Vitamin D And Coronavirus

It was very early in the lock-down so probably end of March, start of April time, that a medical person was on the television discussing why so many BAME people were catching Coronavirus and they wheeled through the usual suspects such as the type of work they do and more interaction within their community when the doctor threw out that it could even be a Vitamin D thing as BAME people's darker skin meant they took in less of it from the Sun.
I thought at the time that made sense and then promptly forgot about it until someone else mentioned the other day that research shows that up to 80% of people admitted to hospital with Covid-19 are deficient in this vitamin.
A quick Google search brings up a The Lancet article published in August 2020 that explains how Vitamin D supplements in the shape of Cod Liver Oil was used in the prevention or treatment of acute respiratory infections dates back to the 1930s and trials conducted from 2007–20 revealed protective effects of Vitamin D against acute respiratory infections. It then goes on to use lots of medical terms such as Vitamin D supporting 'innate antiviral effector mechanisms, including induction of antimicrobial peptides and autophagy which regulate immunopathological inflammatory responses in the context of respiratory infections' which may have well been written in Latin for as much sense they made, but it ended by saying that there were ongoing trials to see if the Medical Community could follow up the initial trials which showed taking Vitamin D might reduce the impact of COVID-19 in populations where Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent.
In the Summer, the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin advised its members to take the nutrient, advising that although it is not official policy: 'We believe that vitamin D3 deficiency is a major risk factor for severe Coronavirus infection, for which there is accumulating evidence' the letter said. 'People born with darker skin receive less UV light in the deeper layers where D3 is made, and so are prone to more severe D-deficiency at the end of winter in northern latitudes than their fairer-skinned counterparts'.
Government Minister David Davis, holder of a molecular science degree, urged the health secretary, Matt Hancock, to review the evidence and consider a free supplement scheme to reverse vitamin D deficiencies, citing the letter sent by the BAPIO which was duly ignored but since then studies conducted around the world have been building evidence of vitamin D’s efficacy was growing.
Studies in France, South Korea, Spain and Singapore have made similar reports so there is growing scientific evidence that an effective, cheap and easily obtainable treatment may have been hiding in plain sight all along.