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On the relationship between BCG coverage and national COVID-19 outcome: could 'heterologous' herd immunity explain why some countries are better off?
Lerm, M.
  • Lerm M; From the, Division of Inflammation and Infection, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
J Intern Med ; 288(6): 682-688, 2020 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-892271
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected most parts of the global society since its emergence, and the scientific community has been challenged with questions urgently demanding answers. One of the early hypotheses on COVID-19 outcome was that some protection could be offered by the tuberculosis vaccine (BCG), and several clinical studies were initiated along with the emergence of numerous observational studies on the relationship between BCG and COVID-19 severity. In the present work, I demonstrate a strong correlation between the number of years that countries implemented BCG vaccination plans and age-standardized mortality rates during the first months of the pandemic in Europe. Further analyses of age groups in two European countries with comparably few confounding factors and easily identifiable groups of BCG-vaccinated and non-vaccinated subgroups suggest a population-level effect of BCG on national outcomes of COVID-19. This phenomenon of 'heterologous herd immunity' deserves further investigation, both in epidemiological and experimental studies.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: BCG Vaccine / Immunization Programs / Immunity, Herd / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study / Prognostic study / Randomized controlled trials Topics: Vaccines Limits: Humans Country/Region as subject: Europa Language: English Journal: J Intern Med Journal subject: Internal Medicine Year: 2020 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Joim.13198

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: BCG Vaccine / Immunization Programs / Immunity, Herd / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study / Prognostic study / Randomized controlled trials Topics: Vaccines Limits: Humans Country/Region as subject: Europa Language: English Journal: J Intern Med Journal subject: Internal Medicine Year: 2020 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Joim.13198