Australia launched this track, now researchers from the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom as well as in France - including the team of Camille Locht, Inserm research director at the Institut Pasteur in Lille - also analyze it. What if the BCG vaccine, developed a century ago against tuberculosis, could reduce the effects of the coronavirus?
"Although originally developed for tuberculosis and still administered to over 130 million babies each year, BCG also boosts the body's basic immune capabilities," said Australian researchers at the Murdoch Institute. in Melbourne. In total, 4,000 healthcare workers from different hospitals in this country will test the vaccine to adapt their immunity. "We hope to see a reduction in the prevalence and severity of Covid-19 symptoms in healthcare workers who receive the BCG vaccine," said Kathryn North, director of the Institute.
One of the research hypotheses
The severe forms of the coronavirus come, in fact, from an overly strong response from our immune defenses. According to the researchers, BCG could help regulate this and lead, in particular, to a decrease in respiratory infections. Balancing the immune response, by better controlling inflammation, would therefore be the track. In France, Inserm has launched a call to practitioners asking them to check the patient files, in order to determine the state of coverage by the BCG of patients admitted to intensive care.
Sunday evening, the director general of health, Jérôme Salomon, confirmed that it was indeed "one of the research hypotheses on which we are working with our European colleagues", citing the Netherlands. He also said that the French "are massively vaccinated against BCG", unlike other countries such as the United States. Certainly, but the BCG administered to children confers an immune memory between 15 and 20 years. Could this explain why adults are more vulnerable to Covid-19?
"It stimulates the immune effort"
In the Netherlands, a trial is launched on 1000 caregivers in contact with infected patients and in the elderly. They will receive the vaccine or a placebo, to judge the possible protective effects of BCG.
“It is one track among others. We must be careful, warns Professor Jean-Daniel Lelièvre, infectious disease specialist at the Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil (AP-HP). What we do know is that BCG is an imperfect vaccine against tuberculosis and protects especially severe forms in young children. We also know that it has an immunomodulatory effect which can have a positive impact on infections that go beyond tuberculosis. It stimulates the immune effort by modulating the inflammatory response. Will it be enough? We are only at the beginning of the understanding of this disease which is Covid-19 ”, adds the doctor.
In France, BCG (which is administered only once) is no longer compulsory since 2007 but highly recommended for babies, ideally during the second month. Since April 1, this vaccination obligation for professionals and students in the health and social sector has been lifted. Hexagon is also very regularly confronted with stock-outs on this vaccine precisely.
