BCG vaccine for tuberculosis protects diabetics from COVID-19: Study
August 16, 2022  16:18
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A widely used tuberculosis vaccine protected people with Type 1 diabetes from COVID-19, according to a study that demonstrates the potential of multiple doses of the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) preventive against SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses.
   
The study, published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine on Monday, was conducted on 144 patients with type 1 diabetes at the start of the pandemic, much before COVID-specific vaccines were available.
 
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the US found that 12.5 per cent of placebo-treated individuals and 1 per cent of BCG-treated individuals had confirmed COVID-19, yielding a vaccine effectiveness of 92 per cent.
 
The BCG-vaccinated group also displayed protective effects against other infectious diseases, including fewer symptoms, lesser severity and fewer infectious disease events per patient.
 
No BCG-related systemic adverse events occurred, according to the researchers.

BCG's broad-based infection protection suggests that, in addition to COVID-19, the vaccine may potentially provide protection against new SARS-CoV-2 variants and other pathogens, they said.
 
The researchers are hoping the results will pave the way for a large scale study of the effects of the BCG vaccine in patients with type 1 diabetes, considered among the most vulnerable groups to COVID-19.
 
The BCG vaccine is an avirulent tuberculosis strain Mycobacterium bovis historically given to protect against tuberculosis and, since its introduction in 1921, has been the most widely administered vaccine in the history of medicine.
 
Considered to be extremely safe, BCG is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines and is given to roughly 100 million children per year globally, the researchers said.
 
BCG is also one of the most affordable medicines, costing less than a dollar a dose in many parts of the world, they said.
 
"Multiple studies have shown that adults with type 1 diabetes who are diagnosed with COVID-19 are at increased risk of severe illness," said Denise Faustman, director of the Immunobiology Laboratory at MGH.
 
"We found that three doses of BCG administered prior to the start of the pandemic prevented infection and limited severe symptoms from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases," Faustman said.
 
The researchers noted that unlike the antigen-specific vaccines currently in use to prevent COVID-19, BCG's mechanism of action is not limited to a specific virus or infection.
 
The participants in the COVID trial had previously enrolled in a clinical trial testing the effectiveness of the BCG vaccine for type 1 diabetes.
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