I'm a Covid specialist doctor: Here's how to make vaccines as effective as possible - and reduce side effects

If you are one of the thousands of people, like me, who caught Covid again recently, you will be aware of the sharp rise in cases. Official government figures say it’s up 12.5% in the last month but this underestimates the real rise as the majority of us are not testing, let alone reporting.

Most people have “cold-like” symptoms, a bit of a tight chest and suffer fatigue but all very much milder than in the early, dark days. Reassuringly, hospital admission and death rates continue to fall despite this increased incidence.

Although not everyone is convinced, there is now good scientific evidence that the vaccine is arming us to fight off Covid quicker and certainly hospital rates are much higher in unvaccinated people. In particular, vaccinated people elicit an more appropriate immune response against the virus and not the massive inflammatory storm which causes the severe respiratory failure.

So, the first thing we should do to make sure we have milder Covid symptoms is to get vaccinated. It is true, there are side effects of the vaccine but in general it’s the same profile of people who are also getting more severe symptoms after a Covid infection. These include older age, male gender, obesity, diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, low vitamin D and poor gut health.

The good news is that emerging evidence is now suggesting that we can do things to improve the effectiveness of the vaccine and reduce the risk of side effects:

Exercise: Several studies have shown that exercise around the time of the vaccine and being generally physically active is associated with fewer side effects and enhances a flu vaccine response - in other words better protection.

Gut health: A recent BMJ published study showed that people with good quality gut health do better after the covid vaccine. Ways to increase the ratio of healthy bacteria in the gut include reducing processed sugar, eating probiotic and prebiotic rich foods such as mushrooms, nuts, artichokes and beans, as well as consuming more probiotic bacteria in live yogurt and kimchi. On a more practical note for many people, a systematic review which evaluated 12 scientifically randomised studies reported that people taking, mainly lactobacillus probiotics in supplements form, were found to have higher influenza antibody titres, after the flu jab.

Vitamin D: Better vitamin D status has also been associated with greater seroprotective responses to vaccination following Influenza vaccination. Vitamin D deficiency continues to be common across the UK, as recently confirmed in the UK Biobank cohort.

With data for these three factors in mind, I formed a scientific committee to design a UK national study which has been running in the UK for the last year at Cambridge University Hospital Trust Hospitals (Bedford). In this prospective study, participants who are about to have the Covid vaccine are given the Yourgutplus probiotic supplement. This contains a specific blend of five different, non-histamine inducing, butyrate-enhancing lactobacillus probiotic bacteria, supported by a prebiotic, which encourages healthy bacterial growth, in the form of the natural soluble fibre inulin made from whole chicory.

Uniquely, it also contains the optimal amount of vitamin D3. The absorption and bio-availability of vitamin D is known to be enhanced by the lactobacillus. In return, vitamin D3 encourages the growth of the “good bacteria” so there is a healthy synergy between these lactobacillus and vitamin D. This was the probiotic blend used along-side phyto-v which demonstrated major improvements in symptoms in another national study involving people with active early and long Covid.

At two months, exercise and antibody levels are being measured with a blood test between the group given Yourgutplus and a similar group randomised to a placebo. The results will be available later in the year. In the meantime, outside the study, it would be very sensible, on the available evidence, to increase exercise levels, improve your gut health and boost your vitamin D levels if you’re heading for another Covid vaccine.