On February 2, 2020 Dutch State Mines (DSM) subsidiary DSM Jiangshan Pharmaceutical (Jiangsu) Co. tweeted that they had shipped 50 tons of vitamin C to China’s Hubei Province, where Wuhan is located. This shipment provided 50 million one gram doses of immune boosting Vitamin C which was given to hospitalised patients and hospital workers. [1, 4]
On February 24, 2020 the Chinese CDC published their novel coronavirus data for up to February 11, 2020, revealing, prior to vitamin C’s distribution, 5% of COVID-19 cases were “critical” [ICU] with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 2.4%. [3, 5] It was reported on February 19, 2020 that cases in Hubei had declined.
A randomised clinical trail using high dose vitamin C in ICU patient in Wuhan began early February 2020. But following this shipment of vitamin C “new admissions into Intensive Care Units (ICUs) plummeted“, and as a result the study failed to enrol the needed 140 patients to be statistically powered. Nevertheless, the trial reported patients who received IV vitamin C (IVC) were 60% more likely to survive and had statistically improved markers, revealing a potential benefit for incorporating IVC into hospital treatments. [2]
Yet, in early 2020 any social media talk about potential benefits of vitamin C was censored, YouTube deleted content as they said it went against WHO guidelines!