BCG and Coronavirus

Jon Harwood sent me this incredible article on BCG and Covid-19. Apparently in countries where it is being used as a vaccine there is a pronounced lower rate of covid 19 sickness. I am currently undergoing BCG treatments for my bladder cancer and was part of one of the earliest study groups in the 1980's. BCG is a tuberculin vaccine which boosts the bodies immune system in ways that are still not totally understood. I happen to be getting a treatment tomorrow morning.

The study published on medRxiv ( a site for preliminary medical reseach, finds an interesting correlation between countries that require people to get Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) vaccine and those showing fewer numbers of confirmed cases and deaths from Covid -19.

Does it give me extra protection and added immunity against the coronavirus? Hope I never find out but if so, I will take it, in any case.

‘It’s like the BCG vaccine creates bookmarks for the immune system to use later.’

Of course this is speculative right now but still a very intriguing avenue for further research. Unfortunately there is already a huge demand for the vaccine which is not being met adequately globally. Honestly, I always thought BCG was a wonder drug. Saved my ass this time for sure.

More from Mother Jones:

In a 2015 meta-study, researchers analyzed hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations in Spain that occurred between 1992 and 2011 and found that 10- to 14-year-olds who had received the BCG vaccine at birth saw nearly 70 percent fewer hospital visits due to non-tuberculosis infections than those who had not. In 2018, a study of more than 3,000 hospitalized adults in New Zealand showed that having previously gotten the flu shot decreased the severity of illness and hospitalization time for people who ultimately contracted the flu—even for strains they hadn’t been protected against. The average vaccinated patient, the study found, spent four fewer days in the ICU for flu-related infections than their unvaccinated counterparts. (The flu vaccine also reduces your risk of hospitalization in the first place.) And in 2019, a small study led by researchers in England suggested that the typhoid vaccine, made with a weakened form of salmonella, might also help combat the flu by giving the immune system a “boost” to fight other pathogens.