Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the potential merits of the use of Vitamin D as a protection against covid-19 and (b) the steps that can be taken to increase the public promotion of Vitamin D’s merits for maintaining the immune system.

Answered by Maggie Throup

Public Health England, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a rapid guideline on vitamin D and COVID-19 in December 2020.

The guideline concluded that there was not enough evidence to support taking vitamin D solely to prevent or treat COVID-19 and reiterated existing Government advice for everyone to take a daily 10 microgram supplement of vitamin D throughout Autumn and Winter for bone and muscle health.

The Government continues to actively promote these recommendations through a range of platforms, including the NHS.UK website, social media and campaigns such as Better Health.

NICE and SACN continue to monitor evidence in this area.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of restarting the scheme to provide free vitamin D supplements for people at high risk from covid-19 on the NHS this winter.

Answered by Maggie Throup

No assessment has been made. Last year, 2.7 million vulnerable individuals were offered a free vitamin D supply by the Government. The provision of free vitamin D supplements was undertaken to support those that were shielding or were living in care homes, as they were more likely to have remained indoors in spring and summer. However, the shielding programme has now concluded in England.