Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

July 15, 2020

Significantly Improved COVID-19 Outcomes in Countries with Higher BCG Vaccination Coverage: A Multivariable Analysis

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  • An ecological study conducted by Klinger et al. find a strong negative correlation between the years of BCG administration and the deaths per million from COVID-19 based on data from 55 countries. Countries with BCG immunization policies over the past 15 years have a significantly lower rate of COVID-19 deaths than countries with no BCG in last 15 years (p=0.0004). [EDITORIAL NOTE: Results from ecological studies should be interpreted with caution due to unmeasured confounding between countries and may not reflect individual-level effects] 

Klinger et al. (July 11, 2020). Significantly Improved COVID-19 Outcomes in Countries with Higher BCG Vaccination Coverage: A Multivariable Analysis. Vaccines. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8030378