Statement Urging Public Health Officials to Include Integrative Medicine Recommendations Related to COVID-19 Prevention and Mitigation
Paul Anderson ND & Paul Herscu ND, MPH
December 30, 2021
Whereas:
1. The Omicron variant transmission rate is very high, most likely due to increased airborne transmission, and
2. The Omicron variant is a generally milder variant, and
3. Given the fact that public health leadership, while not highlighting these points, is de facto allowing this form of transmission to occur, to allow natural immunity to arise with illness, in addition to vaccination, and
4. Given that a large proportion of the population is going to be exposed to the virus in the next two months, whether vaccinated or not,
In addition to all current recommendations, it makes good sense for public health officials and government agencies to augment strategies shared with the public in order to potentially modify risk, should a person be exposed or fall ill with COVID-19. Though many cases are mild, many people will still fall gravely ill. Offering additional proactive steps to take to potentially help mitigate symptoms may help reduce the illness burden on both individuals and the health care system.
We urge the government to add additional strategies, including several therapies for which there is a great deal of evidence of efficacy for other viral infections, and some evidence of efficacy for the current COVID-19 infection. These include: Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, Quercetin, and Probiotics.
Research on these substances has not been fully funded by the Corona Treatment Acceleration Program (CTAP) and so research is lagging. While none of these approaches have been fully validated, all are on the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) list, and are easily available, inexpensive, and have a very long track record of use by many millions of people around the world.
We believe that with the current facts on the ground, with the inevitable upsurge of infection and the shortage of medical providers, public health recommendations to include the above are logical and essential to potentially reduce severity of symptoms for individuals, and to lessen the need for hospitalization.
