Bcg Jabs Mean You Are Six Times Less Likely To Get Coronavirus, Study Finds

[naomi24]

//The BCG vaccine gives immunity to tuberculosis, but mass vaccination was dropped in the UK in 2005 when rates of the lung infection dropped.

Yet US-based experts now think the vaccine could improve immune systems and protect people from infection.

New research, which is yet to be peer reviewed, suggests that countries with widespread BCG vaccination programmes have much lower rates of the coronavirus than nations without.//

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/08/bcg-jabs-mean-six-times-less-likely-get-coronavirus-study-finds/

A light on the horizon?

[rowanwitch]

BcG is supposed to confer lifetime immunity but some of my colleagues were tested who had been vaccinated yet still showed a weak response to the test. It was decided by the consultant that revaccination was a safer option.

[ToraToraTora]

rowan: "Tora x3 you probably had a strong reaction to the skin test, probably due to exposure to tb but not infection" - ok so what does that mean exactly?

[Togo]

It was called the Mantoux test Tora. If you developed a red lump or swelling on the test area you had developed some immunity to TB by being expposed to the disease at some time in you life earlier. A surprising number were in fact immune, the disease was rife after the War and anyone of a certain age will remember that there were isolation hospitals all over the country.I can remember 2 such places within walking distance of where we lives ad children and the dire warnings about going over the walls to scrump the apples that were in the grounds.

[Zacs-Master]

The BCG vaccine lasts around 15 years. It’s rarely given to anyone over 16 as it’s not very effective. It’s efficacy is complex.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5601272/

[pixie374]

Puzzled, were they not given it as babies instead? Mine were and they are younger than 30s.

[Togo]

https://www.thetruthabouttb.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/bcg-web_2014.pdf

[rowanwitch]

You spent time as a child in proximity to someone carrying tb, you developed antibodies to it but never received a high enough load of the infection to develop the disease. Naturally acquired immunity. It may well have faded by now.

[bhg481]

Several dairy farmers' sons in our class reacted to the test because of their cows, so they didn't need the vaccination.

[Apc2604]

I remember it well. Lining up at my all girls school and several fainting. I remember walking away and thinking it was painless and after a few steps getting a really bad pain in the arm for a few seconds.

[THECORBYLOON]

"The BCG vaccination is thought to protect up to 80% of people against the most severe forms of TB for at least 15 years, perhaps even up to 60 years."

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/bcg-tb-vaccine-questions-answers/

[jim360]

Correlation at this point, masses of further research needed. More plausible than many other potential suggested treatments, at least. Fingers crossed that in six months or so it'll turn out to be something.

[bhg481]

apc - yes, I remember the fainting as well at our all-boys school. We were all lined up and jabbed; I was standing next to the school rugby captain and had to grab him when he keeled over.

[jim360]

Fun story: my Mum's reaction to the Mantoux test was so severe that her heart stopped beating.

[pixie374]

Blimey:-/

[woofgang]

I was going to make the same point as many others....surely if this was true then the middle aged to younger part of the population would be showing as a spike in the serious cases line?

[pixie374]

It would be under 15, most at risk... unless, as has been suggested, it wears off at some point.

[jim360]

It's possible that, if there's a link, it's only partial. Would strike me as unlikely that TB vaccination, which is, after all, a bacterial infection, would offer any more than partial protection against a viral disease. So, assuming that this does help, maybe it's merely a small buffer and dominated by other factors. It's been observed that young people are far less affected by Covid-19 (albeit not entirely safe), and I'd expect that to be far more significant than whether you've had a vaccination against TB or not TB.

[puzzled54]

Pixie, no they were not given it as babies.

[pixie374]

Fair enough...