Trial reportClinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases2022
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine to reduce healthcare worker absenteeism in COVID-19 pandemic, a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It reports registered trial NCT03987919. Cited by 43 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
A Phase 3, Randomized, Open-Label Trial Comparing Efficacy and Safety of Tirzepatide Versus Semaglutide Once Weekly as Add-on Therapy to Metformin in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
Open the trial in the graphWho cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled 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
- The effect of BCG vaccination on infection and antibody levels against SARS-CoV-2-The results of ProBCG: a multicenter randomized clinical trial in Brazil.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2023Trial
- Randomized Trial of BCG Vaccine to Protect against Covid-19 in Health Care Workers.The New England journal of medicine · 2023Trial
- Trial
- The impact of circadian rhythm on Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination effects on SARS-CoV-2 infections.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Trial
- BCG Vaccination Modulates Long-Term TNF-α and sCD40L in COVID-19: An Exploratory Longitudinal Study.International journal of general medicine · 2026Article
- Review
- Unleashing the power of the BCG vaccine in modulating viral immunity through heterologous protection: A scoping review.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Article
- Nasopharyngeal microbiome composition by SARS-CoV-2 presence and severity.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Trained immunity in chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2025Review
- Review
- Long-term immune changes after COVID-19 and the effect of BCG vaccination and latent infections on disease severity.Clinical & translational immunology · 2025Article
- Long-term effects of influenza and Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination on systemic inflammation.Clinical & translational immunology · 2025Article
- Rapid test for Mycobacterium leprae infection: a practical tool for leprosy.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2024Article
- An Information-Theoretic Method for Identifying Effective Treatments and Policies at the Beginning of a Pandemic.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Review
- Efficacy and outcomes of BCG re-vaccination in COVID-19: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression of randomized controlled trials.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2024Review
- Late in the US pandemic, multi-dose BCG vaccines protect against COVID-19 and infectious diseases.iScience · 2024Article
- The Influence of Cross-Reactive T Cells in COVID-19.Biomedicines · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
21 authors at 11 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic increases healthcare worker (HCW) absenteeism. The bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine may provide non-specific protection against respiratory infections through enhancement of trained immunity. We investigated the impact of BCG vaccination on HCW absenteeism during the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsHCWs exposed to COVID-19 patients in nine Dutch hospitals were randomized to BCG vaccine or placebo in a 1:1 ratio, and followed for one year using a mobile phone application. The primary endpoint was the self-reported number of days of unplanned absenteeism for any reason. Secondary endpoints included documented COVID-19, acute respiratory symptoms or fever. This was an investigator-funded study, registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03987919).
resultsIn March/April 2020, 1511 HCWs were enrolled. The median duration of follow-up was 357 person-days (interquartile range [IQR], 351 to 361). Unplanned absenteeism for any reason was observed in 2.8% of planned working days in the BCG group and 2.7% in the placebo group (adjusted relative risk 0.94; 95% credible interval, 0.78-1.15). Cumulative incidences of documented COVID-19 were 14.2% in the BCG and 15.2% in the placebo group (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 0.94; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.72-1.24). First episodes of self-reported acute respiratory symptoms or fever occurred in 490 (66.2%) and 443 (60.2%) participants, respectively (aHR: 1.13; 95% CI, 0.99-1.28). Thirty-one serious adverse events were reported (13 after BCG, 18 after placebo), none considered related to study medication.
conclusionsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, BCG-vaccination of HCW exposed to COVID-19 patients did not reduce unplanned absenteeism nor documented COVID-19.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.