JERUSALEM, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers have found that vaccinations against tuberculosis may provide additional protection against COVID-19, Ben Gurion University (BGU) in southern Israel said Monday.
In a study published in the journal Vaccines, researchers from BGU and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem analyzed the correlation between BCG vaccine for tuberculosis and COVID-19 outcomes.
It was found that countries that widely administered BCG are associated with some protection against COVID-19, reducing infection and death rates.
The protection was significant among those 24 years old and younger who had received the vaccination in the last 15 years.
The team analyzed data from 55 countries, which comprise 62.9 percent of the world's population and found a strong negative correlation between the years of BCG administration and COVID-19 deaths per million (DPM) along with the progress of the pandemic.
Furthermore, results from multivariable regression tests with 23 economic, demographic, health-related, and pandemic restriction-related quantitative properties substantiated the dominant contribution of BCG years to the COVID-19 outcomes.
The team also conducted the same analysis for measles and rubella vaccines, but found that those vaccines did not have a significant association with COVID-19 outcomes. Enditem
