Sharma A R, Batra G, Kumar M, Mishra A, Singla R, Singh A, Singh R S, Medhi B
Post Graduate Institute for Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India; Department of Neurology, India.
Post Graduate Institute for Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India; Department of Pharmacology, India.
Allergol Immunopathol (Madr). 2020 Sep-Oct;48(5):507-517. doi: 10.1016/j.aller.2020.05.002. Epub 2020 Jul 3.
The impact of COVID-19 is changing with country wise and depend on universal immunization policies. COVID-19 badly affects countries that did not have universal immunization policies or having them only for the selective population of countries (highly prominent population) like Italy, USA, UK, Netherland, etc. Universal immunization of BCG can provide great protection against the COVID-19 infection because the BCG vaccine gives broad protection against respiratory infections. BCG vaccine induces expressions of the gene that are involved in the antiviral innate immune response against viral infections with long-term maintenance of BCG vaccine-induced cellular immunity. COVID-19 cases are reported very much less in the countries with universal BCG vaccination policies such as India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Israel, Japan, etc. as compared to without BCG implemented countries such as the USA, Italy, Spain, Canada, UK, etc. BCG vaccine provides protection for 50-60 years of immunization, so the elderly population needs to be revaccinated with BCG. Several countries started clinical trials of the BCG vaccine for health care workers and elderly people. BCG can be uses as a prophylactic treatment until the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine.
新冠疫情的影响因国家而异，取决于全民免疫政策。新冠疫情对那些没有全民免疫政策，或者仅针对本国特定人群（如意大利、美国、英国、荷兰等国的高危人群）实施免疫政策的国家造成了严重影响。卡介苗的全民免疫可以为预防新冠病毒感染提供强大保护，因为卡介苗能广泛预防呼吸道感染。卡介苗可诱导参与抗病毒先天免疫反应的基因表达，以长期维持卡介苗诱导的细胞免疫，从而抵御病毒感染。与未实施卡介苗接种的国家（如美国、意大利、西班牙、加拿大、英国等）相比，在实施卡介苗全民接种政策的国家（如印度、阿富汗、尼泊尔、不丹、孟加拉国、以色列、日本等），新冠病例的报告数量要少得多。卡介苗提供50至60年的免疫保护，因此老年人群需要重新接种卡介苗。一些国家已针对医护人员和老年人启动了卡介苗的临床试验。在新冠疫苗可用之前，卡介苗可作为一种预防性治疗手段。
