Fiocruz to test BCG vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 in Brazil

In October, Brazil’s Fiocruz and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, in Australia, will begin testing the BCG vaccine (normally used to prevent tuberculosis) on healthcare professionals, to verify the protection of the immunizer against COVID-19 as well. The trial, which was initially expected to be carried out only in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, will be expanded to the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Coordinated in Brazil by Fiocruz researchers Julio Croda and Margareth Dalcolmo, the research was approved by the National Committee of Ethics in Research (Conep). About 3,000 healthcare professionals in the country, who have not had COVID-19, will be vaccinated. The study will be funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“All volunteers will be tested to check whether they have the virus in their body. Those approved for the study will receive the Danish BCG strain. The vaccine is already on its way to Mato Grosso do Sul,” says Dr Dalcolmo, who coordinates the study in Rio de Janeiro. “We will be following these people for up to a year, during which interim protection analysis will be made, that is, intermediary evaluations recommended for long-term studies,” she added.