Title

BCG revaccination for healthcare workers in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic


Description

A novel betacoronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is spreading rapidly throughout the world. A large epidemic in South Africa may overwhelm available hospital capacity and healthcare resources which would be worsened by absenteeism of healthcare workers and other frontline staff (HCW). Strategies to prevent morbidity and mortality of HCW are desperately needed to safeguard continuous patient care. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), with protective non-specific effects against other respiratory tract infections in vitro and in vivo studies, with reported morbidity and mortality reductions as high as 70%. RE-BCG-CoV-19 Consortium hypothesized that BCG re-vaccination may reduce the morbidity and mortality of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak in South Africa.


Objectives and Results

Clinical trial in South Africa to evaluate the potential of protective COVID-19 effect BCG re-vaccination in health care workers. The contributions of the groups under IISA umbrella (Pedro Baptista, Santiago Ramon-García and Rosa Bolea) will be in kind to evaluate in a novel lung organoid model the potential of Mycobacterium bovis BCG to protect from SARS-COV-2 infection. Information from the clinical trial will feed model experimentation. This in-kind contribution is provided with alternative funding sources already secured by the investigators.


IP IIS Aragon

Santiago Ramón García and Pedro M. Baptista


Financing Agency

EDCTP (European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership). CALL: RIA2020EF-2968 (Mobilization of research funds for COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency)
Total budget: €500.000,00


Coordinator

Task Foundation-NPC, (South Africa)


Be a partner

- Task Foundation-NPC, (South Africa)
- Stichting Katholieke Universiteit- Radboudumc (RUMC), (Netherlands
- Uppsala University, (Sweden)
- Aragón Health Research Institute Foundation, (Spain)


Duration

17/04/2020 – 16/04/2022 (24 months)