NEW DELHI: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will start a new trial next week to study the efficacy of BCG vaccine in preventing Covid-19, with the results expected to help the government decide if the vaccine can be recommended to frontline healthcare workers taking care of patients.
“The ICMR will begin a study next week. Till we have definitive results from this, we won’t recommend it even for health workers,” Dr R R Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology and communicable disease at ICMR, said on Friday. The possible effects of BCG vaccine in boosting anti-viral immunity has been the subject of considerable comment, with some studies pointing to higher fatalities in some European nations that have discontinued vaccination.
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Bacille Calmett