Association between COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates and BCG vaccination policies in OECD countries

Yuki Senoo; Yosuke Suzuki; Kenji Tsuda; Tetsuya Tanimoto; Kenzo Takahashi

doi:10.1177/1757177420976812

Association between COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates and BCG vaccination policies in OECD countries

J Infect Prev. 2021 Mar;22(2):91-93. doi: 10.1177/1757177420976812. Epub 2020 Dec 4.

Authors

Yuki Senoo^{1

2}, Yosuke Suzuki^{1

3}, Kenji Tsuda^{1

4}, Tetsuya Tanimoto¹, Kenzo Takahashi^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Medical Governance Research Institute, Minato-ward, Tokyo, Japan.
² Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tone Chuo Hospital, Numata-shi, Gunma, Japan.
⁴ Kenwork, LLC, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa, Japan.
⁵ Teikyo University Graduate School of Public Health, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

We compared whether the national BCG vaccination (BCGV) policy influenced coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Those currently implementing BCGV have a reduced number of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality cases, compared to those who have never implemented a BCGV policy, suggesting the potential protective effect of BCGV against COVID-19.

Keywords: Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine; COVID-19; OECD; coronavirus infections; epidemiology.