The BCG link Hypothesis is still floating around

[Leongsam]

metro.co.uk

Are people who got the BCG less susceptible to Covid-19?
Rachael MartinTuesday 14 Apr 2020 5:32 pm

4-5 minutes

BCG vaccinations are currently only given to those in the UK at risk of contracting TB. (Picture: In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)

The Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination has been propelled from our obscure school memories into the headlines this week after it was suggested that having the vaccine may make people less susceptible to contracting coronavirus.

In the UK, the BCG vaccine, which primarily gives immunity to tuberculosis, was once administered to all children in schools. However, this policy was dropped in 2005 when rates of TB dropped.

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Since then, the BCG vaccination has only been administered to children and those under the age of 35 who are deemed at specific risk of contracting TB.
But what evidence is there that the BCG jab makes people less susceptible to coronavirus and what do the experts say?

Are people who got the BCG less susceptible to Covid-19?

A number of ecological studies have suggested there is a correlation between the countries who have a widespread BCG vaccination policy in place and those same nations that have seen a less severe outbreak of Covid-19, although no final conclusions have been drawn.

The link between the BCG vaccination and those who contract a mild case of coronavirus – or have not caught the virus at all – has been raised by new research from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The BCG vaccination is known to leave a noticeable scar on the arm of patients. (Picture: Getty Images/Science Photo Libra)

The new study, which has not been peer-reviewed, suggests that the coronavirus death rate in countries with a widespread BCG vaccination programme is nearly six times lower than in nations without.

Researchers wrote: ‘The intriguing observation of a significant association between BCG use and lower Covid-19-attributable mortality remained discernable.
‘While mortality attributable to Covid-19 has devastated global health systems and economies, striking regional differences have been observed.
‘Covid-19-attributable mortality among BCG-using countries was 5.8 times lower than in non BCG-using countries.’

However, despite the smattering of professionals and experts who have been drawing links between the BCG vaccination and milder cases of coronavirus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is still not recommending the BCG jab for the prevention of Covid-19.

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In a statement on their website WHO says: ‘There is no evidence that the Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine (BCG) protects people against infection with COVID-19 virus.’

‘In the absence of evidence, WHO does not recommend BCG vaccination for the prevention of COVID-19.’

The organisation also details their fears that should misinformation about the BCG vaccine and coronavirus cause a rise in demand for the vaccination, it may results in vulnerable children around the world not being able to access the jab when they most need it: ‘resulting in an increase of disease and deaths from tuberculosis.’

Although WHO’s stance on the BCG vaccination and Covid-19 is currently clear, the organisation has said that they are conducting clinical trials into the BCG claims and will review their stance and advice if and when necessary: ‘Two clinical trials addressing this question are underway, and WHO will evaluate the evidence when it is available.’

 

[Leongsam]

womenshealthmag.com

Could the BCG Jab Actually Be Effective in the Fight Against Coronavirus?
By Abigail Buchanan

6-8 minutes



If you've been within sniffing distance of a laptop over the past few weeks, you might have noticed stirrings around the novel coronavirus and the BCG jab. Unlike the whole 5G conspiracy theory, this one – namely, that there may be a link between immunity from COVID-19 and the vaccine, which was developed to protect against tuberculosis – does have scientific underpinnings.

What happened is this. Researchers at the The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US found that deaths from COVID-19 are almost six times lower in countries that use the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) jab in their vaccination programmes. They decided to examine this idea as a result of two recent studies suggesting a link between BCG vaccination policy and deaths from COVID-19.

Their findings, it's important to note, are yet to be peer reviewed and therefore cannot be used to guide any sort of clinical practice. As such, they have been published on online archive MedRxiv, rather than in an academic journal.

Currently, two clinical trails devoted to decoding the findings are underway, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO.)

What is the BCG vaccine?

The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is used to protect against tuberculosis, known as TB, a contagious, bacterial infection that can most commonly affects the lungs but can also affect the bones, joints and kidneys.

Mass BCG vaccination was dropped in 2005 in the UK for children age 10-14 thanks to falling rates of tuberculosis infection. (If you went to school before then, you may well remember receiving the injection.) This means that it's not a part of the routine NHS vaccination programme, and so is only only given to children or adults who are at increased risk of coming into contact with TB.

What is the link between the BCG vaccine and Coronavirus?

The research from John Hopkins looked at mortality rates in the top 50 countries affected by the novel coronavirus and found a link between lower death rates and a widespread vaccination programme that includes the BCG jab.

'Covid-19-attributable mortality among BCG-using countries was 5.8 times lower than in non BCG-using countries,' academics noted in the paper.
Dr Andrew Preston, an academic in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Bath, told WH: 'Two reports have made associations between the use of a BCG vaccine and reduced COVID fatality. The studies attempted to account for other factors at play, including population size and socioeconomic status of different countries.

 

[knowwhatyouwantinlife]

Totally agree with the bcg...this together with the flu jab costs less than $30 and they are the cheapest and safest corona virus like vaccine so far...it will definitely create antibodies to destroy some parts of the corona virus as some part of it is still influenza...hopefully without the influenza part it will die a natural death...just like chopping off a persons legs to prevent it from walking...of course it's never that straight forward ...