Hospitalization Data Supports Correlation of Lower Covid-19 Severity vs. Universal BCG Immunization in the Early Phase of the Pandemic

Abstract

The possibility of a correlation between universal administration of the bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) tuberculosis vaccine and lower severity of Covid-19 by national jurisdiction has been pointed out previously. In this work we examined hospitalization data attributed to Covid-19 cause reported by European national jurisdictions with the conclusion of a clear negative correlation between current or recent BCG vaccination program and reduced impact of the epidemics on the population measured in hospital admissions per capita in the early phase of the pandemic, before variants and vaccines. While there is no evidence that BCG vaccination provides strong individual level protection, the results of this work in combination with the results of other studies appear to support the hypothesis of a certain population-wide protection effect that is correlated with BCG immunization.