BCG vaccine doesn’t protect against COVID-19, Tel Aviv U researchers find

The BCG vaccination administered during childhood does not protect against COVID-19 in adulthood, a new study by researchers at Tel Aviv University, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has concluded, according to The Hindu. The finding is significant as a previous study, yet to be peer reviewed, found that countries which had universal childhood BCG vaccination programs had fewer coronavirus cases and deaths than countries which did not have a vaccination program, suggesting that the BCG vaccination had conferred protection again COVID-19. Israel’s population served as an excellent natural sample for the study, as a national immunization program which ran from 1955 until 1982 ensured that children born in Israel were routinely given the BCG vaccination. However, since 1982 only immigrants from countries with high prevalence of tuberculosis have been given the vaccination. Researchers were therefore able to compare the rate of coronavirus infection in the two groups. The researchers looked at adults aged 35-41 in two groups: those born three years before and those three after the BCG vaccination program was stopped. These groups were then cross-referenced against people who had shown potential coronavirus symptoms and had therefore been tested for COVID-19 between March 1 and April 5 of this year. In total, the researchers reviewed 72,060 test results, of which 3,064 were from people born between 1979 and 1981 who would likely have been vaccinated, and 2,869 born between 1983 and 1985 who were unlikely to have been. According to The Hindu, 361 adults (11.7%) in the first group, who had the mandatory BCG, tested positive for coronavirus, against 299 (10.4%) in the unvaccinated group, figures which were statistically insignificant. However, no definitive conclusion could be drawn as there was just one serious case of COVID-19 in each group and no deaths. The World Health Organization has, in a letter published by The Lancet, called for randomized controlled testing of the vaccine.
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