High doses of vitamin C given intravenously (IV) have been used to treat COVID-19. Three clinical trials and several smaller studies reported successful outcomes among patients who received IV vitamin C at doses varying from 50 to 200 milligrams per kilogram of body weight to up to 200 mg per kg per day.
One study published in March 2020 reported:
“High-dose intravenous VC has also been successfully used in the treatment of 50 moderate to severe COVID-19 patients in China. The doses used varied between 10 g and 20 g per day, given over a period of 8–10 h. Additional VC bolus may be required among patients in critical conditions. The oxygenation index was improving in real time and all the patients eventually cured and were discharged.”
The Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), a group comprised of highly published critical care experts, created a protocol to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients. In 2021, the FLCCC’s clinical and scientific rationale on their methylprednisolone, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), thiamine, heparin and co-interventions (MATH+) protocol was peer reviewed and published in Journal of Intensive Care Medicine. The protocol was reported as effective in the treatment of severe COVID-19 illness requiring hospitalization. Additional treatment co-interventions noted in the research article included the use of melatonin, famotidine, atorvastatin, vitamin D3, and the application of therapeutic plasma exchange (a treatment that replaces an individual’s blood plasma).
The article noted that systematic use of MATH+ in two U.S. hospitals demonstrated an absolute mortality risk reduction of more than 75 percent, or 5.1 percent vs. 22.9 percent, when compared to multiple published COVID-19 hospital mortality rates in the U.S. The article concluded:
“It is exceedingly unlikely that a “magic bullet” will be found, or even a medicine which would be effective at multiple stages of the disease. The Math+ treatment protocol instead offers an inexpensive combination of medicines with a well-known safety profile based on strong physiologic rationale and an increasing clinical evidence base which potentially offers a life-saving approach to the management of COVID-19 patients.”
