COVID-19 Death and BCG Vaccination Programs Worldwide

COVID-19 Death and BCG Vaccination Programs Worldwide

Feras J. Jirjees, Yahya H. Dallal Bashi, Hala J. Al-Obaidi

Several clinical trials are being conducted worldwide to investigate the protective effect of the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine against death in healthcare providers who are working directly with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Clinical studies suggested that certain live vaccines, particularly the BCG vaccine, could reduce the mortality due to other diseases caused by non-targeted pathogens, most probably through the nonspecific effects (heterologous effects). By the end of May 2020, the available information on the COVID-19 pandemic indicated the great effect of the BCG vaccine in reducing the number of COVID-19 death cases. The occurrence of death due to COVID-19 was found to be 21-fold lower in countries with a national BCG vaccination policy than in countries without such a policy, based on the medians of COVID-19 death case per 1 million of the population in these two groups of countries (p

2021

coronavirus, covid-19 pandemic, BCG vaccine, covid-19 death cases, covid-19 mortality

10.4046/trd.2020.0063

Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases

The Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases

Diseases of the respiratory system