Corona Virus Vaccine?

What we know

According to this article in the New York Times, the old tuberculosis vaccine may be effective in bolstering immunity and therefore helping to prevent COVID-19 infection. As of today (April 5th, 2020), scientists are currently trying test the vaccine against COVID-19. The vaccine is known as the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine and is still used in many parts of the developing world to prevent respiratory infections in infants. Apparently the vaccine trains the immune system to recognize many different types of infections better. In Australia a randomized controlled trial was done by administering this vaccine or a placebo to thousands of health workers working with corona virus patients to see the results. The vaccine is intended to shorten the time and lessen the severity of the sickness, rather than prevent individuals from being infected at all. I think that news of this vaccine potentially lowering the risk of death with corona virus infection may create a sudden demand for this vaccine in the general population, despite health workers needing it the most. I believe that when there is proof of an effective vaccine, we may see only the richest and most privileged members of society receive the vaccine first, further exacerbating the detrimental effects this pandemic has on underprivileged communities.

Why the Tuberculosis vaccine?

Despite the Tuberculosis vaccine targeting TB in particular, evidence from the previous decade has shown that the vaccine also reduces viral illnesses, respiratory infections, and sepsis. This points to the fact that the vaccine potentially bolsters the body’s immune system, making it more effective in fighting off deadly infections such as COVID-19. I also think that this vaccine is a great starting point that could hopefully buy scientists some time as they try to discover a vaccine specific to COVID-19 that would further prevent infection. As many articles online warn however, it is a bad idea to jump on this preliminary research about the B.C.G vaccine because it is still unknown whether the vaccine could in fact increase your risk of acquiring COVID-19 or dying from it. It is stressed that this is just preliminary research and too early to determine what kind of effect it will have on individuals in terms of COVID-19.

Promising Data

According to this article on Bloomberg.com, research has shown that countries who have mandatory Tuberculosis vaccinations also report fewer deaths due to COVID-19 than countries that do not. In places such as South Korea, Japan, and China, which all have mandatory TB vaccinations, the disease was managed much better than in places which do not have a TB vaccination requirement. According to the same article mentioned above in the New York Times, a randomized trial of 2,320 babies in Guinea-Bissau showed that babies who were vaccinated against TB had a significantly lower death rate among low-birth-weight babies than those who were not. Another worldwide epidemiological study from this article showed that there was a 40 percent lower risk of acute respiratory infections in children who received the TB vaccine. I think that these promising studies give hope to many scientists worldwide, and it is a great starting point for beginning trials in people most affected by Corona Virus.