Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are 170 people in Irish intensive care units at this time. Fortunately, that number is reducing by the day but, right now, 170 people are critically ill with Covid-19 in Ireland. That is 170 people whose families are crippled with fear. I ask the House to imagine for just a second if we could change that. I ask colleagues to consider that we could introduce a simple and cheap intervention that could decrease the number of people fighting for their life in ICUs. I ask the Government to imagine what might happen if it were brave enough to take a bold decision instead of waiting for additional evidence that may come too late. What if, by taking that decisive action, we saved hundreds of lives across Ireland?

That is what I am asking of the Minister for Health. I am asking him to be brave enough to make a decision that could change the trajectory of this pandemic and potentially save hundreds of lives. I am asking him to provide free vitamin D supplements to people who present at Covid test centres and free activated vitamin D to people on admission to hospital. I am asking that he advise our general population to start purchasing and taking these affordable, readily available supplements as part of our response to the pandemic.

All the decisions we have made during this pandemic have been rooted in science and this would be no different. The positive effects of vitamin D are widely known. Studies in the UK, France and, in particular, Spain show a direct correlation between high levels of vitamin D and enhanced immunocompetence against Covid-19. In Spain, 50 out of 76 patients admitted to hospital with Covid-19 received activated vitamin D. All of them were discharged without complications. Of the 26 patients in the study who did not receive vitamin D, half of them ended up critically ill in ICU and, sadly, two of them passed away. In Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, our medics have seen at first hand that patients with low levels of vitamin D are more likely to require admission to ICU and three times more likely to require a ventilator. The evidence exists and the studies are being done. There is no risk in advising our general population to take vitamin D at high dosage. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland and European studies have confirmed that.

Despite this evidence, here we are, with a Government approach that is at a do-nothing level of caution. If we continue on this path, it may be too late for the people in ICU. That is not me being dramatic. That is me paraphrasing The Lancetmedical journal, which published an article last month warning us that additional evidence on the correlation of Covid-19 and vitamin D may come too late. What is taking the Minister so long to act on the evidence that exists? We already know that half of all Irish people have insufficient levels of vitamin D. We already know from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, TILDA, that the populations for whom Covid-19 is most deadly, including older people, have an 80% vitamin D deficiency. These are the cohorts that account for 50% of our fatalities. It is not just older people. A staggering 94% of black, Asian and ethnic minority people here in Dublin have vitamin D levels below the threshold for enhanced immunocompetence.

What is stopping the Minister from recommending that people start taking vitamin D to help protect themselves from ending up on a ventilator? I have tabled tens of parliamentary questions on this issue and asked for meetings between the Minister and the Covit-D Consortium, which specialises in this research. That group of experts was not even consulted by HIQA ahead of its recommendations to the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET. There is negligible risk in this strategy and potentially a massive gain. I am asking the Minister to include recommendations around vitamin D supplementation in the living with Covid plan. That simple act could save lives.

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