On this day of disappointment (except for accumulators), here's some hopeful news (for folks open to peer-reviewed science currently unreported by media and government):
Cheap and available methods likely exist already to allow societies to reopen while protecting everyone, including the most vulnerable, from COVID-19 and other pandemics (which are becoming more frequent). We don't have to wait years for a COVID-19 vaccine, which may never come (like the nonexistent vaccines for SARS, MERS, Ebola, Marburg, Zika, Dengue, and others).
Protected Group Immunity, Not a Vaccine, is the Way to Stop the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Richard Z. Cheng, MD, PhD
[Peter's note: Dr. Cheng is Associate Director of three current clinical trials in China, according to
this source. His curriculum vitae
is here.]
Excerpts [
emphasis added]:
1. Vitamin C has potent antiviral effects through virucidal and immune modulating effects.
[4-13]
2. Vitamin C is a prototypical potent antioxidant that plays a critical role in the prevention and treatment of the marked inflammatory response to viruses and other pathogens. Clinically vitamin C is effective in preventing and treating pneumonia
[12], multi-organ failure
[14], and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
[14-18] Another related antioxidant that has shown promise for acute cases of pneumonia is glutathione.
[19]
3. Preliminary clinical evidence from China and elsewhere seems to show high-dose IV vitamin C is effective in treating Covid-19 patients.
[20,21]
4. Out of the few treatments being tried for Covid-19, high-dose intravenous vitamin C (HDIVC) shows very promising results in treating critical cases of Covid-19 with reduced fatalities, reduced ICU or hospital stays
[22-25] and is very safe, without significant side effects (caveat, G6PD deficiency).
[22,26] HDIVC's effectiveness in treating infectious (including viral) diseases and its high safety profile is
based on solid science with decades of basic and clinical research reflected in tens of thousands of research papers in the world's largest biomedical library, the United States National Library of Medicine, hosted at the NIH (pubmed.gov).
...
With vaccines against Covid-19 not anywhere near, the only other hope to stop the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be group ["herd"] immunity: when enough members of a population develop immunity....
...sufficient doses of vitamin C (3000 mg/d in divided doses), and other nutrients such as vitamin D3 (2000-5000 IU/d), zinc (20 mg/d), magnesium (400 mg/d), and selenium (100 mcg/d), lower the risk of the public developing the infection, and can protect patients in the initial stages of infection from progressing to more serious disease.
[22]
Vitamins C and D are known to assist and empower the immune system to prevent viral infection,
[22-31] and vitamin C in high oral doses to bowel tolerance
[32,33] can denature viruses and prevent damage to the body from oxidative stress. Supplemental high-dose oral or intravenous vitamin C is indicated
in severe infections and oxidative stress because they cause the vitamin C level to drop to zero. [27]
Zinc, magnesium, and selenium are known anti-viral agents.
[30,31] With such a treatment that has worked to prevent serious infection of a variety of other viruses, further research is clearly indicated here. Moreover,
the WHO currently recommends research on vitamin C as a promising treatment for COVID-19. [34] When proven, this strategy not only can help stop Covid-19 pandemic, it will also protect us in the future epidemics.
[Peter's note: the cited references are mostly peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals, as you can see by clicking the citation numbers.]
Bring on the Disagrees.
ℕℍ
