Micronutrient supplementation, COVID-19 vaccination and adverse effect: Correspondence

Dear Editor,

We would like to share ideas on the publication “Micronutrient supplementation before COVID-19 vaccination can protect against adverse effects [1]”. Dalan and Boehm discussed on the role of micronutrient supplementation and proposed some disagreements on observations by Fen et al. [2]. The argument refers to underlying or concurrent medical conditions [1]. We agree with Dalan and Boehm. Indeed, the adverse effect after COVID-19 vaccination depends on several factors. Other factors that should be mentioned is the genetic underlying factors. In some cases, the vaccine recipient might be a carrier of some genetic disorders, such as thalassemia. In our setting, thalassemia is common and the patient usually received nutritional supplementation but there is no observation of protective against adverse effect of COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally, the effect of the genetic polymorphisms, such as vitamin D receptor polymorphisms should also be assessed. If nutritional supplementation can help protect against COVID-19 vaccine induced adverse effect, the effect of genetic polymorphism that relates to the nutritional metabolic process should exist.

Grants and funding

None.

Contribution of each author

RM 50% - 1a Substantial contributions to study conception and design 1b. Substantial contributions to acquisition of data 1c. Substantial contributions to analysis and interpretation of data 2. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content 3. Final approval of the version of the article to be published.

VW 50% - 1a Substantial contributions to study conception and design 1b. Substantial contributions to acquisition of data 1c. Substantial contributions to analysis and interpretation of data 2. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content 3. Final approval of the version of the article to be published.

Declaration of competing interest

None.