As of now, there is still no available vaccine for viral Coronavirus disease. A lot of hospitals and health experts test their versions of COVID-19 vaccine, but the World Health Organization has not yet approved any specific medicine. What if the vaccine that we've looking for was already out there curing a different disease, but we just don't know it yet?
TB vaccine might vaccinize you from COVID-19, but it leaves a mark! Willing to try?
As reported via Bloomberg, there might be a hidden Coronavirus vaccine that was already out there for around 100 years old from today. A tuberculosis vaccine called bacillus Calmette-Guerin, or BCG, is a widely known medicine with a century-old age that has been used to vaccinized people that needs a boost on their immune system.
"It can boost the immune system so that it defends better against a whole range of different infections, a whole range of different viruses and bacteria in a lot more generalized way," said Curtis, who's also a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Melbourne and head of the infectious diseases unit at the city's Royal Children's Hospital.
Not only tuberculosis can be vaccinated using this medicine. People that have common immunodeficiency diseases like early-stage bladder cancer can be boosted with their immune system with a single shot of BCG.
This is also one of the reasons why the WHO recommends BCG for further testing. Since the immune system is the main target of Coronaviruses, there is a possible chance that having a stronger immune system will make humans immune to the disease.
BCG testing trial now being created in Australia
The clinical trial for BCG vaccine is now on the roll in Melbourne, Australia. A small number of the volunteered hospital staff will be part of the six-month trial which they will be randomly vaccinated against seasonal influenza and TB or the flu shot only.
The answer on whether BCG can be used to treat COVID-19 lies on the underlying results from the volunteered staff. If they reacted negatively on the medicine, the hunt for vaccine repeats.
Health workers are our priority in COVID-19 vaccination, say, health experts
The BCG is a vaccination, not a cure. This is the explanation why health experts from Australia reiterated that once BCG testing is done successfully, health workers will be their priority to get vaccinated.
"We need to think of every possible way that we can protect health-care workers," Curtis said. "And there's going to be a particular need to reduce the amount of time that our health-care workers are absent."
Again, Australian health experts clarified that they're not yet sure about this vaccine. But for now, they hope that this brings hope to all citizens worried about getting the virus.
