BCG vaccine may be an alternative to fight against coronavirus. Image Courtesy – https://sparkhealthmd.com
Scientists of the New York Institute of Technology have recently conducted research that the BCG vaccine may be applied as a protective measure to fight against coronavirus. Naturally, a ray of hope has surged among the people during this pandemic. The scientists of the US said that the ’Bacillus Calmette-Guerin’ vaccine is usually given to children after birth to protect them from tuberculosis – now this vaccine can be applied to change the game of coronavirus.
‘Bacillus Calmette-Guerin’ (BCG) vaccine is mainly used in countries where tuberculosis and leprosy occur frequently. The scientists have observed a lower death rate in people who have been vaccinated with BCG at a certain time in their lives. Presently, they are researching whether the vaccine actually promotes the immune system and minimises the respiratory symptoms among coronavirus-positive patients or not.
BCG is mainly a vaccine for tuberculosis, which was introduced in the year 1920. India was the country that had the highest number of tuberculosis patients in the world at that time. That was the reason why India’s mass immunisation was ordered in the year 1948.
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The team of scientists compared BCG vaccination policies of different countries and their respective death rates due to COVID-19. They observed a ‘positive correlation’ between these two things – the earlier vaccination policy was adopted by a country, the more protection they could provide to their people, especially to the elderly people. Their observation in statistics is like this – the death rate in nations covered with a ‘BCG vaccination programme’ was 4.28 per million, while the death rate in countries without a ‘BCG vaccination programme’ was 40 per million.
Any type of vaccine usually contains weakened or killed forms of that particular microbe, or its toxins, or its surface proteins, injected into the body, and the body then starts fighting with the microbe and prepares an antibody to defend against the disease. Similarly, the BCG vaccine contains a weakened strain of tuberculosis bacteria, which is injected into the body to produce antibodies against TB bacteria.
The scientists say that the BCG vaccine is helpful to protect from various types of respiratory infections, which are similar to COVID-19. So, clinical trials should be focused on two sections of people – one is the healthcare workers and the other is elderly people who are more susceptible to infection. But a section of doctors say that it is too early to come to a decision and to rely on the vaccine unless large-scale research is done.
