Govt announces BCG vaccine trial for elderly to fight COVID

“The study, in collaboration with the National Institute, is an ICMR-approved one which will look at the efficacy of the BCG vaccine in elderly people to prevent infection from the virus since those with co-morbidities have a higher mortality rate. This is an attempt to counter that,” said Dr J Radhakrishnan, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary.

Pulmonologists say that though there is not sufficient local data to state the effects of BCG vaccine on COVID, it, however, prevents pulmonary health disorders. “The BCG vaccine is recommended to prevent the risk of TB but it also has a protective effect against other pulmonary diseases and lung infections. The vaccine also develops immunity over a period of time and can thus prevent COVID related complications comparatively,” said Dr R Ranjith, thoracic medicine expert at RGGGH. A recent study by JNU had concluded that the vaccine helped prevent severe infection and death from corona to an extent. The results also said that the quality of protection depended on the BCG strain used as Mixed, Pasteur and Japan strains are superior to others.

“Environmental factors affect the immunity of an individual, thus the authenticity and usefulness of the studies cannot be compared between different countries. Local data is needed to come to a conclusion,” said Dr Prasanna Kumar, consultant pulmonologist from Fortis Malar.