Effectiveness of booster BCG vaccination in preventing Covid-19 infection

Amirlak, Iradj; Haddad, Rifat; Hardy, J. G.; Khaled, Naief Suleiman; Chung, Michael; Amirlak, Bardia

doi:10.1101/2020.08.10.20172288

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…17 In fact, BCG revaccination may decrease susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, as recently shown. 18 BCG vaccination could induce "trained immunity" by activation and reprogramming of innate immune cells via histone modifications and epigenetic reprogramming at the regulatory sites of genes encoding inflammatory cytokines in cells. 19,20 Hematopoietic stem cells and myeloid progenitors in the bone marrow or microbiota in the gut may be also imprinted by BCG-mediated metabolic and epigenetic processes either directly or indirectly and involved in trained immunity, especially when the BCG vaccine is administered at birth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood Bacille Calmette-Guerin Vaccination and Its Association With Less Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia

Chen

Xue

et al. 2021

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

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Introduction The potential for bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination to mitigate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity and perhaps infection susceptibility has been hypothesized, attracting global attention given its off-target benefits demonstrated in several respiratory viral infections. Methods In this retrospective study, patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital, China were categorized into BCG vaccination and non-vaccination groups. Clinical records, demography, laboratory results, and chest computed tomography scans were extracted from electronic medical records and compared between the 2 groups. Results No adverse events were observed, except for an increased frequency of chills in the BCG-vaccinated group versus the unvaccinated group ( p =0.014). There were no significant differences in oxygen demand for breathing, computed tomography scans, treatments, or outcomes between the 2 groups. However, BCG vaccination was associated with significantly less severe pneumonia ( p =0.028) and milder deficiency in liver function, consistent with a lower death rate in comparison with the unvaccinated group. Conclusions BCG vaccination received in childhood is associated with less severe COVID-19 pneumonia and milder liver function deficiency in addition to a lower death rate in BCG-vaccinated patients versus non-vaccinated individuals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood Bacille Calmette-Guerin Vaccination and Its Association With Less Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia

Chen

Xue

et al. 2021

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

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“…Another candidate is (d), the T cell immunity [33]. The memory T cells exposed by the SARS-CoV-2 may work for long-term immune protection against COVID-19 [33], and these effects may be enhanced by the BCG vaccination [34]. This mechanism can be universal and explains the suppression of mortality in many countries.…”

Section: B Covid-19 Spread In July and Augustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Universality in COVID-19 spread in view of the Gompertz function

Ohnishi

Namekawa

Fukui

2020

Preprint

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We demonstrate that universal scaling behavior is observed in the current coronavirus (COVID-19) spread in various countries. We analyze the numbers of infected people in selected eleven countries (Japan, USA, Russia, Brazil, China, Italy, Indonesia, Spain,South Korea, UK, and Sweden). By using the double exponential function called the Gompertz function, fG(x)=exp(−e−x), the number of infected people is well described as N(t)=N0 fG(γ(t−t0)), where N0, γ and t0 are the final total number of infected people, the damping rate of the infection probability and the peak time of dN(t)/dt, respectively. The scaled data of infected people in most of the analyzed countries are found to collapse onto a common scaling function fG(x) with x=γ(t−t0) in the range of fG(x) ± 0.05. The recently proposed indicator so-called the K value, the increasing rate of infected people in one week, is also found to show universal behavior. The mechanism for the Gompertz function to appear is discussed from the time dependence of the produced pion numbers in nucleus-nucleus collisions, which is also found to be described by the Gompertz function.

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“…Equivalent suggestions have been made by other studies supporting the notion of using the BCG vaccine to prevent severe COVID-19 at least in the most vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and healthcare personnel (160,161). Recently, a study in a hospital from the United Arab Emirates demonstrated that a boost with the BCG vaccine in the healthcare workers could reduce the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (162).…”

Section: Trained Immunity and Sars-cov-2 Infectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SARS-CoV-2: Immune Response Elicited by Infection and Development of Vaccines and Treatments

et al. 2020

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The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in March a pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This new infectious disease was named Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19), and at October 2020, more than 39,000,000 cases of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected worldwide leading to near 1,100,000 deaths. Clinically, COVID-19 is characterized by clinical manifestations, such as fever, dry cough, headache, and in more severe cases, respiratory distress. Moreover, neurological-, cardiac-, and renal-related symptoms have also been described. Clinical evidence suggests that migration of immune cells to the affected organs can produce an exacerbated release of proinflammatory mediators that contribute to disease and render the immune response as a major player during the development of the COVID-19 disease. Due to the current sanitary situation, the development of vaccines is imperative. Up to the date, 42 prototypes are being tested in humans in different clinical stages, with 10 vaccine candidates undergoing evaluation in phase III clinical trials. In the same way, the search for an effective treatment to approach the most severe cases is also in constant advancement. Several potential therapies have been tested since COVID-19 was described, including antivirals, antiparasitic and immune modulators. Recently, clinical trials with hydroxychloroquine—a promising drug in the beginning—were suspended. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved convalescent serum administration as a treatment for SARS-CoV-2 patients. Moreover, monoclonal antibody therapy is also under development to neutralize the virus and prevent infection. In this article, we describe the clinical manifestations and the immunological information available about COVID-19 disease. Furthermore, we discuss current therapies under study and the development of vaccines to prevent this disease.

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Effectiveness of booster BCG vaccination in preventing Covid-19 infection

Cited by 22 publications

References 13 publications

Childhood Bacille Calmette-Guerin Vaccination and Its Association With Less Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia

Childhood Bacille Calmette-Guerin Vaccination and Its Association With Less Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia

Universality in COVID-19 spread in view of the Gompertz function

SARS-CoV-2: Immune Response Elicited by Infection and Development of Vaccines and Treatments

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