Tuberculosis Vaccine may be helpful in fighting Covid-19: Study

Team Udayavani, Jun 1, 2020, 11:06 AM IST

US Researchers have found that Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB), could be a potential new tool in the fight against Covid-19

The study posted on medRxiv, a site for unpublished medical research, finds a correlation between countries that require citizens to get the bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine and those showing fewer number of confirmed cases and deaths from Covid-19.

The study is  titled ‘Correlation between universal BCG vaccination policy and reduced morbidity and mortality for Covid-19: an epidemiological study’.

Researchers compared large number of countries BCG vaccination policies with the morbidity and mortality for Covid-19.

The study found that BCG vaccination significantly reduced deaths from Covid-19, with the strongest reductions in countries that established a BCG vaccination policy earlier.

Researchers said, “We found that countries without universal policies of BCG vaccination (Italy, the Netherlands, the US) have been more severely affected compared to countries with universal and long-standing BCG policies”