Suzanne Abou Said Daou

The century old vaccine of tuberculosis has been found to lower the impact of the new coronavirus disease COVID-19, in countries where it is mandatory to be vaccinated against tuberculosis,  according to a new scientific study by compiling statistical data from 178 countries, so could this vaccine be the hope for COVID-19 prevention?

The “Bacillus Calmette-Guerin” (BCG) vaccine, which is made of a weakened “attenuated” form of the TB bacterium, is widely used in many developing countries, preventing infant deaths by different causes, also reducing incidence of respiratory infections as well as bolstering the immune system against TB bacillus and multiple other pathogens including viruses and bacteria, affecting respiratory system.

A striking evidence is that 2 adjacent countries Spain and Portugal, while Spain has 146,690 cases and 14,395 deaths, Portugal has 13,141 cases and 380 deaths, such a difference in the total numbers, (Spain 10 times as Portugal) is so evident, and was explained by the previous preprint study, and by using data from the BCG World Atlas, the authors found that countries without universal policies of BCG vaccination such as (Italy, Netherlands, USA) have been more severely affected compared to countries with universal and long-standing BCG policies. Sadly, Lebanon hasn’t adopted such program, Iran adopted this program in 1984, so people older than 36 years are probably unprotected.

Many countries have started randomized trials of the vaccine targeting health care workers, ten days ago in the Netherlands, where 1000 health workers were enrolled in a clinical trial. In Australia, scientists started Monday, giving B.C.G. vaccine or a placebo to thousands of medical care workers including doctors, nurses and others.

Whether, this approach is valid and could protect people especially health care workers from the COVID-19 or not, remains a mystery, but may offer a hope until a vaccine is invented, which may take at least 12 to 18 months.