A vaccine first mass produced in 1924 to combat tuberculosis may offer protection against Covid-19, a study has found.
Academics studied countries that have high and low levels of the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) jab and found a clear link between the vaccine and a lower death rate.
Detail on the vaccine’s popularity in certain countries was compared with each nation’s coronavirus outbreak — for both infections and deaths.
When differences in social, economic, and demographics were taken into account, scientists found that in places with a 10 per cent greater prevalence of the BCG vaccine there was also a 10.4 per cent reduction in COVID-19 mortality.
The study, from academics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and the National Institutes of Health, has been peer-reviewed and published in the journal PNAS.
Writing in their paper, they say: ‘This epidemiological study assessed the global linkage between BCG vaccination and COVID-19 mortality.
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‘Signals of BCG vaccination effect on COVID-19 mortality are influenced by social, economic, and demographic differences between countries.
‘After mitigating multiple confounding factors, several significant associations between BCG vaccination and reduced COVID-19 deaths were observed.’
The BCG vaccine was invented a century ago and gives immunity to tuberculosis (TB) — a bacterial infection — but it is known to have other benefits.
Previous trials discovered people who receive the jab, which costs as little as £30, have improved immune systems and are able to protect themselves from infection.
For example, in a trial among Native Americans, BCG vaccination in childhood was able to offer protection against TB up to 60 years after vaccination.
These so-called off-target effects include enhanced protection against respiratory diseases, and have been recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO).
BCG has been used for more than 90 years but exactly how it works still remains a mystery.
And how it may protect against Covid-19 is an even larger enigma.
The best theory is that the vaccine, which contains a live bacteria called Mycobacterium, boosts the innate immune system, making it more effective.
