Centers for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 18;18(8):4303. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18084303.
Data have not been reported to explore the relation between COVID-19 severity and BCG vaccination status at the individual patient level.
Taiwan has a nationwide neonatal BCG vaccination program that was launched in 1965. The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control established a web-based National Immunization Information System (NISS) in 2003 and included all citizens' BCG vaccination records in NISS for those born after 1985. We identified COVID-19 Taiwanese patients born after 1985 between 21 January and 19 March 2021. Study participants were further classified into ages 4-24 years (birth year 1996-2016) and 25-33 years (birth year 1986-1995). We described their clinical syndrome defined by the World Health Organization and examined the relation between the COVID-19 severity and BCG vaccination status.
In the 4-24 age group, among 138 BCG vaccinated individuals, 80.4% were asymptomatic or had mild disease, while 17.4% had moderate disease, 1.5% had severe disease, and 0.7% had acute respiratory distress syndrome but none of them died. In contrast, all 6 BCG unvaccinated individuals in this age group experienced mild illness. In the 25-33 age group, moderate disease occurred in 14.2% and severe disease occurred in 0.9% of the 106 patients without neonatal BCG vaccination records, as compared to 19.2% had moderate disease and none had severe or critical disease of the 78 patients with neonatal BCG vaccination records.
Our finding indicated that BCG immunization might not relate to COVID-19 severity in the young population.
目前尚无数据报道在个体患者层面探讨 COVID-19 严重程度与卡介苗（BCG）接种状态之间的关系。
台湾地区自 1965 年起实施全国性新生儿 BCG 疫苗接种计划。台湾疾病管制署于 2003 年建立了基于网络的全国预防接种信息系统（NISS），并将所有 1985 年后出生公民的 BCG 接种记录纳入 NISS。我们确定了 2021 年 1 月 21 日至 3 月 19 日期间 1985 年后出生的台湾 COVID-19 患者。研究参与者进一步分为 4-24 岁（1996-2016 年出生）和 25-33 岁（1986-1995 年出生）两个年龄组。我们描述了世界卫生组织定义的临床综合征，并研究了 COVID-19 严重程度与 BCG 接种状态之间的关系。
在 4-24 岁年龄组中，138 名 BCG 接种者中 80.4%无症状或轻症，17.4%为中度疾病，1.5%为重度疾病，0.7%为急性呼吸窘迫综合征，但无死亡病例。相比之下，该年龄组的 6 名未接种 BCG 的个体均为轻症。在 25-33 岁年龄组中，106 名无新生儿 BCG 接种记录的患者中，14.2%为中度疾病，0.9%为重度疾病，而 78 名有新生儿 BCG 接种记录的患者中，19.2%为中度疾病，无一例为重度或极重度疾病。
我们的发现表明，BCG 免疫与年轻人群 COVID-19 的严重程度可能无关。
