100-year-old BCG vaccine does not protect against Covid-19: Study

The Bacillus CalmetteGuerin BCG vaccine used to treat tuberculosis since the last 100 years is not effective against SARSCoV2 the virus behind Covid19 infections according to results of an international trialThe trial led by Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Australia involved 3988 health care workers from Australia the Netherlands the UK Spain and BrazilIt tested whether the BCG vaccine could protect health care workers against SARSCoV2 in the first six months after vaccinationThe result published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the BCG vaccine did not reduce the risk of developing CovidThe research however could not determine whether the vaccine reduced hospitalisations or death due to the low numbers of participants with severe Covid19BCG was originally developed to prevent tuberculosis and is still given to more than 130 million babies worldwide each year for that purposeIn 2021 a study led by researchers from ICMRNational Institute for Research in Tuberculosis and the ICMRNational Institute of Epidemiology and published in the journal Science Advances suggested that BCG could potentially act to inhibit the biomarkers of inflammation by the immune cells in the blood and may help prevent the risk of Covid infections in older adultsA Murdoch Childrens led study published in Clinical amp Translational Immunology last year also showed that the BCG vaccine did provide an immune response consistent with protection against severe Covid19Further the latest research showed that the risk of symptomatic Covid19 was 147 per cent in the BCG group and 123 per cent in the placebo group during the first six months after joining the trialSymptomatic Covid19 being observed slightly more frequently in the BCG group might be explained by stronger immune responses induced by the vaccine said Professor Nigel Curtis Chief Principal Investigator of the trial from Murdoch Childrens and the University of MelbourneWhen we analysed the immune cells from our health care workers we saw that the BCG vaccine altered the immune response to Covid19Symptoms reflect the immune system working hard to fight the virus A stronger response induced by BCG could be beneficial in killing the virus more rapidly and protecting against progression to more severe diseaseThere was some evidence of this in trial participants over the age of 60 in whom Covid19 symptoms were shorter in the BCGvaccinated group Curtis saidHe noted that the trial data analysis was ongoing with further results on the effect of BCG expected later this year including the impact of the vaccine on other infections such as respiratory illnesses and the effect on Covid19 vaccine responsesAlso ReadHow to meditate 8 easy tips for beginnersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever