Observational studyThe Journal of clinical investigation2021
BCG vaccination history associates with decreased SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence across a diverse cohort of health care workers.
Observational study in The Journal of clinical investigation, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
103 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 152 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vaccination against influenza viruses reduces infection, not hospitalization or death, from respiratory COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of medical virology · 2024Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccination policies in reducing infection and mortality of COVID-19: a systematic review.Global health research and policy · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of vaccine platform and BCG vaccination on antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccination.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Trial
- Randomized clinical trial of BCG vaccine in patients with convalescent COVID-19: Clinical evolution, adverse events, and humoral immune response.Journal of internal medicine · 2022Trial
- Multiple BCG vaccinations for the prevention of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in type 1 diabetes.Cell reports. Medicine · 2022Trial
- Efficacy and Safety of BCG Revaccination WithFrontiers in immunology · 2022Trial
- ACTIVATE-2: A Double-Blind Randomized Trial of BCG Vaccination Against COVID-19 in Individuals at Risk.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Trial
- Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 Infection among Healthcare Workers: A Case-Control Study in Cape Verde.Portuguese journal of public health · 2026Article
- BCG-induced trained immunity on clinical outcomes in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients at a tertiary care center: A comparative study based on interferon-gamma release assays status.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2026Article
- BCG Vaccination Modulates Long-Term TNF-α and sCD40L in COVID-19: An Exploratory Longitudinal Study.International journal of general medicine · 2026Article
- EMoMiS: A pipeline for epitope-based molecular mimicry search in protein structures with potential applications to SARS-CoV-2.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2026Article
- Unleashing the power of the BCG vaccine in modulating viral immunity through heterologous protection: A scoping review.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Article
- Trained ILCs confer adaptive immunity-independent protection against influenza.Journal of virology · 2025Article
- Antigen-presenting innate lymphoid cells induced by BCG vaccination promote a respiratory antiviral immune response through the skin‒lung axis.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2025Article
- Article
- Role of Trained Immunity in Heath and Disease.Current cardiology reports · 2025Review
- Knowledge mapping of trained immunity/innate immune memory: Insights from two decades of studies.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2024Review
- An Information-Theoretic Method for Identifying Effective Treatments and Policies at the Beginning of a Pandemic.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Innate immune response in acute critical illness: a narrative review.Annals of intensive care · 2024Review
- Article
43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUNDSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused more than 1 million deaths worldwide; thus, there is an urgent need to develop preventive and therapeutic strategies. The antituberculosis vaccine bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) demonstrates nonspecific, protective innate immune-boosting effects. Here, we determined whether a history of BCG vaccination was associated with decreased SARS-CoV-2 infection and seroconversion in a longitudinal, retrospective observational study of a diverse cohort of health care workers (HCWs).METHODSWe assessed SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and collected medical questionnaires, which included information on BCG vaccination status and preexisting demographic and clinical characteristics, from an observational cohort of HCWs in a multisite Los Angeles health care organization. We used multivariate analysis to determine whether a history of BCG vaccination was associated with decreased rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and seroconversion.RESULTSOf the 6201 HCWs, 29.6% reported a history of BCG vaccination, whereas 68.9% had not received BCG vaccination. Seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG as well as the incidence of self-reported clinical symptoms associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were markedly decreased among HCWs with a history of BCG vaccination compared with those without BCG vaccination. After adjusting for age and sex, we found that a history of BCG vaccination, but not meningococcal, pneumococcal, or influenza vaccination, was associated with decreased SARS-CoV-2 IgG seroconversion.CONCLUSIONSA history of BCG vaccination was associated with a decrease in the seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and a lower number of participants who self-reported experiencing COVID-19-related clinical symptoms in this cohort of HCWs. Therefore, large randomized, prospective clinical trials of BCG vaccination are urgently needed to confirm whether BCG vaccination can confer a protective effect against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.