- 期刊
Review article: Protective effects of bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination against COVID-19
摘要
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has had a major impact worldwide. Although researchers have made every effort to find ways to avoid its spread and to find the best way to treat the disease, there are still no effective options up to now. From the current point of view, vaccination seems to be a good way to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, studies on the use of vaccination for COVID-19 are still on-going, and the safety of the vaccines is still questioned. It is interesting that epidemiological studies have shown that countries with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination programs have less spreading of COVID-19, less severity of infections, and a higher recovery rate. The striking association between BCG vaccination and COVID-19 supports the possible protective effects of BCG vaccine against COVID-19. Experimental studies suggest that BCG vaccine enhances trained immunity with cellular and molecular mechanisms against various viral infections, including single-strand RNA viruses. SARS-CoV-2 is a single-strand RNA virus. Therefore, we reviewed studies on immunity against various viral infections using BCG vaccination. Well-designed clinical studies are still necessary to define the effects of BCG vaccine relative to COVID-19 in the future.