: https://academic.oup.com/ofid/article/8/...

Dear J Ardern (MIN),

Thank you for confirming that the Government currently has no interest in pursuing Vitamin D as part of their response to Covid 19.

In light of Omicron evading vaccines - T cells are the next line of defense. This is proven science.

Vitamin D boosts T-cell immunity (information below).

It would be very easy for the Government to simply recommended that people get a safe amount of sun over the next few months and I would really appreciate it - if you could please spread that simple message in the interests of public health.

Kindest regards - Micky Turner

STUDIES & DATA:
T-cells can fight Omicron when antibodies fail to, Australian researchers say
Human bodies have a second line of defence against Covid that offers hope in the global fight against the Omicron variant, Australian researchers say.

University of Melbourne research, done in conjunction with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has found T-cells should be able to tackle the virus.

Omicron has a higher number of mutations than other variants, which means it can sometimes slip past the antibodies produced by vaccination or infection. But if it does enter the body, the T-cells – white blood cells that originate in the marrow – will attack.

The research has just been published in the peer-reviewed journal Viruses.

Co-leader of the research, the University of Melbourne’s Matthew McKay, said while it was a preliminary study, it was “positive news”.

“Even if Omicron, or some other variant for that matter, can potentially escape antibodies, a robust T-cell response can still be expected to offer protection and help to prevent significant illness,” he said.

“These results overall would suggest that broad escape from T-cells is very unlikely.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Another reason vitamin D is important: It gets T cells going
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a rapidly expanding inventory of ailments—including heart disease, cancer and the common cold. A new discovery demonstrates how the vitamin plays a major role in keeping the body healthy in the first place, by allowing the immune system’s T cells to start doing their jobs.

In order for T cells to become active members of the body’s immune system, they must transition from so-called “naive” T cells into either killer cells or helper cells (which are charged with “remembering” specific invaders). And, if ample vitamin D is not around, the T cells do not make that crucial transition, a group of researchers led by Carsten Geisler, head of the Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Copenhagen, found. They draw this conclusion based on their experiments with isolated naïve human T cells.

“When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signaling device of ‘antenna’ known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D,” Geisler said in a prepared statement. If there is an inadequate vitamin D level, he noted, “they won’t even begin to mobilize.”

Although this vitamin requirement might seem like a handicap to the immune system, the researchers proposed that the additional step involving the vitamin D receptor might actually serve an important evolutionary function: keeping T cells from ravaging healthy tissue. “Given that T cells are capable of explosive proliferation, the lag phase imposed by the vitamin D [receptor step] may diminish the risk of unwanted immunopathology,” they noted in the study, which was published online March 7 in Nature Immunology (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group).

The body naturally makes vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunshine (it can also come from eggs and some fish products), but most people in the U.S. are considered to be deficient in the vitamin. In fact, a 2009 Archives of Internal Medicine study found that 77 percent of U.S. adults and teenagers surveyed did not have the estimated minimum healthful level of 30 nanograms per milliliter in their blood. And just three percent of blacks in the survey were getting enough of the vitamin, the 2009 report found.

Powering up the immune system
The European Food Safety Authority notes, vitamins A, B6, B9, B12, C and D and the minerals zinc, selenium, iron and copper are all needed for the immune system to function as it should.

Each of these micronutrients – as well as vitamin E – has been shown to play multiple roles in supporting immune function and reducing the risk of infection. Research has found a link between having an impaired immune system and having low amounts of many vitamins and minerals.

https://theconversation.com/how-to-make-...

Another study found that 30 minutes of midday summer sun exposure in Oslo, Norway was equivalent to consuming 10,000–20,000 IU of vitamin D
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vit...

Don’t forget to get some Sun exposure (10-20,000 IU is a ‘lot’ of vitamin D)
(I would say 10-30 minutes around 4-5pm in New Zealand)