BCG Vaccine Prevents COVID-19

The connection of BCG vaccine with decreased and less severe course COVID-19 is proven to attenuate the disease.

Link between the vaccination against tuberculosis (BCG) in early childhood and the mild course of the new coronavirus disease has long been under discussion by scientists throughout the world. However, reliable conclusions were difficult to be drawn due to insufficient data.

The incidence of COVID-19 infection and its mortality rate are said to be associated with the national vaccination schedule of bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG), as per the analysis of statistical data conducted by experts from St Petersburg University.

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‘The connection of BCG vaccine with decreased and less severe course COVID-19 is proven to attenuate the disease.’

BCG vaccination in COVID-19:

The mortality rate was reported to be lower in the areas where national vaccine immunization programs have been practiced till present, especially if revaccinations were followed. Some of the countries are Finland, China, Japan, Korea, and also countries in Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia, Africa, and the former USSR. The rate was higher in places where vaccination has never been practiced or stopped more than 20 years ago, for instance, in the USA, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany excluding the lands of former East Germany.

The vaccine strain induced an early and long-term influence on the developing immune system, by enhancing the body's immune reaction to various antigens, including many infectious ones – adjuvant effect. An adjuvant is a substance that improves the immune responses, including autoimmune processes.

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The BCG vaccine apart from being an immune response-modulating agent also reduces the risk of some autoimmune diseases (acomplication of COVID-19)and lymphoid tumors.

Revaccination for BCG is being practiced by only four countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Proven effects of it are also observed in adults showing attenuation of the new coronavirus infection.

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'The causative agent of the new coronavirus infection and BCG have common peptides, which means that induction of cross-immunity is possible. Large clinical trials of the BCG vaccine and trials of its use for the prevention of the new coronavirus infection are currently underway, for example, in the Netherlands and Australia,' said Iana Ivashkevich, researcher of the study and a graduate of the online course of St Petersburg University in General Pathophysiology.

The connection of BCG vaccine with less severe course COVID-19 is confirmed by studies of international research teams from the USA, Germany, Canada, India, and Iran.