Tamil Nadu to start administering BCG vaccine to the elderly on pilot basis

The vaccine shall be administered on trial basis on adults aged 60-95, with the aim of reducing the Covid mortality rate within this set

The Tamil Nadu Government has said that a pilot programme will start soon to study the efficacy of the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine in reducing morbidity and mortality due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the elderly.

Following an order by Chief Minister Palaniswami, the BCG vaccine shall be administered on a trial basis, on adults aged 60-95, with the aim of reducing the Covid mortality rate within this set. The National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT) will start the pilot programme soon, said C Vijayabaskar, Tamil Nadu Minister for Health and Family Welfare.

He added that NIRT will take up the trial, which has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

A vaccine against tuberculosis, BCG has been administered to infants as part of the National Immunisation Schedule for the past 50 years in India.

According to a state government release, the BCG vaccine helps improve innate immunity and there is a possibility that it could also reduce Covid-19 morbidity and mortality rates in the elderly (aged 60 to 95 years).

The State government, after considering that there were no appropriate drugs for the treatment of Covid-19, had sought ICMR's approval to study the efficacy of the BCG vaccine in the elderly. ICMR has granted the approval and the trial would start soon at NIRT, an ICMR institute, said the Minister.

The study would focus on the vaccine’s potential in reducing Covid-19-related morbidity, preventing hospitalisation, and reducing mortality among the aged. It is known that the elderly persons with co-morbid conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiac diseases are at higher risk of Covid infection.