BCG vaccine induces 'enhanced immunity', may help elderly beat COVID-19: ICMR study

The BCG or Bacille Calmette Guerin vaccine may help fight the COVID-19 infection. It can especially be effective for the elderly, according to a study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research. Taking to Twitter on October 28, ICMR announced that the study found that BCG vaccine 'induces enhanced innate and adaptive immunity' in the elderly people which can turn out to be effective in the fight against coronavirus. ICMR further added that scientist found that the Bacille Calmette Guerin vaccination 'induces increased memory cell response' along with 'total antibody production' in elderly patients. The study has been uploaded as a preprint on medRxiv, but has not been peer-reviewed or evaluated. 

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BCG for COVID-19

While the  Bacille Calmette-Guerin or BCG vaccine was made against tuberculosis, ICMR has found it to be useful for elderly patients, against COVID-19. The researchers investigated the impact of the Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccine on the 'frequencies of T cell, B cell, monocyte and dendritic cell subsets as well as total antibody levels' in a group of healthy elderly people between the age group of 60 to 80 years, a month after the vaccination to understand it further.

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As a result of the study, the researcher found the BCG vaccine 'induced enhanced frequencies of immature, classical and activated memory B cells and plasma cells and diminished frequencies of naïve and atypical memory B cells'. They also found that it 'elevated the levels of all antibody isotypes which was in turn  associated with enhanced innate and adaptive memory cell subsets, as well as total antibody levels in elderly individuals, suggesting its potential utility in SARS-Cov2 infection by enhancing heterologous immunity'. 

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