New Research Underway To Test Polio And TB Vaccine Against Coronavirus

Scientists are testing to see if vaccines meant for tuberculosis and Polio can protect against the coronavirus.

Representational Photo: Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP

New Delhi: As scientists’ race against time to find a vaccine or medicine for coronavirus, researchers in the US are looking at the possibility of using polio and tuberculosis vaccines to provide protection from the deadly novel coronavirus. According to a report by PTI, a team of researchers led by Dr Jeffrey D Cirillo, a professor of microbial pathogenesis and immunology at Texas A&M Health Science Center is testing the tuberculosis vaccine, called Bacillus Calmette-Guérin or BCG.  In a statement from Texas A&M Health Science Center newsletter, Cirillo said,“This vaccine has a very broad ability to strengthen your immune response. We call it ‘trained immunity. This could make a huge difference in the next two to three years while the development of a specific vaccine is developed for COVID-19.” According to a report by Washington Post, these vaccines are being tested to see its effect on reducing the severity of coronavirus. Azra Raza, a professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, has said that BCG can improve people's ability to fight pathogens, even for patients who are given the vaccine for another approved use that is bladder cancer. “Researchers have looked at developing countries where mortality rates are lower, in these countries BCG vaccine is widely used. It’s not like they’re not getting the infection. The rate [of positive infections] is high. But they’re just not dying. It is raging through, but they’re not dying of it,” said Raza in a report by The Washington Post. The PTI report also said that another group of scientists is testing the polio vaccine oral OPV and its effect on slowing COVID-19.  World-renowned researcher, Robert Gallo, who co-discovered that HIV is the cause of AIDS, said that OPV has a strong safety record. In a statement by the University of Maryland, he said, “This is not complicated, the science is there to support the idea, and we need to act fast.” According to data by Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University the contagion has infected over 7,669,317 people globally and killed more than 4,26,165 across the world. Also watch: