Team News Riveting
Amidst mad rush among scientists to trace a solution to the virus that has shattered the entire Globe, Canadian researchers are exploring to use an existing vaccine that may prove to be effective against COVID-19.
Known as BCG, the vaccine was originally developed to prevent tuberculosis. Administered in a single dose, it is no longer recommended for routine use in Canada as the incidence of the lung disease has considerably come down.
Studies however suggest that it may be playing a broader role in reducing overall rates of respiratory disease.
“The data have shown that people who were injected [with BCG] as infants had fewer infections later on,” said Alexandre Zlotta, an urologist and surgeon with the University Health Network in Toronto, who is one of the leaders of the Canadian study.
The randomized controlled trial, which began last week, will explore the result for COVID-19 that also attacks the respiratory tract. If it did, BCG may provide public-health officials with a safe and inexpensive vaccine option that has already been approved for use in Canada and elsewhere.
Dr. Zlotta and colleagues are looking to recruit more than 3,600 first responders and health care workers who have an elevated risk of exposure to COVID-19. One half of the participants will be given BCG, the other half a placebo.
At the end of the study, about nine months from now, researchers will compare the two groups to see if the first group has fared any better at avoiding infection by COVID-19.
