Nutritional Support for Vaccination

We haven’t taken sides on whether or not you should get the COVID vaccine.

Following in Raymond Francis’ footsteps, we are skeptical about vaccines in general and continue to maintain that the best defense against disease is making the effort to achieve optimal health with what we’ve called “the Beyond Health Lifestyle.” There are also many unknowns about the new technologies used in the COVID vaccines, and enough is known about the older vaccines and the drug companies making the new vaccines to cause concern.

Still, even with the best of intentions, not everyone will be able to achieve optimal health. The vaccines appear to be saving lives and allowing a return to something approaching normality, and the pressures to be vaccinated in order to fully participate in the new world that’s being created are intense.

With that in mind, we’ve been reading what various experts in nutrition recommend for making vaccinations as safe and effective as possible.

Would it surprise anyone if we started with vitamin C? Vitamin C expert Dr. Thomas Levy wrote an article in 2012 about vitamin C’s effectiveness in both preventing negative side effects and increasing the effectiveness of vaccines. He wrote:

. . . [Since] all toxins, toxic effects, substantial allergic reactions, and induced immune compromise have the final common denominator of causing and/or resulting in the oxidation of vital biomolecules, the antioxidant vitamin has proven to be the ultimate nonspecific antidote to whatever toxin or excess oxidative stress might be present.

In addition, excessive histamine response is a particular potential problem with vaccinations, leading to negative side effects. Vitamin C acts as an anti-histamine, breaking it down into harmless byproducts,

Dr. Levy also cites various studies showing that vitamin C improves the efficacy of vaccines. This isn’t surprising, since vitamin C plays many important roles in strengthening immunity.

We recommend taking vitamin C “to bowel tolerance.” Instructions on how to do this haven’t made their way onto our new website yet, but if you’d like them, write to us at mail@beyondhealth.com or call 1-800-250-3063; outside the US +1 954.492.1324.

Dr. Russell Blaylock addressed support for the COVID vaccines specifically in this month’s Blaylock Wellness Report. For the mRNA vaccines, he recommends magnesium, curcumin, vitamin C, vitamin D, tocotrienol, B-complex vitamins and fish oil to reduce immune over-reactivity, and probiotics to reduce the risk of autoimmunity. For the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, he recommends adding a week of beta-glucan supplementation after getting the vaccine to “kill off the virus as quickly as possible.” He notes that further recommendations have to wait until there is a fuller understanding of the side effects these vaccines may cause.

In the past, Dr. Blaylock has also suggested reducing immune reactions by applying a cold cloth to the injection site every two hours for the first waking day after being vaccinated and several more times for the first week; also taking niacinamide at 500 mg twice daily to reduce immune hyperactivity.

We agree with Dr. Blaylock’s supplement recommendations and carry all of these products except niacinamide.

Debby Hamilton, MD, MPH, is a holistic pediatrician. In an article in this month’s Townsend Letter, which is available online, she cautions against getting a vaccine if you have an active infection and/or are using antibiotics. Stress, alcohol, lack of sleep and smoking will also reduce the effectiveness of a vaccine.

Dr. Hamilton suggests starting a supplement program a week before getting vaccinated and continuing it for two weeks after. This program should include daily: 2,500 IU vitamin A; 2,000 IU vitamin D (if levels are low); 25 mg zinc; several grams a day of vitamin C; and, for detoxification, glutathione and other liver-kidney support, such as quercetin, dandelion and the amino acid taurine (which supports bile function). She also recommends a product made by a supplement company with which she is affiliated, called ToxinPull.

Although we have no experience with ToxinPull, we generally agree with Dr. Hamilton’s other recommendations. We suggest vitamin C to bowel tolerance; also starting with 5,000 IU of vitamin D and getting blood levels checked as soon as convenient to see if that’s going to be enough. Rarely is it too much. Often people need to take more to reach ideal levels.

If you take our multivitamin, you’re getting plenty of the vitamin A precursor beta-carotene. This is the safest way to take vitamin A since the body can use the beta-carotene to make exactly what it needs and leave the rest to function as a useful antioxidant. However some people have difficulty converting beta carotene to vitamin A. In that case, we suggest taking a tablespoon of our Cod Liver Oil daily, which will supply just over 2,500 IU vitamin A, as well as 1,200 IU of vitamin D and the very valuable fish oils DHA and EPA.

We also carry Glutathione, Quercetin (in its safest and most bioavailable form), and our liver support product Liver Care, which contains dandelion, taurine and n-acetyl-cysteine (a glutathione precursor) and other liver and detox supporting ingredients.

See Dr. Hamilton’s article for additional recommendations specific to patients with hyperimunne dysfunctions, such as autoimmune disease or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) and Fibromyalgia (FM). Dr. Nancy Klimas, MD, who specializes in treating people with CFS/ME and FM, also has recommendations for people with chronic immune hypersensitivity diseases who wish to take the vaccine on her website.

May you be safe and healthy!

References:

• Levy TF. Vitamin C prevents vaccination side effects, increases vaccine effectiveness. Orthomolecular Medicine News, February 24, 2012.
• Blaylock R. Ask Dr. Blaylock. What should I do after a vaccination? The Blaylock Wellness Report, May 2021.
• Doctor’s Formulas. Vitamin C strengthens the immune system in 20 different ways. Accessed May 10, 2021.
• Hamilton D. Vaccination support. Townsend Letter. May 2021, pp 49-52.
• Klimas N. To vaccinate or not with ME/CFS. Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine website. Accessed May 10, 2021.