What Is 100-Year Old BCG Vaccine?

A vaccine that was developed a hundred years ago to treat tuberculosis in Europe is now being tested by the doctors and scientists to bolster the immune against the novel coronavirus.

Commonly called as BCG vaccine, it was founded in the 1920s and came to India in 1948 as there were more cases of tuberculosis in India back then.

Researchers from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) analyzed that the countries that have BCG vaccine coverage have a lower number of cases of COVID-19.

“There is a lot of evidence to suggest that BCG, used to vaccinate against tuberculosis, reduces mortality not just in newborns but a lot of people who have been vaccinated," Ashish Kamat, professor of Urologic Oncology (Surgery) said.

A recent study observed that the death rate among the people vaccinated with the BCG, a tuberculosis vaccine is very low when compared to the other nations.

Meanwhile, the scientists are working day and night to find a proper cure for the virus. They have also been testing the BCG vaccine if it could be found fruitful in curing the virus.