ReviewThe Journal of infectious diseases2023
Interpreting the Results of Trials of BCG Vaccination for Protection Against COVID-19.
Review in The Journal of infectious diseases, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Optimising COVID-19 episode identification using serology and PCR/rapid antigen testing: insights from the BRACE trial.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Trial
- BCG vaccination of healthcare workers for protection against COVID-19: 12-month outcomes from an international randomised controlled trial.The Journal of infection · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Disseminated BCGosis in immunocompromised infants: a five-case series in the context of a national BCG vaccination policy change.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- The RV144 Trial Might Still Yield Useful Information.Current HIV research · 2026Review
- Review
- Determinants of Antibody Reactivity in COVID-19: A Case-Control Study in a Middle Eastern Cohort.Health science reports · 2025Article
- An Update on Anti-COVID-19 Vaccines and the Challenges to Protect Against New SARS-CoV-2 Variants.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The interplay of tuberculosis and COVID-19: Insights into global health challenges.Journal of biosciences · 2025Review
- Effect of Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination on immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 vaccination.Clinical & translational immunology · 2025Article
- Late in the US pandemic, multi-dose BCG vaccines protect against COVID-19 and infectious diseases.iScience · 2024Article
- Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination to prevent febrile and respiratory illness in adults (BRACE): secondary outcomes of a randomised controlled phase 3 trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- Host Genetic Background Influences BCG-Induced Antibodies Cross-Reactive to SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein.Vaccines · 2024Article
- Using BCG vaccination to protect against COVID-19: when reality fails to meet expectation.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2024Article
- Modulation of Human Macrophages by Plasma from COVID-19 Patients Following BCG Vaccination: BATTLE Trial.International journal of general medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BCG vaccination has beneficial off-target ("nonspecific") effects on nonmycobacterial infections. On this premise, trials set out to investigate whether BCG provides off-target protection against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A literature search identified 11 randomized "BCG COVID-19" trials, with conflicting results. These trials and the differences in their study design are discussed using the PICOT (participants, intervention, control, outcome, and timing) framework to highlight the factors that likely explain their inconsistent findings. These include participant age, sex and comorbid conditions, BCG vaccination strain and dose, outcome measure and duration of follow-up. Understanding how to control these factors to best exploit BCG's off-target effects will be important in designing future trials and intervention strategies.
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.