The results of a study conducted by two cousins, economist Clement de Chezmartin at the University of California (Santa Barbara, USA) and immunologist Luc de Chezmartin, collaborating with the University of Paris-Saclay (France). published In the magazine Clinical Infectious Diseases.
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It is known that vaccine BCG, in addition to immunity to the causative agent of tuberculosis, also to some extent increases immunity to viruses – causative agents of respiratory infections. In addition, as some studies have shown, countries where mandatory mass vaccination of newborns against tuberculosiswere less affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than countries where such a campaign is not being conducted. All this led to the hypothesis that the BCG vaccine also protects against infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. For example, in France, compulsory vaccination of newborns against tuberculosis was discontinued in the early 2000s. Many other developed countries of the world have followed the same path, where the incidence of tuberculosis has decreased. At the same time, the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in these countries led to very high mortality rates among the population.
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To confirm or refute the hypothesis about the protective effect of the BCG vaccine, the de Schezmarten brothers chose Sweden, where the mandatory mass vaccination of newborns was abandoned before anyone else, back in April 1975.
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This means that unvaccinated people managed to reach an older age by the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which means they were at a higher risk of infection and a severe course of the disease.
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Researchers analyzed data on morbidity, hospitalization and mortality from COVID-19 for more than two million Swedes, half of whom were born before 1975 and received the BCG vaccine, and the other after the abolition of compulsory vaccination. As a result, it turned out that there is no significant difference in any of the parameters between these two groups of people. That is, the BCG vaccine, administered immediately after birth, is not able to protect middle-aged people from COVID-19, the scientists conclude.
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Therefore, think de Chezmartin brothers, the reasons why some countries are coping better than others are not due to mass vaccination of newborns against tuberculosis, but to some other factors that remain to be determined.
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