BCG vaccination at birth and COVID-19: a case-control study among U.S. military Veterans.

ABSTRACT: In the early stages of the COVID-19 global pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) appeared to be experiencing lower morbidity and mortality rates than high-income countries, particularly the United States. Various suggestions put forward to account for this included the possibility that LMICs might be experiencing off-target benefits of infant vaccination with BCG, intended primarily to protect against tuberculosis. A number of ecologic epidemiological studies that considered COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates across countries appeared to support this suggestion. Ecologic studies, however, are primarily hypothesis-generating, given their well-known limitations in extrapolating to the individual-person level. The present study, which employed

SUBMITTER: Bates MN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8986214 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature