In the news in Japan, there was talk of the possibility of the link fo the BCG vaccines and the COVID-19 rates saying that it may play a role in the low rates in Japan because a large percentage of the population has the BCG vaccine given to them at a young age. The WHO came out a couple of days ago and stated that they cannot conclude that there is a link at this point. This got me wondering if there are vaccines that are common in certain countries that lower the infections of COVID-19?
BCG is given to everyone in China as a routine immunization. Did not affect the rates of COVID-19 in that country. This report came from a non-peer reviewed article; that doesn't mean that the association between BCG and less COVID-19 is not real. We really do not know and there have been no studies that have actually looked at this. There is a big reason why the US chose not to administer BCG. Is this something to research, yes, but don't get your hopes up. BCG targets the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. There is no reason why this vaccine would target a virus like SARS-CoV-2. But maybe it is the general response of the immune system to BCG, but that response would wane with time.