Dr. Daniel McCartney:

Absolutely. The question of whether to supplement vitamin D for hospital patients is absolutely valid. It would be a very useful intervention. They are another group for which there is data to suggest they have lower vitamin D levels than the rest of the population. For people coming into hospital with Covid-19, I would imagine that might be a beneficial thing if they can convert the vitamin D into its active form quickly enough.

There are other groups which are susceptible. By definition, a proportion of those attending for Covid-19 testing will be Covid-19 positive and in the early stages of the disease. It would be very useful to supplement them and provide them with free vitamin D when they arrive at a testing centre.

There are other groups. We do not know what the vitamin D status is for people in meat processing plants, for example. We might speculate that their vitamin D levels are low, but it is a high-risk environment. They might be another group that we could consider. Very susceptible groups should be under consideration.